Annette Marie Haymon Brooks was born May 20, 1957, to Reverend John and Mamie Haymon of Penney Farms, Florida. She is the second oldest of nine children. Her baby brother Reverend John Jon Haymon went home to be with the Lord several years ago. Penney Farms, FL was her childhood home where she lived with her loving family. Upon completing high school, she left home to attend Florida State College, where in 1979 she graduated with a Bachelor of Nursing degree.
She met her husband Reginald Brooks in 1980 at a small hospital in Jacksonville, Fl. He was a pharmacist, and she was a registered nurse on the floor. After dating for six months, they were married on March 9, 1980. It was love at first sight. God blessed them with three beautiful children: Reginald II, Jonathan, and Kimberly. Reginald is married and has three beautiful daughters. Unexpectedly, her soulmate, husband, and best friend passed away with a brain aneurysm February 16, 2000.
Annette currently is retired after 40 years of nursing. She now resides in the New Hope Community of Penney, Farms, Fl with her family and friends. She enjoys spending time at church where she serves as the mission president and the church clerk. She also enjoys spending time her grandchildren, siblings, and friends.
In our candid discussion today my first cousin Annette and I will talk about how she chose effective ways of bailing out the water in the boat of her life. To the degree that her choices afforded her the opportunity to avoid a life mired by insecurity, despair, and chaos. As a result, she was able to enjoy the beauty and goodness in life even under adverse conditions.
The Water in the Boat Metaphor
Water is a symbol of life, of purification, and of hope. The boat was a very early Christian symbol. It has been used to represent the Church itself reaching a safe haven with its Christian souls onboard, thus a symbol of safety.
This metaphor is setting a context and a direction for resiliency, acceptance, commitment, purpose, love, exploration, self-esteem, connection, safety, security, and growth.
Imagine that life was like navigating a sailing boat. During your life, you have picked up the skills necessary to sail your boat and you have a sense of where you are taking this boat. At some point in your learning to sail, you have learned that from time to time, waves may wash over the bow, and you will find yourself with water in your boat.
The usual response that people have when water is in their boat is as follows: sweating, trembling, shortness of breath, a choking sensation, chest pain, nausea, dizziness, fear of losing your mind, fear of dying, feeling hot or cold, numbness or tingling, and heart palpitations.
At this point in your journey, you must do the most sensible and logical thing: get rid of the water. You have been using that bailer a lot. Sometimes bailing quickly, sometimes bailing carefully, sometimes bailing wildly, sometimes bailing desperately. And in your experience, have you managed to get rid of the water yet? And all this time that you have been bailing, what has been happening to the direction and progress your boat has been making? Is it fair to say that you have been bailing more than you have been sailing this boat?
Now, what if you were to one day really look at the bailer and see that it was full of holes? What would you have to do first? This metaphor suggests that the problem is not that there is water in the boat, but that the boat is being dragged or slowed down by an anchor; the anchor essentially being likened to the problems of life. Yet, Annette graciously shares with us how to remove the water from the boat and how to keep it at bay.
Food for thought: There's a storm out over the ocean and it's moving this a way. If your soul's not anchored in Jesus you will surely drift away
