Tag Archives: Life

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It just happened...after posting daily (really) I lost my grip on it and took a couple of weeks off...and it felt good but very, very lazy.  I feel almost as though the daily blogging has become a discipline of sorts - especially when I blog my way through articles and books.

What has happened...this past Monday was my "anniversary of single-hood".  We past Memorial Day and the kids and I put flowers on their dad's grave.

Amanda (finally) got her learner's permit...the down side is that I am now the one who will "teach" her how to drive.

Tomorrow is the last day of school.

I discovered "Lost".  And the past episodes (including the most recent season) are available on line.

I'm making jewelry again.

And that is about it for the online update.  Hopefully I'll get back on track, but right now life is busy with "stuff".

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I spent a while with my parents this weekend and my dad talked a lot about history. Times have changed and we forget how fortunate we are to live in a part of the world where life is taken for granted.

These are the graves of four of my aunts and uncles that died as babies (or young children). The first born died in 1921....(maybe). My grandmother and grandfather lost their first four (maybe five) babies. My dad told me yesterday that somebody in the family has my grandpa's Bible. The page where they recorded deaths is there, but the birth page is torn out. Just gone.

We had some very nice talks...about the past, relatives, time.

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Every once in a while I write a post that messes up the blog. That happened today.

And...my last weeks' photo hunt photo is "photo of the week"! THANKS!

And...my mom and dad are back from Florida so I'm going to be visiting them for today and tomorrow (it's a drive so I'm taking my iPod and catching up on podcasts)

I'll stop by the cemetery and help my dad clean up after winter. And stop at the Mennonite bulk food store - they make really good cheese.

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You know how every once in a while you have a research paper due (that isn't quite printed yet)...and you have an exam coming up...and you have paperwork to do...and...and...and...you just didn't plan life quite right and now you're just a little behind and it just caught up in a not very urgent, but rather annoying way?

And then God says...here.

I had a flat tire this morning. And so I am taking an unplanned day off (because I couldn't get the tire off, but Tom did so he's changing it but in his own time on the way to class) and since by the time I get to work it will be halfway through the day...I'm just going to get my Spanish AND my literature work caught up.

Yes, I'm burning the remainder of my comp time - but that's ok. This is what it's there for.

Thank God for flat tires (sometimes) 😉

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Saturday, she was fine. Chased a moth even.

Sunday she sat on the stairs, hunched over and cried when I touched her.

This morning she was laying on her side in her bed over the heating register, crying when I pet her.

This afternoon she went to sleep.

Simone was about 16 years old and the most affectionate and cuddly cats I've owned. She was known (even among people who don't like cats) as "Sweet Simey". She consented to be worn as a hat by my son and stuffed into the front of his t-shirt. She slept with my daughter and Amanda doesn't remember life without her. Simey even liked little kids.

The trip to the vet was hard, but not as hard as seeing her hurt.

God created man in His image, we are the ones with souls. It is our job to take care of the earth and those that belong on this earth with us.
Animals don't fear death, they fear pain and Sweet Simey didn't deserve pain.

(The photo is from a time when she was fat, healthy, happy and very relaxed...)

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I'm reading a book by Thom Hartmann (it's a book I've had for years but don't remember the title and it's sitting in my desk at work). It questions ADD/ADHD (Attention Deficit Disorder - with or without Hyperactivity) as a disability and looks at it through the screen of a personality type, or skills set.

I have an "official" diagnosis of ADD (inattentive); it gets me ritalin if I want it during exam weeks, although I have not used prescription meds in years. I do self-medicate with caffeine.

The prescriptions that work for those with this diagnosis? psycho-stimulants.

But wait...why would a stimulant work to slow down a person?

Here is the theory: There are a certain number of people who have a function in their body that releases less of a chemical than the body of the person living next door to them. (Do I remember the name? no, but the book is at work.) This chemical stimulates the nervous system.

So (the theory goes) I have less of this chemical running around in my body, so I feel less "stimulated". How would this affect the way I run my life?

How would a child sitting in a class for hours give him(or her)self stimulation. Impulsively jumping out of the seat? Pulling the hair of the nearest child? Bouncing legs, doodling, watching the birds fly by the window?

How would this play out in an adult life? Waiting until the last minute to write a paper, somehow liking the stress of the impending deadline? Careening down a hill on a piece of wood called a "snowboard"? Strapping a big piece of fabric to one's back and jumping out of an airplane?

"Normals" look at this behavior and say, "That person has a death wish." They are wrong.

We have a life wish. If you ask somebody at the bottom (or top) of a cliff after a rappel or climb, they will tell you that they feel alive.

Alive!

It is the desire for the feeling of "aliveness" that brings with it the urge for "high risk" behaviors, whether sports, exploration or sexual acts.

I have a "life wish" - I want to do new things. I want to experience the wind in my face, snow in my eyes, water in my ears. I want to feel the sun on my back as I climb, the cool of water in my face as I dive.
I want to experience danger, excitement, even fear. I want to feel the flash in my limbs as adrenalin shoots down to my fingertips and toes. These are the feelings that life is made of and I want to experience life.

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In an effort to be circumspect and "proper", I'll just say that I'm having a big glass of wine, 6 motrin, and I'm going to bed.  The physical condition that is bringing about my surgery next month is causing me discomfort, inconvenience and pain.  If you are a "male-type-person", you may not want to look any further.

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My father-in-law was a hero.  A true hero.

He was a war hero.

I have hanging on my wall a shadowbox with his army induction photo, his bronze star, his purple heart, his D-day medal from the country of France and a medal signifying his belonging to the "big red one".  I have the flag that draped his coffin.
I've read the story about why he was awarded the bronze star and purple heart.  He was a tank commander during WWII.  I don't know why the guy was out of his tank, but one of Dad's men was injured and trapped between the tank/line and a German machine gun nest.

Dad rushed the nest, rescued his man and carried him back to the tank and to safety; he was injured in the process.

But he was a TRUE hero.

I never saw the photo, I didn't even know about the bronze star.  I knew about the purple heart because his injury disabled him later in life.  I knew about the medal from France because there was a controversy.  I knew about the Big Red One because he had dinner with the remainder of his unit at least once a year.  I never knew about the letter until his death.

He wanted it that way because he knew what was important.

He came home from the war, went to work for "Continental Can Company" and worked his way through Moody Bible Institute.  He married my mother-in-law and became a "home missionary", going to schools, going to the poor, going to the "back country" in Tennessee, preaching the Gospel.

That was what was important to him.  All three of his children were born in the mission field of Tennessee.

In the process, he preached on the radio, he ministered in small churches, he worked at a summer camp for poor kids.

After that, he moved to Brookfield, IL, where he pastored the church where most of his family and in-laws belonged.  From there, he moved to Greenville, MI and after that he pastored the church that I grew up in, where I met his son, my husband.

Did things go wrong in his family?  Yes, but his children made their own choices as adults that I'm not sure he had any part in.  I do believe that he did the best he could with what he was given, in the era that he lived in.

Why did he not talk about his war days?

Because he didn't want to take away anything from preaching the Gospel.  His war history was less important to him than his vocation of preaching.

I believe he was a hero of the best kind.

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My daughter learned an important lesson last night - always remember your cell phone.

She was at church (I came home - my bad) and when I tried to leave to pick her up I had a flat tire. I tried to call her, but the back seat rang.

I tried to call the church, but all the phones go through the main switchboard, which was closed, so I couldn't get through.

I tried to call her friend, but she didn't answer her phone and by the time she did, she was home.

This was my son's first time at changing a tire and he had trouble with the jack, then he had trouble getting the tire off. He did eventually get it done - and he understood my point in making him do it - this way his first tire change was in our driveway, not on the highway.

My daughter called, "Mom - are you coming to get me?"

I explained and reminded her that this was one of the reasons that I want her to carry her phone. Always. Someday, it might be her lifeline.

I think that we treat God like that sometimes. He's nice to have around when we think we might need Him, but otherwise, He's like that lifeline.

The more we depend on Him (even when times are good), the more we'll lean on Him first when times are not so good.