By Vicki Scott
This month marks eight years of writing for The Messenger. Wow, time sure does fly when you’re having fun! Writing a weekly column has been like therapy through moving to Glencoe and missing Dadeville and then moving back to Dadeville and missing Glencoe.
Through this page, I was able to share my experiences with my mother (who suffered from dementia) and my life in between.
It’s been an honor to meet so many amazing people who came to meet me in Glencoe at George Wallace Senior Center and Cove Creek Baptist Church. My husband was approached at work by someone asking if I was his wife. The phone calls, the e-mails, public speaking and the times when people came up to me asking if I was the Vicki Scott made me feel like somebody.
Now I’m back to the No Big Deal mentality. I felt like I was a nobody before, but people in Glencoe had a gift of making me feel otherwise. I will forever treasure that, and I guess that’s one reason why I keep trying to come back and visit.
This treasure of encouragement that folks in Glencoe and the surrounding area gave me has not been wasted, and I’m attempting to pass it around. My challenge is to make others feel like they’ve made me feel. It is not a New Year’s resolution; rather, it’s a goal (for what it’s worth, I broke my 2024 New Year’s Resolution at 11 a.m. on New Year’s Day).
My goal is to try and recognize and encourage people when they are doing a good job or at least trying to. It feels good to help someone, and I try to make sure people are appreciated when they’ve helped me. My focus usually is on getting the job done, and sometimes I forget who made that job possible.
God uses so many people in my life to make His presence felt, and I need to acknowledge those people when I realize I have not done so. I praise God for using you all to help me want to continue to write. I am as famous as I want to be, and you made it happen!
The blessings are abundant where I am now. People know me in Dadeville, but it’s not because of writing. Many folks in these parts do not know that I write. However, when I hear a young voice shout, “Nana,” I’m as famous as I care to be.
People more famous than me dedicate their lives to being famous. I do not want to lose any more time than needed in watching my four grandchildren grow up. God uses these four young voices to make me feel like somebody, and I will do all I can to make them feel like you people made me feel. Many thanks for setting the bar high!
If you happen to be around Dadeville, we usually eat lunch at Niffer’s or Poplar Dawgs. whose owner not only knows us by name but knows what we want to eat. Jeremy runs different lunch specials every day and knows whether we want the special or something from the menu. It’s impressive that he knows that about all the regulars. Jeremy makes it a point to learn a person’s name, because in doing so, it makes that person feel important.
If you are around our neck of the woods on a Sunday or a Wednesday night, allow me to invite you to join us at First Baptist Church of Reeltown. Our congregation resembles Cove Creek Baptist in Glencoe in that we hug each other and encourage one another. We would love to see you and introduce you to our family. There is a little girl who is my youngest grandchild’s age that comes on her own to sit with me. It makes my day!
Philippians 4:8 says, “Fi-nally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” (KJV).
Please keep up the good work, Glencoe! We are still working on our senior program but we’re not even close to the George Wallace Senior Center. Another bar set high!
Vicki may be contacted at lily200383@yahoo.com.