For many years
I sent out an email every day –I missed very few days. At one point I had over
100 people who received those emails. In cleaning out my office several months
ago I decided to throw them away. But as
I stated looking through the notebook I changed my mind. My boys might want to read them one day and
if not, they can toss them in the trash.
I ran across this one and for some reason put it aside to read again. I
wrote it on January 24, 2011 and a visit with one of my best friends, Joyce
Jelinik lead to this email:
I had a terrific supper
with a great lady, Ms. Joyce. She is such
a thoughtful person and always has something great to eat. Tonight was no exception.
I thought about several
things to put in my email tonight but all of them were kind of negative
subjects and I’ve had such a great day I didn’t want anything to spoil it. As I
was leaving Ms. Joyce’s house she loaned me a book a friend had given her. It’s entitled “Glory of Creation”. The text
is by several people and the drawings are by Thomas Kinkade. The book is beautiful and I’m going to share
one of the selections in it with you. It
doesn’t have a title but was written by Corinne Roosevelt Robinson.
“There’s a path that leads
to Nowhere in a meadow that I know, Where an inland river rises and the stream
is still and slow; and beneath the silver green of the birches’ silent shadows
where the early violets lean. Other pathways lead to Somewhere, but the one I
love so well has no end and no beginning---just the beauty of the dell, just
the wildflowers and the lilies, yellow striped as adder’s tongue, seem to satisfy
my pathway as it winds their sweets among. There I go to meet the Springtime,
when the meadow is aglow, marigolds amid the marshes and the stream is still
and slow; there I find my fair oasis and with carefree feet I tread for the
pathway leads to Nowhere and the blue is overhead. All the ways that lead to
Somewhere echo with the hurrying feet of the struggling and the striving, but
the way I find so sweet bids me dream and bids me linger ---joy and beauty are
its goal; on the path that leads to Nowhere I have sometimes found my soul.”
As I read this, I realized
how much we miss of the beauty of the world because most of us are always in a
hurry to get somewhere or do something. I am very guilty of this. I have taken
hundreds of pictures from my front porch, from almost the same spot. It is one of my favorite views. I have often wished I lived on a hill with an
unobstructed view of the sunrise and sunset. I can see the sunrise every
morning from my front porch and I see the sunset as I head home from work in
the afternoon. Sometimes the sunset is
so red and dramatic. It’s almost like I
was heading into an awesome fire. I love my drive to work in the mornings. I’m glad I have to go across the Manns Harbor
bridge and get to enjoy all that expanse of sky and water. There have been a few times I actually
stopped on the bridge to take a picture. But, occasionally I will see something
I just can’t catch with the camera. This happened about two months ago. When I
let Haley out that morning, the sunrise almost took my breath away. I let her out and immediately went to get my
camera. I probably took 12 or 15
pictures but just could not capture its beauty.
And I guess sometimes it’s meant to be that way. If we could always capture the beauty, it
might become ‘ho-hum’. “O, Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder, consider all
the works Thy hands have made, I see the stars, I hear the mighty thunder, Thy
pow’r throughout the universe displayed! When thru the woods and forest glades
I wander and hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees, when I look down from lofty mountain grandeur
and hear the brook and feel the gentle breeze…then sings my soul, my Savior God
to Thee…how great Thou art!”
One day a friend and I
were discussing which we rather lose – our sight or our hearing. I realize this isn’t something we would get
to choose. Either would be bad, but I would rather be deaf than blind. I can’t
imagine what it would be like to never have seen my precious children’s faces. Hannah, my beautiful granddaughter – how I
would miss her smile. Even Haley, when I
speak to her and she turns her head a little to one side and how she wiggles
all over, not just her tail, when she sees me.
To think I would never see another sunrise, sunset, rainbow, the osprey
which has the nest near my house; the dolphins playing in the water. I could go on and on but I am sure you get
the idea. As I get older, I realize how
many thing I have missed out on because I had to work and was always too
busy.
When my boys were little,
I didn’t have too much time to spend with them; to do things with them. I managed a cottage court in addition to my
full time job as an accountant. There
were a lot of things I missed doing with them. But then, I think again and
remember a lot of things we did do together.
I taught them to fish, bait the hook and cast. I taught them how to
unhook the fish –they caught bluefish once in a ‘blues blitz’ which were almost
as big as Ray was at the time. One of
TJ’s was so big, he wasn’t able to reel it in; he just kept walking backwards
until he was almost to the top of the barrier dune. Ray’s almost drug him in the surf and Buster
helped him get it in. I remember the 3
of us sitting in the pavilion, early in the morning, watching the dolphins
playing in the water. I remember seeing
an Orca whale off shore one day – one of the most beautiful sights I have ever
seen as he came out of the water and turned over before he crashed back down
again. So after thinking about it, I did miss doing some things with them; but
I did a lot of things with them I can’t put a price on. More recently, in June, I saw the beautiful
expression on TJ’s face as he watched his future wife, Amy, walk down the steps
to him on their wedding day. I hope to
see that same expression on Ray’s face one day.
So, yeah, I think I would
rather be deaf than blind.
I want to quote one more
thing before I close this email. George
Strait released a new song this past summer and the words are so very
true…”Life’s not the breath you take, the breathing in and out, that gets you
through the day…ain’t what it’s all about.
You might just miss the point trying to win the race. Life’s not the breaths you take but the
moments that take your breath away.” I hope you have a lot of those moments in
your life. “
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