Dinner with Baby Brother and Girlfriend this evening; they are Japan-bound first thing tomorrow morning. It's pretty comical, the concern I feel for him as he becomes an international traveler--what if he...
forgets his tickets at home? or
gets on the wrong plane? or
makes it all the way to Japan and realizes he accidentally left his blankie at home? or
gets lost on his way to work? or
gets to work, and they actually make him do stuff--what then?!?!
All this, coming from someone who can't even reach the overhead storage compartments on an airplane.
Paying rapt attention as my Mister divulges insider secrets. (Sorry to crop you out of this picture, Girlfriend; I'm no photographer, and the original shot did you no justice. You know we love you. :)
Love you, Baby Brother;
be safe, be kind, and we'll be here when you get home.
Well, there's nothing quite like the pressure to get my house ready for company to remind me of how vitally important it is for me to update my blog; funny how that works. :-p
It doesn't help that the weather this morning is my preferred "writing weather"--a misty, cool, raindrop-symphony kind of a day. The couch feels comfier, the coffee tastes better, my brain feels clearer on days like this; it makes you wonder how I functioned, growing up on a sunny tropical island. It won't surprise you to know the ocean has the same effect on my sense of well-being; perhaps I am a "water baby" in the truest sense: it's no matter, the source--just let me dance in it.
As I've already mentioned, we are making preparations for a full house; the family is convening for the wedding of Oldest Younger Brother. This will be a week of "firsts" for us: first brother to get married; first major life change since Mom's passing; first anniversary of her death. That's right, folks--Saturday marks a year. I know you've not been dwelling on it--it'd be kind of odd if you were ;-p--but it has surely been an ever-constant in my mind. I remember, in the days after Mom's passing, some of the random, sometimes irrational thoughts that came to me; the one that stands out in particular this week is, "We can't change; we all have to stay exactly as we are in this moment, because how can we become people Mom never knew us to be?" It's funny, the ways in which we try to cope with loss, the things that suddenly qualify as "sensible" as we try to keep rooted in a foundation that is shifting and crumbling and redefining itself all at once. It's not surprising that stagnancy would suddenly feel more like stability; but stagnant water is a prime breeding ground for all sorts of unhealthy...stuff, and so can our lives become, if we refuse to keep flowing, circulating, allowing the tides of time to move things in and out of our lives, as it has since this world began. It can be hard to trust that as we get older, and the "goodbye" experiences begin to outnumber the seemingly never-ending "hello" experiences of our youth. I have begun to struggle with that even down into the "littler" things: the scattering of the family as all return to their homes after this wedding; the sending off of my brother into his new life; and looking only slightly further down the road to the flight my own little birdies will take when they finally launch off into the wild blue yonder. :') Scary stuff. Looking inward and upward, trusting and growing roots deeper in Him.
Wowza. Well, I never claimed not to have issues. :)
Let me bring this back to happy, because life is good, and I prefer people to leave my blog with smiles on their faces. The following video fuels my happy on so many levels; I hope it does something for you, too:
I love watching the hesitant observers become willing participants. :)
Joy is contagious--go out and spread some.
(And may I one day have the courage to bust a move at the Silverdale library. :D)
Here are some pics from Kale's last evening in Washington.
As always, please accept apologies for my mediocre photography skills; unlike some overachievers I'm related to, I do not possess photographic genius that I keep well hidden. Nuh-uh--I'm full of incompetence, and I let it all hang out.
Now, on with the show:
The REAL reason everyone shows up to our parties. Just joking. :D
This looks like Round 2 for the speedier eaters amongst us...
Kale has trained his friends well; note the quick drop of the shaka
when the cameras come out. Chee! :D
Mr. & Mrs. Picha.
The teenagers....
The girls....
Wow...I just realized how closely they like to sit together.
Jamie, signing the banners the girls made for Uncle.
I wonder what's going on with the phone.... :)
Kiana's perspective--generally, much more interesting than mine (and I'm
not just talking photography here...)
Group shot. I had to laugh at this one; it looks like Mark is having a
hard time getting his shaka to work....
Ah--there it is! :-9
Mana and Noah wanted a shot of everyone Tebow-ing, but, hmm...yeah, it
didn't work out so well. Still, a funny pic. :D
Time for us to go home: "Hurry up and take the picture before I start crying."
Still holding it together....
And he's done.
Love my family.
Miss you, Kale.
Thankful...
...to be part of such a loving family.
...for the examples of faith and willingness with which I'm surrounded.
(I'm also thankful that there are no pictures of me on this night; I take "the ugly cry" to a whole new level, and, trust me--nobodyneeds that memorialized.)
Now I have to go console a few little girls who were reminded again of how much they miss their uncles. Which reminds them of how they constantly miss their cousins. Thanks, Kale. And you started this round, Josh, so a great big fat thanks to you, too. ;-9 Noah, come eat. (Bring Dad and Mana, too.) ;-9
Looking for something? You may find it here. (Then again, you may not.)
Thought for Today
“Your children are not your children. They are sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself. They come through you but not from you. And though they are with you yet they belong not to you. You may give them your love but not your thoughts, For they have their own thoughts. You may house their bodies but not their souls, For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams. You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you. For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday. You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth. The archer sees the make upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far. Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness. For even as He loves the arrow that flies, so He also loves the bow that is stable.”
"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?' Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us, it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we're liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."
Marianne Williamson, "A Return to Love"
Resolve to be tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant with the weak and the wrong. Sometime in life you will have been all of these.
