Posts

Out of the Silence

It’s been a long silent while since I’ve sat down to write and reflect. I was tempted to pull out an older journal to copy an unshared story to remember some things in my life before death knocked on our door. I say the word “knocked” as if death itself is polite, kind and thoughtful. But it’s not. It comes much too soon, too suddenly, and at other times not soon enough in the agony that it prescribes. It’s been 14 months (May 1, 2015) since my daddy died from stage 4 lung cancer. Add an extra 5 days (April 27, 2015) to that to commemorate the death of my second dad (AKA Jay) who suffered from cardiac arrest and stayed in a medical coma for a week until he was taken off life support.  Then two months later, my grandmother died of Alzheimers…And to finish 2015 out, we put our ailing beloved family pet of 14 years down in December…Death didn’t knock really. Death assaulted, maimed and hijacked our family! We didn’t really have a game plan or strategy in preparing for its realities o

Run Daddy Run!

So I was recently at the hospital with my dad, the same day as the Mister Bluebird encounter. Dad was scheduled for a test and we didn't know at which entrance to register. As it turns out, it was on the other side of the hospital down a very long corridor, around the corner and to the right---you're there! No big deal, right? Well, for daddy, it is a long walk with occasional stops to catch his breath. A wheelchair was the ticket...The attendant led us to the starting line for our race to the registration finish line. You probably can already tell where I am headed with this! Haha! Dad mounted the wheel chair, put his feet in the foot rests, offered to hold my book bag and purse so that I could push, and off we went. We weren't late so there wasn't a dire need to rush...But as I looked at the wide, long, expansive hallway where not a soul was in site, I suddenly felt inspired to RUN! "Hang on, daddy! We're going for it!" I began to run pushing my d

Mister Bluebird

Hey Everybody! Hope your week's been a good one. I was out running this week on one of our warmer February days. I hadn't been running in a while so I wasn't really sure that I'd go anywhere very far or very fast. The benefit of this run was that I had no reason to rush-no job to have to go home and get ready for and no hungry family waiting for me. It was just an opportunity to run for the sake of desire. Having the desire to sweat, to feel your heart excessively pounding while gasping for breath and your leg muscles screaming at you simultaneously is crazy, I know. Well, when I hit my goal I decided to go farther just because I could. Usually when I finish a run, I tell myself or anyone in my family who will listen, that maybe I could have gone farther.This time rather than just talking about it, I acted on it. As I proceeded round the corner, a brilliant bluebird jetted across my path at eye level and then his mate followed closely behind. A sweet silly song ca

Learning How to See...

As I sit here to write my very first blog post, I am reminded of opening a crisp new journal and staring at the first blank page...The journal has been chosen with care. It's beautiful, compelling and waiting for me. I stare at the page hesitant to as to what to write. Will the contents really be anything noteworthy? Will I want to read it again years from now? Will my children find the many journals that I've filled in a dusty attic someday? And will they want to be reading of the joys and agonies in this journey I call my life. Here I sit before this screen with the same apprehension, but also with a sense of empowerment and excitement, even anticipation of what is to come. I've entitled my blog "Running into Beauty" and if I could add a sub-title it would be: "Learning How to See." You see, pun intended, my life is fairly ordinary. There is nothing extraordinary about me as a single solitary human being, but it's about me and the folks all aro