Of course I’ve known for years that I have a lot more than I need and things that I’ll never need at all. But it’s hard to just throw out perfectly good stuff and difficult as well as time-consuming to find happy homes for things no longer wanted, even useful, cute, wearable things. Too many tall vases, too many warm slightly worn blankets, towels, sheets. Waffle iron? Mugs? Decisions! To keep? To throw out? To find someone who will appreciate your unwanteds? Decisions!

On the bright side, I’m all set up in my old bedroom with all I need within easy reach. After being without TV for all of Lent I felt I could live without my TV but I was told “You like to watch Five at Five–you need to have it.” And, presto, the boys arranged a power source by simply drilling a hole through a closet wall and there my TV sits four feet from my head. Computer and printer wired and functioning. Places to recharge cell phone and iPad. Clock merrily shining the time on the ceiling come nighttime. Enough clothes for the season which was the first thing I attended to when all the re-arranging started.

I’ve been living alone since my tenant, Jon, got married a few months ago and I really like having people around for a good part of the day. To tell the truth, I was content with my old house the way it was, but I am also content, even happy, with all the good will that I see daily in the efforts on my behalf. Fortunately I’m an orderly person and know that if I take it easy everything will be orderly again in due course. Hopefully I can learn the “take it easy” part.

An unexpected glimpse into the past came when some of the old paneling was removed revealing the old chalkboard from forty years ago–with my writing still on it–telling Dan to do the bathroom floor “again.” It was not a true chalkboard, just green chalkboard paint on the wall. But it worked and chores got done if the kids wanted their allowances.

All that plaster coming down, eight walls and two ceilings, has created an amazing amount of fine dust and big chunks all over the place. When I started to sneeze and my nose started to drip I decided to seek fresh air outdoors only to find two big window fans working full-time to blow the dust outdoors. God willing this won’t go on too long or I’ll get some sort of lung disease in spite of my face mask.

Fortunately my limited living quarters are approaching some semblance of orderliness and the future looks tolerable. Several days later the dust and sneezing have subsided without morphing into some pulmonary disease. Lastly, now, the cement truck has come and left many cubic feet of mixed concrete in the holes in the basement floor achieved with much racket which will provide footings for columns to shore up the whole edifice. What a good hardworking thorough son I have been blessed with! Just suppose we had stopped after only six kids! Perish the thought!

Six and sixty years ago
You had a little girl,
Her name was Dorothy Dimple,
She had a golden curl.

She was a darling baby
As anyone could see
You gave her tender loving care,
Dad bounced her on his knee.

From Detroit to Lebanon
With your kiddies four
We travelled in our Model T
To Aunt Theresa’s door.

I made my first Communion there
And went to Henry Houck,
Learned to tap with Lillian,
For Uncle George Dad worked.

Then to Bridgeport via bus
At Grandma’s house to stay
We whooped it up in Grandma’s yard
what did she have to say?

You went to work at Gray Line bus,
And Dad at the GE,
Adele MRrie made her debut,
As cute as she could be.

We bought a lot on East Main Street
And Stratford became home.
We kids went here and there to school
And otherwise to roam.

One by one each took a spouse,
Began to propagate,
Now grandkids number twenty-three
Great-grandkids twenty-eight!

Your children now are turning gray,
Ninety-five years have fled,
Who would have thought ‘twould come to this
When Frank and Agnes wed?

We thank you, Mom, and you, too, Dad,
For years of loving care,
You did your best and raised us well,
We turned out passing fair.

So happy birthday once again,
We love you, one and all,
We pray for you God’s blessings now
And heaven at his call.
……….Dorothy Dimple

No real poet am I but a loving daughter. The “Upheaval” resurrected this old poem that I hardly recall at all. Mom and Dad were both worthy of poems in their honor. Though I took them for granted as a child I have come to appreciate how fortunate we all were to have such parents. They were there and interactive, dependable, honest, kind, hard-working, and many other good things. We were hit hard by the depression and
Dad, a carpenter by trade, could not find work. Eventually, as in the poem, we ended up in Bridgeport where Mom, class valedictorian and a trained bookkeeper, worked briefly in an awning factory sewing awnings. She then got the job as bookkeeper for the bus company, Dad got a job at GE, and we were once again solvent. All children should be as blessed as we were!

I am so blessed!

The MRI of my head turned out to be normal for age.  I really thought it would be, but there was still an anxiousness that comes with any sort of testing.  Being claustrophobic. I think I was more anxious about the test itself than the results of the testing.    It has been a trying month, overall, with people driving me here and there,  the water heater needing replacement, the freezing polar vortex  and two snowstorms, all in the middle of the holidays! I feel as if I’ve been through the wringer (who knows what a wringer is nowadays?). As if I’m being hollowed out – like I’m flotsam and jetsam – like its time to get off the merry-go-round and settle down – if it’s possible to settle down when you’re wobbly with a cane!

And yet, in the midst of it all, aside from gratefulness for such health as I have, there is an immense thankfulness for the family that I have.  The kids grow up, move away, live their own lives, beyond my watch. When we meet again it’s like discovering a new person. They get funny ideas and you can’t imagine how they got that way. But you discover kind hearts. It’s strange to be on the receiving end of the tender loving care. Each one has been there for me, stopping in to see how I’m doing, calling, bringing food,  taking me for the CAT scan, the physical therapy, etc, etc, right up to last night when Mary took her Xanax-drugged Mommy for the MRI scan, then brought her home and saw her tucked unto bed.  How I love those kids!

Here, Terry and I visit Dr. Mashman who ordered an MRI to rule out acoustic neuroma or a small stroke. Dr.Mashman hired me as secretary to Associated Neurologists in the 1970s.

It took me an hour to get this “selfie” of Dr. M from my email onto my blog. As you can see, I’m a devotee of “good enough.” These old brains can’t take too much strain.

Alas, once I get on an even keel, I see some dental surgery in the near future. Such is life. Thanks be to God who plans all things well.

~~~

But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and others will dress you and take you where you don’t want to go. — John 21:18

Read the rest of this entry »

Orson Bean is a personal friend of mine. He wasn’t last month but he is now. It all started when I heard Orson interviewed by Dennis Miller on a late night radio show.. In the wee hours of the morning I heard Orson proclaim his love for Yeshua (Jesus). Most people are familiar with the name of Orson Bean. Now 85, he has made such a mark in the entertainment world that he must have hundreds of credits on his Wikepedia bio, among the latest being Two and a Half Men, and Despserate Housewives. It has seemed to me of late that most committed Christians have had some sort of experience or encounter with the living God that bolsters their faith and gives them conviction. Orson had just come out with a new book Safe at Home, and I wanted to read it to find out what kind of experiences he might have had. I write more about the book in my post, Mystical Moments.

In this 2011 video Orson is thinking about writing a book.  I don’t know if he ever actually came out with the “funny, raunchy” book he talks about in this clip.

Since I had written about Orson’s life and even plugged his book, I thought he might find my post of interest. I wrote him a letter and he was kind enough to reply:

Hello babydot. I thought it was because I’m 85 that computers confuse me. My grandkids of course, even the littlest ones, can do anything. But if at 90 you’re such a pro I guess it’s not an age thing. Thanks so much for the note and your kind words. I’m not doing much of anything to promote the book, just leaving it in the hands of Himself for it to reach anyone who might be influenced by it. I’ve already heard from a couple of non-believers that they are getting down on their knees and asking if there’s anyone there. A guy named Frank Sontag who does a broadcast on a Christian network asked me to come on his show and I’ll do so next Monday. I enjoyed your blog. Again, thanks. O.

So, though I had barely heard of Orson Bean a month ago, today we are friends, even family. We have the same Father, Brother, Spirit, Mother — it’s funny how that works.

Safe at Home is a quick, enjoyable read about a full and fascinating life, especially for folks who lived through the thirties, forties and fifties.   Scripture tells us that if we seek God we will find Him and Orson sought Him in all directions. To me it seems obvious that the world, the universe, did not make itself, or, as some have suggested, “burp itself into existence.” Man with all his scientific information and technical know-how has never been able to put together a single living cell — a single living, assimilating, growing, reproducing cell! DNA had not yet been discovered in Darwin’s day and I’d love to know how he would explain the volumes of information packed into the double helix in each human cell. Would he really have believed inanimate atoms and molecules over the ages could have accidentally joined together to form baby.exe, the program that brings a baby into existence when the germ cells in a man and a woman unite? I mean really?

~~~

Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.… — Matthew 7:7

Sixty-five years ago, when I was pregnant with our first baby, my mother made this christening dress. That first child, Wendy, was baptized on the way home from the hospital, at the age of ten days. We did not know, at the time, about the dress. Teresa Marie, our second baby, was the first to wear it. When I look at it today I am so afraid that I sent my mother a letter saying “Thank you for the lovely dress.” That would have been so inadequate! It is absolutely awesome! Imagine the work and the hours that went into it! Behold the tiny tucks, the crocheted inserts and tatted edges, the delicate embroidery. You never in your life saw such teeny hand-stitched buttonholes! French seams, of course. And a matching slip.

Mom, belatedly, please know I really appreciate everything you did for me and for us all.

Much love from your first-born (practice) baby. See you.

Dorothy Agnes

I was born in 1923.  Our country was much different then but even I didn’t appreciate how different it was until this arrived via email today.  I have copied it just so readers can get an idea of how very different things were just 13 years before I was born.  It came with a note that rent at that time was $5 a month and a photo of a 1910 Ford which refused to copy along with rest of it.   We did have a Ford back then and since we lived in Detroit I assume it was a pretty current model.  I do remember a crank in the front to start it.

I don’t know what I’m going to do with Leona Choy.   She seems to be writing more things that are spot-on for my blog than I do!  At 88 Leona is only too familiar with the downside of aging and talks to God about it.  As usual, God is more spot-on than Leona.   Please read and enjoy and then visit her blog for more of her wisdom.

Forever-Child

(Dialogue with God)

 

“I hear it said that You

will carry people, Father,

when things get tough.

Well then, I think I’m qualified:

I’ve had about enough!

Please pick me up!

 

I’m weary to the bone

my feet are dragging and hurt

and I need orthodics in my shoes

I am lagging behind

no longer keeping pace

in the fast track of life’s race.

I have a feeling

there’s trouble brewing

on the aging path ahead

that I really dread.”

 

That sounds so dramatic, My child!

 

“Well, I’ve been a long time

on Your Way, Father,

so I have an aching spine

and I’m in decline

my prime is past

my years advanced

my body bent

my strength is spent

my spirit wanes

my shoulder complains

I need trifocals to see

and hearing aids

then there’s that bum knee—

I’m in the days of yellow leaf

around me I see only grief!”

 

Any further complaints?

 

“I live in earth’s time zone, Father,

and no longer strong and fit

I’m experiencing depreciation

without any tax benefit.”

 

That’s some recital, child!

 

“There’s more! I feel distressed

sometimes depressed

’cause life has lost its kick.

My neck has a crick

my body parts are shabby and worn

for they’ve been working full time

since the day I was born.

And have You noticed, Father,

in some places they’re too sparse

in others too well-padded?

 

My, my, how old did you say you are?

 

“You know, Lord, You know all things…

I figure I’m somewhere between

seniority, maturity and longevity but

I’m trying to circumvent senility.

I’m no longer of service to You

as in days gone by when in my prime.

Father, indeed, I think

that I am going to seed!”

 

Alright child, I’ve heard enough—

listen now:

You call me “Father” and that is right

for in My eternal sight

you are truly still my child.

But you’ve lost perspective

you are preoccupied

with the turning of a page

and a calendar date

which you call time and age.

 

I AM that great I AM

and there is no time in Me

only endless Eternity

I AM the same forever.

So if you are in Me and I AM in you

you are My “forever-child,”

You are timeless and ageless too.

So in childhood’s simplicity

roll your infirmities on Me

lean on My everlasting arms

and walk in full dependency.

 

This is My perfect plan:

though your temporary outer-man

declines and wastes away

your forever inner-man

renews each passing day.

Your spirit does not diminish

or fade away to a withered finish.

You can flourish and grow

like the palm and the cedar

full of sap and very green

not yellow leaf, brittle and dry.

 

I still expect good fruit from you

a riper, sweeter yield

even more than before

as your roots sink deep

and relentlessly pursue

My Rivers of Living Water

and sprout afresh again

young shoots and new.

 

“But Father, I’m winding down toward sunset

and darkness is scary to me.”

 

These are not your sunset years

beyond which darkness lies:

you journey now toward sunrise

for I AM eternal Light.

Your spiritual eyes won’t dim

beholding Me with inward sight.

You’ll step without a lapse

into the glory of Eternity

in which you already walk

today, “forever-child,” with Me.

 

“Are You saying

that You won’t pick me up, Father?”

 

I don’t need to pick you up, child

because I’ve never put you down!

From womb to Glory’s gate

I, the Lord, will carry you

through youth and prime

to graying years

till the end of time.

In disappointments, trials and fears

through all your joys and tears—

I’ll never put you down!

 

“Abba, Father, so let it be—

I’m Your child forever, so carry me

 from here to Eternity!”

 

*****

What a blessing Leona Choy is! I’ve never met Leona personally but we became blogging friends when we both read and admired everything written by Barbara Curtis on her blog, Mommy Life. And grieved together about Barbara’s untimely death. Leona is only two years younger than I am, but far more prolific, with a marvelous gift for ministry and words. I am taking the liberty here of reproducing her recent prayer for her family and can only urge readers to go to her blog and see for yourself how very gifted she is. Thank you, Leona, for writing the prayer I would have written if I could.

MY PRAYER FOR OUR FAMILY

O Lord, I pray for our family, not on the basis of my own righteousness but because of Your love for them and the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ for them.

As the matriarch of our family, I come before You to intercede for Your grace and mercy upon each one in our family—our children, (no matter what their ages) and their spouses and children, our grandchildren and great-grandchildren including families whose relationships have broken, and for new families in the making. I ask for Your Holy Spirit to draw their eternal souls to repentance and salvation and grant them eternal life in accord with the promises of Your Holy Word. I pray that each member of our family, biological offspring or in a blended family relationship, will through an act of their free will become a child of Your covenant. I pray that the Guardian Angel You have assigned to each of us for our lifetime will protect and guide us all safely to our Heavenly Home.

I ask You to protect our family physically and spiritually. Lead them all in Your paths of righteousness and in Your perfect will toward his or her special destiny. Bless them with Your favor, give them their daily bread, and prosper them according to their needs and for Your glory.

On the authority of God’s promises in His Word I ask that negative spiritual strongholds of evil principalities and powers be torn down and any past generational curses be removed. In the Name of Jesus I resist the devil on behalf of our family. Deliver them from evil and the evil one. Banish his power from their lives, their bodies, minds, souls and properties.

I call forth Your bountiful blessings, O Lord, upon our family in agreement with the prayers of our godly ancestors. I receive and embrace Your favor and grace and mercy for myself and for my descendants because of Your love and faithfulness to Your covenant promises to our forefathers. Through the synergy of our prayers, I pass on our generational blessings with joy and vigor and faith to our posterity.

I pray that Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven in my life and in the lives of each member of my family. Help us to be diligent to establish, maintain, and bring forward a godly heritage to those in our family now and to those yet to be born. May we courageously and faithfully fulfill the purposes for which You gave us life and opportunity in this designated time in history that You have ordained for us.

In the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen

We were singing “The Cry of the Poor” at Mass but the words in the new songbook weren’t the words I had learned.  The first verse used to be

“I will bless the Lord at all times.  His praise ever in my mouth.  Let my soul glory in the Lord, For he hears the cry of the poor.”

Now it went

“I will bless the Lord at all times.  With praise ever in my mouth.  Let my soul glory in the Lord, Who will hear the cry of the poor.”

Who are the people who have changed the words in this song and in other songs that I once knew and enjoyed?  Is this always done with the permission of the author?  Some of the changes are awkward, with little regard to grammatical antecedents.  Why is somebody so determined not to call the Lord “He?”

Then came the homily that was the final straw prompting this article.  The priest referred to “our forefathers and foremothers!”  What next?  Will they change the Gettysburg Address (never mind what Lincoln actually said) to “Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers and mothers brought forth on this continent….”?

Who are they who have decided that our language does not mean what it has always meant?  Linguistics experts report that the use of “man” to refer to a member of the human race predates the use of “man” to refer to an adult male.  “Man does not live by bread alone.”  “No man is an island.”  “What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world…..”  “Time and tide wait for no man.”  “Unless a man be born again…..”  “Man’s inhumanity to man.”  “Friends, Romans, countrymen!”  “Man overboard!”  All of these sayings have suddenly become incomprehensible or unacceptable because they do not include women?

Of course they include women!  They always have.  “Man” is a generic term meaning “humankind.”  Women have always had a word of their own.  Most animals have separate words for the male and female of the species–stallion/mare, buck/doe, billy goat/nanny goat, rooster/hen, and so forth.  But the human male actually has no word of his own; he has to share.

From whence comes this urge to get the “men” out of “women?”  California State University has a course in “Wymyn’s Studies!”  Others spell it “wimmin.”

Fifty years ago New York’s Museum of Modern Art had a photography exhibit titled “The Family of Man” and the subsequent book of photographs with the same title met with great critical acclaim for its depiction of men, women, and children the world over.  Everyone understood the title and no one complained about it.  Now it apparently would be insensitive and politically incorrect.

Language is an organic thing that grows with roots and branches.  They are uprooting it and retrofitting it with artificial glosses to correct a perceived but non-existent slight and we do not withhold our “Amen.”   (We’d better get the “men” out of that, too!)

Next they will be correcting Shakespeare!  There goes the iambic pentameter; here comes the bastardization of the product of genius!

Dr. Helen Dietz, in a protest to the National Conference of Catholic Bishops on proposed inclusive changes in our English liturgy wrote, “Jesus said, ‘Be ye perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect’ not ‘be ye perfect as your Heavenly Supreme Being is perfect.’  Today when there are so many fatherless households is not the time to be promoting a fatherless universe.”  She also noted that adopting inclusive language “introduces awkward circumlocutions…which do not reflect the way people ordinarily speak.”

We all know that God is not a man or a woman but a Spirit.  Jesus said to call him “Father.”  “Our Father who art in heaven.”  Or “Abba”  (Daddy).  Jesus called Mary “mother” and that makes sense to me.  God has the best of both masculine and feminine characteristics.   Genesis says that God created man in his image.  I especially like the RSV version of Genesis 5:2 which clearly illustrates the generic use of “man.”  “Male and female he created them and he blessed them and called them Man when they were created.”  Yet there are those who do not want to say “Father, Son,and Holy Spirit,” but rather “the Parent, the Child, and the Power!”

According to Webster, the second meaning of “he” refers to one whose sex is unknown or immaterial.  Webster should know.  “He who hesitates is lost.”  “Blessed be he who is poor in spirit..”  But lately I am seeing more and more writings peppered with him/her or s/he.  I have also seen (I kid you not) “history” transformed into “herstory.”

Scripture says quite clearly that the first woman came from man, but ever since men have been coming from women!  (1 Cor. 11,12)  God has given women plenty of status.

As for me, God is my Father, Jesus is my brother, and Mary is my mother.   And I do not feel that the “brotherhood of man” leaves me out.

“God has visited his people.”  Let’s see them fix that!