8/30/15

Blue

Man, I'm feeling all kinds of nostalgia today.

2 years ago, this fall, we rode the rails to Washington DC and New York City where, on our trip to bountiful, we fell in love with the big apple.

10 years ago we arrived home in our rented motorhome from dropping Melissa at The Young Americans... same week Katrina unleashed her worst on New Orleans.

13 years ago, I spent the week in Paris (including a fall in the Metro station) and then left Jennifer there. Alone.

14 years ago, on a clear September Tuesday ...

18 years ago we celebrated Ben graduating HS, had relatives in town camping at PJ, and had to be the bearer of Princess Diana bad news.  No internet breaking on non existent smart phones.

So today, while watching an emotional episode of "Blue Bloods" ... when the family sat down to watch old home movies and the soundtrack "What A Wonderful World" played until the scene faded to black ... I cried like a little school girl.

Forgot to mention, that I fell pretty darn close to the edge at the friggen Grand Canyon in 2005, as well.

And I took a tumble and ate a sidewalk sandwich last week, too. Aug 2015.  So, I don't feel the greatest yet and am recouperating on the couch.  "Blue Bloods" is an awesome TV show, and thanks to my iPad mini and Netflix, I'm enjoying the Reagan's, an Irish family of cops from New York ... it's like I KNOW them, not to mention the show's writers, cinematography, and storylines.

My point today is plain and simple, so don't give me grief. Sieze the day. Rejoice in Hope. Live like you're dying, sow seeds of kindness, broaden your "love your neighbor" circle, make amends, smile and be nice.

18 years slipped into the past faster than a handful of sesaons from a make believe story of New York Cops. I know it's TV, but I want to live my life like my new best friend TV family.

They eat dinner together every Sunday {senior living in Grand Rapids, anyone?},  take turns saying and showing grace, but they tell each other like it is, give each other what for, and put the bad guys away, all while making the innocent bystander/viewer fall in love with them, forthwith.


2 comments:

Jessica Nunemaker said...

I so get that! School started here on the same day that I had to leave to attend a big travel conference with some travel on the side. Six days! I had just enough time to see the boys off on the bus, the youngest, of whom, had his first day of kindergarten! Not the best timing, but unavoidable. It just felt so fast.

And I love this: " live my life like my new best friend TV family." It makes me chuckle.

Here's to less blue days so you can enjoy the now a bit more easily. :)

Joy William said...

I would love to partner with you to create a quilt block to commemorate your family barn for our Bicentennial project! Please tell me if you are interested.
Details of the project are below:
Indiana Bicentennial Barn Quilt

In a Legacy Project endorsed by the Indiana Bicentennial Commission, Indiana Barn Foundation (IBF) invites quilters from across the state to help create an Indiana Bicentennial Barn Quilt featuring 92 squares, each depicting a traditional barn from an Indiana county. This is a lovely opportunity to marry the traditional crafts of quilting and barn building in this project.

With help from our two partners, the Indiana State Quilt Guild and Indiana Landmarks, IBF is now reaching out to quilters across Indiana–living in every one of our 92 counties, whether guild member or not–calling on them to create and submit quilt blocks picturing an historic barn (or interesting part of an historic barn) standing in their home county. Once selected from submissions and pieced together, the 92 county quilt blocks will be hand-quilted and transformed into a striking 78″x78″ display of color, form, and pride in our Hoosier heritage–Indiana’s beautiful, irreplaceable traditional barns.

This Indiana Bicentennial Barn Quilt, to be finished in early Spring 2016, will then tour Indiana throughout our bicentennial celebration year. On display, it will be an emblem celebrating our traditional barns, spurring their appreciation, underscoring that decay and demolition threaten, and strengthening resolve that these should–for old or new uses–be saved.

At year’s end, the quilt will be auctioned–hopefully purchased for permanent public display–with the funds helping endow IBF’s mission of Preserving Indiana’s Heritage, One Barn at a Time.
Warm Regards,
Joy William


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Indiana Bicentennial Barn Quilt
indianabarnquilt@gmail.com