Joy

For three days last week, all five of the younger kids were home at the same time...talk about JOY! They talked, laughed, teased, and played, filling our home to bursting with such happiness! How precious are these times together! I am so proud of each one of them! While each is very different, their love for each other is deep and abiding. I believe they will stay close all of their lives and that makes me so glad! They will have their lives to live independently, but I think it will always be important to each of them to carve out time to be together. What fun kids they are!



What fun, too, to hear the laughter and pitter-patter of the little feet of the five youngest grandchildren, too! May God keep them safe and close always.


Thank you, God, for these treasured gifts.

Dad's Letter, July 1972

Hi, Linda -
I received your note in my "pajama box" tonight.
While the words were very brief, the meaning was very long.
Love is a four lettered word.
Love is many things.
Love is not always apparent.
Love is durable.
Love is often concealed.
Love is sometimes obscure.
The depth of love - like water - cannot be judged by appearance - does not a puddle look as deep as a lake?
Some things which are offered to please the eye and ear are not things which please the heart and mind.
Sometimes the words that emerge from the lips are not the words that the heart cries to speak.
We sometimes hide our true feelings behind a gruffness and 'not caring' attitude because of past hurts and rejections.
You are a product of love between your mother and I. Does a hand not love the blood that flows in its veins?
You are now at an age where many choices and decisions are yours to make. Even the most simple decision made now can have a bearing on your happiness the rest of your life - make each decision with care - but with firmness.

I have learned one big thing in my life, and had I learned it 30 years earlier, I may have had a different lot in life. What I have learned is simply this: Do your earnest best at everything you do. Smile when you hurt the most. Practice the Golden Rule at all times and to everyone. Accept the things you cannot change. Respect the feelings of others. Know the difference between right and wrong and do as you must do.

Love you?

Yes - with a depth you will never understand and an endurance that will never be broken.

Love, Dad

Weathering

Weathering Life...

Life. Breath..a beating heart..a mind..a soul..a spirit.
If I live to fill only myself, then all of my life rots in the grave with my body.
When I live to fill others, I either starve and suffocate myself or else I learn to fill myself by filling others. When I can do that, life is rich both for me and for those around me. My mind...it grows and my thoughts cloud with life's experiences...nothing is as easy as it once was. My soul struggles to fit its own blueprint while coordinating with the blueprints of loved ones around me...nothing ever seems to fit neatly and takes constant work, but it has value that exceeds the battle wounds. My spirit searches, sometimes grows weary, and will someday rest from weathering life's storms.

Weathering Love...

Love. Tender affection..obligation..passionate connection.
Emotion can be an element of love, but love is more of an attitude. Love is my obligation to another that makes me try to love myself by first loving, giving to, and doing for the other; it should allow me to let go of many small disappointments and some big ones. It is also a connection forged by shared dreams, shared memories, and a passionate admiration and respect that nurtures growth in each other and also fulfills physical desire. Ideally, all three elements of love are present at all times, but they often...dare I admit, usually - aren't. That's part of the weathering, like a weather vane that changes direction with each breath of wind.

Weathering Truth.

Truth is absolute only in relation to God. I find no other absolute truth. But simple truth in relation to life, I have found, evolves, changes, adapts, but remains authentic. I have loved, lived; I still love, live; but the shape of both have changed. My life, my love is still authentic; it is just weathered and wears a different expression. a different palette. Do I need to seek truth? No, I don't think so. Truth is. Today, truth is doing what needs to be done and trying to bring joy and kindness to those I come in contact with no matter how I feel because how I feel always changes and is a lousy scale to base truth upon. If I don't feel like it, but still do it, is it authentic? It is, because it's just skipping over the poorer and owning the better. And within myself I become richer, fuller for it - not by keeping score, but by not settling for the poorer. Weathering truth is a life based on making higher choices from our present baseline and authenticating our present.

And what sweet victory there can be.