Life Goes On

Tomorrow is Father's Day, my first one without an earthly father. Dad died in March of this year. Ironically, he never liked Father's Day - considered it a nuisance, a distraction. Dad never was really comfortable receiving things from others. It made him feel awkward, as though he did not deserve it. Today I will remember his dry sense of humor stoic acceptance of his frailties. I will be thankful I have a heavenly Father.

Last week Wandalee died at age 96. I had taken communion to her for several years. Turns out the same priest who married her also married my wife's parents - at the same rural catholic church. She struggled the last year. But even when feeling down, she always asked how I was and about my family. She had a wonderful family, including 22 great grandchildren. They will miss her; I will, too.

But life does go on in Bittersweet Woods. My niece gave birth to a baby girl. We are godparents; the baptism will be in a couple of weeks. Steve, our former neighbor, was married at age 69 to a Thai lady. It will be a new beginning for both of them. Herb, a hiking and trail building friend, is as active ever after a near-disabling tractor rollover accident a year ago. He has a new lease on life, as the saying goes. Today Suz proudly showed me a small flower pot with a formerly dead palm tree - that had amazingly sprouted back to life with four tender shoots.

The natural world goes on, too, with births, deaths, and struggles. We caught a glimpse of such a struggle today. As we drove by a nearby house, there was a 30 second chain reaction drama with a baby bird, a 5 year old boy, and a puppy. The baby bird fluttered in the grass, perhaps hurt. The puppy kept circling the little bird, probably wanting to play with it. The bird's parents squawked and dove at the puppy to keep it away from the bird offspring. The little boy was yelling at the bird parents to keep them off the puppy and at the puppy to keep it from the baby bird. You're probably wondering how this life and death drama (for the bird, that is) came out. We are, too. As we drove on, the scene passed from our view before there was a resolution.