Autumn Thoughts

This time of year often brings me to thinking about my mom.

She passed away August 22, seven years ago. Because she had Multiple Sclerosis and was bed ridden for so many years of her life, I sometimes thought, at the time, she had left us years before that date. How wrong I was.

Friends of ours are now contemplating the loss of a mother. She is very sick and the prognosis is that she won't live much longer. Her son has brought her home from the hospital, but she needs constant care. My in-laws are both still alive and engaged in living, but they are very close to 90 years old. Dad is going to have his 80th birthday next May. And we have lost aunts and uncles that have passed on.

I don't often contemplate death and what happens after, but in the fall, when the plants die and when I am reminded again of my mother leaving us, I am also reminded of the connection I will always feel with those who have gone on before. The communion of saints - the creed allows us to say it: I believe in the Communion of saints. "Saint" here doesn't meet Francis of Assisi or Pope Gregory. The small "s" saints encompasses all those we believe to be in heaven with Jesus awaiting the end days when everyone will be reunited with Him.

To think that there would be any question about whether or not Mom was in heaven is ludicrous. Her faith alone would get her there. That and her love for us. Mom, in her good times, was a doer. She worked hard, raising us all; making sure we also knew the value of hard work. She also played with us and laughed with us. When she couldn't work any more, she showed us how to live simply with faith. Oh, she showed her frustration with the hand life dealt her, but at the root of her frustration was the inability to look after herself so that she wouldn't be a burden to others. During her last years, she prayed and listened to music, visited with us when she could and provided me with an ear when I needed to talk.

To think that there would be no afterlife, as some do, is also ludicrous. Why else would I still feel connected to my mom? What would be a reason for living, if there was nothing more than this? I have heard it said by non-believers that we believers believe because we can't handle the truth. I return the comment by saying, we believe in the communion of saints because it's true. We truly feel connected. How many times, if we sit still and allow ourselves to think and feel, that the presence of God and the presence of those that have gone before us invades our thoughts and our being? How many stories are there of people seeing and experiencing that connection? Yes, it is unexplainable, but that is the mystery of God and of life.

I do prefer to believe in the connection to the communion of saints because I hope that some day I will also be present with them. That is what keeps me on the straight and narrow. That and the inherent willingness to be a better person. Thank you, Mom, for that too. :-)

Back to School

Wow! A friend asked me today, "How was your first week back?" She's a teacher.

I said, probably for the first time in a long time, without reservation, "Excellent!"

The icing on the cake of the week was a Friday night date at the lake with my husband. It was quiet; we had a fire, a relaxing seafood supper, and an early night.

We spent some time talking about our lot at the lake - we've only been there 23 years.

We are in the process of making a change. We are planning to move to property we've bought and build a cabin there, same lake just a little further along the north shore. I know we'll miss Shaw's Point, but I think it's time to set up something a little permanent for retirement before retirement hits.

The plan is to get the new lot ready to park our motorhome on it next spring and see what that brings. In the meantime, there are quite a few projects around the house that need to get done. The garden and yard need to be cleaned up and windows need to be washed, etc.

With the new school routine, I am putting excercise on the back burner, but I've finished an embroidery project I've been working on, and I've also done a little watercolour painting. That said, I think it's time I quit procrastinating and go clean the stove.