Actually, I don’t know who once sat in the pictured old rocking chair. I don’t even remember where I took the picture. I just found it last evening in one of the many boxes I’ve been removing from the basement, stored there for nearly a half-century. I can picture her however, as she once had […]
Letter: He Sees, and Knows, and Cares
Just a pair of miniature Dutch shoes and some old books are among the remaining items left that will soon depart for their new home with her children. She was Dutch, loved tulips, and loved to have her husband read to her from those old books. There are memories there in those tear-stained ancient romance […]
Letter: When You Can No Longer See, Remember What Was Said
Down feathers swirled and billowed in the rear view mirror, an instant summer snow storm behind our green Volkswagen bug. We were setting off on our honeymoon a half-century ago, going camping in the far northern wilderness reaches of Canada. The trunk had come open and our pillows flew out on either side, and there […]
Letter: Valentine’s Day for Many Is A Day of Broken Hearts
You see them everywhere today. On this special day of heart-shaped ballons and heart-shaped boxes of chocolates, couples stroll hand-in-hand, couples sit gazing at one another over candlelight, couples on social media post their photos proclaiming their years of love for one another, and even shy highschoolers cast loving glances then quickly look away hoping […]
Letter: I Laughed So Hard It Hurt
We gathered last evening for our weekly dinner together, as many of our family as could make it. Slightly less than 11 months ago we had all been here bedside in the family room to say a most tearful goodbye to my wife of 50 years, mother of four, grandmother of 10. There in the […]
Letter: Before The Sun Sets On Our Lives
He was king with numerous opportunities to rule well during his eight year reign. But he had not. He had achieved nothing for his country or people that qualified as a distinguishable accomplishment of merit. Nothing. The people he had ruled were glad when he departed. “He passed away to no one’s regret,” read one […]
Letter: Today Is A Very Special Day
I spent a great amount of time yesterday continuing to clear out the basement. Nine months after losing my wife of 50 years I decided it was time. So, for the last few weeks I have been bringing box after box, after box up the stairs, sorting through what the kids might want, what should […]
Letter: One Cup Where There Used to Be Two
A twice-broken heart, an anticipated future that does not come to fruition, dreams dashed, one cup where there used to be two, where to go, what now? David of biblical history answers. ‘My times are in your hands. You will hide me in the shadows. There, as under the arbor, I will find safety, and […]
Letter: The Two Guests
As purposeful as weeping is to the one grieving the loss of a loved one, so needful are the thorns on the rose blooming in the garden. Introspection for the sufferer, protection for the flower. “It takes all sorts of weathers to make a year, and all tend to the same issue, of ripened harvests […]