After starting the morning with my mediation time--centering prayer, devotional books, my prayer lists--I moved to my "to-do" list & started checking things off and adding things on. This is the beginning pattern of my day since I retired in 2006.
My "to-dos" vary but there are some constants. I would call this pattern "gingham" since I like to CHECK things off of my list and feel a sense of completion to a task. My list is long this week as I work to bring closure to some volunteer projects, bring order to the chaos of my home, and bring planning to preparation for a special trip.
Next week I travel to San Diego to meet the newest member of our family--Emma Lee. She was born on January 19 and has a 16 month old brother--Charlie. Her parents are Stephanie & Scott, my son. Her birth adds another design to our family's pattern but what it looks like will develop as she grows into herself.
The design of our immediate family also includes my granddaughter Elizabeth Kate, who is 14 years old and lives in Statesville, NC with her parents, John and Cindy, my daughter. There is also Pete, my husband and their father & grandfather.
Each of our family's members has their own design & each of these designs weaves together as we build our lives together.
Sometimes the pattern is clear and sometimes it is cloudy, but always it is unique.
Sometime it is happy and sometimes it is sad, but always it is unique.
I am grateful for the chance to be a part of this pattern, and I look forward to watching the design develop.
I am not sure of a name for this pattern as it changes as we all grow & change. Maybe its name will evolve in time, and maybe it won't.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Saturday, January 1, 2011
A Year Later
Well, it's a year later and I have not written another blog! I make no excuses and offer no reasons (real or otherwise) for this. I make no resolutions to do better and make no promises of profound wisdom if and when I do write something. However, today I do feel led to make a post. So, here it is!
The title of my blog pATTERNs is a reflection of what I feel that life is. One of the dictionary's definitions which fits this blog is: a combination of qualities, acts, tendencies that form a consistent or characteristic arrangement. My plan is to share with you some of the pATTERNs in my life.
My profile picture is the most recent one made of my family's four generations--my mother, my self, my daughter, and my granddaughter. We have had many such pictures made over the past 14 years since EKW was born. For me this is symbolic of one of life's major pATTERNs--the connectivity of the generations and the importance of family. I have been blessed to be a part of this group and have shared with them in many ways and in many times.
I think that I instinctively realized there are pATTERNs in our lives however, this was truly made clear to me when I helped my daughter, my son-in-law , and my granddaughter move into their new home about 800 miles away from me. The following is an excerpt from something I wrote that week in 1999. I share it with you now.
"I will miss my child and her child but the bond is made and it cannot be broken. The 3 of us (4 if we count my mother) will build on that bond and make it stronger. This is all part of the circle of life that has been ordained from the beginning of the earth. There is a special bond between mothers and daughters. Often we fight it & try to deny it & sometimes a small or large rebellion takes place. If only we can take the best of our mothers and incorporate that into ourselves what an accomplishment that would be. I have felt a lot like my mother this week...feeling is strange, funny, sad--not sure what--it's just there. I think it should be a feeling of comfort that the life cycle goes on. Each generation picks up the tasks of the one before it and hands them to the one to come. I think it is important not to fight it but to welcome it, as it is part of the plan God has for us. Each generation adds its uniqueness and special gifts but each one also carries within it some seeds of those who came before them. Since this momentous move we have all have worked to keep those bonds strong and growing....Our relationships are not perfect, but we keep working on them and making memories."
The title of my blog pATTERNs is a reflection of what I feel that life is. One of the dictionary's definitions which fits this blog is: a combination of qualities, acts, tendencies that form a consistent or characteristic arrangement. My plan is to share with you some of the pATTERNs in my life.
My profile picture is the most recent one made of my family's four generations--my mother, my self, my daughter, and my granddaughter. We have had many such pictures made over the past 14 years since EKW was born. For me this is symbolic of one of life's major pATTERNs--the connectivity of the generations and the importance of family. I have been blessed to be a part of this group and have shared with them in many ways and in many times.
I think that I instinctively realized there are pATTERNs in our lives however, this was truly made clear to me when I helped my daughter, my son-in-law , and my granddaughter move into their new home about 800 miles away from me. The following is an excerpt from something I wrote that week in 1999. I share it with you now.
"I will miss my child and her child but the bond is made and it cannot be broken. The 3 of us (4 if we count my mother) will build on that bond and make it stronger. This is all part of the circle of life that has been ordained from the beginning of the earth. There is a special bond between mothers and daughters. Often we fight it & try to deny it & sometimes a small or large rebellion takes place. If only we can take the best of our mothers and incorporate that into ourselves what an accomplishment that would be. I have felt a lot like my mother this week...feeling is strange, funny, sad--not sure what--it's just there. I think it should be a feeling of comfort that the life cycle goes on. Each generation picks up the tasks of the one before it and hands them to the one to come. I think it is important not to fight it but to welcome it, as it is part of the plan God has for us. Each generation adds its uniqueness and special gifts but each one also carries within it some seeds of those who came before them. Since this momentous move we have all have worked to keep those bonds strong and growing....Our relationships are not perfect, but we keep working on them and making memories."
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