Hello there–

Hi Blog Friends–
I don’t know if you’ve noticed I’ve absent around here.   It’s been a complicated month, but I think we’re out of the woods–a medical blip, so many surgeries and people to care for.  It’s been a good chance to stop and think through how to spend my days.

“I still find each day too short for all the thoughts I want to think, all the walks I want to take, all the books I want to read, and all the friends I want to see.”      – John Burroughs

We have a friend, John,  who decided to count his days.  Literally, he figured the lifetime average age for men and counted how many days he had potentially left to live.  He filled a large jar with pebbles the matched the number of his remaining days, and then each morning he takes out a pebble to remind himself to use his days well.  You might think it sounds morbid, but I love the idea– a real reminder to value each day and to use it wisely.

I’ve been thinking about days.  At this point in life, there is so so much I want to do still.   And there are a long list of people that I want to take care of, quilts to sew up for the family, a garden to tend, meals to share with friends, books to read, times to sit quiet before God…

So I’m happily back to blogging, keeping my little online scrapbook, but will do it just about once or twice a week.  Hopefully that will help me fill my days well, like our friend John.

I love what my favorite blogger Shannon Martin wrote about why she blogs:

“It was to remember. To memorialize the days that might all bleed into each other, if I let them. It was to make sense of what my heart thinks.”  

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P.S.  Shannon’s a young mom who blogs about family, faith and “hot boots.” You can find her incredible, worthwhile blog at Flower Patch Farm Girl

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A Week

A view along the way at Corona Del Mar on our Valentines Day walk yesterday

Hi friends–  It’s been a week.  No involved details, but my mother had her hip replaced on Monday.  I’ve always known that woman was intrepid, but she’s been unswervingly brave through all this– giving it her all to get recovered and back home.  So my brother and I have pretty much been at hospitals most of the week. He’s been a rock.  But a week like this puts a lot of things in perspective– what’s real, what’s true, what’s important…

“The length of our days is seventy years–of eighty, if we have the strength;…for they quickly pass, and we fly away.  … Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”     –Psalm 90:10-12

A hard week, a good week, to number days, to check my heart, to talk & talk with my brother, to love my amazing mom… God is good.

P.S.  Ended the week with a Valentines Day picnic on the bluff over Corona Del Mar on a picture perfect February afternoon with Larry, my valentine of 40 years.

Spending the Day

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Hello friends– I loved this:

“How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.”   –Annie Dillard*

It got me to thinking.  The very things I want to mark my life should be there day by day by day.  So each day I would hope,  really hope to find a good sampling of these elements:

Reading– opening a book to learn or laugh or get lost in a story…

Keep touch with the family– Our parents live close by, but our kids are scattered far and wide.  It takes a little determination to stay connected across miles, time zones and borders with those crazy kids I love so much.

Cook pretty food for people I love– that would mostly be my Larry, but I love to feed friends around our table or welcome kids come home with cozy meals.

Be generous– I’m not naturally good at this one.  But every day I would want to give something away — Picking extra flowers for the kids next door or helping a family overseas, sharing all we have been given…

Exercise–  Another struggle since I’ve lost my walking buddy.  I need to stay fit to keep up with Larry and the grandkids!

Talk to friends– listen to their stories, lend words that encourage, really know what is happening to them.  This can be done on a long walk, a chat over plates of pancakes or as quick as a morning email exchange.

Be kind– I’m remembering Anne LaMott wrote– “Love looks a lot like kindness.”  I’ve been the recipient of a whole lot of kindnesses and I want to be more intentional to love people in kind little ways day by day.

Be prayerful– I’m hoping at the end of my life I can say I’ve prayed well– thanking God and loving him, asking his merciful care for people I love.  This is the one thing I most want to do every day, every morning, every night.  Nothing matters more.

“Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” –Psalm 90:12

*Annie Dillard (l945- present)  She is an American author of poetry, prose, essays, novels and one memoir.  She won the 1975 Pulitzer Prize for her work Pilgrim at Tinker Creek.

Thanks to nordicaputsiaq.blogspot.com for the sunshine graphic.