Sep 11, 2022

  Living in Unconditional Love (79)

“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 to the day that we met on Long Island. Then my brother Tom became ill, 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, and even though it is abating, I wear my mask anytime I am out among people, unlike many.

09/11/2022                    Hard to believe that it has been over 20 years since the terrible loss of life in NYC from the terrorist’s attack. So much has happened in this relatively short period of time. I still ponder that day as I watched the events on television, live. Difficult to think even now that it was real, and the ensuing destruction and deaths that continue today stemming from that event.

The world will miss the Queen. She was always on duty, for 70 years. Not many of us can state that being in the public eye for all that time we could hold it together, and always had it on display for all to see. Always doing the right thing. She was fortunate to have her prince who also was always together, and their love was always shining for the world to see. A great example of living ones’ life well.

The hummingbirds have apparently left for the year. At the start of the week there was constant fighting over the feeder on my front deck. Then by Tuesday I only saw two having a problem, then on Wednesday only one darting in to feed once. I have not seen any since that time. Interestingly, hummingbirds migrate singly, not as a flock, as they must feed many times a day. They fly low to spot food, and all, even the newly hatched youngsters, know their way south and west to their wintering homes.

This is Luma weekend, and both Barbara and Janet came home to go both Friday and Saturday nights. Luma (properly LUMA) is truly awesome. The organizers have photographically “mapped” many buildings in downtown Binghamton, NY, and then build video stories around the building’s exterior, game show activity style. Monsters climbing out of windows, etc. Then many projectors (I know one year they had 20 projectors on one building) are used to project the stories that correlate to the building shapes. I did not feel I could stand for the several hours to see the show at night wandering from building to building in downtown Binghamton, so I missed this year. An individual show last around five minutes, and many buildings are involved all with different shows, so it takes a couple of hours to see them all. They repeat every 15 minutes or so. Eileen and I went all the times in the several years they had the show before she became ill. It is truly awesome. While several cities around Europe have similar shows, this is the only one in the US. Small town Binghamton draws in several tens of thousands, and this year the weather is perfect – clear, in the 70’s. It is truly a wonder of technology to see the artwork matching the buildings exactly from the many projectors. Look it up on the web: LUMA, Binghamton New York.

It is a joy to have two of my daughters home, even if I only saw them for a few hours. We had lots of chatter, and I served a roasted chicken (my one and only specialty) and corn-on-the-cob (always when in season) on Saturday, as they will head back to their respective homes on Sunday.

 I was able to mow lawns on Friday after the rains on Monday through Wednesday, one of which I did now mow at all during August, and it still wasn’t that high. I have a little pond (called the ‘frog pond’ because it contains (guess) when it has water) fed by rain runoff which was totally dried and caked mud since July. When we walked around the gardens on Saturday, the little “frog pond” had several large frogs. Where to they go when there is no water, and what brings them back? Questions to ponder when I have nothing else to ponder.

Indeed, I am filled with gratitude about life. I have reached a point where life without Eileen is what it is but with many wonderful memories, and life is still a wonder to behold. My strength is returning, and when I can I walk on the road and around the land. All is good in my life. I am as happy and filled with joy as I can be. I miss my beloved, but this phase of life has its blessings too.

Meditation

Gentle One, You have blessed us with rain this week and it is indeed welcome. The days are growing shorter, but life is filled with wonderous things. Even watching the birds gathering and leaving in their annual migration is a wonder of how all fit together. I am filled with gratitude and love for all that I see.