78 Celebrations

                                                    Mary Ann Teal   November 14 1946

Today I celebrate my 78th birthday so I began listening to Christmas music, a habit that I call a gift to myself started many years ago. It is a clear, cold November day, unlike the day I was born,  stormy morning described to me by my mother.  I began the day as I do every morning now - thanking God for the gift of this day and for the sure knowledge of His presence with me in all the days past and the certainty that He will be with me in the days ahead.  As the day unfolds, I think of past birthdays. I have had birthdays in Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Oregon, and California as well as Indonesia and Singapore. There have been cakes and special meals and sweet gifts. But best of all has been having loved ones with me. I am grateful!

Another Birthday

Another family birthday arrives this week. I found this homemade invitation to Jeremy's 1976 birthday party when I was sorting a box in my closet recently. His birthday is October 19. I picture the day he was born, remembering that 2 year old Sean and I sat outside and played in the autumn leaves watching for Joe to get home from work so that Sean could go to my sister's home and Joe and I could go on to Methodist Hospital in San Antonio where Jeremy made his 3 week early arrival at 11:41 p.m., just 19 minutes before his grandmother Opal's birthday on the 20th. All the love and pride we felt that night has multiplied through the years!  Happy Birthday, Jeremy Teal Parker!

On his way to his second birthday, Oliver has discovered trucks and heavy equipment!  All these are powered by imagination and perserverance.  Add a rainy day and the stories multiply. He tossed his umbrella and had the best time moving wet dirt in the rose bed. I only wish I had been ready with my camera when he was coaxed inside with mud in more places!  As I watched him, I remembered his Daddy and uncles doing the same things and looking quite alot like him.

August Night

This is a guest post. My 12 year old granddaughter Maddie wrote the poem and composed the photograph when I was visiting in Reno a month ago. On the night before I left we sat outside talking while we watched moonrise and starshine. I will be sure to keep these memories, too.

10!

My granddaughters are growing up! The most recent family birthday starred Jordann, celebrating her tenth with an ice cream cake. When she and her sister and Dad went camping this summer, she started a rock collection which she plans to polish in the rock tumbler she got for her birthday. When I visited them in Reno recently, she was getting off to a good start in fifth grade. She is beautiful, inside and out!

Grover

Reading to my children, and now, to my grandchildren is one of my greatest pleasures for several reasons. I love that this can be a time to snuggle up and get lost in a story together. The opportunity for interaction and conversation is another benefit. And I know that reading together contributes to lifelong pleasure in reading for them. But one of the most fun book times through the years has been watching Joe read the book pictured here to first our little ones, and more recently, our 5 granddaughters. Joe recently lost a great deal of vision, but I know that he knows this book by heart so today I am going to find our copy and watch our grandson  Oliver and Joe enjoy it together. Grover is an old friend, just like so many of the children's books waiting on our bookshelves.

High Flight

There are some well advised warnings lately that concern heavy use of technology and its consequences. I am in agreement with using our laptops, tablets, and cellular phones responsibly. I cringe when I see a whole family at a restaurant meal with phones up instead of talking to each other. But I am so thankful for the technology that lets me easily stay in touch with my son and granddaughters who live too far away to visit often. I talk and text with them - not as good as face to face, but truly a good thing. This week I texted photos of some clothes I was planning to get for the girls and was able to get an opinion - most likely more quickly than I would have if we had been out shopping here in Texas.  Jeremy is a pilot who travels all over the world. I am thankful for our phone visits!  

Maddie, Jeremy, Jordann

Jeremy Teal Parker

I read this poem a long time ago, and found it again this week. It reminded me of the way Jeremy describes flying.

High Flight

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds, — and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of — wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,
I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air… .

Up, up the long, delirious burning blue
I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or ever eagle flew —
And, while with silent, lifting mind I’ve trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

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John McGee, Jr. age 19 - a young Canadian pilot who wrote this in WWII