A Dog's Life

These 2 (dirty) dogs had a great day yesterday..

A run in the woods....

Later a visit to Atwood Lake - where they got to sniff to their hearts content


and a walk in the evening to round off the day...

It is just to beautiful to be inside.

They were asleep when I left this morning- and napping when I came home this evening.

Some days- it would be great to be a dog!








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school supplies

Sitting in a room surrounded by school supplies.... the requisite paper and pencils...
notebooks and planers...... paper clips and rubber bands....

pillows, blankets, towels

personal hygiene items

plate, fork and spoon (do you think they will ever be washed?)

Seems a long time ago that we started the quest for school supplies in August. From the beginning, it was an experience filled with excitement -ohhs and ahhs - and mom, I Gotta haves

I've never seen anyone swoon over mechanical pencils as my soon does every year. Every year the same.... they come home and are out of the bag before the evening is over- No matter how many times I exhort him to keep everything together- before I can even turn my back they are spread across the room, to be admired, held, fingered and ....... lost...... before the school year begins.....

We were looking for his $100plus calculator today.... turns out he loaned it to some girl named Candy. Candy who and where does she live? " Don't know mom, chill, I texted her and she said she'd mail it back..... " I'm not holding my breath here...

After all the struggles he has had- I am amazed at his excitement each year.... he's an overcomer, this kid of mine...... not one to let the struggles of the past get him down, but one to look forward to new challenges and new things to overcome....

somehow, I think he's going to be ok.... if he can find his pencil..




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Ted Kennedy

Listened with interest to the wake last night for Senator Kennedy, and to the funeral today.

I loved hearing the laughter and rememberances mixed with the sorrow and loss.

It was good to hear many share how much the last 14 months meant- good to hear that they were able to share stories and memories, make new memories- to say good-bye and to honor what he had been in each of their lives.

One thing struck me as the battle over health care wages on....

Ted Kennedy was passionate that all should receive "health care as a right - not a priviledge"
One great equalizer is end of life.
Whatever decisions were made about his treatment at end of life, it seems apparent their focus was that he should live well in his remaining months..... that the focus was family, friends, love, laughter and his work.
Those choices are available to all of us- whatever our economic rung. I have seen it over and over with our hospice families- no matter what their "status"
People who choose hospice seem to be making a very conscious decision that they are choosing to live well in their remaining time.

I hope that as our senate returns to it's work that they will remember and choose to honor the choices that were made in the final days of their lost compatriot.




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An Other World

"I see an other world"

I thought about those words as I drove through the country side today. The clouds hung heavy in a blue sky. Round bales of hay dotted the green hills The air was fragrant. Flowers merrily decorated country homes. Horses and cows grazed. Fall is in the air- a perfect day.

I heard those words years ago, from the lips of a frail, elderly woman who clutched my hand tightly. The blue eyes captured mine.

I asked the obvious question- what do you see?

"I tell Jim (her husband- deceased for some years) that they are here. My mother, my sisters. Every time I close my eyes, I see them. When I open my eyes- they are gone"

A common experience, I've found, of the dying- no matter what their faith backround.

It comforted me, as it always does, to think that someone meets us- to think that we do not walk that path alone.

I shared that thought aloud- think how much they must love you- to come meet you and take you home.

The blue eyes softened, the grip relaxed. She considered this idea- maybe she wasn't crazy after all...

We sat for a bit, hands linked, silently contemplating our own stories.

"What's it like", I wondered aloud "that other world"

Smiling now, she answered me drowsily "it's alot like this one"

On a day like today- I hope that she was right.

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rainy mornings

There is something so soothing about a rainy morning - especially if one has a little time to enjoy the quiet.
Sitting on my closed in porch, paper unopened beside me- watching the world wake up..... Seeing the raindrops play in the puddles, hearing the gentle downpour, the occasional slush of a car going by.
Never seems as if there are enough of these times-- just to enjoy what is.
So often caught up in a frentic rush to be somewhere else- my mind in the future- or in the past...
Today is Dan's 48th birthday. A huge bucket of tomoatoes sit on the table, waiting to become his favorite pasta toss.
School will start this week, and our lives will shift again.
Think I'll start the sauce before I head to church....
Seems like a good day to savor..... the rich scents and the noisy sounds.
Seems like a good day....




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Here's Your Sign....

This just gave me a chuckle....

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reinventing

"There's a tea party in Zoar. Do you want to go?" My mother's voice, shrill and excited. "Sure" I answered.

Honest to Goodness- I was thinking pretty cups and saucers, maybe a cucumber sandwich. Nancy was thinking about Sweeping the Nation. Driving out the Democrats. My mother, the activist? Who knew?

There's a word that keeps surfacing lately. REINVENT- as in reinvent yourself! I seem to see it everywhere I go. It's probably just my frame of mind- like when you are pregnant and see expectant mother's everywhere.

I can't get away, however, from the notion that everything in my life has changed. Obviously not external- cause I'm sitting in the same seat of the same house with the same people asleep upstairs. Still, it is apparent that a lot of the surface things that were important a year ago have slipped away. I can't get away from the thought that this is a transition time.

I have a song in my head that has been playing over and over:

When the music fades - And all is stripped away - And I simply come - Longing just to bring - Something that's of worth - That will bless Your heart - I'll bring you more than a song For a song in itself - Is not what you have required - You search much deeper within - Through the ways things appear - You're looking into my heart

[Chorus]
I'm coming back to the heart of worship - And its all about You - All about You, Jesus - I'm sorry Lord for the thing I've made it -When its all about You - Its all about You

King of endless worth No one could express How much You deserve -Though I'm weak and poor All I have is Yours- Every single breath -I'll bring you more than a song- For a song in itself Is not what you have required- You search much deeper within -Through the ways things appear -You're looking into my heart
[Chorus]
(Heart of Worship- Sonic Flood)

I don't know what I'll do about the tea party. I'm still trying to figure out when my mother turned into an activist.
What does seem obvious is that the "reinventing" I do today will determine what I will be when I am my mother's age.

I've spent a lot of time wondering about what makes a life well lived.

It seems important to look deep within....






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