January 8, 2017

She started taking lessons, 30 years to the week, after her father did... with the same teacher. Carole keeps a log of all her students she has taught, and there under my husband's juvenile signature, my daughter signed her name.  This is the wonder of life in a small town.  I remind my children that they are so fortunate to have such a teacher, not just about music, but about life.  She is truly a champion for her students, and for that I am so grateful.

January 7, 2017

Ted and Ted. 91 years separates them.  My children think it is completely normal to have an almost 104 year old Great Grandfather.  Never being very close to any of my Grandparents, I still struggle with understanding this kind of relationship.  As he hugged my son, he said the familiar words, frequently heard by my husband as he grew up, "Get as much education as you can."  The elder thinks God has forgotten about him.  Personally, I think God knows exactly what he is doing.

January 6, 2017

Sometimes the magic finds me, and sometimes I have to find the magic.  In the case of this photo, a step to the right and it would have been nice, but nothing spectacular. A step to the left, and then a shift, then a squat down in the snow in -15 degree weather and I found the magic.  Such is life.  Sometimes magic falls right in your lap, and sometimes you need to shift around, wiggle a little and maybe even get down on your haunches to find it.

January 5, 2017

To see the exit, but remain unable to navigate my way towards it.  I have felt this many a time in life.  I know the direction or path I want to take, but the road is unmarked.  However life and age has taught me, with faith, the way will be eventually be revealed to me when the time is right.

January 4, 2017

Is it the sun just rising, peaking through the clouds? Or is it the sun sinking into the dark evening abyss?  I guess to know, you would need to know all the details of the situation... like what direction was I headed? It becomes a matter of perspective doesn't it?  Such is life... perspective... the details and knowledge we know juxtaposed with the details and information we have yet to learn. What should be an ever-evolving process oftentimes results in us stuck knowing the direction someone is, was, or should be headed. Our own direction is the only one that we can know for certain.

January 3, 2017

We thrift. Because we like to.  And because in our small town, we have two amazing thrift stores. In life, it is all just stuff. And we both feel like old stuff was just made better.  Given the choice, I would take an old, slightly beat up solid wood table over a new one.  I would take a decades old wool, made in the USA coat, over a new one.  The reality is none of it matters. Labels, trends, "must haves" don't really matter. So among the 8-tracks and Precious Moments we wander, because we aren't getting out of this life alive, and we aren't taking our stuff with us.

January 2, 2017

A lesson in observation... or maybe lack thereof.  The Christmas tree, which has stood in our living room since shortly after Thanksgiving, was stripped of its glory today.  As I sat in the kitchen working on something, my kids yelled "THERE'S A NEST IN THE TREE!!" Internally, I was throwing the BS flag... but eventually meandered into the living room, and there it stealthily sat.  Cuddled up to the trunk, about midway up the tree, the downy cotton filled nest was perched.  It had survived the falling of the tree, the transport to the nursery, the ride to our home, the decorating and our cats.  How many things in life go unnoticed... passed by for days on end?  How many things are just waiting for us to stop, pause and observe?