Autumn in Dauphin

Falling

Another from my file folder... written a couple of years ago:

Today as I was driving into work…

I looked around…
The leaves are beginning to change colors…
The wind and the rain from last night
Forced many of the leaves to abandon their grips on the trees.

Now, for the first time…
Fall is real.. fall is here…

Driving down the country roads…
Colors beginning to abound…
Blankets of leaves everywhere….

Wind blowing leaves here and there….
The feeling of magic
Begins to well up inside…
My pulse quickens…

It’s a great day to be alive…
A little chill in the morning air…
Afternoons a little warmer…

Summer is not quite gone…
But it is fading fast…
Winter’s not upon us yet…

We’re in that time of year
Where all is calm…
All is quiet…

The leaves falling…
Wind blowing them past me…
Life is good…

Especially with you here…

Marigold

I just stumbled across this. I wrote it a few years ago. I suppose, it's not the best poetry in the world. Not even close to being my best writing. And the theme has been exploited by various artists in "The Rose" and other songs and poems. But, at the time, I guess it meant something to me, or I wouldn't have written it.

The Flower

A marigold is a lot like love;
The springtime sun warms the ground above,
And the seed begins to grow like crazy,
Never once becoming lazy.
With just a little rain,
It can overcome any pain.

As the summer comes and goes,
The beauty grows and grows.
Requiring only a little care,
Other flowers better beware;
Its beauty still grows stronger
As the nights grow longer and longer.

When the autumn nights get cold,
The blossoms still shine like gold.
Other flowers may give up hope,
But this one will not mope.
It lingers on and on,
Brightening almost any lawn.

But then one day the winter’s chill
Brings it down against its will.
The frost finally brings the end
And love is gone just like the wind.
Only the little seed remains,
To begin anew with springtime rains.

It was all a bad dream

A couple of weeks ago, my daughter, age 7, came to me with her notebook. She had written down a dream that she had... She said she did not want to forget it. I copied it to my computer, and saved it for another day. Today, is another day.


There was this one man who was very bad and he was breaking glass cups on my Dad's head but I made a pillow shield but my legs were sticking out the other end so he grabbed me by the legs and started to break glass cups on my head.


Dad's note: I left this word-for-word as she wrote it (except that I corrected a couple of minor spelling errors). I asked for a little explanation on a couple of points. She said the "pillow shield" was like a fort made out of pillows, but it wasn't quite long enough to shield her, too.

Celebration

I went to a celebration today.

It was not a happy celebration - at least, not for me.

It was a "home going celebration" for a friend. Almost a week ago, this friend, this man, left his shell of a body behind, and headed up to be with his Creator.

I didn't know Al as well as I should have known him. I worked with him, from time to time, including a trip up to Warminster, Pennsylvania during a disaster recovery test for our employer. Normally, though, I worked in a different building, a different shift. I have several excuses for not knowing Al as well as I should have.

I do know this, though. Al was a good human being. He was one of those rare people who always had time for a handshake and a big, huge smile. When I had the opportunity to work beside him, he was up and out, doing things, and couldn't stand to sit idle. He "took care" of things.

All throughout the words that were spoken at his celebration, I heard several names used to describe him, "a big man", "Big Al", "Big Dad". He was a big man.

As I sat there, and listened to the stories, viewed the photographs, most of all... listened to the music. I began to wish that I had gotten to know Al even better than I did. He always took the time to welcome me, to make me feel special, any time I visited his work area. I heard other folks from work here, say the very same thing. Of all the people who worked in that building - he was the one who would get up and go out of his way to give you a big smile, a warm welcome, no matter what he may have been working on, no matter what may have been on his mind, he took the time. He was... a BIG man.

I left the celebration today. A mix of thoughts and feelings. The music which he loved so much... it had helped soothe the sense of loss that we all felt. The music, was not of a sorrowful nature. It was quick. It was happy music. Upbeat music. Music with a personality like Al’s, that brought you a smile despite the situation. It was the first service I had ever attended, of any type, at a predominately black church, and it was very nice. I felt at home.

I am glad Al got to go Home. He was one of only a handful of people I have ever known, who truly typified, in my mind, "a good human being". All of us have faults, even Al. I am sure of it, even though I didn't know him well enough to see his. But he was one of those rare individuals who took the time to do good... to fix wrongs... to prevent wrongs from happening by reaching out and crossing the bridges which separate the good from the bad, and brought the good across those bridges and forced the bad away. He was someone who radiated kindness. If indeed there is a heaven, people like Al, and my grandfather, and Grandpap Collins, will be there. And, I know they're pulling for me, too.

I wish I was more like them. Maybe, someday, I will be.

Magic Time Machine

Yesterday, a little part of me died.

Another piece was born.

The who-I-am of today, is not the same who-I-am which existed yesterday. That person is now who-I-was. I have changed. That person of yesterday is gone now.

Every day, we live, we breathe, we experience.

Those experiences, even the littlest things - but especially the big ones - change us in some small way. They meld together to shape a new person out of the raw material that was.

Have you ever had a "life-changing" experience? Of course you have, even if you answered "No".

Today, I worked on a problem. I learned something new. I became a new person.

Yesterday, I read a page in a book. That page affected me in some small way. I became a new person.

Have you ever wondered why you did something, an hour ago, a day ago, last week? How could you have ever done something so stupid, or brilliant? Yet, at the time, it seemed like a perfectly natural thing to do. The who-I-am that exists now, that person sees the event, the action, the reasons or excuses, in a different manner than who-I-was did. The who-I-am may wish to go back in time and change the past - to wipe out those thoughts, those actions, those mistakes, whether real or imagined.

But, what's done, is done. The best we can do today, is to look ahead to tomorrow, and try not to forget the lessons learned in yesterday, but at the same time - to quit living in yesterday, and push forward to a better tomorrow.

Who-I-was no longer exists. That person cannot change anything. The past, is past. There is no winding the clock backwards.

However, who-I-am has an enormous power to shape the future. The decisions you make today, the experiences you live today, those things will not only help to form who-I-will-become, but they will also create the world of tomorrow, and the next day, and, indeed, the rest of time. Who-I-am is here, and now, and has the privilege and the power to create a new tomorrow, and hopefully can create a better tomorrow using the lessons learned yesterday and today.

Nameless

If I were just a grain of sand on a far distant beach, would you recognize me?

Or would you walk across the beach, the warm bits of sand burning your toes, and never even realize I was there?

Would you just breathe in the salty spray of the air, enjoying the sound of gulls crying out, and waves rolling into the shore, and then walk on to another place and time?

If I were less than a total stranger, a soul whose existence you never suspected, and then you saw me one day, what would you think?

Would I be some other nameless face in the crowd?

Would you look at me with your eyes, but not see me with your heart, and in the next moment be gone forever?

Or would you look deep into my eyes, inside my heart and soul, and somehow be able to show me some reflection of "me" that exists deep inside... a "me" that I couldn't have seen alone?

Blog This

It seems funny, but I've been blogging now since January. For a while, I did not put anything online because I lacked any motivation. I had a half-finished article on coffee and the effects of it. I didn't much like it, but I wanted to post something, so I cleaned it up a little (and if you poke around here a little, you can find it, named "Coffee, Good or Bad?").

And, it seems as if everyone wants to know about coffee. This one post, has two or three visits per week from people who do a search, somewhere online, about the effects of coffee on your health. It's the most visited post that I've done so far, and there have been people from all around the globe that have seen it, as a result of Google, MSN, Yahoo, and other search engines.

The funny thing is that it's probably one of my least favorite posts here. One of these days, maybe I'll update it with some factual information to actually make it more fact and less opinion.....

Bicycle Safety

One of the most confusing things, as a parent, is teaching our kids about "right" and "wrong". It is easy to say, if it goes against the 10 Commandments, then it is wrong. But, is that enough? No, in this world, we have many rights and wrongs. Like "white lies", where you tell someone something to protect their feelings. Strictly speaking, is it right or wrong to say, "Well, it isn't so bad....", when you really don't like it?

On a more personal level, with children, is winning and losing. It's good to win, and bad to lose. But, at the same time, it seems like some kids win all the time, and some kids lose all the time. Truthfully, no one wins ALL the time, at everything, but, sometimes it seems like they do. So, how do you tell a child who has lost, yet again, that it is all right? That losing can be a good thing? That they did the best they could, and everything is going to be okay... Through their tears, their pain and humiliation, they do not want to hear this. How can anything be "right"?

In Scouts, we had a state police officer come and give a safety lecture and demonstration. He talked about bicycle safety. It's pretty apparent why helmets are a good thing, even common sense. But, how do you explain to a child, that when you're walking up the road, you should walk on the "left" side of the road, instead of the "right" side? But, when you're riding a bicycle, you must obey vehicular laws, and ride on the "right" side, and not the "left" side?

The reasons for this are that when you're riding, you are, in effect, on a moving vehicle, and subject to the laws that apply to moving vehicles. On a bicycle, you should stop at stop signs, use a turn signal or hand signals to indicate which way you are turning, etc. Also, it would be dangerous to top a hill on a busy or even remote street, and meet oncoming traffic while riding your bike. But, when you're walking, you need to be able to see ahead of you, so you can get out of the way, in case someone is coming toward you.

It all goes back to safety first. There are times, while walking, that we will cross to the right side of the road, like on a blind curve or hill, where no one can see what is coming, and people drive too fast, causing dangerous conditions for the walker. In general, however, we follow the law and walk up the left side of the road, and as cars come toward us, we move to the edge of the road, and they tend to veer toward the middle, and all is well.

Going back to "rights and wrongs", to explain bicycle and walking safety to my kids, I tried to make it as clear as possible. "When walking, right is wrong, and left is right. But, when riding, right is right, and left is wrong." I think they get it.

In life, how do we so clearly explain things? Often it is just as hard. Our greatest way of teaching our children is by setting examples. Therefore, they see us doing something, they deem it acceptable, and do the same things. So, if we shout a lot, the kids will tend to shout a lot. If we complain a lot, the kids will tend to complain a lot. If we pray a lot, the kids will tend to pray a lot. If we wear smiles on our faces every day, our children will tend to wear smiles.

But, what happens when it seems like everything is wrong? Like when you're in a race, and you lose? You hold up your head, and say "Congratulations" to the winner, and life goes on. What happens when you're in a situation where there are no winners? When something ends, like when their Grandfather dies, perhaps? How do you tell a child that there is any "right" in this? You say, "Grandpa is in heaven." but is that really very meaningful to a child? He has just lost his best friend.

I suppose we could distract them, by teaching them bicycle safety...

But there is no "right" anywhere that will bring back something that is gone forever. And this is one of the hardest lessons to learn, as a child or an adult. You can pretend that everything is "right" and just continue to go on, pretending, forever. But, to fix the wrongs and make them right, means to truly come to accept that some things just are not "right". Then you must not only accept this awareness that they are not "right", and cannot be, but also become aware that life goes on. There's a future there, that each and every one of us contributes to. And that if things are not, and cannot be "right" the way they are today, then it's our job to build a better tomorrow. For when everything else is "wrong", there are still "right things" inside of us.

Through faith, hope, and love, we can each help to bring about a better tomorrow. No matter how bad today is, there is always hope for tomorrow. If we have faith in ourselves, and in the world around us, even God, then we can work to make a better tomorrow. And through companionship, though love, we can strengthen the faith and hope inside us. And, maybe, despite the "wrong" of today, we can reshape tomorrow, where we'll wake up and find "right" in our world.