New Year - New Hopes

 

                                                        (drawing by Connor, age 9)

      On the eve of the New Year I both reflect and look forward; try to make sense of the chaos and recognize how intentional our world truly is; knowing that it all happens for very tangible reasons.  This year I hope to maintain a blog that is both a timeline for our family's story and also musings and funny moments that seem to happen in our lives quite a bit.  We commited early on to always witness the humor in every situation ~ and that has served us well.  I think because we look for the humor, we are more inclined to see it.

 

      This past week, I visited my childhood home with my eldest son, who's early childhood began here too.  We enjoyed seeing the "old" neighborhhood, noticing how much it has changed but also stayed the same.  Everything looked so much smaller to me than in my own memory.  The bus stop seemed so far away that we would cut through a neighbors yard and the accompanying woods to shorten our run (yes, run...never on time for that school bus!).  The shale pit was more like the Grand Canyon thirty years ago - must have eroded into the small piles of shale that it is today!  I remember swimming the distance of the "big" lake and thinking I was ready for Olympic gold - really not much more than a full lap in a pool.  Our home never felt small to me but seeing it today I noticed how tiny our home stood.  The large willow trees that would sway in the breeze by the lake had been cut down; no more.  No more sliding board or dock at the beach either.  More houses and less woods.  Less wild and more tame.  I remember feeling adventurous picking berries by the lake, independant riding my bike, and free skating on the lake in the dark of the night with the sounds of the expanding ice adding an element of excitement.  Our home may have tiny but my childhood was rich. 
      Now my oldest, Allen, is grown and has his own family, his own home.  Leah and Connor grow and mature more and more every day.  Looking forward, my hope is that every day they will keep humor in their lives; that they will find peace amongst the chaos and that they will, one day, reminisce about the riches of their own childhoods.