Heart Hope by Olga

One of my most vivid childhood memories of growing up in Mississippi in the 60s is sitting in church on a Sunday morning waiting for the service to begin. All of a sudden there was a ruckus just to my left. As I looked over to see what was going on I found there was a group of men from the church on one side of the swinging door pushing against it. As the door swung back and forth it became evident that there was a family of Blacks on the other side of the door trying to enter the sanctuary. In my little pre-teen mind I questioned, “Why won’t the men let the people come to church? This is God’s house and everyone should be allowed to come in and worship.”  Don’t you find it interesting that a young girl could have had more wisdom than the grown men who were supposedly the leaders of the church?  Those men were not living according to the teachings of Christ such as love, kindness, compassion, just as many people today don’t either. They choose to make up their own rules and ...

In keeping with the theme of The Help this week, I have posted my easy recipe for Caramel Icing. It is delicious even on a box cake.  1/2 c. butter 1 c. brown sugar 1/4 c. milk About 2 c. sifted powdered sugar 1 tsp. vanilla Melt butter in saucepan, stir in brown sugar. Cook and stir over low heat 2 minutes. Add milk, continue stirring until boiling. Remove from heat. Cool to lukewarm. Put into small mixer bowl, add sugar and vanilla while beating on medium speed, then beat on low speed for one minute. www.hearthope.org

I remember Brent’s Drugstore with the nickel cokes and egg and olive sandwiches and I remember the Mayflower on a Friday night. I also remember the tension of the times. The movie The Help exposed Mississippi as it was in some but not all homes. There are good people and bad people everywhere, but it is difficult for me to imagine that some people can treat other people with such hatred as some of the characters portrayed. Why do they think that they are better than another person? What has given them the attitude that they can say and do ugly things to someone else? How can someone call themselves a Christian and have no love and compassion for others? We are all created equal—no better, no worse. In the movie The Help one ringleader, Hilly, was able to influence her friends to make poor choices and to hurt loving, caring people who served them well.  I would hope that there are no longer people in this world like her, but I know I would be wrong. On the other hand, Sk...

My beautiful Sally on the day of my wedding I went to see The Help last night, so you will be reading about it on my blog for the next couple of days. It brought back memories—some good and some not so good. I grew up in Jackson, Mississippi in the exact time period of the book/movie. Sally was our “help.”  She was exactly the same age as my mother and they were very close…in fact today my mother admitted that they were like sisters. They laughed together, they cried together and they shared their faith together through their long conversations.  Sally was a vital part of our family and I believe that I would have been an entirely different person if she had not been a part of my life. She came to work for my family in December of 1951 just a few days after my sister Ginny was born. She was there when I was born. She was there when I started kindergarten. She cried with us when my grandmother died. She was present during my month long hospital stay. She went with me t...