It was the first football game of the year last night in most places, large and small. In our tiny little corner of the universe, the Northwest Indians faced Cloverleaf at 7:00 p.m. in Smilek Stadium, playing on the brand new artificial turf.
The field will be named James Schalmo Field, for Jim Schalmo, a fine young man who died way too young of a heart problem. His dad was one of the spearheads for the project. I knew him back in the day and he was a person of great character.
My son and his family will be there, and Greg talked about the wonderful chicken dinners that the Rotary Club prepares for each home game. He saw them starting the BBQ coals when he passed by their building in town on his way to get Lauren here.
For Lauren going to the games started really early. She is eight now and has probably been going since she was three. She loves the snacks, she said, and she actually seems to enjoy watching the games too. She is going out for cheerleading this year at SS Philip & James School so she said she'd watch the Northwest cheerleaders and check out what they do.
We can hear the cannon go off when Northwest scores a touchdown. It's always like a rite of passage from summer to fall when that sound filters through all of the woods and lots to our house. And when we hear that sound, we know that the Indians might be winning which is always good.
Thursday, the new tornado warning sirens were tested and they seem to do the job. It was plenty loud!! There is one not that far from the house. Then after I heard the siren, I went to get the mail and there was a postcard announcing the sirens and saying that they will be set off once a month on a Wednesday. It was Thursday. Another funny thing about life in a small town. There are A LOT of funny things about life in a small town.
The recycle center that was previously located at the old state road building was moved. There is no sign indicating where the dumpsters were taken, but I called and found out that they are near the township hall and garage. Another thing about life in a small town -- communication is a bit lacking. Are you getting the picture? We have no community newspaper and the three dailies that surround us don't devote a lot of space to Canal Fulton. We had a newsletter that went out monthly, but that came to an end due to budget cuts.
There is a street in Canal Fulton called Milan. It is not pronounced ma-LAN as in Italy, but rather, it is pronounced MY-lan. You can always tell the newbies right away because no one but the locals gets it right. We also have a Walnut, Wooster, High, Market, Cherry, Locust, Colonial, and then the people-named streets -- Dan, Bob, Beverly and James. Typical small town America.
And you know what? I absolutely, positively love it.
Have a great Labor Day Weekend. Talk to you on Tuesday then.
Karen
Light of Christ
Saturday, August 30, 2014
Friday, August 29, 2014
Pithy Thoughts About Marriage
We have been watching a seemingly inane television show about three couples who were paired using various types of matching software -- and then they got married on the day they met. It is a five-week experiment and at the end they will have to decide if they want to remain married or get a divorce.
The show got lambasted by the critics and that almost kept me away, but then I thought about the sociological and psychological aspects of this and felt it might be interesting. It is actually interesting. The so-called experts meet with the couples at times, suggesting that they use question games with each other and try to open up to one another. The questions are usually very superficial and dumb.
What strikes me is how guarded these young people are, how deep their defenses are towards the opposite sex. There is a deep lack of trust, and the cause of it in two cases appears to be something in their upbringing. One young woman has had three lousy relationships by her own admission. She comes from a terribly unreliable family, including an unreliable mother, and was uprooted a number of times ending up in a trailer park toward the end. From just a rudimentary level, she was able to climb out of poverty, get a degree in nursing, and land a good, steady job working at night in a hospital. But from a deep-seated place, she is so scarred and damaged that it is hard for her to overlook any small discretion committed by her husband -- even that he sneaked a cigarette and then lied about it.
The psychologist who worked with them over this occurrence never once asked her if maybe her need for absolute truth was nearly impossible, and maybe, just maybe he lied because he was so afraid of her reaction. He's trying to be perfect and we all know how that usually works out. For this young woman to ever achieve any sort of successful relationship, she has got to deal with her past and somehow put the pain behind her -- not end up lashing out at her husband for the hurts that others gave her.
The other young person who carries a lot of baggage is an EMS worker who will soon be getting into firefighting school. He grew up without a dad and apparently things weren't always great with his mother. Now his mother is terminally ill with lung cancer and he's trying to grapple with all of that. He hid his feelings from his guy friends all his life, and he has a hard time confiding in his wife about his feelings. She, however, shows a lot of maturity and patience with him and in the end, they will likely both come out of the experience stronger individually and as a couple. These two might actually have the best chance of making it.
The third couple is on the rockiest ground of all. While neither of them seem to have endured terrible hardship, they both lost their dads at a fairly young age. While you'd think that would tend to unite them, it doesn't seem to carry much weight in their relationship. The guy suggested a threesome on one occasion. She was actually more upset with his use of the word "civil" when he talked about his behavior towards her than she was about the previous thing he said. My opinion -- he seems to have a skewed view of women and has to some degree objectified them in his life. She has an uphill battle with this guy. He might not be husband material at this time.
What do I really think of this experiment? It's terrible. It's playing games with a sacrament. It's making light of involving two strangers with each other for five weeks, and expecting somehow that the experts can make it all right. There is this sense that it's okay -- they can just get a divorce if it doesn't work.
The one couple worries that once he starts firefighter school, things will change. Things will ALWAYS change. You can count on that. Successful people learn to deal with the changes by taking them head-on. They look at change as an opportunity to grow. When we try to hide from change, we get ourselves in trouble.
The honest truth is that there are any number of couples getting married today that probably don't know each other much better than these three couples did at the altar. Why? That's a good discussion for another day.
Just found out today that someone I really enjoyed at the University got a divorce and already has a new relationship. It made me a little sad -- I attended his wedding. I'm going to pray for him.
So today we wake up and start another day -- and again today I ask God to be with me, to guide me, and to help me. Won't you do the same? The one change I don't ever want to come to my life is losing my relationship with God. For God has done great things for me; and I rejoice and am glad.
The show got lambasted by the critics and that almost kept me away, but then I thought about the sociological and psychological aspects of this and felt it might be interesting. It is actually interesting. The so-called experts meet with the couples at times, suggesting that they use question games with each other and try to open up to one another. The questions are usually very superficial and dumb.
What strikes me is how guarded these young people are, how deep their defenses are towards the opposite sex. There is a deep lack of trust, and the cause of it in two cases appears to be something in their upbringing. One young woman has had three lousy relationships by her own admission. She comes from a terribly unreliable family, including an unreliable mother, and was uprooted a number of times ending up in a trailer park toward the end. From just a rudimentary level, she was able to climb out of poverty, get a degree in nursing, and land a good, steady job working at night in a hospital. But from a deep-seated place, she is so scarred and damaged that it is hard for her to overlook any small discretion committed by her husband -- even that he sneaked a cigarette and then lied about it.
The psychologist who worked with them over this occurrence never once asked her if maybe her need for absolute truth was nearly impossible, and maybe, just maybe he lied because he was so afraid of her reaction. He's trying to be perfect and we all know how that usually works out. For this young woman to ever achieve any sort of successful relationship, she has got to deal with her past and somehow put the pain behind her -- not end up lashing out at her husband for the hurts that others gave her.
The other young person who carries a lot of baggage is an EMS worker who will soon be getting into firefighting school. He grew up without a dad and apparently things weren't always great with his mother. Now his mother is terminally ill with lung cancer and he's trying to grapple with all of that. He hid his feelings from his guy friends all his life, and he has a hard time confiding in his wife about his feelings. She, however, shows a lot of maturity and patience with him and in the end, they will likely both come out of the experience stronger individually and as a couple. These two might actually have the best chance of making it.
The third couple is on the rockiest ground of all. While neither of them seem to have endured terrible hardship, they both lost their dads at a fairly young age. While you'd think that would tend to unite them, it doesn't seem to carry much weight in their relationship. The guy suggested a threesome on one occasion. She was actually more upset with his use of the word "civil" when he talked about his behavior towards her than she was about the previous thing he said. My opinion -- he seems to have a skewed view of women and has to some degree objectified them in his life. She has an uphill battle with this guy. He might not be husband material at this time.
What do I really think of this experiment? It's terrible. It's playing games with a sacrament. It's making light of involving two strangers with each other for five weeks, and expecting somehow that the experts can make it all right. There is this sense that it's okay -- they can just get a divorce if it doesn't work.
The one couple worries that once he starts firefighter school, things will change. Things will ALWAYS change. You can count on that. Successful people learn to deal with the changes by taking them head-on. They look at change as an opportunity to grow. When we try to hide from change, we get ourselves in trouble.
The honest truth is that there are any number of couples getting married today that probably don't know each other much better than these three couples did at the altar. Why? That's a good discussion for another day.
Just found out today that someone I really enjoyed at the University got a divorce and already has a new relationship. It made me a little sad -- I attended his wedding. I'm going to pray for him.
So today we wake up and start another day -- and again today I ask God to be with me, to guide me, and to help me. Won't you do the same? The one change I don't ever want to come to my life is losing my relationship with God. For God has done great things for me; and I rejoice and am glad.
Thursday, August 28, 2014
Strange Things
The fox.com this morning had a story you'll want to hear about. You know "Hello Kitty," the cartoonish character that adorns tops, lunch boxes, and backpacks all over?
Well, Hello Kitty isn't a kitty. Really? Yep. Hello Kitty, say the big shots, is a little girl in the third grade, British, with a twin sister.
I looked at the face this morning. I've never seen a little girl with ears on top of her head, how about you?
But honest, this was some of the news this morning. There were other somber reports I won't go into today.
Another snippet -- a 9-year-old shot and killed an employee at a shooting range while she was using an UZI. After consulting with experts, the place is considering some age restrictions on using the guns. I could say a lot of things about this story, but one thing is clear -- there have to be better ways for kids to have fun.
When we were at the Hartville Hardware a few weeks back, I bought a couple of little helicopter toys. I forgot about them until this morning!! I think they are in the garage in my personal cabinet. I'm going to go check because they should be used before the snow flies.
The women at the check-out counter told me a couple of funny stories about their store. One was that one employee was messing around with one of the winged toys I mentioned, and it went up so high it got hung up in the rafters of their store. The second one was that one of the employees (they said you'd have to know him to really appreciate the story) was playing with a remote controlled helicopter and it crashed above one of their facades along the back wall. Being that he is apparently a know-it-all, the fact that he messed up was really funny to all of them. Maybe not so much so for him. Wonder who got the toys down?
We are getting into the last of summer and it's really flexing its muscles, is it not? It happens every year. The poor kids are in the school room and the temperatures climb to the upper 80s and they come home like wilted lettuce. I'm going to look at the 10-day forecast to see what might be in store for our class reunion. The last two weren't ruined but they were affected by severe heat. And that's why we picked September for this one. And also this particular weekend because there is no OSU game.
So that's about it for today. I'm tapped out for some reason. The inside of my brain is hollow and has nothing to offer today -- much less something profound and special.
Other than I know that there is a God, that he has a son, and that we are loved by him every second of every day. And I know that there is a place called heaven -- "I have prepared a place for you." And I know that our lives are supposed to be dedicated to knowing, loving, and serving God.
So with that last thought in mind -- I sign off for today.
Well, Hello Kitty isn't a kitty. Really? Yep. Hello Kitty, say the big shots, is a little girl in the third grade, British, with a twin sister.
I looked at the face this morning. I've never seen a little girl with ears on top of her head, how about you?
But honest, this was some of the news this morning. There were other somber reports I won't go into today.
Another snippet -- a 9-year-old shot and killed an employee at a shooting range while she was using an UZI. After consulting with experts, the place is considering some age restrictions on using the guns. I could say a lot of things about this story, but one thing is clear -- there have to be better ways for kids to have fun.
When we were at the Hartville Hardware a few weeks back, I bought a couple of little helicopter toys. I forgot about them until this morning!! I think they are in the garage in my personal cabinet. I'm going to go check because they should be used before the snow flies.
The women at the check-out counter told me a couple of funny stories about their store. One was that one employee was messing around with one of the winged toys I mentioned, and it went up so high it got hung up in the rafters of their store. The second one was that one of the employees (they said you'd have to know him to really appreciate the story) was playing with a remote controlled helicopter and it crashed above one of their facades along the back wall. Being that he is apparently a know-it-all, the fact that he messed up was really funny to all of them. Maybe not so much so for him. Wonder who got the toys down?
We are getting into the last of summer and it's really flexing its muscles, is it not? It happens every year. The poor kids are in the school room and the temperatures climb to the upper 80s and they come home like wilted lettuce. I'm going to look at the 10-day forecast to see what might be in store for our class reunion. The last two weren't ruined but they were affected by severe heat. And that's why we picked September for this one. And also this particular weekend because there is no OSU game.
So that's about it for today. I'm tapped out for some reason. The inside of my brain is hollow and has nothing to offer today -- much less something profound and special.
Other than I know that there is a God, that he has a son, and that we are loved by him every second of every day. And I know that there is a place called heaven -- "I have prepared a place for you." And I know that our lives are supposed to be dedicated to knowing, loving, and serving God.
So with that last thought in mind -- I sign off for today.
Wednesday, August 27, 2014
Meeting Last Night
For two nights in a row, until last night, I didn't sleep very well. If I didn't know the real reason I would have said I was too warm or the cat was bothering me -- something like that. The truth is that we have this brown couch that has mysterious and undefinable properties. We could sell it for thousands and thousands of dollars to someone with insomnia. The truth is that whenever I sit down on the far left seat and relax for a number of minutes, I end up taking a nap.
So that's why I didn't sleep well. And last night I slept like a log because I was exhausted. Last night was a different story, because yesterday afternoon I went to Westlake and first visited with my sister for a while and then went to the Porter Library for our class reunion committee meeting. We only have one more meeting and then on September 5 and 6, we have the reunion. People are coming from all over to attend this event, and the first to arrive will be the Tuesday before the reunion.
Some are staying with classmates and some are staying at the newly renovated hotel in Westlake. In fact, almost all or all of the rooms we set aside have been taken.
Three of us practiced our songs for the reunion. We practiced our Alma Mater too. It's the same one as Cornell University. And the same tune as the camp song in "Dirty Dancing." The fight song is easy -- same as Ohio State's.
My suggestion for everyone today is to ask yourself a similar question -- what have I been doing for the last ____ years (since high school). It makes you take some stock of yourself and gauge where you've been and where you are going. It makes one accountable, which of course we are. By having to put your life in words makes it more real, more intense.
So thank you, God, for my fine classmates and for a chance to reconnect with them again in this special way. And thank you for all of the readers of this blog, Jesus, for being so loyal. And may God bless you on this day.
So that's why I didn't sleep well. And last night I slept like a log because I was exhausted. Last night was a different story, because yesterday afternoon I went to Westlake and first visited with my sister for a while and then went to the Porter Library for our class reunion committee meeting. We only have one more meeting and then on September 5 and 6, we have the reunion. People are coming from all over to attend this event, and the first to arrive will be the Tuesday before the reunion.
Some are staying with classmates and some are staying at the newly renovated hotel in Westlake. In fact, almost all or all of the rooms we set aside have been taken.
- One classmate just lost her husband in July and is coming from Texas to see all of us. Certainly a brave decision, I'd say.
- We received a contribution towards the reunion from the widow of one of our classmates who just died a couple of months ago. Can you believe that? How incredible. So we are calling her to invite her to come.
- One of our classmates who can't join us was the FIRST Brutus Buckeye at The Ohio State University and here's the kicker. He was involved in only one extracurricular activity during high school. I told everyone that we'd missed something in this kid. Who knew? Why didn't we give him a costume?
- One classmate spent 35 years traveling in Africa and Asia with her husband working to help people learn to read and sharing her love of theater. At times there was no running water and no electricity where they stayed. She was in Katmandu at one point.
- One classmate is an expert in Slavic languages and has her own editing company these days.
- At least 21 classmates are attending their FIRST reunion.
Three of us practiced our songs for the reunion. We practiced our Alma Mater too. It's the same one as Cornell University. And the same tune as the camp song in "Dirty Dancing." The fight song is easy -- same as Ohio State's.
My suggestion for everyone today is to ask yourself a similar question -- what have I been doing for the last ____ years (since high school). It makes you take some stock of yourself and gauge where you've been and where you are going. It makes one accountable, which of course we are. By having to put your life in words makes it more real, more intense.
So thank you, God, for my fine classmates and for a chance to reconnect with them again in this special way. And thank you for all of the readers of this blog, Jesus, for being so loyal. And may God bless you on this day.
Tuesday, August 26, 2014
A Morning Prayer
Somewhere along the line I learned a simple morning prayer -- something a little kid would say. But who is to say that it isn't relevant?
"Good morning, Dear Jesus, this day is for you. I ask you to bless all I think, say and do."
Let's break it down.
Therefore, wherever life takes you today, maybe remember this little prayer and its meaning.
For when we boil all of the mystery of life down -- our lives are a gift and we were created in the image and likeness of God. We carry a little bit of God with us. And God carries a lot of us.
Keep cool today. Keep the little ones cool too.
"Good morning, Dear Jesus, this day is for you. I ask you to bless all I think, say and do."
Let's break it down.
- Good morning. Don't we say that often enough to co-workers, family, friends? It is a pleasant way to greet someone and so why not extend that greeting to God? Besides by saying good morning, we include God among our co-workers, family and friends -- like God is just a regular guy and familiar to us in that special way. Like "Abba" which means "Daddy."
- Dear Jesus. Jesus is dear in every way. Special. Powerful. Sits at God's right hand. Came to earth and became one of us. Understands us. Ushers in the New Covenant between God and man. And so we address him by the name that God gave Him.
- This day is for you. All of our days belong to God because he made us and each day is a gift to us. But we acknowledge that we dedicate this day, today, to God. That we acknowledge that without God, there would be no day today. We are including God in our day -- and re-gifting the day back to God. We are saying that this day is not to be lumped together with past days or future days, but that TODAY is for you. And it is a new day, full of promise and hope.
- I ask you to bless. We are asking God to make holy this day, to sanctify this day. We are pushing away the world and asking for a heavenly blessing. We are also indicating to God that our effort is to do the right things on this day, to give glory to God on this day, and to further God's kingdom on earth on this day.
- All I think, say and do. In one day, we do a lot of thinking, a lot of saying, and a lot of doing. So by asking for God's blessing, we express that we do not want to sin on this day. We are saying that we want God's help, and we acknowledge that by requesting sanctification, we NEED God's help.
Therefore, wherever life takes you today, maybe remember this little prayer and its meaning.
For when we boil all of the mystery of life down -- our lives are a gift and we were created in the image and likeness of God. We carry a little bit of God with us. And God carries a lot of us.
Keep cool today. Keep the little ones cool too.
Saturday, August 23, 2014
Kazoo Part 3
So now you'd think that the whole kazoo thing was pretty much over, wouldn't you? Maybe not. Enter the recorder!!
At my granddaughter's school this year, music class will include the recorder which she proudly showed me yesterday in the zippered recorder case. Apparently, the sound it creates is not the greatest and my daughter-in-law and son are now more or less "suffering" along with it as best they can. They have a deck off the back of their house and this is the spot that Lauren has chosen to play her recorder.
Interesting that just as the dogs in my neighborhood weren't too thrilled with the kazoo, the dogs in her neighborhood don't like the recorder either. So as soon as she goes out there to start her mournful serenade, they start barking and carrying on.
Here's the best part thought, if you like pay backs. The weather is going to get cold!! The recorder is going to eventually have to come back in the house! It might even conger back to the days of my son and his saxophone. But wait. If she brings the recorder to my house in her backpack after school, and she practices here . . . it seems as though we might not be out of the woods on this thing either. I'll keep you posted. Meanwhile, maybe I'll dust off those earphones and we'll see if that helps.
She will learn to read music though and that is a good thing. Something I never quite figured out despite piano lessons. I blame it on the ADD and I'm sticking to it.
So today we are off to a cross country meet. Have you ever watched one? Don't rush out and check your local high school's schedule. The route is all mapped out and the spectators gather at certain points during the run, just to catch a glimpse of blurry runners going by in a cloud of dust. The last time my husband didn't figure out one time which one was our grandson. He picked the kid in the lead the one time and I was really hoping he was right, but I knew it wasn't true. Another time he pointed to a kid with hair that didn't look ANYTHING like our grandson's hair. Oh well, maybe his glasses prescription isn't what it ought to be.
Do you have any jewelry that needs repair? I know of a great little spot. It's Burton Jewelry Repair on Wales Road, Jackson Township. It's located right near Seifert's Flower Mill. The guy is pleasant, kind and honest. I got my earrings fixed and a watch battery, and then he tightened up some stones in my 10 year anniversary band (which I didn't know were loose but he showed me that they were) and then cleaned and polished it like new. They do appraisals but they do charge for this service.
So check them out. They also sell jewelry there, but not a huge inventory.
Bye for now. Don't forget to say some prayers! This is a very childlike prayer but it is a good starter for the day. "Good morning, dear Jesus, this day is for you. I ask you to bless all I think, say, and do." We'll talk about this more on Tuesday.
Have a great weekend.
At my granddaughter's school this year, music class will include the recorder which she proudly showed me yesterday in the zippered recorder case. Apparently, the sound it creates is not the greatest and my daughter-in-law and son are now more or less "suffering" along with it as best they can. They have a deck off the back of their house and this is the spot that Lauren has chosen to play her recorder.
Interesting that just as the dogs in my neighborhood weren't too thrilled with the kazoo, the dogs in her neighborhood don't like the recorder either. So as soon as she goes out there to start her mournful serenade, they start barking and carrying on.
Here's the best part thought, if you like pay backs. The weather is going to get cold!! The recorder is going to eventually have to come back in the house! It might even conger back to the days of my son and his saxophone. But wait. If she brings the recorder to my house in her backpack after school, and she practices here . . . it seems as though we might not be out of the woods on this thing either. I'll keep you posted. Meanwhile, maybe I'll dust off those earphones and we'll see if that helps.
She will learn to read music though and that is a good thing. Something I never quite figured out despite piano lessons. I blame it on the ADD and I'm sticking to it.
So today we are off to a cross country meet. Have you ever watched one? Don't rush out and check your local high school's schedule. The route is all mapped out and the spectators gather at certain points during the run, just to catch a glimpse of blurry runners going by in a cloud of dust. The last time my husband didn't figure out one time which one was our grandson. He picked the kid in the lead the one time and I was really hoping he was right, but I knew it wasn't true. Another time he pointed to a kid with hair that didn't look ANYTHING like our grandson's hair. Oh well, maybe his glasses prescription isn't what it ought to be.
Do you have any jewelry that needs repair? I know of a great little spot. It's Burton Jewelry Repair on Wales Road, Jackson Township. It's located right near Seifert's Flower Mill. The guy is pleasant, kind and honest. I got my earrings fixed and a watch battery, and then he tightened up some stones in my 10 year anniversary band (which I didn't know were loose but he showed me that they were) and then cleaned and polished it like new. They do appraisals but they do charge for this service.
So check them out. They also sell jewelry there, but not a huge inventory.
Bye for now. Don't forget to say some prayers! This is a very childlike prayer but it is a good starter for the day. "Good morning, dear Jesus, this day is for you. I ask you to bless all I think, say, and do." We'll talk about this more on Tuesday.
Have a great weekend.
Thursday, August 21, 2014
Kazoo Part II
Forgot to mention something. On the "Day of the Kazoos," as it will be known in the future, my granddaughter went out on the porch and stretched out on the floor. She relaxed with Gracie, the cat, for a while.
Then I heard that sound again. Muffled, but definitely the sound of a kazoo. Yep, it was Lauren out there giving it her all. Being a Johnny-one-note, she made the same sound over and over and LOUD. I kept thinking, "This will end at any minute. I mean, who could this up without getting bored." It kept up and kept up.
Now, as I said, the sound was muffled so it was bearable, and then at that point it got funny to me. So I went to the door and told her that she'd better be careful or wild animals would start showing up at the house. I told her that if a bear showed up at the sliding glass doors, she'd be one scared little kid.
Didn't change a thing. If anything, she got louder. So then I mentioned wolves. And coyotes. Nothing.
Then I ventured out there for a little while, into the chamber of auditory horrors, and asked her why she was making the noise over and over. "I'm calling the animals," she said. I'd thrown virtual gasoline on the fire it seems.
After she finally did get sick of making the sound, I told her that there wasn't a chance that there were ANY animals within three miles of the house. But she did get the neighbor's annoying dogs going at it pretty good. I think all in all, it was worth it.
I have a few extra kazoos. Hmmmm.
So -- let's see. What else did I want to mention? Let's change subjects here a little bit and mention Ferguson. Remember Watts? The Watts riots were absolutely horrible and there was widespread looting and burning that summer. Someone on FOX mentioned that in all of these years since Watts, the stores have not come back. They never returned. If all of this continues in Ferguson for much longer, they will suffer the same fate. The merchants will leave town for somewhere safer, the housing prices will plummet (they probably already have), and the people will be living in a ghost town. They will have to drive somewhere for everything.
The schools will be shells, the playgrounds empty, the churches food pantries. There are two sides to the story. It isn't my job to decide which side is right. But the insistence that only one side is right to the exclusion of all reason and information is plain and utterly WRONG. So that's what I have to say about Ferguson. Bringing the power of the federal government into the melee is only going to make things worse. TV cameras and stations -- go home. Once no one is filming the marches and no one is paying any attention, maybe the people will go home too.
Well, take care, everyone!! Best wishes for a wonderful day today.
AND -- it seems as though this post did not go forward today -- so we will let it stand for the rest of this evening and into Friday. Thanks.
Then I heard that sound again. Muffled, but definitely the sound of a kazoo. Yep, it was Lauren out there giving it her all. Being a Johnny-one-note, she made the same sound over and over and LOUD. I kept thinking, "This will end at any minute. I mean, who could this up without getting bored." It kept up and kept up.
Now, as I said, the sound was muffled so it was bearable, and then at that point it got funny to me. So I went to the door and told her that she'd better be careful or wild animals would start showing up at the house. I told her that if a bear showed up at the sliding glass doors, she'd be one scared little kid.
Didn't change a thing. If anything, she got louder. So then I mentioned wolves. And coyotes. Nothing.
Then I ventured out there for a little while, into the chamber of auditory horrors, and asked her why she was making the noise over and over. "I'm calling the animals," she said. I'd thrown virtual gasoline on the fire it seems.
After she finally did get sick of making the sound, I told her that there wasn't a chance that there were ANY animals within three miles of the house. But she did get the neighbor's annoying dogs going at it pretty good. I think all in all, it was worth it.
I have a few extra kazoos. Hmmmm.
So -- let's see. What else did I want to mention? Let's change subjects here a little bit and mention Ferguson. Remember Watts? The Watts riots were absolutely horrible and there was widespread looting and burning that summer. Someone on FOX mentioned that in all of these years since Watts, the stores have not come back. They never returned. If all of this continues in Ferguson for much longer, they will suffer the same fate. The merchants will leave town for somewhere safer, the housing prices will plummet (they probably already have), and the people will be living in a ghost town. They will have to drive somewhere for everything.
The schools will be shells, the playgrounds empty, the churches food pantries. There are two sides to the story. It isn't my job to decide which side is right. But the insistence that only one side is right to the exclusion of all reason and information is plain and utterly WRONG. So that's what I have to say about Ferguson. Bringing the power of the federal government into the melee is only going to make things worse. TV cameras and stations -- go home. Once no one is filming the marches and no one is paying any attention, maybe the people will go home too.
Well, take care, everyone!! Best wishes for a wonderful day today.
AND -- it seems as though this post did not go forward today -- so we will let it stand for the rest of this evening and into Friday. Thanks.
Wednesday, August 20, 2014
Wire
Wow, it was Monday and we were heading over to my son's house for a day of play! And I wanted a picture of the three grandchildren for my phone too. So we packed up some stuff and got everything ready -- and then . . .
Apparently, the neighbor set out some tomato stakes for the trash guy and they didn't take them, so they were sitting out in the road. My husband who had left a few minutes earlier to go get some sweet corn for freezing saw them and figured, "Oh, there are some tomato stakes in the road, but she'll see them."
Guess who didn't see a thing? Yep. So all of the sudden there is this horrible noise coming from the front of the car. Kind of like the muffler fell off or an exhaust pipe was dragging. Something was definitely wrong. So I looked and at first didn't see a thing until I went around to the FRONT of the car. There wedged right up to the frame were two wire tomato stakes. Didn't and wouldn't budge either.
So I backed down the street so we could at least get a little closer to home and away from neighbors looking out to see "dumb and dumbest" and we waited -- since Eric said he would be home by around 9:30. And we waited for about five or six minutes and were thrilled to see the red truck coming towards us. It was even hard for Eric to get the dumb things out from under the car, but he finally did when I turned the wheels off to the left.
THEN we were on the way to see Ella and Drew. It was a good day, but it was awfully hot and muggy. It's always warmer at their house because they don't have any large shade trees to take the worst of the sun. And the heat wears me out, so when we headed for home, I was really tired. We got a great picture of the three of them though, and I dropped off a kazoo for each of them. And let me tell you, they make Jim Carey's pronouncement, "Hey, wanna hear the most annoying sound in the world?," completely lame and tame. And we were in the house which was the first mistake. The second mistake was not hiding them somewhere.
See, you just can't script life. We keep trying but it just isn't going to happen, is it? People who fare the best are the ones who had ride the wave and take it as a challenge, rather than continue to bemoan the sudden change of plans. I want to be those people!! And I'm getting there, because Lauren and I had a really good laugh out in the street. She thought it was HILARIOUS.
She was thinking ahead to when we would get to Ella's and Drew's, and said, "I know what Ella will say when she hears about the tomato stakes. She'll say, 'Grandma!'" And sometimes, she'll throw in a, "You're so silly." It would have fit on Monday.
It was a much better time than the first day I ever bought gas at GetGo. Better than when I got a nail in the tire of my brand new car. Better than when I got shingles. Yep, definitely better!!
So here's the funny and sweet for the day. Lauren LOVES hills. There are 28 of them on the way to Ella's and Drew's. We counted. So I thought we'd have a little educational moment and I'd share a saying. "Lauren, have you ever heard of the saying, 'What comes up must go down?'" Got her on that one, but she came right back. "I never heard of that before, but I know something that's like what goes up must come down. When God closes the door, he opens a window. Know where I heard that? The Sound of Music."
Right on.
Apparently, the neighbor set out some tomato stakes for the trash guy and they didn't take them, so they were sitting out in the road. My husband who had left a few minutes earlier to go get some sweet corn for freezing saw them and figured, "Oh, there are some tomato stakes in the road, but she'll see them."
Guess who didn't see a thing? Yep. So all of the sudden there is this horrible noise coming from the front of the car. Kind of like the muffler fell off or an exhaust pipe was dragging. Something was definitely wrong. So I looked and at first didn't see a thing until I went around to the FRONT of the car. There wedged right up to the frame were two wire tomato stakes. Didn't and wouldn't budge either.
So I backed down the street so we could at least get a little closer to home and away from neighbors looking out to see "dumb and dumbest" and we waited -- since Eric said he would be home by around 9:30. And we waited for about five or six minutes and were thrilled to see the red truck coming towards us. It was even hard for Eric to get the dumb things out from under the car, but he finally did when I turned the wheels off to the left.
THEN we were on the way to see Ella and Drew. It was a good day, but it was awfully hot and muggy. It's always warmer at their house because they don't have any large shade trees to take the worst of the sun. And the heat wears me out, so when we headed for home, I was really tired. We got a great picture of the three of them though, and I dropped off a kazoo for each of them. And let me tell you, they make Jim Carey's pronouncement, "Hey, wanna hear the most annoying sound in the world?," completely lame and tame. And we were in the house which was the first mistake. The second mistake was not hiding them somewhere.
See, you just can't script life. We keep trying but it just isn't going to happen, is it? People who fare the best are the ones who had ride the wave and take it as a challenge, rather than continue to bemoan the sudden change of plans. I want to be those people!! And I'm getting there, because Lauren and I had a really good laugh out in the street. She thought it was HILARIOUS.
She was thinking ahead to when we would get to Ella's and Drew's, and said, "I know what Ella will say when she hears about the tomato stakes. She'll say, 'Grandma!'" And sometimes, she'll throw in a, "You're so silly." It would have fit on Monday.
It was a much better time than the first day I ever bought gas at GetGo. Better than when I got a nail in the tire of my brand new car. Better than when I got shingles. Yep, definitely better!!
So here's the funny and sweet for the day. Lauren LOVES hills. There are 28 of them on the way to Ella's and Drew's. We counted. So I thought we'd have a little educational moment and I'd share a saying. "Lauren, have you ever heard of the saying, 'What comes up must go down?'" Got her on that one, but she came right back. "I never heard of that before, but I know something that's like what goes up must come down. When God closes the door, he opens a window. Know where I heard that? The Sound of Music."
Right on.
Tuesday, August 19, 2014
School, school
Well, I am starting over on this posting because what I had just written mysteriously disappeared from the page. Bummer!
I was talking about the start of school and how it is a new beginning each year, a new chance to do better, to study harder, to be more a part of things. Children who have the right school supplies have a better chance, and that's why in Cleveland they have the "stuff the bus" event and why women crochet or knit hats and scarves, why there are coat give-a-ways and shoe give-a-ways.
Each one of us remembers what it is like to start school for a new year and how nice it is to have what you need the very first day or soon after.
Getting a new book bag or a new pencil case, maybe a new lunchbox just makes it a little more special. These little perks make the child feel loved and special and make the child see that their parents value school and what they do there.
So school begins this morning at SS Philip & James School, or more properly known as Holy Cross Academy, SS Philip & James Campus. At SPJ, school begins with Mass and this year my friend, Peg, and I are helping by playing guitar.
There are at least 35 children who participate in the singing and there is something wonderful and special about their voices. Especially when they sing without accompaniment.
So this year I pray that all of the teachers, parents, and students have a wonderful experience!
Other schools start on Thursday, such as Ella's and Drew's. And still others don't start until next week. In any case, the air changes at this time of year. The stores change from the fun stuff of summer to the more serious clothing of the school year. The colors of ochre, brown, orange and red start showing up as we move towards the fall foliage and fall decorating. The harvest is here.
Let's all look at this start of the school year as another start for ourselves. Let's take stock of where we are and what we are and pledge to do better. Maybe get our own "school supplies" like perhaps some good reading material from the religious book store or the library. Maybe make time to spend with God -- in prayer. Maybe make time for those who are alone and need company.
We could all use a few new "school" supplies, right?
I was talking about the start of school and how it is a new beginning each year, a new chance to do better, to study harder, to be more a part of things. Children who have the right school supplies have a better chance, and that's why in Cleveland they have the "stuff the bus" event and why women crochet or knit hats and scarves, why there are coat give-a-ways and shoe give-a-ways.
Each one of us remembers what it is like to start school for a new year and how nice it is to have what you need the very first day or soon after.
Getting a new book bag or a new pencil case, maybe a new lunchbox just makes it a little more special. These little perks make the child feel loved and special and make the child see that their parents value school and what they do there.
So school begins this morning at SS Philip & James School, or more properly known as Holy Cross Academy, SS Philip & James Campus. At SPJ, school begins with Mass and this year my friend, Peg, and I are helping by playing guitar.
There are at least 35 children who participate in the singing and there is something wonderful and special about their voices. Especially when they sing without accompaniment.
So this year I pray that all of the teachers, parents, and students have a wonderful experience!
Other schools start on Thursday, such as Ella's and Drew's. And still others don't start until next week. In any case, the air changes at this time of year. The stores change from the fun stuff of summer to the more serious clothing of the school year. The colors of ochre, brown, orange and red start showing up as we move towards the fall foliage and fall decorating. The harvest is here.
Let's all look at this start of the school year as another start for ourselves. Let's take stock of where we are and what we are and pledge to do better. Maybe get our own "school supplies" like perhaps some good reading material from the religious book store or the library. Maybe make time to spend with God -- in prayer. Maybe make time for those who are alone and need company.
We could all use a few new "school" supplies, right?
Saturday, August 16, 2014
Remembering Lucy
Lucy Sumor was one of those people who really stuck out in a small town. She was a leader and a fearless one at that.
Yankee Peddler used to be HUGE. The traffic was so heavy that the festival had to hire police to route the cars around downtown Canal Fulton to Clay's Park. There was a line of huge chartered buses in the dirt parking lot. It was actually crowded to walk around the wooded and non-wooded areas of the festival, named cute things like Militia Meadow. All of the community organizations that wanted to had a booth. The Methodist Church, baseball league, the Scouts, the Rotary, Lions Club, and many others were all represented in the two weekend event and then it went to three weekends in September.
Among the giants at the festival was SS Philip & James and the spearhead of it was certainly Lucy Sumor. She was the one who got the apple fritter recipe and then tested different kinds of apples to see which one would perform best. At one point we had three fritter booths at Peddler. To head up the church's fundraising at this event took someone special and that was Lucy. Once counted up, the festival required some 720 slots for volunteers at the fritter booths. We peeled and cored apples at the booths, then dipped the apples into the batter and then put the apples into the wood-fired fryers -- then put them in paper boats and topped them with some powdered sugar. What a flavor.
Lucy also worried about the moms in the church, many of whom were raising children away from grandparents and other emergency caregivers. So she founded MECCA (Mothers Emergency Christian Care Association). Today MECCA still exists but it has morphed into the food pantry effort in town.
My neighbor told me that Lucy was tireless in working for the PTA. Her specialty was organizing fundraisers.
Lucy and her husband opened up the Ful-Dres License Bureau in the 1980s. When Bill died in 1994, Lucy ran it herself and then retired in 1999. Eventually she moved to Florida where she enjoyed the warmer weather. When her health started to decline, she moved to Laurel, MD to live with her daughter. But she must have missed us here in the small town and so she returned and moved into the Laurels in Massillon and that is where she passed away.
Her funeral is this morning and we are singing. I expect a very large turnout of voices because everyone knew Lucy.
One other thing -- Lucy was my oldest son's Confirmation sponsor as well. She sponsored two young people that year and somehow managed to keep it all together. Lucy was warm, kind, and encouraging. She was smart, faith-filled, and dedicated.
Well done, Lucy, well done.
Yankee Peddler used to be HUGE. The traffic was so heavy that the festival had to hire police to route the cars around downtown Canal Fulton to Clay's Park. There was a line of huge chartered buses in the dirt parking lot. It was actually crowded to walk around the wooded and non-wooded areas of the festival, named cute things like Militia Meadow. All of the community organizations that wanted to had a booth. The Methodist Church, baseball league, the Scouts, the Rotary, Lions Club, and many others were all represented in the two weekend event and then it went to three weekends in September.
Among the giants at the festival was SS Philip & James and the spearhead of it was certainly Lucy Sumor. She was the one who got the apple fritter recipe and then tested different kinds of apples to see which one would perform best. At one point we had three fritter booths at Peddler. To head up the church's fundraising at this event took someone special and that was Lucy. Once counted up, the festival required some 720 slots for volunteers at the fritter booths. We peeled and cored apples at the booths, then dipped the apples into the batter and then put the apples into the wood-fired fryers -- then put them in paper boats and topped them with some powdered sugar. What a flavor.
Lucy also worried about the moms in the church, many of whom were raising children away from grandparents and other emergency caregivers. So she founded MECCA (Mothers Emergency Christian Care Association). Today MECCA still exists but it has morphed into the food pantry effort in town.
My neighbor told me that Lucy was tireless in working for the PTA. Her specialty was organizing fundraisers.
Lucy and her husband opened up the Ful-Dres License Bureau in the 1980s. When Bill died in 1994, Lucy ran it herself and then retired in 1999. Eventually she moved to Florida where she enjoyed the warmer weather. When her health started to decline, she moved to Laurel, MD to live with her daughter. But she must have missed us here in the small town and so she returned and moved into the Laurels in Massillon and that is where she passed away.
Her funeral is this morning and we are singing. I expect a very large turnout of voices because everyone knew Lucy.
One other thing -- Lucy was my oldest son's Confirmation sponsor as well. She sponsored two young people that year and somehow managed to keep it all together. Lucy was warm, kind, and encouraging. She was smart, faith-filled, and dedicated.
Well done, Lucy, well done.
Friday, August 15, 2014
Lots of Prayers
I received the latest prayer requests from Julie Barkey. For families going through a crisis of health or something else, they are often unable to really pray. It is for this reason that those of us who can should. The families depend on us to offer prayers for their loved ones and they never forget it.
At the Lions picnic on Tuesday night, one of the Lions thanked the members and you could tell he was very, very moved by the outpouring of kindnesses when he had recent heart surgery. He also specifically mentioned the prayers. A person who has been prayed for knows this; I'm convinced of it.
One of those we are praying for is someone addicted to porn. In Julie's online prayer email, she mentioned a man who knows what this kind of addiction is like. This apologist (one who explains the faith) who dedicates his life to helping those with these kinds of difficulties believes that prayer and fasting go together. I think that this is true -- since in the Bible on one occasion the disciples returned to Jesus frustrated that they could not cure someone. Jesus told them that for this situation, fasting was needed.
My take on that is that fasting is not always needed to intercede. The other thing that the apologist talked about was that if we can't turn down a slice of pizza, how are we going to be able to turn down the temptation to look at porn. See, I think it is kind of like this -- we all have weaknesses in our makeup. But each of us has his or her own weakness (or more than one). I am not tempted to look at porn and have never gotten into it. But I do have a hard time turning down a slice of pizza.
I am never tempted to steal something from a store but do like a donut or two.
So for some reason there are those of us who get caught up in the dark side of photography. And I don't really understand but I know that it is a very deep and difficult addiction to overcome. Part of the reason is that it is easy to come by -- any computer or tablet is a source. Even the smart phone. Part of the reason is that we live in a sexualized culture where there is entirely too much emphasis on "sex" and not nearly enough emphasis on love. From this turned around emphasis, it is easier to objectify the human body.
I didn't start out thinking I'd write about this kind of thing for today, but it is a serious problem that really hurts relationships and families. About four or five years ago, there was an excellent article in the Beacon Journal about two teenage boys who had both become caught up in porn. Their computers had a filter on it which was supposed to prevent this very thing. They were both in counseling but it was an uphill battle. The article suggested that the earlier the imprint of this scourge starts, the more engrained it is. Kind of like smoking at an early age does the same thing with cigarettes. A deeper addiction, almost like it's in the DNA.
So as we hear about people who have health issues, pregnancy problems, addictions of one kind or another or other serious problems, we need to be their voices to God asking for His help in their lives.
When I was really sick back in 1986, I know that there were people who prayed for me, and I knew it then!! I also appreciated everything. And now it is my turn to pay it forward. Won't you join me?
At the Lions picnic on Tuesday night, one of the Lions thanked the members and you could tell he was very, very moved by the outpouring of kindnesses when he had recent heart surgery. He also specifically mentioned the prayers. A person who has been prayed for knows this; I'm convinced of it.
One of those we are praying for is someone addicted to porn. In Julie's online prayer email, she mentioned a man who knows what this kind of addiction is like. This apologist (one who explains the faith) who dedicates his life to helping those with these kinds of difficulties believes that prayer and fasting go together. I think that this is true -- since in the Bible on one occasion the disciples returned to Jesus frustrated that they could not cure someone. Jesus told them that for this situation, fasting was needed.
My take on that is that fasting is not always needed to intercede. The other thing that the apologist talked about was that if we can't turn down a slice of pizza, how are we going to be able to turn down the temptation to look at porn. See, I think it is kind of like this -- we all have weaknesses in our makeup. But each of us has his or her own weakness (or more than one). I am not tempted to look at porn and have never gotten into it. But I do have a hard time turning down a slice of pizza.
I am never tempted to steal something from a store but do like a donut or two.
So for some reason there are those of us who get caught up in the dark side of photography. And I don't really understand but I know that it is a very deep and difficult addiction to overcome. Part of the reason is that it is easy to come by -- any computer or tablet is a source. Even the smart phone. Part of the reason is that we live in a sexualized culture where there is entirely too much emphasis on "sex" and not nearly enough emphasis on love. From this turned around emphasis, it is easier to objectify the human body.
I didn't start out thinking I'd write about this kind of thing for today, but it is a serious problem that really hurts relationships and families. About four or five years ago, there was an excellent article in the Beacon Journal about two teenage boys who had both become caught up in porn. Their computers had a filter on it which was supposed to prevent this very thing. They were both in counseling but it was an uphill battle. The article suggested that the earlier the imprint of this scourge starts, the more engrained it is. Kind of like smoking at an early age does the same thing with cigarettes. A deeper addiction, almost like it's in the DNA.
So as we hear about people who have health issues, pregnancy problems, addictions of one kind or another or other serious problems, we need to be their voices to God asking for His help in their lives.
When I was really sick back in 1986, I know that there were people who prayed for me, and I knew it then!! I also appreciated everything. And now it is my turn to pay it forward. Won't you join me?
Wednesday, August 13, 2014
A few memories . . .
I didn't watch Mork & Mindy but saw some snippets of it a time or two. I loved Mrs. Doubtfire and Patch Adams.
Jonathan Winters was Robin Williams' mentor of a sort. Jonathan Winters played a woman in some of his best-known skits, and he was hilarious. He was known for improvisation. Robin Williams followed suit.
Like Jonathan Winters who also suffered from some psychological problems, Williams had bouts of severe depression. I think that comedy was one of the ways that he could work his way out of them, but apparently not this time.
What I remember about Robin Williams that touched my heart is that he visited the troops many times and entertained them to the hilt. He gave them something to really laugh about. And his dedication to Christopher Reeves (a classmate at Julliard) and his family was amazing and very generous. Robin Williams could be so selfless.
Four movies will be coming out in which he was one of the actors -- four. The first will likely be released in December and the others will follow. It will be sad and haunting to see him again, because one of the really awful and wonderful things (at the same time) is the gift of video. For a brief time, he will be back with us again.
Years ago I remember an Ann Landers column that was often repeated because it was so important and always timely. She cautioned those who were seriously depressed and feeling suicidal to just "wait until tomorrow." She reasoned that if given just one more day and the fresh face and brain of a new morning, things might have improved or maybe it would just seem so.
I remember reading some letters from her fans saying that this advice was what saved them.
Keith Ablow, a mental specialist who appears on Fox said that that we are doing better than ever in treating depression. He wanted people to have hope out there, and he suggested that they need to get the right help. It just doesn't seem that we are doing nearly enough.
We're going to Hartville today to get the rest of the wood trim for our house. When we built the house, we were getting short on money so we did the prudent thing and got poplar trim. It was not a good decision. Poplar just doesn't hold the stain color and washes out, looking drab and boring. So this last purchase will finish up with this project and I am very, very glad. Of course, when we built the house, stained wood trim was popular and now not so much. Too bad. We're finishing the job!!
Take care.
Jonathan Winters was Robin Williams' mentor of a sort. Jonathan Winters played a woman in some of his best-known skits, and he was hilarious. He was known for improvisation. Robin Williams followed suit.
Like Jonathan Winters who also suffered from some psychological problems, Williams had bouts of severe depression. I think that comedy was one of the ways that he could work his way out of them, but apparently not this time.
What I remember about Robin Williams that touched my heart is that he visited the troops many times and entertained them to the hilt. He gave them something to really laugh about. And his dedication to Christopher Reeves (a classmate at Julliard) and his family was amazing and very generous. Robin Williams could be so selfless.
Four movies will be coming out in which he was one of the actors -- four. The first will likely be released in December and the others will follow. It will be sad and haunting to see him again, because one of the really awful and wonderful things (at the same time) is the gift of video. For a brief time, he will be back with us again.
Years ago I remember an Ann Landers column that was often repeated because it was so important and always timely. She cautioned those who were seriously depressed and feeling suicidal to just "wait until tomorrow." She reasoned that if given just one more day and the fresh face and brain of a new morning, things might have improved or maybe it would just seem so.
I remember reading some letters from her fans saying that this advice was what saved them.
Keith Ablow, a mental specialist who appears on Fox said that that we are doing better than ever in treating depression. He wanted people to have hope out there, and he suggested that they need to get the right help. It just doesn't seem that we are doing nearly enough.
We're going to Hartville today to get the rest of the wood trim for our house. When we built the house, we were getting short on money so we did the prudent thing and got poplar trim. It was not a good decision. Poplar just doesn't hold the stain color and washes out, looking drab and boring. So this last purchase will finish up with this project and I am very, very glad. Of course, when we built the house, stained wood trim was popular and now not so much. Too bad. We're finishing the job!!
Take care.
Tuesday, August 12, 2014
Agnes
Our cable television service is through Massillon Cable. They have pay-per-view, but also by going to Channel 1, there are free movies too. I just realized that a few days ago.
The other night we watched an older one that was very controversial at the time. It is one of those movies that a group of people could talk about for hours! It raises as many questions as it answers, and probes deeply the mystery of faith and belief.
The movie is "Agnes of God." It stars Anne Bancroft and Jane Fonda. Bancroft plays the mother superior in a Montreal cloistered convent. Jane Fonda is a court psychiatrist who is investigating the death of a baby within the convent, born to Agnes, a childlike nun who has layers and layers of hurt and injury buried deep.
Agnes says that she followed the instructions of an old nun who had shown her a secret passage in the convent just the day before her death and the nun told her to go to the barn where the passageway ended. Agnes says that God came to her and sang a song to her for six nights. When she sang the song, it sounded bawdry and certainly nothing that God would sing. She admitted under hypnosis that she had strangled the baby, because she was convinced that it was a mistake. Her mother had told her the same thing over and over again -- that she was a mistake. And also that she was ugly and stupid.
So was it her mother's voice she heard? Who sang the song to her?
At the end of the movie, the court decided that Agnes should be allowed to return to the convent and live out her days there. She had a beautiful voice and she would climb to the top of the bell tower and sing. She was singing in Latin at the end of the movie, as she had always done before.
The one thing that I keep coming back to about the movie is that if God were to again bring a new life into the world through the help of a virgin nun, then why would she kill the child? It makes no sense. God wouldn't have a part in anything like that.
Probably the most troubling aspect of the movie is that the damage done to this young woman, damage that basically kept her a child in her own mind, was done by her own mother and excused away by some as the effects of alcoholism. It goes way beyond a drinking problem.
It is still worth watching and if several people watch it, prepare for a very interesting conversation afterwards.
Well, I'm off to Joanne Fabrics tomorrow to look at some things, and to get some yarn.
Have a good Tuesday. Keep your umbrella handy.
The other night we watched an older one that was very controversial at the time. It is one of those movies that a group of people could talk about for hours! It raises as many questions as it answers, and probes deeply the mystery of faith and belief.
The movie is "Agnes of God." It stars Anne Bancroft and Jane Fonda. Bancroft plays the mother superior in a Montreal cloistered convent. Jane Fonda is a court psychiatrist who is investigating the death of a baby within the convent, born to Agnes, a childlike nun who has layers and layers of hurt and injury buried deep.
Agnes says that she followed the instructions of an old nun who had shown her a secret passage in the convent just the day before her death and the nun told her to go to the barn where the passageway ended. Agnes says that God came to her and sang a song to her for six nights. When she sang the song, it sounded bawdry and certainly nothing that God would sing. She admitted under hypnosis that she had strangled the baby, because she was convinced that it was a mistake. Her mother had told her the same thing over and over again -- that she was a mistake. And also that she was ugly and stupid.
So was it her mother's voice she heard? Who sang the song to her?
At the end of the movie, the court decided that Agnes should be allowed to return to the convent and live out her days there. She had a beautiful voice and she would climb to the top of the bell tower and sing. She was singing in Latin at the end of the movie, as she had always done before.
The one thing that I keep coming back to about the movie is that if God were to again bring a new life into the world through the help of a virgin nun, then why would she kill the child? It makes no sense. God wouldn't have a part in anything like that.
Probably the most troubling aspect of the movie is that the damage done to this young woman, damage that basically kept her a child in her own mind, was done by her own mother and excused away by some as the effects of alcoholism. It goes way beyond a drinking problem.
It is still worth watching and if several people watch it, prepare for a very interesting conversation afterwards.
Well, I'm off to Joanne Fabrics tomorrow to look at some things, and to get some yarn.
Have a good Tuesday. Keep your umbrella handy.
Friday, August 8, 2014
Holy Day
Today is a Holy Day -- so I'm off to 9:00 a.m. Mass. There's just enough time to say hello to all of you and try to put forth a short message of some kind.
So here it goes -- Our Lord wants you to know that no matter what is going on in the world, no matter what kind of strife or hardship, that He loves you and cares for you.
Our Lord wants you to know that the saints that have gone on before us light the way to union with Him, that their examples shine across the land as a beacon that roots out human frailty and failure.
And Our Lord wants you to know that your kindnesses to the people are never forgotten, that He remembers all of those little things, even when no one else knows or noticed. He notices and He knows.
And there is HOPE. There is no faith that offers the kind of HOPE that God offers us and provides for us when we are facing the darkness.
So that's my message today. I just sat here and let the words come.
So have a special day today. Reach out to someone who needs to hear from you. Pray for the lost and forsaken. Pray for the sick and the suffering.
More tomorrow ... sorry this is so short.
So here it goes -- Our Lord wants you to know that no matter what is going on in the world, no matter what kind of strife or hardship, that He loves you and cares for you.
Our Lord wants you to know that the saints that have gone on before us light the way to union with Him, that their examples shine across the land as a beacon that roots out human frailty and failure.
And Our Lord wants you to know that your kindnesses to the people are never forgotten, that He remembers all of those little things, even when no one else knows or noticed. He notices and He knows.
And there is HOPE. There is no faith that offers the kind of HOPE that God offers us and provides for us when we are facing the darkness.
So that's my message today. I just sat here and let the words come.
So have a special day today. Reach out to someone who needs to hear from you. Pray for the lost and forsaken. Pray for the sick and the suffering.
More tomorrow ... sorry this is so short.
Thursday, August 7, 2014
Quiet Thursday
Today is a quiet one. My husband is off to Fairless Schools to do kindergarten eye screening until the afternoon. My "art class" today is canceled due to the fact that the other student in the class has a funeral to attend. My sister is doing better, although she still has pain in the "good" hip area but today she is alone for the first time all day. The caregiver has been relieved of her duties.
So today I'm going to tackle some work that needs to be done soon: making thank-you cards, sewing two pillows for door prizes at the class reunion, ordering kazoos for the class reunion, and a host of other errands or chores.
In case you were wondering, Diana who fell walking in the yacht club parking lot is doing okay. But she broke her nose in two places and has to see a plastic surgeon once the swelling goes down. She is really black and blue, I guess. Another classmate called me yesterday and had some ideas for how to get rid of the bruising, so I gave her the phone number. She couldn't get through so she called the chair of our reunion committee and gave her the supply list, and she is taking over the stuff today.
My sister is trying out a TENS unit on her back. I honestly pray that this does some good for her. She's got to get back on her feet with regularity before the snow flies or it's going to be a rough and difficult winter for everyone.
One other thing -- my hair has been terrible lately. I've shared that with you. Yesterday my patience totally wore out and I did something rather rash. In order to nourish my hair, I poured a bunch of olive oil on it and rubbed it in good. It does look a little better, but this morning I'll have to shampoo again. It didn't come out totally and the front looks like Alberto VO5 city!! But it feels better already. Yeah, olive oil.
Ella went to the Cleveland Clinic yesterday for her appointment and did okay. They want to do genetic testing and it will be done if insurance covers. They are going to check her blood again to see if they can raise the dose of Topamax. She still has a cold but so far she doesn't have a fever again. The Clinic has to keep the official, legal line of thought when it comes to medical marijuana but in my mind's eye this may be the future of seizure control. This vilified plant may end up being a curative for many, many ills and provide a lot of people with relief. We are not talking about smoking weed for medicinal purposes here. We are talking about the strain of marijuana, Charlotte's Web, which has negligible levels of the hallucinogen normally found in marijuana -- suspended in an oil.
One other thing -- it was on the fox.com yesterday but didn't seem to make the prime time news. The Russians have hacked into our system and have captured about 1.8 billion sets of names/passwords associated with banks and other business systems. This would be a good time to go to your own websites and change your password. Change it to something that no one could intuitively figure out. It should not spell anything -- but could resemble this: K67nj5JP28vn2. It should be numbers and upper and lower case letters. Then be sure to write it down somewhere SAFE.
So that's it for today. I changed Paypal, Bill Me Later, the bank and credit card passwords last night in about 10 minutes. I'm glad!!!
So today I'm going to tackle some work that needs to be done soon: making thank-you cards, sewing two pillows for door prizes at the class reunion, ordering kazoos for the class reunion, and a host of other errands or chores.
In case you were wondering, Diana who fell walking in the yacht club parking lot is doing okay. But she broke her nose in two places and has to see a plastic surgeon once the swelling goes down. She is really black and blue, I guess. Another classmate called me yesterday and had some ideas for how to get rid of the bruising, so I gave her the phone number. She couldn't get through so she called the chair of our reunion committee and gave her the supply list, and she is taking over the stuff today.
My sister is trying out a TENS unit on her back. I honestly pray that this does some good for her. She's got to get back on her feet with regularity before the snow flies or it's going to be a rough and difficult winter for everyone.
One other thing -- my hair has been terrible lately. I've shared that with you. Yesterday my patience totally wore out and I did something rather rash. In order to nourish my hair, I poured a bunch of olive oil on it and rubbed it in good. It does look a little better, but this morning I'll have to shampoo again. It didn't come out totally and the front looks like Alberto VO5 city!! But it feels better already. Yeah, olive oil.
Ella went to the Cleveland Clinic yesterday for her appointment and did okay. They want to do genetic testing and it will be done if insurance covers. They are going to check her blood again to see if they can raise the dose of Topamax. She still has a cold but so far she doesn't have a fever again. The Clinic has to keep the official, legal line of thought when it comes to medical marijuana but in my mind's eye this may be the future of seizure control. This vilified plant may end up being a curative for many, many ills and provide a lot of people with relief. We are not talking about smoking weed for medicinal purposes here. We are talking about the strain of marijuana, Charlotte's Web, which has negligible levels of the hallucinogen normally found in marijuana -- suspended in an oil.
One other thing -- it was on the fox.com yesterday but didn't seem to make the prime time news. The Russians have hacked into our system and have captured about 1.8 billion sets of names/passwords associated with banks and other business systems. This would be a good time to go to your own websites and change your password. Change it to something that no one could intuitively figure out. It should not spell anything -- but could resemble this: K67nj5JP28vn2. It should be numbers and upper and lower case letters. Then be sure to write it down somewhere SAFE.
So that's it for today. I changed Paypal, Bill Me Later, the bank and credit card passwords last night in about 10 minutes. I'm glad!!!
Wednesday, August 6, 2014
Some Musings
The class reunion committee meeting last night went well. We met at the Cleveland Yachting Club in Rocky River because this is where our Saturday night event is to be held on September 6.
Someone who is a friend of our class is a member and is hosting us, that is, allowing us to use the upstairs room that normally rents for at least $1,000 up front. It's a beautiful place, almost like Shangra-la, with stately lakeside homes lining the quaint hilly street leading to the club.
One of our classmates was crossing from the parking lot to the entrance and didn't notice a portable speed bump they'd placed to slow cars down in that area. She fell and couldn't catch herself, hit her hose, and even cut her head where her glasses broke and embedded near her temple. I still haven't heard if she is all right. For sure, she must have broken her nose. The ambulance took her to Fairview Hospital (where my sister was recently a patient and where my niece works) and her daughter was to meet her there.
It was a somber start for the meeting because Diana's falling was a reminder of how we are getting older and more frail, and also how quickly life can turn on a dime.
One of our classmates' wives was at the meeting; she is doing the flowers so she is going to make sure Diana gets some from us today.
We got to see the prototype of the stem-less wine glasses that are being given as favors. A classmate who owns a candy company is donating a bunch of candy for the Saturday event. She specializes in the old time candies that we all remember so that will be wonderful.
Another classmate who is from California said he'd donate popmoney. Well, we'd never heard of that before but apparently it's some kind of innovative bank transfer thing. We think maybe he should just send a check.
About four or five classmates are waiting for a doctor's permission to attend the reunion. Some are in even rougher shape than that and aren't doing well at all.
Then another shock at the meeting -- one of my classmates married a fellow a year younger than we were. His 50th reunion will be next year, so she is involved with that one as well. I mentioned that my friends when I was little were Dolly and Debbie from the Class of '65. She said she was pretty sure that when they started trying to find everyone from the class of '65 that Debbie was deceased. THAT was really a surprise. We'd exchanged Christmas cards up until about seven years ago, I imagine. She died of cancer at age 59.
So that was about it. I'm waiting to hear from one of my classmates about Diana and I just pray that she is okay. She is a wonderful, caring person and she is much loved by all of us.
Have a great Wednesday. One of our committee members brought us a gift bag last night, just 'cuz and it was so sweet. There's a little notepad in the bag with an attached pen. My granddaughter just loves it. What it says on each of the pages is, "Don't let yesterday use up today."
So that's pretty good advice for all of us, don't you think?
Take care.
Someone who is a friend of our class is a member and is hosting us, that is, allowing us to use the upstairs room that normally rents for at least $1,000 up front. It's a beautiful place, almost like Shangra-la, with stately lakeside homes lining the quaint hilly street leading to the club.
One of our classmates was crossing from the parking lot to the entrance and didn't notice a portable speed bump they'd placed to slow cars down in that area. She fell and couldn't catch herself, hit her hose, and even cut her head where her glasses broke and embedded near her temple. I still haven't heard if she is all right. For sure, she must have broken her nose. The ambulance took her to Fairview Hospital (where my sister was recently a patient and where my niece works) and her daughter was to meet her there.
It was a somber start for the meeting because Diana's falling was a reminder of how we are getting older and more frail, and also how quickly life can turn on a dime.
One of our classmates' wives was at the meeting; she is doing the flowers so she is going to make sure Diana gets some from us today.
We got to see the prototype of the stem-less wine glasses that are being given as favors. A classmate who owns a candy company is donating a bunch of candy for the Saturday event. She specializes in the old time candies that we all remember so that will be wonderful.
Another classmate who is from California said he'd donate popmoney. Well, we'd never heard of that before but apparently it's some kind of innovative bank transfer thing. We think maybe he should just send a check.
About four or five classmates are waiting for a doctor's permission to attend the reunion. Some are in even rougher shape than that and aren't doing well at all.
Then another shock at the meeting -- one of my classmates married a fellow a year younger than we were. His 50th reunion will be next year, so she is involved with that one as well. I mentioned that my friends when I was little were Dolly and Debbie from the Class of '65. She said she was pretty sure that when they started trying to find everyone from the class of '65 that Debbie was deceased. THAT was really a surprise. We'd exchanged Christmas cards up until about seven years ago, I imagine. She died of cancer at age 59.
So that was about it. I'm waiting to hear from one of my classmates about Diana and I just pray that she is okay. She is a wonderful, caring person and she is much loved by all of us.
Have a great Wednesday. One of our committee members brought us a gift bag last night, just 'cuz and it was so sweet. There's a little notepad in the bag with an attached pen. My granddaughter just loves it. What it says on each of the pages is, "Don't let yesterday use up today."
So that's pretty good advice for all of us, don't you think?
Take care.
Tuesday, August 5, 2014
The Doubts
At church on Sunday, I just knew what this posting was going to be about. It's about doubt.
Writing about faith and a small town is something that comes fairly natural to me, but there is the other side of it all -- the dark side. And this is the side that not too many people want to hear.
The movie, "Heaven's For Real," touches on it when the pastor, the father of the boy who almost died, tells his flock that he had doubts. He admits them to his wife and best friend.
We should know that if we have doubts about the elements of our faith, we are in very good company. The now sainted Mother Teresa was plagued by doubts. It is written about her: "Shortly after beginning her work in the slums of Calcutta, she wrote: 'Where is my faith? Even deep down there is nothing but emptiness and darkness. If there be a God — please forgive me.'" She admitted that she felt like a hypocrit and wore a mask, a cloak, that covered her true feelings. She said she felt like a fraud.
Doesn't that just amaze you? Someone who did the work of the Lord so beautifully, without any outward hint of selfishness, was tormented by a sense of being alone. This feeling continued until her death!
I tried to do a little research just now about what other saints might have also suffered with doubts. I came up with one -- St. Rose of Lima. There must be others but at first glance, nothing popped up. It seems to me that maybe Mother Teresa had something else that is amazing -- she was so honest!
I have doubts sometimes. It crops up now and again and usually takes me by surprise. The story of Jesus just seems so unbelievable, so far fetched that I question it inside myself. Even the Creed, as I say that prayer, rings hollow for me sometimes. I am being totally honest here. Does it stop me from going to church? No. Does it stop me from praying? No.
We are told to believe like a little child. That open-eyed wonderment that shows on the face of a child discovering their faith. Those simple prayers that children utter before bed. The conversations about God, the Father. Then about God, the Son. And then about God, the Holy Spirit.
We are a difficult people. Even when there is a breakthrough in our faith, when we have felt the touch of God in our lives, we drift. It's exasperating!!
But we must persevere, as Mother Teresa did. We must continue in our faith and just trust.
Father Kevin's sermon on Sunday was a good one. One I'll remember. He talked about the miracles that Jesus performed. He said that they were for a purpose ordained by God. Certainly, one reason was to show the people that Jesus was the Messiah. But he said there is another reason, actually he listed it third but now I can't remember one of the other ones. He said this third reason is to show US how much God can do with so little. Our pitiful prayers said in haste and without full understanding. He mentions his "small yes" to becoming a priest, because even while saying yes he wasn't enthusiastic about it at first.
How like Todd Burpo who said he had recited the Lord's Prayer so many, many times, but had never fully appreciated the line, "on earth as it is in heaven." His son's visit to heaven is the basis for the book and the movie that signaled Burpo's firm belief that his son did visit heaven and that it was to show him and his wife that heaven exists. And then he must have realized that his son's trip to heaven was for everyone. I'm so glad he shared, and I'm glad he shared his doubts.
Holy people can have doubts. The evil one loves us to have doubts and uses whatever chink in our armor we might have to lure us away. The closer we get to God, the more we may be tempted. Knowing that, we should march on all the harder and not rest on feelings which are capricious and are up and down -- but on "every word that comes from the mouth of God."
Please say a prayer for my granddaughter, Ella, who continues to have seizures. We celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary on Sunday and she had a seizure on the way home in the car. She is also going for her annual visit to the Cleveland Clinic on Wednesday. A congressman from Pennsylvania has introduced a bill that would allow patients with severe epilepsy to be able to use the medical marijuana produced as an oil from the strain, Charlotte's Web. It has less than 3% of the hallucinogenic properties of typical marijuana. This oil has been known to work on the most difficult epilepsy cases. Pray that the bill moves forward for a vote!!!
Thanks, everyone.
Writing about faith and a small town is something that comes fairly natural to me, but there is the other side of it all -- the dark side. And this is the side that not too many people want to hear.
The movie, "Heaven's For Real," touches on it when the pastor, the father of the boy who almost died, tells his flock that he had doubts. He admits them to his wife and best friend.
We should know that if we have doubts about the elements of our faith, we are in very good company. The now sainted Mother Teresa was plagued by doubts. It is written about her: "Shortly after beginning her work in the slums of Calcutta, she wrote: 'Where is my faith? Even deep down there is nothing but emptiness and darkness. If there be a God — please forgive me.'" She admitted that she felt like a hypocrit and wore a mask, a cloak, that covered her true feelings. She said she felt like a fraud.
Doesn't that just amaze you? Someone who did the work of the Lord so beautifully, without any outward hint of selfishness, was tormented by a sense of being alone. This feeling continued until her death!
I tried to do a little research just now about what other saints might have also suffered with doubts. I came up with one -- St. Rose of Lima. There must be others but at first glance, nothing popped up. It seems to me that maybe Mother Teresa had something else that is amazing -- she was so honest!
I have doubts sometimes. It crops up now and again and usually takes me by surprise. The story of Jesus just seems so unbelievable, so far fetched that I question it inside myself. Even the Creed, as I say that prayer, rings hollow for me sometimes. I am being totally honest here. Does it stop me from going to church? No. Does it stop me from praying? No.
We are told to believe like a little child. That open-eyed wonderment that shows on the face of a child discovering their faith. Those simple prayers that children utter before bed. The conversations about God, the Father. Then about God, the Son. And then about God, the Holy Spirit.
We are a difficult people. Even when there is a breakthrough in our faith, when we have felt the touch of God in our lives, we drift. It's exasperating!!
But we must persevere, as Mother Teresa did. We must continue in our faith and just trust.
Father Kevin's sermon on Sunday was a good one. One I'll remember. He talked about the miracles that Jesus performed. He said that they were for a purpose ordained by God. Certainly, one reason was to show the people that Jesus was the Messiah. But he said there is another reason, actually he listed it third but now I can't remember one of the other ones. He said this third reason is to show US how much God can do with so little. Our pitiful prayers said in haste and without full understanding. He mentions his "small yes" to becoming a priest, because even while saying yes he wasn't enthusiastic about it at first.
How like Todd Burpo who said he had recited the Lord's Prayer so many, many times, but had never fully appreciated the line, "on earth as it is in heaven." His son's visit to heaven is the basis for the book and the movie that signaled Burpo's firm belief that his son did visit heaven and that it was to show him and his wife that heaven exists. And then he must have realized that his son's trip to heaven was for everyone. I'm so glad he shared, and I'm glad he shared his doubts.
Holy people can have doubts. The evil one loves us to have doubts and uses whatever chink in our armor we might have to lure us away. The closer we get to God, the more we may be tempted. Knowing that, we should march on all the harder and not rest on feelings which are capricious and are up and down -- but on "every word that comes from the mouth of God."
Please say a prayer for my granddaughter, Ella, who continues to have seizures. We celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary on Sunday and she had a seizure on the way home in the car. She is also going for her annual visit to the Cleveland Clinic on Wednesday. A congressman from Pennsylvania has introduced a bill that would allow patients with severe epilepsy to be able to use the medical marijuana produced as an oil from the strain, Charlotte's Web. It has less than 3% of the hallucinogenic properties of typical marijuana. This oil has been known to work on the most difficult epilepsy cases. Pray that the bill moves forward for a vote!!!
Thanks, everyone.
Saturday, August 2, 2014
Fears
I bet every single one of us has a story to tell about an irrational fear we had as a kid. I had a lot of them.
Let's see -- afraid of the dark. Might have stemmed from several different things. The first might have been the tornado that hit in around 1955 or 1956 and destroyed a lot of property in Lakewood and created a big blow in my neighborhood. It hit at around 9:00 p.m. at night. The second might have been watching "The Fly," a movie about a scientist who gets into a sort of time machine with a fly and comes out half human-half fly. Sounds stupid, doesn't it? But for some reason it just freaked me out and made me think that the morphed scientist was hiding in my closet.
Afraid of the mixer. I was messing around when my mother was making a box cake one day and kind of flipped my finger as the beaters were going around. Well, I guess I got too close and two fingers got pulled in and intertwined. But not broken. Just needed stitches from the nasty gash on the top of my left index finger; the scar is still visible. Then my mother somehow did the same thing a few months later and needed stitches as well.
Afraid of dogs. Still am. The neighbor had an Irish Setter and it just wanted to play but it would come bounding over and jump on my back and that kind of thing. Plus, my friend's dog nipped at people and bit me one day.
Afraid of heights. Still am. If I left work and headed out to the third floor elevator and looked down to the atrium floor, it bothered me. It bothered me a lot more if I was on the fourth floor and did the same thing! Niagara Falls kind of messed with my head too.
And yet, with all of those fears, I somehow managed to go to a Girl Scout day camp, went on Girl Scout overnight trips, and took swimming lessons at Baldwin Wallace College. On one Girl Scout hike, I ended up trying to go down an embankment and fell, rolling over and over and ending up at the base of a sapling. That was the end of that event for me. It was like my worst fears materialized.
As the years have gone by, it isn't that I still don't have fears, because I am sure I do -- but I'm a lot calmer and steadier. I'll give credit to my relationship with God, because it was that faith that made me let go and let God instead of trying to control everything. When I hear about people with a really bad fear these days, I have a lot of empathy for them. A strong fear can be so paralyzing and can just take over a life.
Another thing that helped me besides my faith is talking about my fears, seeing that I was hardly alone and that others have those same sorts of feelings.
Fear is only a real problem when it interferes with normal life experiences. Fear can produce anxiety and that leads to avoidance and depression, or at least that's how I see it.
Take care. I'm writing this early because today is going to be a little crazy. Talk to you on Tuesday then. Have a great weekend!!!
Let's see -- afraid of the dark. Might have stemmed from several different things. The first might have been the tornado that hit in around 1955 or 1956 and destroyed a lot of property in Lakewood and created a big blow in my neighborhood. It hit at around 9:00 p.m. at night. The second might have been watching "The Fly," a movie about a scientist who gets into a sort of time machine with a fly and comes out half human-half fly. Sounds stupid, doesn't it? But for some reason it just freaked me out and made me think that the morphed scientist was hiding in my closet.
Afraid of the mixer. I was messing around when my mother was making a box cake one day and kind of flipped my finger as the beaters were going around. Well, I guess I got too close and two fingers got pulled in and intertwined. But not broken. Just needed stitches from the nasty gash on the top of my left index finger; the scar is still visible. Then my mother somehow did the same thing a few months later and needed stitches as well.
Afraid of dogs. Still am. The neighbor had an Irish Setter and it just wanted to play but it would come bounding over and jump on my back and that kind of thing. Plus, my friend's dog nipped at people and bit me one day.
Afraid of heights. Still am. If I left work and headed out to the third floor elevator and looked down to the atrium floor, it bothered me. It bothered me a lot more if I was on the fourth floor and did the same thing! Niagara Falls kind of messed with my head too.
And yet, with all of those fears, I somehow managed to go to a Girl Scout day camp, went on Girl Scout overnight trips, and took swimming lessons at Baldwin Wallace College. On one Girl Scout hike, I ended up trying to go down an embankment and fell, rolling over and over and ending up at the base of a sapling. That was the end of that event for me. It was like my worst fears materialized.
As the years have gone by, it isn't that I still don't have fears, because I am sure I do -- but I'm a lot calmer and steadier. I'll give credit to my relationship with God, because it was that faith that made me let go and let God instead of trying to control everything. When I hear about people with a really bad fear these days, I have a lot of empathy for them. A strong fear can be so paralyzing and can just take over a life.
Another thing that helped me besides my faith is talking about my fears, seeing that I was hardly alone and that others have those same sorts of feelings.
Fear is only a real problem when it interferes with normal life experiences. Fear can produce anxiety and that leads to avoidance and depression, or at least that's how I see it.
Take care. I'm writing this early because today is going to be a little crazy. Talk to you on Tuesday then. Have a great weekend!!!
Friday, August 1, 2014
A Story of 30 Years
When Eric and I got married, we didn't get much of a show of faith from anyone around here. Most gave it six months at best. So that now we are hitting the 30-year milestone, it is with a little awe that we did make it.
Our wedding was family only, held at the former Canal Fulton Dinner Theater on Portage Street, presided over by Reverend Kenneth Morrison. He was such a help to us! A friend of mine recommended him to us and when we went to meet him for the first time, he put us at ease. One of the exercises he gave us was to list the top 25 things in our life, and then put them in priority order. He also told us some interesting stories about a few of the 500 or so couples he had married. One couple came to him after some time had passed. My memory comes up with more than a year since their wedding. The reason they came to him is because the wife was so afraid that they had never consummated their union. The husband had been so patient!! But it was time to get something settled. And Reverend Morrison gave them counseling to help them over that hurdle.
After asking us some questions, Reverend Morrison was curious about a few of my answers. He wondered where I'd ever come up with that information. Well, it was a fairly simple answer. I'd attended a non-denominational Bible study for a couple of years. The "personal relationship" with God was emphasized quite a bit and I took it very much to heart, still do. Since that time, the more personal relationship with God has spread to all Christian churches.
After we married at Reverend Morrison's church, we went back to SS Philip & James Church and attended there every Sunday but did not receive the sacraments. One Sunday after we'd attended a Marriage Encounter weekend and the priest was talking about death, Eric asked me if he would be able to have the full Mass at church. I told him the truth -- no, there might be a service but there would be no Mass. At that moment he told me that he'd like to become a Catholic. So that was another interesting road to take. He went to RCIA for a complete year and yet our paperwork for being able to be married in the church wasn't complete. So he started yet another year of RCIA. At the end of that journey, approaching Easter Sunday, we got a call from Father Kulesa that everything was done and we were cleared.
We renewed our vows at church and my now dear friends, Mary and Arden Tohill, sang for us. They even had a little reception for us afterwards at the priest's house. It was so wonderful. And then that Saturday we both took part in the Easter Sunday vigil Mass which is lengthy but very beautiful.
And now it has been nearly 30 years! It is just amazing how the time has gone by so fast. I know everyone says that, but it is so true. I'm going to look through pictures tomorrow and set some out for our guests/family to see on Sunday. There are the wedding pictures, the building-the-house photos, the vacation photos, the school photos, the graduation photos, and all kinds of photos in between. And then the most precious photos -- the grandchildren's pictures. But you know, then there are the children's photographs. They are all precious!!
I activated this posting a little early -- like last evening. So here it goes again.
Our wedding was family only, held at the former Canal Fulton Dinner Theater on Portage Street, presided over by Reverend Kenneth Morrison. He was such a help to us! A friend of mine recommended him to us and when we went to meet him for the first time, he put us at ease. One of the exercises he gave us was to list the top 25 things in our life, and then put them in priority order. He also told us some interesting stories about a few of the 500 or so couples he had married. One couple came to him after some time had passed. My memory comes up with more than a year since their wedding. The reason they came to him is because the wife was so afraid that they had never consummated their union. The husband had been so patient!! But it was time to get something settled. And Reverend Morrison gave them counseling to help them over that hurdle.
After asking us some questions, Reverend Morrison was curious about a few of my answers. He wondered where I'd ever come up with that information. Well, it was a fairly simple answer. I'd attended a non-denominational Bible study for a couple of years. The "personal relationship" with God was emphasized quite a bit and I took it very much to heart, still do. Since that time, the more personal relationship with God has spread to all Christian churches.
After we married at Reverend Morrison's church, we went back to SS Philip & James Church and attended there every Sunday but did not receive the sacraments. One Sunday after we'd attended a Marriage Encounter weekend and the priest was talking about death, Eric asked me if he would be able to have the full Mass at church. I told him the truth -- no, there might be a service but there would be no Mass. At that moment he told me that he'd like to become a Catholic. So that was another interesting road to take. He went to RCIA for a complete year and yet our paperwork for being able to be married in the church wasn't complete. So he started yet another year of RCIA. At the end of that journey, approaching Easter Sunday, we got a call from Father Kulesa that everything was done and we were cleared.
We renewed our vows at church and my now dear friends, Mary and Arden Tohill, sang for us. They even had a little reception for us afterwards at the priest's house. It was so wonderful. And then that Saturday we both took part in the Easter Sunday vigil Mass which is lengthy but very beautiful.
And now it has been nearly 30 years! It is just amazing how the time has gone by so fast. I know everyone says that, but it is so true. I'm going to look through pictures tomorrow and set some out for our guests/family to see on Sunday. There are the wedding pictures, the building-the-house photos, the vacation photos, the school photos, the graduation photos, and all kinds of photos in between. And then the most precious photos -- the grandchildren's pictures. But you know, then there are the children's photographs. They are all precious!!
I activated this posting a little early -- like last evening. So here it goes again.
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