6-16-13
All is well with my soul....

So eat some cake.  Turning 50 is about getting things in order and not stressing about where you are right now.  It will all work out for the best, so eat some cake.  This is an icecream cake made with icecream sandwiches.

A Thousand Words

June 9, 2013

I am not a writer in any stretch of the imagination.  But I know how to read and have enjoyed posting words that have been crafted so beautifully.  This morning as I was meandering on the web, I stumbled upon such a wonderful treasure of words.  The following is from someone that has such a giving heart (His blog is Ockham's Toothbrush).  I needed to hear these words today.

A Thousand Words

AUTHOR'S NOTE: They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Because of rain, I did not have a camera when the following took place, so this will have to do. At the traditional exchange rate, you're actually getting a little bit of a bargain. Just take my word for it.

July 11, 2012

For two days the clouds had just teased us; playful giants garbed in gauzy lace, crouching on our horizon, dodging or outrunning us as we sped across the salt flats of Utah. In Salt Lake City they taunted us with a puff of cool breath in our faces as they peered over mountainous hiding places, like they were contemplating a dazzling display of sound and fury. However, as we put the Great Salt Lake into our rearview mirror and headed into Idaho, they abandoned us, as if a vacationing family of four was beneath their interest.

But as we pulled into Yellowstone, the clouds gathered themselves and pounced, stabbing the ground with fluorescent blades and roaring their pleasure with a deep and throaty chuckle. A stiff, cold wind hissed in the pines and spattering raindrops chased us into our room in the Old Faithful Inn.

Before we even started to settle in and admire the rustic redwood paneling of our room, we dashed to the window and threw it open to watch the trees kowtow to the wind and listen to the growl of thunder. From our second story room we could see steam rising from across Upper Geyser Basin as each fountain waited for its turn to impress the park guests, but these geothermal wonders were unable to hold our attention against the gathering storm.

The Old Faithful Geyser is different from any of its brothers. Its eruptions can be predicted to within fifteen minutes, as opposed to several hours, days, or in some cases, years. The park rangers told us that Old Faithful used to be even more predictable, but a couple of earthquakes over the last century caused it to mellow a bit, no longer sticking to so strict a timetable. As the storm intensified outside, a thought germinated inside my mind…what would it be like to watch Old Faithful erupt in the middle of a thunderstorm? I find ideas like this difficult to ignore and it wasn’t long before the idea blossomed into action. I pulled on my coat and announced I was going outside.

“What?!” My younger daughter Meredith was incredulous. Anneka, my sixteen-year-old, regarded me warily, as if my sudden bout of insanity might be a disease that could spread if I got too close. But my wife Jenny seemed to understand, and almost expected it. “Have fun!” she laughed.

The raindrops crackled against my hood and stung my legs as I walked the 100 yards or so to the viewing decks. Normally, the faux-wooden structures are groaning under the weight of hundreds of park guest waiting to view the latest eruption, but in the middle of the storm only a handful of us were foolish enough to be there now.

The cauldron hissed and steamed and occasionally gurgled up a splash of boiling water. The eruption could happen in a matter of minutes, or delay as long as a half an hour. I could sense the rain starting to abate and I feared that what I came to see, this symphony of storm and steam, would fail to materialize. Sure enough, the wind began to die and the rain slackened even more. It seemed the thunderheads had tantalized us with the promise of a spectacular display, only to now impishly withdraw the offer.

But it turns out they had other things in mind. Like a giantess daintily raising her skirt to step over a puddle, the clouds lifted off the horizon, and the setting sun peeked shyly through. The small knot of people gasped and cooed as a rainbow appeared, as if growing out of the cauldron itself and arcing its way across the sky into the forest where pines waited with outstretched arms to catch it. Gaining confidence, the setting sun smiled, drenching the forests, the spectators, and the steam in orange as the rainbow's hues deepened. Unable to contain its own brightness, another rainbow spawned and began hovering over the first protectively.

Meanwhile, the cauldron frothed and bubbled, roaring, hissing, subsiding, as if it had decided to pick up the game of hide-and-seek that the storm had abandoned. The few of us huddled on the deck cheered, urged, and groaned. We laughed and joked together, a tiny family brought together by this potential masterpiece-in-process.

Old Faithful sputtered. "She's teasing us now," said an elderly gentleman in khaki shorts and a Yellowstone sweatshirt. "I bet the rainbows fade before she blows,"

"It'd be amazing if they didn't though," a young father with a child on his shoulders responded. We all murmured in agreement. We held our breath, but the geyser only belched lazily.

I glanced at the sky. The gap between the sun and clouds had grown, and the storm was skipping gleefully to another part of the park. It looked like the old man would be right.

But the cauldron gurgled again, spat, and then, suddenly, roared. It spewed a stream of boiling water high into the sky, right on time. The geyser threw steam into the arc of the double rainbow, an orange, glowing cloud.

Liking what it saw, the sun threw back its head and laughed, and the rainbow brightened, hardened, and crystallized into a perfect semi-circle of ruby, amber, garnet, emerald, sapphire, and amethyst. Even as the geyser reached its zenith, the wind diminished to a breath and the raindrops ceased, the sky flashed one last time and the storm chuckled its approval, crackling lightning down behind the glittering arch.

“Can you believe it?” we all gushed. “The double rainbow!...wasn’t it amazing?...The sunset!...The geyser!...then the lightning!...”

It’s times like this I find it easy to believe in God. He was palpable here, a master artist using every color in his palette and every tool in his workshop, rolling up his sleeves for the sheer joy of creating something beautiful yet ephemeral for the delight of his sons and daughters.

Sometimes you just have to be willing to brave the storm and take a closer look.

 

AUTHOR'S NOTE (AGAIN): No, I didn't make this up. If these 1000 words aren't good enough and you really want to see a picture, go to this link:http://www.flickr.com/photos/83252649@N04/7626482128/sizes/l/in/set-72157630704493958/

I'm the guy in the black coat to the right of the gentleman in the grey shirt.

Thank you to Matthew Gordon and flickr.com

June 2, 2013

"Only once in your life, I truly believe, you find someone who can completely turn your world around. You tell them things that you’ve never shared with another soul and they absorb everything you say and actually want to hear more. You share hopes for the future, dreams that will never come true, goals that were never achieved and the many disappointments life has thrown at you. When something wonderful happens, you can’t wait to tell them about it, knowing they will share in your excitement. They are not embarrassed to cry with you when you are hurting or laugh with you when you make a fool of yourself. Never do they hurt your feelings or make you feel like you are not good enough, but rather they build you up and show you the things about yourself that make you special and even beautiful. There is never any pressure, jealousy or competition but only a quiet calmness when they are around. You can be yourself a...nd not worry about what they will think of you because they love you for who you are. The things that seem insignificant to most people such as a note, song or walk become invaluable treasures kept safe in your heart to cherish forever. Memories of your childhood come back and are so clear and vivid it’s like being young again. Colours seem brighter and more brilliant. Laughter seems part of daily life where before it was infrequent or didn’t exist at all. A phone call or two during the day helps to get you through a long day’s work and always brings a smile to your face. In their presence, there’s no need for continuous conversation, but you find you’re quite content in just having them nearby. Things that never interested you before become fascinating because you know they are important to this person who is so special to you. You think of this person on every occasion and in everything you do. Simple things bring them to mind like a pale blue sky, gentle wind or even a storm cloud on the horizon. You open your heart knowing that there’s a chance it may be broken one day and in opening your heart, you experience a love and joy that you never dreamed possible. You find that being vulnerable is the only way to allow your heart to feel true pleasure that’s so real it scares you. You find strength in knowing you have a true friend and possibly a soul mate who will remain loyal to the end. Life seems completely different, exciting and worthwhile. Your only hope and security is in knowing that they are a part of your life.”

Read this on Facebook today. Having this kind of closeness is the first part of love for the first few years. This is great, but what happens all to often is in year 15, 16, and 17... the couple stops laughing, stops crying, stops being interested, and essentiallly stops believing. What do you do? The question as was asked in a movie where the husband was on the verge of having an affair and the wife found out, "Do I cut and run or do I stay to find out if it was sex and a necklace, or love and a necklace?" The husband answers, "Oh, I have been a classic fool." The wife answers, "Yes, but you have also made the life I lead foolish too."  What do you do?  You forgive, try to find your way back and hope for finding each other in the hell that has been created by our human selfish natures.  I recently asked a man who I have had little respect for if he regrets divorcing his wife and he said, "Not a day goes by that I don't regret this, but sometimes you just cannot find your way back." 

For everyone in this situation, I hope you find your way back because the person who posted the passage above is essentially in the beginning of a second marriage... they will eventually experience the same issues as in the other marriage. 

I think part of our purpose in relationships here on earth is to work out part of our hell here so that we can be ready for the true love that God so wants us to experience.