Tamela Maxim

One Year Ago Claire & David (and River) I drove up to Charleston yesterday to pick up my daughter Claire and my grandsons Taylor and River and bring them back with me to Bluffton for the rest of the week. Claire will be 27 in October, Taylor will be 10 in October and River will be 6 months old on June 22nd. Taylor's middle name is Reece and he has been called that all year in his 3rd grade class. They moved from Bluffton to Charleston a year ago and both Taylor and his friend (who also moved to Charleston with his parents Bobbi & Jeff Fitzharris) changed their names from first name to middle. Hence Taylor's friend Kenyon became Storm and Taylor became Reece, but we (family) still call them Taylor and Kenyon (at least for now). Taylor has grown so much taller this year and his head now reaches his mother's shoulders. He is changing rapidly as he leaves his childhood and heads for those hormone laden teen years. He has always been very innocent and either still believ...

Missing Adam

Nicholas's mother died on June 1st (yesterday) 6 years ago in 2004. We drove 25 hours from Bluffton, SC to Duluth, MN to be with her before she died. That was the first time I met her. She had been in a nursing home for 6 years and it had been a long time since she had been able to speak and she rarely opened her eyes. Her name was Maria Maxim. When we arrived she was near death so I read to her from the Bible and sang to her. The phone just rang. It was Nicholas. He wanted to talk about his mother's death and wondered why he didn't think about her more yesterday. I think that all of us have a tendency to avoid those emotional hotspots and then, if we think about it later, wonder if it is because we really are that busy, don't care enough, or if we are running away from something painful - or maybe a little of all that. I want to make more time to honor the memory of those who have died whether they will ever be aware of it or not. Hope is all we have when it comes to ...