Thursday, March 16, 2017

  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. “