The following is what I read at my Daddy’s funeral service on Monday, May 15, 2023. There are hundreds of stories to tell, but I’m sharing this first because many have asked for the transcript of my eulogy. You can read his obituary HERE. Wow. Look at all these faces. I dislike public speaking so I need to relax. Let’s break the ice. Everybody smile. Now, if you went to school with my dad, raise your hand. If you ever served on a committee with my dad, raise your hand. If you ever heard his band – any or every version of it – play, raise your hand. Raise your…
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On Functional Blended Families
This is not a political piece. Yes, it will discuss Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, but it’s about blended families. Stay with me. While watching the lead-up to and the election results come in, I realized what I was really looking forward to. You know what I’m excited about the world seeing? What a blended family — husband, wife, ex/exes, children — who loves each other & who respect each others’ role in the family looks like. Not every divorce leads to messy, angry relationships. Some just become big, crazy families.— Jana Lawrence (@ohjanabelle) November 8, 2020 I’d like to talk about blended families, specifically Functional Blended Families. I’ll start with…
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A Colon Cancer Story: Q&A
To read my Colon Cancer Story, Part 1 is HERE and Part 2 is HERE. What specifically made you seek medical attention? The pain. I shrugged off the blood in my stool — both the red, fresh blood and the dark, old blood. I know better, but honestly? With Covid-19 and sheltering-at-home, I wasn’t willing to go to the doctor for just a little blood and some pain. But once Brian realized the pain was too much for me, and forced me to the ER, I realized it was bad. Especially since he didn’t think it could wait another 14 hours until a doctor’s office opened. (side note: Covid be…
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The Longest Two Months: A Colon Cancer Story, Part 2
To read Part 1, click HERE. I was playing a waiting game. Waiting for the pain to be gone and thinking that there’s some murderous tumor with a cute name like Dumplin in me, and that I have absolutely no idea what’s going to happen over the next weeks and months. My amazing friend, Amy, came to Atlanta to take family photos for me. We hadn’t done them since our wedding, and thinking I might be losing all my hair or worse prompted me to take her up on an offer to “do whatever you need me to do.” While we were doing the photos, all my girls from home…
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The Longest Two Months: A Colon Cancer Story, Part 1
June 28, 2020. Northside Hospital Emergency Room (written June 29) The doctor comes in and sits by my bed. He can’t touch me because of the rules put in place for the Covid-19 pandemic, but I can tell he wants to. The doctor who was joking with me thirty minutes earlier looks at me and says, “I’m really sorry to have to tell you this, especially since you’re alone – stupid Covid – but we found a large mass on your colon when we did the CT scan. There were a few lesions on your liver, and well, you need to have your colonoscopy as soon as possible and contact…
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On Super Bowl Ads and Children Dying
By 7 this morning (morning after Super Bowl 49), I have already had 6 inquiries into what I thought about the Nationwide “Make Safe Happen” ad. The ad features a beautiful young boy who can’t grow up to get cooties, learn to ride a bike, or learn to fly because he died. He couldn’t grow up because he died from an accident. As much of a football fan as I am, oddly I didn’t see the game. My cable went out 5 minutes into the game and I was stuck watching BrandBowl on Twitter. I saw the initial shock, the subsequent disgust and anger, and then watched it turn into a “my snarky…
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The Coat Closet
After my Grannie died in September, the big challenge was obviously going through the house where she and my Grandaddy had lived for 50+ years. Her house was meticulously organized, even her extra bedroom-turned-closet. One of the first things my mom and aunt tackled was the large collection of linens. It was no secret that Grannie loved linens. Tablecloths, napkins, towels, OMGTHEHANDTOWELS, sheets, and comforters. They kept the ones they wanted for themselves and gave the others away to places that might be able to use them. The other thing that was no secret that my Grannie AND Grandaddy shared a love for was their collection of coats, jackets, and…