Tanga las eye

Sitting in the comfort of the old booth in the town cafe,
and the empty booths around me, the cook joined me
on the other side and began talking with me. Quickly
the conversation turned from idol conversation to story
telling.

"Hey have you ever heard of the herb ,tanga las eye?" I thought a
moment and with puzzlement she quickly new I had
never heard of it. "Let me tell you a story about tanga las eye."

The air moved around us from the fan above as the story quickly
began its capture of my attention.

When I was a young girl, She began, My mother would give my sisters and I
a note to take over to grandmas, telling her that our momma needed some
tanga las eye. Excitedly we would walk to Grandmas and hand her the
note.

"Awe yes, tanga las eye, come with me to the attic, I believe I have some
in the old trunk."

Anxiously we would all run up the stairs to the attic where
we beheld the trunk. It was a huge trunk, or at least that is how I remember it,
I was just little ya know so it might not have been as big as I remember.
We spent a good long time with Grammy as she pulled Aunty's wedding dress from the trunk. She began laughing and telling us all about the wedding and gazing at the ceiling as if she was there again. We found all sorts of neat stuff and some of the treasures we found had a story that we got to listen to. Finally we reached the bottom of the trunk. " Oh dear I must be all out of Tanga las eye today. I will have to go buy some more." She would tell us after each visit.
Being young we never caught on to the mystery of tang las eye. When we got older we discovered that tanga las eye means, "Keep them for a while."
The special herb is a secret recipe, Time out for momma. What a creative way to show support, what a loving and understanding family. Sometimes moms just need a little time out and what better way then with creativity and fun.

"How adorabley cute is that?" I said to Fana. I love this story. She smiled
at me and said that she loves to share that story because it meant so much to her.

Now I shared it too. Touching, sweet, and fun knowing that my time out for the
day going to the cafe and relaxing for a minute was time well spent with a very
precious friend. I am really blessed that her business was slow that morning.

Sometimes there is a sad story behind the smiles.

When my old friend, Carolyn, put this photo of myself and my adorable daughters, along with Carolyn's son and husband at that time, on face book, I was filled with a mix of emotions both sad and happy. I was happy to see a photo of my girls and I - when they were young. Their dad and step mother destroyed pictures of me with my daughters after the divorce. So you can imagine the joy I felt when I saw this. The story behind this picture was also heart breaking for me, yet here in Carolyn's home I felt safe for a while. Her generosity and support got me through a very difficult time. My girls and I lived with this special family for about a month or so after their dad had beaten me up quite severely. I had to do my best to heal from the injuries and yet remain positive and joyful for the sake of my girls. I have done that over and over and over, tried to hide the fact that I was scared to death of their dad, hide that I was hurting, hide, hide, hide to keep my girls world feeling as safe as I possibly could. It's not an easy thing to do because for anyone who has been beaten up you know the tole it takes on you emotionally. My girls were my world, and I still adore and love them. But life has a way of twisting things. I will not continue here but the story lies in my journals. I pray that all things will turn to glorify our God. This picture was taken about 23 years ago, but the memories haunt me and the future of what lied ahead after this photo has been heart breaking for me. But my love for my daughters remains and I stand firm on the words of Julian of Norwich, "All is well, All shall be well, All manner of things shall be well."