Christmas is over, wrapping paper scrunched into balls, tossed around the room to amuse our cats. A low key holiday this year, fitting for a pair of great grandparents who once held center stage with red stockings hung in a row over the fireplace. Those were chaotic,joyful days surrounded by family and friends
Forty years sped swiftly by with losses and gains and blessings galore.
This Christmas morning at granddaughter Suzi and Ryan's home held a new wonderland of surprises with great grandsons, Lucas and Nathan who went from present to present while pet dog Ruffi stretched out in the middle of it all. The musical laughter of happy children. Their Daddy flying a motorized helicopter around the room.
The rest of us, David, Barara and Andy uwrapping gifts. Des, not feeling well enough to join us. Life's cycle of change, as expected. Gratitude for what remains. These thoughts overrule. The glass still half full. I celebrate what is, ignore what should be, That's a judgment call, and the jury is still out.
At the candle light Christmas Eve service at my church, I felt the presence of loved ones, gone. My mother and father, the givers of my life and the assurance that I was loved.
Gone this year, Jeannette and Jan, two friends who taught me how to live in the midst of dying. Jeannette sending out handwritten notes of encouragements every day to others, her left side paralyzed, writing had to be a struggle, yet never failing to draw a smiley face at the end of her notes. Thanking peope for kindnesses to her, never complaining, slyly tossing out corny one liners.
Jan struggling with her oxygen tank as we went to lunch to split potatoe skins and soup. Adapted to life in a senior living complex, she wrote pithy observations of her surroundings. Funny and poignant, these essays became a book, Active SeniorLiving and no reader would suspect cancer was taking it's final toll on her.
On to the coming year, my best Christmas presents were a Smart Phone and a hearing aid. My greatest strength comes from the awesome people who love me. How cool is that?
So Says Sassy
