But no matter, starting in May now, we have month after month of birthdays. This is our final summer birthday, and the one that is our own 'autumnal season' marker. Largely because of my son's requests, we keep any and all references to, and indulging in, fall pastimes until after his August birthday. So it's with great expectations that we look forward to his birthday. But in fairness, we look forward to it because it's his birthday, and another chance to look at the sunny side of life, as they say. Especially now that he has his family to share it with.
As families go, his has had a full, rich, crazy time. They opened no less than a brick and mortar book store coming right off the chaos and catastrophe that was the Covid era lockdowns. And that was before they were married. Then, God decided the family needed a special blessing to get us through these moments of darkness, and they brought our granddaughter into the world.
Gratuitous candid shot:
Now, I remember being just married all those years ago. You have your honeymoon. You have your honeymoon time. Then life comes along and it's the whole new adventure. For them, the adventures of life hit soon, and have been on a level that's tough to imagine. Not just the Covid era courtship and post lockdown wedding, but what they have taken upon themselves to accomplish.
It hasn't been easy. The arrival of their daughter, while joy and happiness unimaginable, was in suboptimal conditions. Sitting in a neonatal ICU unit is never anything that a positive spin can help.
Yet they've proven amazingly resilient. They probably handled it better than I would have at that stage in my life. Fortunately not only us, but her family lives in the area as well. I'd like to think having both families nearby helped, and I know her mom did yeoman's work being there during the delivery and helping them get at least a couple feet back on the ground.
Now, looking at the grandbaby, it's easy to forget the chaos and upheaval and stress of the last year. I know. St. Paul says be anxious for nothing. Call me a Christian in training, but the anxious was easy to fall into, with the nature of her early arrival and the rest of the blitz that hit us over the last year. Soon we'll be at the anniversary of when everything went bonkers last fall. This is especially notable as it's Employee Appreciation Week, and we all know what that means. Increasingly that, like Christmas, is when companies today cut jobs and hand out pink slips. Our prayer is that we've paid our dues for a season, and the better side of blessings will continue to move us forward as God quiets the storms and stills the waves of life.
One way to embrace the hope is to rejoice in the finer blessings, like another year with our son, his wife and their adorable child. To share time with the other brothers who we're blessed to have here to gather together, and be thankful for the opportunities to help mom, each other, and by extension, hopefully move on in whatever crazy path God has set out for us.
So a happy and blessed birthday to our second oldest. I get now those greeting cards for children that speak of memories of them as little ones, but the pride in seeing the adults and parents they've become.
As a sidenote, as my vision problems correct themselves and I look forward to new lenses that may seal the deal and get my eyesight back on track, I have to say the blessings still outweigh the problems, and for that, I am thankful to the Almighty.
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| The family - an amazing year and a half |
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| Mn mom overlooking the festivities |
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| Don't mind saying he makes us proud |
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| Five feet high the cake and three may eat abreast |
I love seeing new families. Brings me right back to when I first held my son after being born. The cusp of a whole new beautiful chapter in my family’s life. All of the things I was so nervous about initially that I now look back on with such a strong fondness. I wish them the best in this new chapter for them. Even the most trying moments, sometimes only endured by blindly trusting in God’s providence, become the most cherished memories later in life.
ReplyDeleteThe older we get, the more we appreciate God's wisdom, eh? You're right, it's tough raising kids. That's probably why He then recommends we hang onto those grandparents and aunts and uncles who can all help make each new life turn out the best that it can be.
ReplyDeleteFrom the photos shown, I think that beautiful little girl is gonna be alright. You raised good kids, Dave. I'm sure they'll look to you for advice on how to do the same.
They make us proud. They aren't perfect of course. And like anyone in the history of the internet, I seldom stop in the middle of a big argument and say 'quick, let me post that!' But as people who are serious about their beliefs and values, I say they do me proud. And I think she is going to do well, having two good parents who have, what I think, is the single most important quality for good parents - an emphasis on doing right by her for her sake.
DeleteThere's probably a good reason the Bible admonishes us to think "whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things." We are all prone to anxiety and fear, but our lives are also full of much to be grateful for and your pictures are definitely evidence of that in your life :)
ReplyDeleteI try to remember that in this day. We are an age that almost yearns to look on what is bad, ugly, wrong. We criticize and judge like no time in history I can recall. The news is 100% in the realm of the extreme - everything is the first, unprecedented, the worst, historic, apocalyptic. Sometimes it's good to stand back and reflect on passages like that and remember there is a whole lot of practical teaching in the Scriptures.
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