Sunday, June 19, 2011

Happy Father's Day...to a star that still burns.


Many years ago, my dad flipped over a paper placemat in a restaurant and wrote me a letter on the back. I won't share all of it because it is personal, but the following words tell a lot about the patriarch of the family.


"You were a perfect baby, 
a terrible teen, a promising star, 
blossoming out beyond braided hair
and your 'very own' bedroom.

...You have become better. May I say that to you, with grace? Your impatience has mellowed, and so has mine. Mutual treasure.

Your star is burning ever brighter,
while ours is burning out.
That is the way of stars, you know.

...My advice is free, but valuable.
Don't be hung up with other's success.

...Rejoice in the small things.
Take time for laughter, and so-called 'little' 
people. Take time to love & be loved.

Your Dad"


Recently, I read a line in Ann Voskamp's One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are that froze me in place and instantly made me think of my dad. She quoted Martin Luther, who once said: "If you want to change the world, pick up your pen."

Dad, as you end your career...your years of study and preparation and sermons and planning and elders' meetings and work parties and moves and marriage ceremonies and youth rallies and funerals...let me be the first in line to thank you. Thank you for leading us on adventures in New England and Pennsylvania and Texas...for canoes and cameras and shotguns...for hikes and hunts and museums and darkrooms that smelled like vinegar.

For loving our mother.
  
For picking up your pen and changing the world. 
 
Dad, with his own dad. (1947)

Thursday, June 02, 2011

Thumbs up, everybody! ROCK AND ROLL!

Feelin' a little down after yesterday's exam and hospital pre-op visit. The surgery will be worse than we thought, the recovery longer, the side effects more awful. Lunch with the Schumanns cheered me up a little bit (I had to rip the bandage off my arm so I could dip my chips in the salsa!), but then my AC broke last night and water was dripping into the utility room closet...on the same wood that got soaked during the Water Heater Fiasco a couple of months ago!

And then, today, the good news started rolling in to soften yesterday's blows. Philip fixed the AC. Good news on the phone from my boss. A funny photo of Kirsten's AHS bear headed back to Arizona.

And then...this.





Thumbs up, everybody.