Artwork of Autumn

I think she looks a lot older than a little 6 year old, but I still like it.

Happy Birthday Mom

Mother's Poem~

Today is your birthday, but I love you every day. You've been the perfect mother in each and every way. You taught me how to spell and count, and you dried up all my tears. kissed away the pain of boo-boos, and chased away my fears. You were always there for me in troubled times and good. And you are God's example for perfect Motherhood.

 

Well her birthday was yesterday.   I didn't get to go home for her birthday like I did for her big surprise birthday last year, but she was in my thoughts all weekend.   Love you mom!

Our Church grillout

We had our church grillout tonight, we had quite a nice turnout!  I was the cameraman so no pictures of me.   It was good seeing little Aaron, they have been on vacation and it's been a while since we've seen him, and we missed Val and Rochelle too.   Lots of good food and fellowship.  Linda played her guitar and sang some.  I think I got some pretty good shots of everyone.  The triplets were there too, they are all getting so big.

A lesson from my Nana

I can’t really ever remember hurting any animal when I was little.   The only bad thing I remember doing was when I was hmm, I don’t even know how old, just that I was young.   I got a earthworm out by Nana’s, took one of her matches that she had to either light her heater, or to light one of her smokes if her lighter wasn’t handy.   I took a match and stuck it in the skin, lit a match and then stuck it on the other match.   Cruel I know, I have no idea why I did something like that, but my Nana caught me and she taught me a lesson that day.   Nana was a earthy person.  She was of nature!   She loved the outdoors.   She had taken me grubbing for worms before when she went fishing.   So I thought she wouldn’t really have a problem with this.   I’m not sure if the lesson was to keep me away from her matches or if she really meant to teach me something.   But what she told me stuck with me, and I don’t ever remember being mean to any of God’s creatures from that day.   She actually brought up the fact how she had took me grubbing for worms.   She asked me did I remember how many worms we found.   I told her yes.   She said well under the ground there are earthworms, just like the ones we got for fishing.   Those kind of worms aren’t for fishing.  Those kinds of worms make things grow, without them, there would be no flowers or grass, or trees.   The only reason they were put here was to be in the earth now why would you want to hurt something like that.   I don’t remember if I cried, but I felt bad.   She didn’t fuss at me, she did ask for her matches back though.

So I think about this lesson she taught me a long time ago.  A lesson we can use not only in nature but also in our lives.  There are always invisible forces at work.  There is the silent and unseen work.   When I say work it could be a prayer someone is praying about you and you don’t even know it.  There is the own work of our own spiritual lives.   Something keeps telling me to be still, go back to meditating like you used too, but I havn’t let myself be still as much as I used too.

I believe in our lives, like Nana’s lesson to a young Derek, as well as in our world, like something small as an earthworm or as large as humankind, there is always so much more than meets the eye.

Questions to mom

I forgot to post my question to my mom from last Friday. Here they are:

Question 1
Are there certain scriptures or other writings that you repeatedely turn to for inspiration or guidance?
“Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.
Matthew 7:1

Question 2

Describe an unforgettable experience during your time of living as a single woman in Jacksonville
My most unforgettable experience of living in Jacksonville when I was first arriving in Jacksonville, Florida on the Greyhound bus. I had never been away from home and this was the first time I had ever gone to a big city by myself. Can you imagine how scared I was? I knew that Eunice Lestlie's husband Johnny Horton was to meet me at the bus station but I was scared there waw a mix up. When I got off the bus he was there. I can remember straining to look at the city when we were getting close to it.


My next most unforgettable experience was when I learned how to ride my bicycle in Jacksonville, Florida. I guess that was the most fun thing that I did when I lived in Jacksonville. I was such a dreamer. I used to ride by the river where all the big homes were and dream about meeting my husband. I guess I thought he was going to come out of his house and fall in love with me. I have told you many times about how when Carolyn and I rode our bicycles, I could not turn the curve and I would wind up in some people's shrubbery. Lots of times, he would have his water sprinkler on. Sometimes they were at their door to watch me. I was so young, healthy, and carefree.

Probably the biggest problem I had was getting my laundry to the washateria. I have many happy memories of living in Jacksonville.

The picture of her with the rollers in her hair was her in her bedroom in Jacksonville. I always loved this picture even when I was a little boy it would make me laugh.

Remember

For the Falling Man
by Annie Farnsworth
I see you again and again
tumbling out of the sky,
in your slate-grey suit and pressed white shirt.
At first I thought you were debris
from the explosion, maybe gray plaster wall
or fuselage but then I realized
that people were leaping.
I know who you are,
I know there's more to you than just this image
on the news, this ragdoll plummeting—
I know you were someone's lover, husband,
daddy. Last night you read stories
to your children, tucked them in, then curled into sleep
next to your wife. Perhaps there was small
sleepy talk of the future.
Then,before your morning coffee had cooled
you'd come to this; a choice between fire
or falling.
How feeble these words, billowing
in this aftermath, how ineffectual
this utterance of sorrow. We can see plainly
it's hopeless, even as the words trail from our mouths —
but we can't help ourselves—how I wish
we could trade them for something
that could really have caught you.

I figure, today, on the 5th anniversary of 9-11 - my sister sent me this poem. I thought it was quite profound. It saddened me. Then I thought of those that I have lost. Those that I still talk to even though they may not be in my life, some who have not even passed away. So I guess it's good to talk to those, and keep on remembering. I'm not talking about holding seances or anything like that. I'm simply talking about remembering those who have died in a different light. No one ever really dies. Their memories - and our memories of them - live on. Their energy can never be destroyed. It can only pass from one form to another.Although we never want to forget the horrors of what happened on 9-11 - we also do not want to forget the beauty of how those who've gone before us have lived. There's gold in the memories of our dearly departed. Let us never forget them.

Pictures from Daytona Beach