Sunday, May 9, 2010

Mother's Day

My mother is special.  I know what you're thinking, all mothers are special, how is yours so much better?  I guess I should have said, my mother is special, wonderful, and saintlike. 

In the mornings, after breakfast and the news, we read our morning office together.  I have seldom seen her angry. She exudes love, and forgiveness.  She is patient, loving, humble.  She is a great cook, not  fancy or gourmand, but every thing she makes tastes comforting, filled with the joy of family.

What else?  She is 88, looks twenty years younger, and is game to try anything.  In the last five years she has been on an all terrain vehicle, played baseball, worked in the garden, scrubbed down walls, climbed ladders, and complained of tiredness never.  She will sit down to rest, but if its a holiday, or a picnic, she makes 90% of the food, and will accept no help.

So why am I here?  While she organizes the wash, I lift the baskets and unload the dryer.  When she climbs the ladder, I hold it.  I spread the mulch, and do the planting, much to her regret.  She can hardly watch me as she regrets not doing it all herself.  She will drive to church, but I drive 90% of the time.  She is 88 but worries about my doing so much, though I am 20 years younger.                                                  She is my mom, and she is very special!

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Missing You

I am missing my brother today.  He was the middle child, I the oldest, Bud the youngest.  He loved the outdoors, camping, fishing, hunting.  He loved the woods, and its presence, as much as the creatures in "Avatar." 

I saw the film for the first time today.  I'm not sure how I feel about it.  The hype was so overwhelming, I expected something more than a "war" movie.  Are marines only the good guys as long as the serve the military, and aren't corporate militia?  Do real scientists need to die when they become personally involved in the objects they study?  Are the only ways to survive in a future without green - greed, and the search for more, or to become something else, like a tall blue humanoid?  The joy of riding dragon, or broom, or winged creatures is apealing, but it all seems to deny the simplicity that is ours if we choose it.

Like my brother chose.  He could have climbed the corporate ladder.  He could have told the lies/half truths, or made the promises to sell the equipment, but he didn't.  It wasn't in him.  He told the truth about the product, and then, when the companies chose someone else, they hired him to correct the faults of the other product, and wished they had listened to him.

I wonder if being the middle child created the wholeness he embodied?  He was kind, loving, patient.  All the virtues I wish I could demonstrate.  He was seldom angry, and usually only angry when those he loved were threatened.  He taught humility by his very being.  And I loved him.  I miss him today.