Making Home

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We are now home.  For the next while.  Without a lot of travel planned.

As we settled in these last few days, we both recognized that this is not home, yet.  We had both spent time in the last while settling into separate lives.  400 kilometers apart.  Oblivious of each other.

Until courting began less than a year ago.  And now a marriage and a life together.  With the together things that go along with that.

The house where we are living has changed.  This is not the house of Ron, nor the house of Cynthia.  Amalgamation takes time. 

Yes, we moved boxes in, unpacked a number of them, and prepared other items for garage sale.  In that way, we have started to peek into the look of our future.

But we see with a glass dimly (a slight biblical allusion!).  Each day is an opportunity to learn something new.  To create a fresh encounter with who we are and what we are to become.

In that way, we are “making home”.  I know no better way to express the adventure we are on.  Exciting, frustrating, curious, consuming, fun, exhausting . . . all words that only begin to touch this new life together.

In vowing to commit our lives to each other, I wouldn’t have it any other way!

Thinking patterns

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I must admit, in an older age, I tend to think as fast or faster than when I was younger. 

I’m not sure if that is because I have more experience and observations, or if I’m just aware of more that needs to be done that I can’t get done in one day!

A few years ago I noted that a number of Alzheimer patients I met had been extensive readers and thinkers in their younger years.  I remember one particular example where this person awoke in the evening and had a pad of paper beside her bed.  Any time another thought appeared, she would jot it down.

Perhaps, and I say this without any great research or proven theories, old age needs to learn to think less.  In order to preserve our mental capabilities, the less responsibility we assume, the better. 

Of course, we recognize this as a society.  We have succession plans for businesses, and we have thing called “retirement” that is designed to slow us down.

The real question, though, is how do we make this a part of our lives?  Other research tells us that we should be exercising our minds more as we get older.  Where and what is the happy medium?

One of those extra thoughts that popped into my head this morning.  Is that a good or a bad thing??

Enlarged family

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I now have six children.  Yes, some are step-children, but there is still a tie that comes with that! 

Yesterday I was aware of two of the daughters.  One is getting married this weekend and I will attend the wedding.  My wife, Cynthia, is currently in Calgary assisting her daughter (my step-daughter) as she prepares for the wedding.  I am alone, an unusual feeling after a month of time being together and married (happy one month anniversary!).   Yesterday, though apart we were together, as the conversations continued with Cynthia via phone and I heard about the preparations being completed.

On the other hand, Allison, my daughter, phoned to talk about her kids.  She had some pictures and video to show of their excursion on Sunday.  A day at the pool with the giant bubble that is making quite a showing as an entertainment for children and adults!  We chatted a bit and I was reminded of how good it is to have children and grandchildren.

I am glad to be one of those whose family is now coming close to the size of the family I grew up in.   That family holds great memories for me, and I look forward to the memories that will come in the future with my enlarged family!

Seek God, not Happiness

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From Dietrich Bonhoeffer:

“Seek God, not happiness,” this is the fundamental rule of all meditation.  If you seek God alone, you will gain happiness:  that is its promise.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together, p. 84