Happy 30^th Anniversary

God is love and that is a whole other level but today this is for you Honey.

“I want a simple love like that
Always giving never asking back
When I'm in my final hour looking back
I hope I had a simple love like that.” Simple Love by Sarah Siskind and sung by Alison Krauss

For 32 years you have been my friend, for the majority of that time, my best friend.  For 30 years you have been the other part of me.  You spent those years showing me what love is. There are too many ways to count but these are some of the ways you were love in my life.

Love was never taking no for an answer because I thought something was impossible. Tenacious should be your middle name. ;)  Love was moving across an ocean because that is where I need to be. Love is loving me when I can’t love myself. Love is doing dishes or laundry without being asked. Love is holding on to me through my heartbroken tears and hysterical laugher.

Love is knowing an argument might raise the roof but that we are okay because God is our foundation.  Love is you sitting through concerts from Garth Brooks to Barry Manilow even though Five Finger Death Punch is more your thing.  Love is sitting in the room with me while I watch shows you loathe, even if you are watching something else on the IPad with one earplug in so I am not alone. Love is attending movies and events you would rather not be at but know I wanted to see or be part of.

Love is not letting Cancer get the best of you and make you live in fear.  Love is surviving. You were brave even when I couldn’t be. Love is every day when I see you get up and work out, even if it’s hard, even when it hurts, because you want to be able to take care of us.

Love is you coming home for lunch even when you know I will melt down about something that is going on. It would be easy to make an excuse but that is not your style. Love is you coming home every night for 30 years if it was possible.  Love is me not having to worry about where you are or who you are with.  Love is stupid jokes no one else gets. Love is when you were willing to be seen with me in public after my unfortunate “poodle” perm. Love is that wink or little grin you give me when no one is looking. Love is holding hands after all these years.

It would be a lie to say life has been all sunshine and roses.  We have had some thorns and nettles to deal with but you never gave up. There was a popular saying at one time, “Love means never having to say you are sorry”.  That saying is a lie. Love is being willing to say you’re sorry even when you aren’t the one in the wrong. Love is forgiving even when you don’t have to.  Love is not quitting when that would be the easy thing to do. Every day you show me love.  Are you perfect? NO, but neither am I.  I will take you just as you are, watching you every day as God makes you more, more of what he wants you to be, more of what we need. I’ve loved the adventure so far and I’m so thankful that whatever comes next, we’re in it together.  I love you honey and I’m forever yours, faithfully. 4/3/2016

Before

I grew up in the “before”.  My sweet girls were not so lucky. Like the other children of today, they grew up with cable and the internet. I remember records, cassettes, and 8- track tapes. I remember black and white television, having only 3 channels, and the change to color television. There were plenty of bad things going on when I was a child; war, social injustice, you name it. There has always been plenty of “ugly” to go around. There really is nothing new under the sun. 

I lived during the Vietnam War but thankfully I don’t personally remember much about it that I didn’t learn in a classroom.  I don’t remember much because it was before, before cable and the internet and the 24/7 bombardment of news reports and social media.  Before graphic images, and videos of violence, and hate, and heartbreak were the hook that pulled you into the story and burned their way into your brain, never to be erased.

Today you would have to hide in a windowless room with a blindfold and headphones on to escape the flow of information. Wherever you go, you are bombarded with information, much of it inaccurate I might add. Please understand.  I value knowledge. I have no wish to be ignorant. However, sensationalism and opinion are not news and when do we decide enough is enough?

My children have never known a time “before”.  Their dad has worn the uniform of his adopted country their whole lives and that has made those images and reports even more real and close to home. Like others of their generation, thanks to the events of 9/11/01, when they were oh so young, they really don’t remember a time when we weren’t at war. When those 24/7 images weren’t part of their world. It has had a huge part in forming who they are.  It has made them strong and resilient, but it has also taught them about fear and loss. And sadly, like those who lived during the attack on Pearl Harbor, they will remember.  That is not wrong.  We should remember, but we must not allow ourselves to be crippled by the memory.  We must change what we can and move forward.

We make a choice every day to love or to hate, to do good or to do evil. We can hurt or we can heal.  We teach our children with every choice we make.  This is the world we live in now.  24/7 seven days a week, the information bombards us.  We have to decide what to do with it.  Will we allow it to change us or will we use it to change the world?

Every day, all over the world, things are happening that children will never be able to forget.  Events are occurring that will form who they are, for good or ill.  We as adults, by our actions, determine whether those events and their memories will be blessings or curses. 

Choose wisely.

Today I ran away from home.  I left on an errand and didn't go back…..for a few hours.  Things have been stressful lately for lots of reasons and I ran away.  I went to a big discount chain I won’t name.  Those that know me best know I will wander up and down aisles for hours.

I walked and walked and touched item after item. I picked up a few things and put a few things back and just escaped for a while. I bought some things I needed and some things I didn't. I people watched.  I took a phone call from my husband and a text from a daughter and just killed time.

Was it wasted time? I don’t think so.  I stay home, a lot. So it was good for me to just get out alone.  I was able to fulfill a request for my honey and work out dinner and just be mindless for a bit.  Maybe I will be easier to get along with now.  I hope so.  I bet my family hopes so too. 

Trying to get through life can be like drowning in a puddle because you don’t see that you can just stand up. Life is so busy and goes by so quick. How can we take it all and manage to survive day to day in if we never slow down, step back and just see things how they really are?  God gets me through and he is always with me but I think we all need time away from the stuff in our lives to just be. So today I ran away.  Maybe you should try it sometime.

Cabin Skit Girls Four) Does Anybody Hear Her

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