Dec 03, 2023

Living in Unconditional Love (143)

 

“Love flows from God to humans without effort:

As a bird glides through the air without moving its wings-

Thus, they go wherever they wish united in body and soul,

Yet separate in form.”

–Mechtild of Magdeburg

 

My wife Eileen died from esophageal cancer in February 2020 one year after being diagnosed, 60 years after we met on Long Island. Then my brother Tom became ill (not COVID), and I spent a total of six weeks being with him in Ohio, but he died in October 2020. My sister-in-law Sue Mahoney died from Covid-19 in January 2021. On top of it all stood the pandemic, locking everyone down almost two years. Covid has proved to be a persistent problem, and many of the long-term effects are quite serious, and it has proven much more serious than flu.

12/03/2023                             Today, Dec. 3^rd, is my son Dan’s birthday. I remember well holding him after returning to the hospital, having been sent home by the Dr. as he was not expected soon. The doctor was a “neighbor”, only a few miles away in the country which makes him a neighbor, and we spent much of the waiting period talking about his building of his fireplace from rocks in the field around his house. Eileen was not happy as she was in labor and we were chatting over her about splitting rocks, sawing wood, and splitting it, and more guy things. Finally, about 4am he sent me home, and soon after arriving he called and said we had a son, so I went back.

I went to the doctor about my wheezing as I said last week, and I have an infection in the right lung, same area as where I had pneumonia. I am on steroids for a few days, and one of the side effects is insomnia, so I get little sleep at night. I have been essentially self-isolating and just taking it easy, and since I find it difficult sleeping at night, taking short naps during the day. I go back next Wednesday to see if the meds worked. I feel well, but wide awake, and with an inhaler. I am not wheezing.

I do not keep a birdfeeder out in the summer, as bears can smell the bird seed from a mile or more away, and they have been seen roaming this area checking it out. They have a long memory. I have a picture on one peering in the family room door from a few years ago, and Barbara remembers during the pandemic when she was staying here in a bedroom downstairs looking out her window at a bear standing there. I put the feeder out last Sunday and by the next day the birds had found it. Now there is a constant stream of birds grabbing a seed and running. The feeder is a sturdy metal squirrel-proof device hanging on a chain off my rear deck where I can watch with delight. It is truly a squirrel-proof device, but not bear-proof, and I have a mangled version of it in the basement to prove it. We had a cold front in during the week with a little snow, and the birds were lining up for the feeder.

The most exciting thing that has happened this year was the birth of Maddison to Alesander and Dan this past March and the opportunity to visit with them at their place in Virginia. She is still a very placid baby, and Dan keeps asking Alesandra if she is sure it is their child, as she rarely cries unless she is hungry or needs a change unlike the other two at that same age and seems perfectly content to just watch.

A little story about their trip back to Peru, where they are today. They had four economy tickets, paying for the two slightly older ones (4 and 2), and 24 large suitcases for the long-term move, and they paid no baggage fees. They are not sure why, but they were delighted to put it mildly.

All I can do is pray for our sad world, as war is continuing in many places with all the associated pain.

Meditation

 

Gentle One, I rest in Your peace during this time of waiting. I am surrounded by silence most of the time and it grounds me in ways nothing else can. This time of year, moving into the quiet and breathing time of our portion of the year, proves the yearning of nature for rest and a time to rebuild behind the scenes as seeds begin to prepare themselves for the coming spring and the bursts of new life. I let all rest on You as it has been for all eternity, and almost 14 billion years in our little section of the infinite universe.