Apr 26, 2026

Living in Unconditional Love (265)

 

“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.

04/26/2026                             This Friday, May 1, would have been Eileen’s 88^th birthday. I think of her every day and wonder at the beauty of our 60 years together, almost 59 years married. It was love at first sight, at least on my part, as I remember thinking when she introduced herself in February 1960 at the church club for unmarried young people that this is a girl I could marry. We married a little over a year later.

I definitely am not used to the cold(er) weather, as the weather has remained cold over the past week, or least very cool and with some snow. The daffodils look good, but the snow buried them and flattened many of the blooms, so they are not as bright as before the snow.

It is quiet as I do not have the wonderful noise of little ones to interrupt my thinking or reading. I do miss the sounds and sights of the little ones, but they are coming here at the end of July. I am looking forward to that time. They change so rapidly that I hate to miss a thing.

A good friend of mine died a little over a week ago, and I went to her wake in Homer. She died from ALS, and I had a long talk with her husband about being alone. Both of their kids are fine but live some distance away. I remember going out to dinner with them, and Bruce told me that was a few months after she was diagnosed, as they made a point to have dinner with their close friends while she still felt good. They knew what to expect as her mother had died from ALS several years ago and they knew the progression.

Meditation

 Gentle One, I weep for the pain inflicted by our country on the world. I ask forgiveness for out lack of leadership and the ego-driven results our leaders force on our people and the world. I would say that they do not know what they do, but with the speed of communication that does not seem to be the case. I pray for a change of heart and a recognition each human on the planet is a child of God.