One repeated complaint I hear from people who criticize the Pro-Life movement is that Pro-Lifers don’t care about the Moms and babies after the babies are born. I have to say that is not true. Pro-lifers are active in many ways: volunteering at pregnancy centers, adopting children/helping those families or adoptions agencies, fostering children/helping those families or foster care organizations, making donations/volunteering at various organizations that help families, and much more.

I have chosen to volunteer at our local pregnancy center, West Pasco Wellness and Pregnancy Center. The center is non-profit and depends on monetary donations to operate. Money is raised in various ways: Champions of Life Banquet: November 7, 2019, small fundraisers throughout the year, Baby Bottle Coin Collections and individual/corporate donations. There’s a small staff (mostly part-time) and a number of volunteers. The center is always in needs of volunteers. So if you would like to volunteer please contact the center. If you would like to take a tour of the center call ahead for an appointment.

All of the services that the center offer are free to the clients. Among the services are pregnancy tests, ultrasounds, parenting classes, life skill classes, support groups, resources and referrals for other services and counseling. Fathers are allowed to come to the classes and counseling too.

The clients, both Mom and Dad, earn points for attending parenting classes and life skill classes. They spend their points in the Blessing Boutique. All items in the boutique are new and have been donated by individuals, companies, civic organizations and churches. Among the items in the boutique are clothes (NB through 12 months), diapers, wipes, baby toiletries, blankets, hooded towels, diaper bags, bibs, shoes and socks, and much more. The boutique does carry a few larger items but we are limited in numbers due to the size of our facility.

The following items are in short supply at this time. We accept only new items. If you can donate one or more items please drop them off at the center or contact me. If you live outside our area please contact your local pregnancy center and see what they need. Most pregnancy centers depend heavily on donations and are greatly appreciative of them.

• baby shampoo
• baby lotion
• baby powder
• baby wash
• newborn and size 3 diapers
• boy themed baby bottles
• bibs
• teething rings
• rattles
• pacifiers
• hooded towels/wash cloths
• sleepers for infant boys and girls

The “motto” for the center is: “Making a Difference for the One”

The Starfish Parable by Loren Eiseley

One day, an old man was walking along a beach that was littered with thousands of starfish that had been washed ashore by the high tide. As he walked he came upon a young boy who was eagerly throwing the starfish back into the ocean, one by one.

Puzzled, the man looked at the boy and asked what he was doing. Without looking up from his task, the boy simply replied, “I’m saving these starfish, Sir”.

The old man chuckled aloud, “Son, there are thousands of starfish and only one of you. What difference can you make?”

The boy picked up a starfish, gently tossed it into the water and turning to the man, said, “I made a difference to that one!”

– – Carolyn M

If you ask most people what they think about history they will say, “boring.” Because to them history is all about memorizing useless dates. But to me it’s not boring. History is about people: people who walked, talked, worked, played and lived the ups and downs of life in bygones days. History helps bring these people to life.

I’m fortunate to have a diary of my Great-Great Aunt Josie Thralls that covers a couple of years of her life from 1882-1884. She was an older sister of my maternal Great Grandmother Mayme Thralls Miller and was 17-19 years old during the time she wrote her diary.

In her first entry she wrote about starting a diary with her innermost thoughts that no one but her would read. Little could she image that over 130 years later her great-great niece would read the diary.

A lot of what she wrote is about the mundane every day things we all do day in and day out during our lifetime. Intertwined with the mundane she wrote about friends and relatives, what she could do to better herself, a ceremony for the laying of the cornerstone for the new courthouse, a 4th of July celebration, courting, dances, sicknesses and injuries, attending the fair, her sister’s engagement, starting school for bookkeeping, and much more.

The main form of communicating with her friends and relatives in other cities was via writing letters. According to her diary she was a very active letter writer. The telephone was in its infancy so was not very common, but she does mention it once. So news, both good and bad, traveled much slower back then.

The saddest entry was on the 9th anniversary (June 10th, 1882) of her mother’s death. Her mother died from complications of birth a month after her sister May, my Great Grandmother Miller, was born. She wrote about that dreadful day of her mother’s death. She was only 8 years old and was walking to school when she was told to return home because her mom had taken a turn for the worse. On her way back home she picked up her younger brother, Bert, who was out picking whortleberries. Here are her words: “How well I remember that walk or rather run as we came back together, Bertie’s piteous sobbings as I urged him to hurry. And then when we reached home, the kind neighbors who had come in, papa’s violent grief as he begged but one word from mama’s lips, so soon to be sealed by the icy seal of death. Uncle Mike held me up in his arms to give my mama her last earthly kiss. O! darling mama how I miss you.” I had tears the first time I read this entry. I felt her grief, her pain.

Later in her diary, in 1884, she wrote with an air of excitement about how they had moved from Warsaw, Indiana to Houston, Florida in the late fall of 1883 via a train. Her sister, Grace, and brother, Bert, didn’t make the move. I want so much to know more about her time in Florida but sadly the diary abruptly ends with only two entries written in Florida.

Reading the diary gave me a snippet of Aunt Josie and what it was like living during the 1880’s. She was only 34 when she died in 1899, but a part of her life lives on in her diary.

History: it’s about people!

P.S. I didn’t think about including these pictures when I wrote this blog:

Many years ago we had an exchange student from Spain for a school year. Miquel was a shy teen who could barely speak English when we picked him up at the airport. As the school year progressed he became fluent in English, made many friends and joined the HS tennis team and Boy Scouts. We enjoyed showing him Florida and learning about Spain. The school year went by very fast. By the time we had to take him to the airport to return to Spain he was part of the family. As the plane lifted off we weren’t sure when or if we would see him again.

With the advent of Facebook we became reconnected. Six years ago he surprised us by sending a message saying that he was in Florida and came via a ship across the Atlantic! I was very surprised and happy. He was on the El Galeon, an authentic replica of a 16th century Spanish merchant ship which was visiting St. Augustine. It was great seeing him again and learning of the adventures of a lifetime he was having traveling the world and about how sailors of yore worked and lived. We also got the chance to see him again 3 years ago when the ship made a port stop in Tampa.

Miguel is now on another authentic replica ship, the Santa Maria, which was one of Christopher Columbus ships: https://www.facebook.com/lanaosantamaria/ . The ship crossed the Atlantic last fall and has been touring Puerto Rico and the United States. It was in St. Augustine for a short visit. This past weekend my son, Steven and I were able to see Miguel. Steven had not seen Miguel on his previous visits so this was the first time for them seeing each other since Miguel was an exchange student. We had a great time touring the ship and visiting with Miguel. The Nao Santa Maria has left St. Augustine and is now on a voyage visiting ports along the east coast of the United States then traveling the St. Lawrence Seaway and visiting the Great Lakes region. We look forward to the ship returning to St. Augustine in the fall.

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