{"id":27439,"date":"2013-08-09T05:52:24","date_gmt":"2013-08-09T09:52:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/?p=27439"},"modified":"2014-02-26T02:23:34","modified_gmt":"2014-02-26T07:23:34","slug":"aunt-rheetamy-heroine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/2013\/08\/09\/aunt-rheetamy-heroine\/","title":{"rendered":"Aunt Rheeta~My Heroine"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"reduced\"<\/a>

Aunt Rheeta at our Rebecca’s wedding<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yes, she is my heroine and she would be yours too if you knew her.\u00c2\u00a0 I want to be just like her when I grow up—oops,\u00c2\u00a0 too late for that!\u00c2\u00a0 Well then, I want to be just like her when I am her age–78.<\/p>\n

This post is only remotely related to sewing, but we all need inspiration and Aunt Rheeta is mine.<\/p>\n

Her most recent activity spurred me to write this post.\u00c2\u00a0 She is one amazing woman.\u00c2\u00a0 Her friend Laura, the 88 years old\u00c2\u00a0 catcher (!!!!), is one of the few who can keep up with her.\u00c2\u00a0 Yes, Aunt Rheeta hangs with a tough crowd.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"R<\/a>

I think she said Mickey Mantle was her coach.<\/p><\/div>\n

\n

At the age when so many people are winding down, or have long since finished\u00c2\u00a0 that process, my\u00c2\u00a0 fit, fun Aunt Rheeta lives her life full steam ahead.\u00c2\u00a0 Now she is a medalist in the Senior Olympics where she competed in baseball, bowling (averaging 126!) and horseshoes.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"just<\/a>

just one of her medals<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Even when she is not in training, she regularly walks her little poodle, Molly, through a lengthy loop in the park near her home.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Aunt<\/a>

Aunt Rheeta and Molly<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

A devout Christian, she raised four fine children by herself, two of whom are ordained pastors.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 After her children were grown and on their own, she sold her home and all of her possessions to serve as a missionary in the Soviet Union.<\/p>\n

It has been years since she left the foreign mission field, but still she\u00c2\u00a0cooks and delivers meals to the sick, visits shut ins, cleans the church when her turn comes up, hosts prayer meetings in her home and serves the church\u00c2\u00a0as an elder.\u00c2\u00a0 It is apparent that she has never abandoned her life of Christian service.<\/p>\n

In her late 60’s, she sat before a sewing machine for the first time in her life (FINALLY a sewing link!).\u00c2\u00a0 With my Brother 8500, she fell in love with machine embroidery and soon was the owner of her own machine.\u00c2\u00a0 One of her loveliest projects was a spectacular Bible cover<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Rheeta<\/a><\/p>\n

She went on to stitch a breathtaking communion cloth<\/a> for her church.\u00c2\u00a0 The photos I took are terrible, but the cloth is just gorgeous.\u00c2\u00a0 She didn’t stop there—she even had a booth at a few craft shows to sell her goods.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Rheeta<\/a><\/p>\n

Remember, this is a skill she learned long past retirement age.<\/p>\n

Nothing stops her, nothing intimidates her.\u00c2\u00a0 Parasailing in the Caribbean gave her pause, just because she cannot swim.\u00c2\u00a0 But what the heck!\u00c2\u00a0 With a life jacket what could happen?\u00c2\u00a0 Sharks?\u00c2\u00a0 Ha! She laughs at\u00c2\u00a0 sharks!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"parasailing<\/a>

72 years old and parasailing in the Caribbean with her 78 year old sister, my mother<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Can you see why she is my heroine and a great role model for all who know her?\u00c2\u00a0 Wouldn’t the world be a great place if it were filled with Rheeta copycats?<\/p>\n

Aside from being my aunt, she is one of my dearest friends\u00c2\u00a0 We have always been close.\u00c2\u00a0 Am I lucky or what?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Janice<\/a>

Janice and Rheeta<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Yes, she is my heroine and she would be yours too if you knew her.\u00c2\u00a0 I want to be just like her when I grow up—oops,\u00c2\u00a0 too late for that!\u00c2\u00a0 Well then, I want to be just like her … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27439"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27439"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27439\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29613,"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27439\/revisions\/29613"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}