Did I mention I cry every Tuesday ? At 8:05?

Just kidding! I borrowed that snappy one-liner from an exchange in beloved mid-eighties sitcom, The Golden Girls. After providing her roommates with poor romantic advice, Rue McClanahan’s character, Blanche, confides in Betty White’s character, Rose, that despite the glamour of her fast-paced dating life, the lifestyle causes her to cry every Tuesday night. A few comedic beats later, Rose launches into yet another one of her tedious St. Olaf stories and Bea Arthur’s character, Dorothy (in a hurry to get out of listening), interrupts her by mentioning that she too cries once a week—incidentally at that precise moment.

Joking aside, what was your reaction? Were you thinking “Awww… poor Kat!” Or were you ready to hit the unfollow button? I mean after all, how can I write a blog about hope when I’m crying every week?

Which brings me to the real mission behind this blog. In order for me to write about hope I have to experience it. Over the past fifteen years I did just that—had experiences that, to be frank, would cause the average person ponder the meaning of life. Not for the purposes of ending it, rather, the purpose of finding it. Of living it. Fifteen years since my last article for the old Hope Chronicles and here I am…still writing about having hope.

Fifteen years later, and I asked myself, “When life doesn’t go as planned, what do you do? Do you dare dream, plan, and hope for another chance at something better? Or do you resign yourself to the fact that life is cruel and go through the motions?”

In the pilot episode of The Golden Girls, Rose made a profound statement that I would like to share this week. She said, “We don’t go through all we go through; getting married, raising kids, planning a future—only to be left alone.”

Now imagine living that…in the absence of hope. Some of us are. Some of us were, without ever being able to describe the feeling or pinpoint exactly what was wrong.

For those who follow The Bible, we are reminded that “we are given a future, a hope.” In another passage we are reminded that “hope deferred can make the heart sick.”

In The Hope Chronicles Blog, you will read and “hopefully” (yes, pun intended) get to experience a collection of “hope” stories not just based on my life experiences but from folks all over; of various backgrounds and ages.

It is my “hope” that you are blessed by the stories shared here. It is my “hope” that they will inspire you enough to find some hope of your own.

❤️

Kat

…

In memoriam

Betty White

January 17, 1922 – December 31, 2021