Saturday, February 6, 2021

A Fun Double-Dare

 Have you noticed that we’re having sunshine one day in a row. But I’ll take it. My pleasant personality comes out on a sunny day while the “other” one shows up when we have several dreary. 

Yesterday was exactly nine months since my son passed. I was thinking about him all day and before I knew it, I had written a story about him. I couldn’t read the final copy with tears in my eyes. 

But, as I've often noted, God always seems to provide a good experience to ease the pain of a bad memory. And so... 
I became as excited as a child when the snow started coming down and covering everything.

I’ve always liked snow. After all my kids were gone and I didn’t have an excuse for playing in the snow, I used to stand at the window watching it come down and wonder if I’d be deemed a crazy old woman by my neighbors if they saw me making snow angels by myself. 😃

Then one night, I was talking to a friend on the phone - telling her what I just told  you and she double-dared me to ignore the neighbors and go out the next morning and make snow angels.

Well, I could never resist a dare, a double-dare at that, so I got up the next morning and put on my warm clothes: sweat pants, two jackets, socks, boots and gloves - kinda looked like a linebacker.

When I told Mr. H. I needed him to go with me to take a picture so I could prove to Sherry that I did it, he looked at me like he wondered who I was and what I’d done with his wife. But, with a little prodding, he went. However, after one picture, he said, C’mon, let’s go in now.

Disappointed that I didn’t get to stay out longer, I followed him into the house like a stray dog.

But I had been a child rolling around in the snow for an exhilarating few minutes —

And I had my picture!




Time Changes Things

My 21 year old kitty, Liza Jane, named after my paternal grandmother, has been sick. After my last Yorkie died, I swore I’d never get another pet, because it hurts too much to lose them, but if we live long enough, we learn never to say, “never.”

 Nevertheless, time changes things. And us.

 One day, my daughter came home from her job at the veterinary hospital all upset about the unpleasant fate of a beautiful cat that had been in her charge for days. An animal lover, she already had 3 boxers and a cat and felt that she couldn’t take on anymore.

 However, she had something else in mind.

 “Mother,” she said. “You’ve just GOT to rescue this beautiful cat we have at the hospital! A woman left her with us for a week and then called and told my boss to do whatever she wanted with her because she didn’t want her back!”

 “I can’t take a cat, honey,” I told her. “You know your dad doesn’t like cats!”

 “But you have to save her life,” daughter said. “My boss is sending her to be euthanized tomorrow. She’s a beautiful cat, about 5 years old. Please, just go see her in the morning.”

 “Okay, but I’m not  promising anything.”

 Well, I'm sure you know the rest of the story. She’s been with us for 16 years. Funny thing, she came right in and decided Mr. H. was her “person.” No matter how much he discouraged it, she wanted to lie on the arm of his recliner watching TV with him.

 It didn’t take long, though, for her to figure out that her food was coming from my hand and that I was the one giving her all the affection. She still likes him, but she is definitely MY BABY!

 Anyway, she’s ailing and we dread the day when  she’s no longer with us. She came to us at a time when all our kids were leaving and sort of made the empty nest seem a little less empty. God is good!  He knows just what we need and when we need it, doesn’t He?

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Sunday, February 17, 2019

A Death in the Family Erases Happy Occasion


   
     Yesterday was my daughter’s birthday! It should have been a happy occasion, but sometimes, happiness and sadness collide, leaving one with a confused mind, a weary soul and a broken heart. How can you be happy about one occurrence when another is breaking your heart? By last night, all celebratory feelings were wiped away by a death in our family. Even though we’ve known for a while that this one was coming, the reality is no less heartbreaking! Everyone reading this knows the feeling.
    Happiness and sadness seem to meet face-to-face a lot in our family! My mother was laid to rest on my eldest son’s birthday, tainting his birthday, just a little, forever.
    My son had a serious, life-threatening operation on a favorite aunt’s birthday. I’ll never forget her reaction. Late that night, after my son was in ICU, safe and sound, we came home to get a little rest. I had bought Aunt Betty a birthday cake and had it waiting in the fridge, thinking we’d have a piece of cake together and observe her birthday quietly. However, she said, “Let’s postpone it. Somehow, it doesn’t seem right to celebrate right now.” I agreed, hugged her and we went to bed so we could rise early and head back to the hospital.
    We’ll never be able to celebrate any of these birthdays without remembering the dreadful thing that happened on the same day.
     However, once the pain of loss begins to soften, perhaps we can remember that death, too, should be a sort of celebration. Our loved one is no longer in pain: he or she is released into a beautiful world with a perfect body. Why should we not be happy about that?
     Of course, it’s difficult now. The pain is fresh, we still see the face we loved and hear the familiar voice, but this is where God proves that He doesn’t give us more than we can bear. We begin to remember things this person did or said to make us laugh; our friends remind us of the good things they did; all sorts of memories we thought we’d forgotten come flooding back and we find that we are able to laugh though we may have thought we’d never laugh again, and remembering them with laughter makes us feel a little better.
      Is it possible that the laughter we accumulate in our souls makes the tears easier to bear?
     Think about it.          
       When we lose someone we love, we often search for memories of that person that make us laugh. This gives us permission not to grieve so totally, but to find a little gladness in an agonizing event. We don’t have to reason it out. We just do it.

How amazingly resilient God has made us!


~IN MEMORY OF GARY DILLARD~



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Wednesday, January 9, 2019

Alien Ornament - 2018

  
      When I am old and wise, I shall gather my grandchildren around me and tell them about the alien ornaments their grandfather and I used to discover on our Christmas tree each year when we dismantled it. We were never certain who was responsible for the magical appearance of the strange ornaments but we had our suspicions, tho' no one has ever owned up to it. 

I think the grandchildren might enjoy seeing pictures of all of the ornaments that began to appear on our tree when some of them were too young to understand. Each ornament is very different. Whoever chose them had a colorful imagination and a desire to make others happy.


And they did!


We've enjoyed each and every one of these aliens and still get excited each time we find a new one -- even after all these years!


This is year number 12. Here is a picture of the beautiful ornament we discovered this year.


It appears to be a shiny pink doe wearing a genuine crocheted scarf. She's quite eye-catching! She was resting on a concealed branch of the tree when I found her. Looked as if she'd always been there - perhaps hiding from predators.

If you've never read my blogs, and are interested in what I'm talking about, you may go here and find out how it all got started.

Last year's ornament is here.



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Saturday, September 1, 2018

Ah, September~

Ah, September~
A person who was a great influence on my life often said, “The days are long but the years are short.” As a child, I let those words roll off me like beads of rain without giving any thought to what they meant; all I wanted was for the important days like Christmas and my birthday and the last day of school to hurry up and come - but all the good stuff seemed to take forever!
However, getting older changed my perception of time and now I know how true that statement is. The years disappear like water down a drain and I find myself wondering where they went. I can hardly believe it’s time to say goodbye to the eighth month of this year and move on to the ninth, one of my favorites. 

Many people complain. “Oh, my!” they say, “That means winter is right around the corner,” but I’m not one of those. I love September and the beauty that follows. Here in West Virginia, it is more beautiful than anything else I can imagine. Almost Heaven!

Get ready for some gradual changes. 

First, the light changes. Suddenly, you notice there is a soft golden glow instead of the harsh, hot, eye-straining yellow of midsummer. Then there is the silence – the lovely silence, delightful cerulean skies, cooler nights — and an air of expectancy! 

If you combine these golden days with refreshing silence and the still colorful, though declining, flower gardens, you have September days that seem—almost sacred.

It is a restful time. I like to visit a small man-made lake in my town where I sit on a bench beside the water and watch ducks glide gracefully across the reflection of a clear blue sky adorned with puffy white clouds. As I savor this moment in time, my mind is free of worry and stress and I feel very close to God.

“Ah, September, you are the doorway to the season that awakens my soul, though I must admit I love you only because you are the prelude to my beloved October.” ~ pth ©2010

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Tuesday, August 14, 2018

Summer Afternoon


We are two young girls, barefoot on a sizzling
    street; August heat - Dante's Inferno!

Faster and faster we go; upward pointed
 toes; lips O-ed as we scurry to find a
   cooler spot. At last, thick clumps of grass offer
relief. We accept. Our giggles bounce back from
   surrounding hills; breathing returns to normal.

We lie on cool grass watching big, puffy clouds 
float across a cerulean sky.



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Thursday, August 9, 2018

#TBT - A Really Old One of Mr. H. and Me!

#tbt

We were leaving for a weekend trip to Cincinnati. My parents were babysitting.
Fun times!