Contrasting Photos From This Week
Good morning... Walking our dog past a neighborhood nearby, I snapped the photo above on Friday morning. Bursting with color. Boasting with joyful variety. Blooming with the fabulous fragrance of spring. My whole weekend mirrored the image above, colorful, joyful, fabulously fragrant. A few friends, one new and one old, hopped into my car for a ride to the final feast for our Friday morning class hosted at the home of a generous [...]
Our Intimate Solidarity
Good morning... "So, when you pray in your private prayer language, don't hoard the experience for yourself," says the Scripture verse at the end of yesterday's blog post. "Pray for the insight and ability to bring others into that intimacy" (1 Corinthians 14:13, MSG). Intimacy. Sent at 3:54 am, our morning message ended in the word "intimacy." Then at 5:01 am, I opened Henri Nouwen's morning message and there it was again, the [...]
Mozart In The Car
Good morning... A longtime friend has also had a loved one fighting for life in the ICU this month. We have been exchanging private prayers and texting one another updates most every day. She wrote me an email after this week's blog post My Mom's Bumpy Ride Home, a post which ended with a music video of Willie Nelson singing in 1977. My friend's thoughts fascinate me as we consider how God creatively [...]
My Mom’s Smile
Good morning... Look at that smile! When my father texted this photo of my mom back home at their senior living community, her pure joy made me smile. What a contrast from the image seared on my mind from eleven days before. My mom was hooked up to a ventilator, heavily sedated, laying unresponsive in the ICU. Now, real clothes instead of a humbling hospital gown. Now, a beaming smile instead of a [...]
My Mom’s Bumpy Ride Home
Good morning... "I love reading that your mom is slowly on the road to healing and recovery," wrote an old friend after our post My Mom's Condition. "Yes - ICU delirium is real. I know it well with my father. I just constantly reminded him... 'slow and steady wins the race.' I will continue to pray for your mom and you." "Thank you," I replied. "The snail went slow and steady and made [...]
Nothing Can Take My Hallelujah
Good morning... "I am happy to hear that your mom is progressing," texted my friend from across the street. "One thing that could be really great for her is music. Music is the only thing that we use both sides of our brain for." She sent the music video below as a form of encouragement. This morning, I can envision my dad playing this song in my mom's hospital room as she recovers [...]
My Mom’s Condition
Good morning... Many of you continue to ask about my mom's condition since last week's post My Mom Is In The ICU. Together as a written word community we have experienced the potent power of prayer. Connected to tons of life-saving machines, there was no medical explanation for my mother opening her eyes to greet the sound of my father's familiar voice. The spiritual explanation is that Jesus prayed for us while we [...]
Many, Many Layers
Good morning... There are many, many of layers of me. Wife. Mother. Attentive listener. Writer. Teacher. Lifelong learner. Daughter. Middle sister. Midwestern roots. Trusted friend. Dog mama. Lover of the sun, the sea, the sky. Avid prayer-er. Spiritual director. Middle of the night blogger. "Spirit of the living God, please move through the many layers of me." God made streams flow from the rock, made water run like [...]
Healing Is Happening
Good morning... Waking after a full night's sleep, I cozy up on the couch and think, "Healing is happening." God invites me forward from yesterday's post, My Unexpected Grief. I return to the wise book sustaining me very personally during this season of Lent, Paula D'Arcy's Winter of the Heart: Finding Your Way Through the Mystery of Grief. I open to page 37 to pick up where God left off. Molly Fumia writes [...]
My Unexpected Grief
Good morning... It was hard to leave Ohio with my mother in the ICU. I had a meaningful visit with my parents and siblings, but I was deeply concerned about my mom's condition. On my final morning with her, the nurse asked her where she was and my mom replied, "I am at the Renaissance (the retirement community where my parents live), but I'm supposed to say I am at the doctor's office." [...]
No Medical Explanation
Good morning... On Monday morning, my dad and I were with my mom in the ICU when her regular doctor stopped in. He had seen my mom soon after she was admitted, when she was hooked up to all the machinery keeping her alive. Very, very sick with an unidentified infection, she was unresponsive and highly sedated. That Friday, her doctor did not seem very optimistic. Now this was Monday. What would he [...]
A Frozen Strand Of Hope
Good morning... When we left my mom in the ICU, it was a blustery late March evening with light snowflakes swirling in the Ohio air. There was a strand of hope frozen in our minds: mom had opened her eyes for about five minutes. Then she had drifted away from us again. Sustained by the ventilator, her body was deeply in need of rest. We left the hospital cautiously optimistic. For nearly two [...]