Be My Guest: Southern Belle Charm

I'm continuing my Be My Guest series today. This series is a group of posts written by friends who have offered to gift me their words while I find my voice again following the loss of my dad.

I've mentioned before that I'm very picky about what goes on my blog. Good or bad, it's a reflection of me. So I don't take this guest post thing lightly. I have genuinely, in this series, introduced bloggers whose voices I value. It's a pleasure and a privilege to introduce them here on my blog and to publish a piece they wrote for me.

Today's guest was a surprise, Minette of Southern Belle Charm. A surprise because she went through an awful lot in the end of this past year. She suffered a loss that is just unfathomable to me. So the fact that she was willing to write this for me, well to me really, is a testament to the depth of her spirit.

I was thrilled when Karen accepted my offer of writing a guest post for Baking In A Tornado while she comes to terms with the death of her father and finds her voice again. I had all sorts of ideas for funny silly posts running through my head. Yet when I sit down to write them, the words leave me. As I want to be a writer, that's not a good thing.

This afternoon I realized that the reason I was struggling was because I wasn't writing from my heart for/to a friend in pain.

So, Karen, this is what I want to say to you as you work through all the emotions you are feeling right now.

You will find your voice again. It will be a different one because you are a different person. You'll still be our funny, sarcastic baking friend who makes us laugh and think and cry all at the same time. The sarcasm will be a bit more sarcastic, the thinking will lead you and all of us in different directions, the crying will be more painful and the laughter will be the sweeter for it. Hopefully the amazing recipes you come up with will keep coming . . .

 As we all grow up, we realize that one day we will lose our parents. We think to ourselves that we have time. Then one day we don't. As they age, they sometimes get sick and being sick changes them in ways we never imagined as a child.

I lost my Dad 9 years ago. It devastated me. It changed me in ways I didn't think I would change. My Dad just didn't wake up one morning. I didn't get one last time to say "Love you, Daddy" and to hear him say "Loveby".

As you navigate all the emotions running rampant and think about all the things you would change or love to do over, of all the words you might wish for him to say, forgive him. It took me a long time to realize that while it wasn't what I needed or wanted, Daddy loved me the best way he knew how. He hurt me, he ignored me, he didn't fight for me in ways I think a parent should, yet in other ways he never quit fighting for me.

Forgive yourself. Don't beat yourself up for what you did or didn't do. Even though you're an adult with children of your own, you're still a child in some ways and you always will be when it comes to your parents.

Easy Turtle Fudge

About the author:

Daughter, wife, mother, grandmother, figuring it out as she goes with Southern Belle style.
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 When I saw the Caramel Eagle Brand Condensed Milk I knew I had to have some and do something with it, because, well, Caramel and Condensed Milk . . . 
After several trial and error messes, this is what I came up with:

Easy Turtle Fudge

                                            ©Southern Belle Charm
 
Printable Recipe


 
Ingredients:
2 cups (18 oz) semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 (14 oz) can Eagle Brand Caramel Sweetened Condensed Milk
Dash salt
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup pecans (you don't have to have them, but since I wanted the full Turtle effect, I added)

Directions:
*LINE 8 or 9 inch pan with wax paper.
*MELT chocolate chips with sweetened condensed milk and salt in heavy saucepan. Remove from heat, stir in vanilla and pecans. Spread evenly in prepared pan.
*CHILL until firm. Remove from pan by lifting edges of wax paper, peel off paper. Cut into squares.