Saturday, November 20, 2010
Ch-ch-ch-changes
Monday, November 1, 2010
Garden Center, part 1
A few days later, Harvey dug it up, chewed it up, and ran up and down the hill in our backyard triumphantly.
The boxes were too heavy to lift again by ourselves, and it was late, so they stayed. And stayed. As the days wore on, I still felt guilty about what I'd done, and half-resigned to the fact that the boxes should be returned. A funny thing, that receipt. It occured to me that on top of everything else, I could "lose" the receipt (just a slip of paper), be unable to return it, and get my way. Selfish, evil thought.
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Car Color & Timing
My brother Johnny has generously lent us his car the past couple of years he's been in China. When he & Eliz visit next month, they'll drive the Honda back to California; so naturally, we've been car-shopping. (Well, James figured up how much we'd save by becoming a one-car family, but alas, our distance from town and schedules outweigh the benefits.) Tuesday afternoon, after a week of intensive hunting and test-driving, we finally settled on an '07 Corolla.
We had saved up, a la Dave Ramsey, for two years. We wanted to buy from a private owner, but surprisingly, we found the best deal at a dealership. The reason this little gas-saver was going for way under Bluebook value: its color. Maybe we should call her Isaac, cause we laughed the first time we saw it. And on Wednesday, when Brian handed us the keys to our car, it hit home. Just check out the color on the keyring.
Ugly Blue. But it's looking more & more lovely to me. I drove Bluey straight to the airport to pick up my friend Seonkyoung, who'd just flown in from Texas. And here's the awesome timing: this once-in-a-blue-moon week that we have company who needs a car, we have three cars! Thank you, Father, for friends and for timing everything just right.
Monday, June 28, 2010
The Morning for Pahpah
He was the last of our grandparents. He loved my grandmother Mema, loved their three children - Mary, Johnny, and Gordon - and loved Jesus. He acted justly as a good lawyer and judge, loved mercy as he took care of his dear wife in her last years, and walked humbly with his God even when he couldn't see or stand. Whenever asked how he was doing these past few years, he'd praise the Lord that he didn't have any pain.
Cats frequented his lap, and he passed down a love of cats to all his family. I got his blue eyes too. And maybe his enjoyment of old movies ... though they were new when he saw them.
Mother Teresa died five days after Princess Diana in 1997; C. S. Lewis died on the same day as JFK in 1963. And in 2010, the very same day my grandfather died, my old neighbor Mrs. Madison did too. It's hard to sort out all the grief and memories, but Mrs. M took our Christmas card pictures back when it required a whole roll of film. She shared catfood with us one warm Christmas day when we ran out, the stores were closed, and I walked barefoot across the street to ask her. She taught me how to cross-stitch, which she couldn't do anymore after her stroke. The last thing I heard her say clearly, when visiting a week ago, was "You come back any time." Now she can communicate with perfect clarity.
Pahpah and Mrs. Madison both died at home, which I wish everyone could do. They both lived good long lives and influenced so many people. They both died, but I can't think of them as dead, because they're more alive now than ever. Quoting The Last Battle again:
For them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures ... had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on forever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.