Circling....

This past weekend I got to witness something very special, even if it is pretty ordinary and happens all the time - I saw my mother-in-law meet her newest great-grandson for the first time, and watched her carefully cradle him in her fragile arms.  I saw the glow on her face as she looked down upon the countenance of the sleeping child, and am reminded in a weird sort of way of all the Madonna and child paintings created by the masters.  There is something about holding a new baby in your arms, cradling this innocent and completely helpless human being, that brings out the maternal instinct in every mother, no matter how old.  And it is always beautiful to see.

Karma....

I have been following the news about the recent Ebola outbreak in Africa with interest.  I am not especially afraid of contracting Ebola.  The odds of me coming into contact with someone who has the disease in the virulent stages while they are contagious are slim to none, so it's not so much personal as it is a matter of pondering the vagaries of life.  It is easy to think you are in isolation in safe little rural Minnesota, but in fact, a man was heading back to this very state from Africa when he was found to be carrying the disease from which he ultimately died.  We are not really alone in this world.

Change is good, change is good. No. Seriously. Change is GOOD.

When I began this blog many years ago, it was a gut reaction to something very difficult that had happened in my life.  Writing has always been the way I worked through emotional distress, and thus, in the throes of one of the most difficult periods a person can endure in this life, I turned to the written word.  Over time, I have shared a great deal about myself - my thoughts, my feelings, my experiences, in the hopes that if another person out there was experiencing the same things and searching for someone who understands, maybe I could give them hope that while I cannot make it go away, they are not alone.  Someone out in cyberspace has been there and survived and they can too.  Sometimes that's all you need to keep going, and it is something I can offer.

But something funny happened on the way to the publish click.  Instead of dwelling on the dark things that haunted me, I started to find the humor in it all.  Instead of angst, I found joy.  At some point, a few years down the line, I realized I had moved from shock into anger, and finally from anger into indifference, a much more peaceful place to exist.

Father, Where Are Thou?

For some time now, I have been following a group on Facebook.  It all started innocently enough.  They were discussing the inequities of pay scale between men and women for the exact same job, and how far women are lagging behind in the income for the same work.  The cause is one of justice, and it caught my attention, because it is not only unfair, it is wrong.

But since then, the site has gone far afield on the subject of women's "rights."  I haven't yet unliked them, (although I probably will soon,) because it sort of fascinates me to see how other people think.  In this case, I think they have totally missed the point.  They are like a drowning swimmer, flailing around in the shallow water, foolishly missing the opportunity to simply put their feet on the bottom and stand up.  It is disturbing.

Resting in the peace that passes all understanding....

Great parents have one quality in common.  They have great children.  It is easy to look good when your children are easy, or at least not really difficult.  They may get up to the usual childhood shenanigans, but ultimately, they want to do the right thing.  Although it makes you look good, it isn't really about your parenting as much as it is about their basic personality.