Mom at 88
Today my mom has a birthday. If you know my mom you know it will be a day filled with friends, eating out and strawberries in some fashion. This is her first birthday without my dad. She will busy and well loved but there will be an ache; I know I have been there. Moms…
Clayton Happy Birthday #27
I know that every parent feels this way, but what happened to time?! I remember the day you were born and it was about now that I finally held you. It seems not so long ago that you were my little boy and I was taking care of you every day. Now those days are…
Connor Happy Birthday #33
Today is your birthday! I hope it is good but that it is followed by an amazing year of God’s favor and a few good breaks. The past few years – actually most of the years I have known you – you have been pushed to the margins and not been treated well by any…
MLV 60
I don’t want this blog to become a big birthday card but the milestones and family need to be recognized. My sister joins the next decade today. No one has endured my nonsense longer with such intimacy and angst as this one person. Yes I do have relatives and friends I have known longer than…
Sure!
My family has been called out for over use of the word sure! I sure don’t understand why, but I am told it is the “worst” answer to a yes/no question. The belief is that when we use it to answer in the affirmative that we are still on the fence about that yes. Let…
Heroes
There are heroes in the world. Some are disguised as regular people. I know some – actually I know more than my fair share. They may not be the superhero kind who wear capes and have otherworldly superpowers but they are the real deal. One of my superheroes, at 87 years old, went to Africa…
Grief is meant to be shared.
Really? It feels so lonesome and isolated and in many ways it is. It is a dark place that I don’t want to walk and even less do I want to drag anyone else there. And yet…. … I long for people to hear my stories, whether they are loss or gain. I need people…
What my dad would want you to know
Yesterday we celebrated my dad’s life – These are my words: Thank you for coming- we are grateful for the part you have played in the life of our family and for the honor you show by helping us today in honoring the life of Rex. Some of you knew Rex better than others. Some…
I remember you!
Today is a dear friend’s birthday though she may have trouble remembering it. She has dementia. This intelligent, eloquent and gifted person who loved to learn and study can no longer even speak in a way that makes sense. All diseases are bad but the loss of memory is the death of relationship and the…
The myth of the past
Looking forward rather than backward is “advent”, It is looking for what is coming, anticipating arrival- not retracing our steps! As a kid I celebrated the expectant coming of Christ with eager anticipation (well, at least for the gifts that accompanied the arrival). And yet He had already come some 2000 years ago! We retrace…