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."