The Lord is my shepherd I lack nothing.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
He leads me beside quiet waters.
He restores my soul.
He guides me along the right path for his names sake.
Even though I walk through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil, for you are with me;
your rod and your staff they comfort me.
Joining Deidra and the jumping tandem and the Sunday community.
Wishing you
A day
When all the world seems to be smiling just for you!
This is what the card said that I sent my mother for mothers day.
With a big smiling flower the colors of yellows and oranges.
Then I wrote,
“Mom, enjoy a little sunshine and maybe a special treat too.”
My mother has dementia and Parkinson’s and is not able to care for herself any more.
Her days are spent in a chair or in a wheelchair.
They have moved into an adult foster home so she can have the round the clock care she needs.
Years ago, mothers day was a day for flowers.
We would go to the nursery stores and pick out pansies, geraniums and marigolds then take them over to our grandma’s house and then to our mom’s house.
Baskets of flowers for them to plant when they felt ready.
It was tradition.
Flowers the first weekend of May.
Then things began to change and relationships did too.
Grandma became more senior and sold her home.
The assisted living home she lived in did not allow her ‘flowers’ for the outside.
Then when her dementia came it was again a change for everyone.
Our parents lived far away from us and the fresh flowers for mothers day became a memory in time rather than a every year occurrence.
I have never really liked the Hallmark kind of days.
Valentines day, Mothers day, Fathers day and any of the other ‘days’ that tell us one must do something to make it meaningful.
Can’t these days be any day that has value and purpose?
Isn’t mothers day the day a new mom holds her newborn baby and realizes the ‘shift’ in relationships?
No longer is she just a daughter, she is now a mother to a daughter or a son.
I am one of the people who stand at the card section year after year and read the sentimental words and wonder… really?
So much to think about on this mothers day.
It could be my last one with her.
My dad is very ill too and perhaps this is our ‘year’ for both of them.
We already said goodbye to my husbands mom and dad.
Traditions change as our lives move in different stages.
On this mothers day I will reflect and remember to pray for all the mom’s with daughters and sons and tomorrow as I plant my new flowers in ‘pots or baskets’ and place my hands in roots and soil.
Perhaps I will even smile as I remember how it once was tradition.
The Friday challenge word is comfort.
You write for five minutes without editing. Then publish.
I am not sure how to write this mothers day weekend.
The bond of sisters is comforting.
I am the youngest of three.
I guess that has a perk but I have never felt how special being the youngest should be.
Our lives were different and our world was very different growing up.
I cannot say our ‘earlier’ growing up years were full of comfort.
Unless you count the nights of warm wash rags and Vick’s vapor rub on chests that could not even try to breath in a decent breath of air.
I personally don’t remember comfort as part of our younger ‘growing up years’.
Comfort means peace.
Soft
a warm blanket kind of snuggling and a knowing…
A knowing that you would be safe.
We did not have that.
But as adults we do.
I have a knowing that I can call my sister any time in tears and trauma and she will listen with open arms and open heart.
I am thankful.
Comfort…
God gives us comfort.
A peace that passes ALL understanding.
That is a lot like a wonderful, comfortable sister relationship.
I am glad to say I have a sister.
A sister is comfort no matter what time of day it is.
Stop.
 |
| photo by Rosie of Dundee, Oregon |
Joining Jumping tandem and Deidra and the Sunday community.
The word for the five minute writing challenge this week is Brave.
You write for five minutes with no editing then publish.
As I was thinking about it I thought to myself what is bravery to me?
What is the meaning and what is the ultimate test of bravery.
Immediately a picture came to my mind and I knew I had to post it.
Being brave when your situation seems to be extremely intense.
BEGIN
The ones I see being brave the most are our police men and firemen.
Can you even imagine the tension and the pounding of heart at times when they run to a scene that is considered dangerous and terrible?
Thinking of the Boston bombings, and the twin towers, and many other terrible scenes through out the land where our uniformed men and women have to be brave and walk where no one wants to walk.
The mall shootings, the school shootings, the home shootings.
They train to keep us safe.
They learn new tools of the trade always finding ways to get ahead of the bad guys with the hope that some day the bad guys won’t have the power to ruin good and decent lives.
For those of us who have family members who are uniformed officers we pray and we pray more.
We pray for protection and for calms hearts and for a quiet shift.
I think the brave word should be placed right next to those uniformed officers who when they see the worst they remain strong and responsible and continue to do their job as they were trained and taught to do.
God bless our uniformed men and women.
The picture is my son not only in a training position but also on his knees in a prayerful position.
For the protection comes from the sound mind of the officer
and perhaps the prayers of the people too.
For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power,
and of love, and of a sound mind.
2 Timothy 1:7
It’s been quiet here lately because I have been sick.
Whenever a bug hits me it lands in my throat and then I have to use inhalers to help me breathe.
I am only on day four but this is not wanting to leave on it’s own and perhaps it might be time for a call to the doctors office and ask for a good antibiotic that will get me back on task.
The week has been slow.
My housework has not been done and the laundry is the only thing that has been kept up.
Sometimes we have these times of rest and recoup.
Sometimes it is good to sit back and just have a good cup of tea and breathe in the sweetness.
My people will abide in a peaceful habitation,
in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places Isaiah 32:18
Joining Deidra on jumping tandem with the Sunday community.
The Friday writing topic is friends.
You write with no editing for five minutes and then push publish.
I was not available to write on Friday so I am doing the assignment on Saturday.
Begin.
I have a good friend who has been with me, alongside me and is always an encouragement to me.
We met one year when our boys were little and she was new to the church I was attending and I invited her and her boys to a vacation bible school.
Then later on we went to Bible study fellowship together and it was good.
We have known each other about thirty years now and it has been a sweet relationship that continues on through good times and through bad.
She was with me when my sister was on hospice and very ill.
I was with her when her husband died and she needed a friend and a listening ear.
We have grown in friendship and aged together.
She even met her new ‘hubby’ with my help.
I will always treasure her and value her and thank God that he allowed me to be her friend.
Our boys are older now and time is moving us all near retirement age.
We each have grand children and share with each other those wonderful ‘child’ moments.
We each have a love for a good glass of wine together and browsing antique stores.
I will always be thankful for my best friend.
I don’t get to see her as often as I would like but I know we both have a special place in our hearts for each other and for that I remain thankful.
It is one of those relationships that you can not see each other for a long time and then meet and it is like you have always been together sharing as if time has not passed us.
My good friend Debbie, and I at dad O’s memorial service.
Joining Deidra on jumping tandem with the Sunday community.
Flowering cherry tree in Yamagata Japan by Ryan H
It is strange to not have dad O around here anymore.
I look at his pictures on the wall as well as the ones of mom with him and it seems so different now.
A lifetime ago.
A family history ‘changed’ forever.
The legacy ended other than what we can pass on.
In the blink of an eye the family changed.
The passing of time and memories continue.
Many families go through this but for us it is new.
My husband said to me,
“It feels strange to have no parents. I am kind of like an orphan.”
That would indeed feel odd.
My own mother is changing at a rapid rate and is almost failing to thrive.
Someday she will give up all together and that will be a sign for us the end is near.
I am sad for her.
Many things about her make me sad.
She has not been well for a few years now.
Her dementia and her Parkinson’s diagnosis has created a person
who is not able to be who she used to be.
If you have read my blog at all you know that I have had a blend of mixed emotions concerning my mother.
Time has allowed me to see her as a frail senior lady
who needs compassion and kindness very similar to the ones I helped many times in the pharmacy where I worked.
I don’t see the ‘bad’ mom or the one who made such confusing decisions for her family.
She is fragile in health and mind she is also aging and helpless.
My dad is also failing.
He has leukemia, diabetes, copd, and has to be on oxygen most of the time now.
His stamina is low and his spirit a bit cranky.
He is not who he used to be either.
They both have lost so much as time moved them forward.
For most of my life I didn’t know him.
In my adult life it has been a relationship of small talk and walls.
He rarely gets real with anyone.
She is not able to do that either.
So reflecting back is a hard thing for me.
The memories are not warm or sweet fuzzy ones.
They are blurred.
I don’t remember a close relationship with her ever.
And he has made it difficult to have one with him too.
I asked my counselor one time how will it be for me when they leave.
He said with tears in his eyes,
“You will miss what you never have known.”
Dad O was a dad to me and I miss him because I knew him.
He cared for my heart and my spirit.
Reflecting back on a loss is hard sometimes but it is also
healing to remember the good about someone.
Do you ever spend time reflecting about people in your life?
It is just a little something to think about today.
Simplicity
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