Abducted By Monday Memories 7.11.11

Before I get started I just want to send out a big...

to my little sister Lindsey and her husband Jason who are celebrating their 1 year wedding anniversary today!!!

I can't believe it has been a year already! I love and miss you guys! Don't forget that mom, Riley, and I are coming to visit on the 6th and 7th in August. Mom invited Stephanie to join us but she wasn't sure if she was going to be doing a church function that weekend or not. 

Now, down to business!

I don't know about you guys but I'm exhausted! Today I went outside in this scorching heat and cleaned my car. Cleaned out everything from inside it, cleaned the inside of all the windows, cleaned the dashboard, cleaned the upholstery, got all the dog hair out, and then took it to the car wash and washed the outside and fully vacuumed the inside. It didn't take that long, but damn, it is really hot outside!

Now I am inside, relaxing in my air conditioning watching Tin Man on Netflix (my old computer died before I could finish watching it) and working on my blog. 

And since I've been so aware of the heat today, I thought it would be a perfect source for my Monday Memory! 

One of my favorite authors is C.S. Lewis. 

I know, I know! Big surprise, right!?!

I started reading his book as part of an English project when I was a senior in high school ten years ago! I truly enjoyed his books but I was also really fascinated by him. We share a birthday so I guess I always felt a connection to his story. So much about his struggles and triumphs are easy for his fans to relate to and also there are parts to his story that are so beautiful you'd think they were written by Hollywood. 

For example, did you know that he first got to know his wife, Joy, through letters she would write to him? She started to write to him originally because her sons were huge fans of Lewis's Narnia series, but her letters stood out to him and he wrote back. It wasn't long before they began a constant stream of correspondence and before she was making trips to England to visit with him. 

Lewis agreed to marry Joy so that she could move to England with her children and have a green card. With this marriage, their friendship grew and before long they really were in love. Unfortunately, during this time she was diagnosed with bone caner in her legs. The cancer quickly became severe and the doctors told them that there was no hope. 

While Joy lay on her deathbed, Lewis invited Peter Bide, an Anglican Priest, to come to the hospital and marry them so that their marriage would be recognized by the Church. Lewis claimed it was Joy's dying wish. The priest came, consecrated the marriage, prayed for her healing, and a few days later Joy walked out of the hospital, the cancer completely in remission. 

The couple enjoyed three more years together, traveling the world, until Joy's cancer returned and claimed her life. Lewis died three years later.

How do I know all of this? Well, I've seen the movie Shadowlands with Anthony Hopkins and Debra Winger for one thing. Also, I've read a ton of his books, numerous times, and have also read Douglas Gresham's (Joy's son who was adopted by Lewis) autobiography Lenten Lands (which was extremely good by the way).

As well as, The Magic Never Ends by John Ryan Duncan.

I know what you are thinking; "What does this have to do with a Monday Memory and/or the heat of summer?"

Well, I'll tell you.

I first read The Magic Never Ends about eight years ago. It was the middle of summer and my older sister Stephanie invited me to come with her to our local lake, Lake Thunderbird, for the day. The water there is filthy so of course we didn't go in, we just laid on the sand and...well, tanned I guess. I brought this book with me and I was laying on my stomach reading it and lost complete track of time. Before I knew it several hours had passed and I was sooooooooo sunburned!

Now, for those of you who don't know me, let me describe my looks in a word for you. That word be...

PALE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Needless to say, a sunburn for me is no ordinary sunburn. I went to the doctor and it turned out I had second degree burns all over my back and had to put this prescription cream all over them. Actually, I had to ask someone to put it on my back for me, which was really embarrassing. Also, I'm a pretty modest girl, but after that I was forced to wear spaghetti strapped tank tops with no bra on for weeks until the blisters healed. 

A year later when I went with my family to Hawaii, I took five different kinds of sunscreen with me, which I applied rigorously!

That's all for today folks! 

Have a great week and remember to drink lots of water...

AND WEAR SUNSCREEN!