FREDDY'S QUILT

 

When you reach a certain age…after turning out the lights

for one reason or another you find you wake up in the middle 0f the night. 

So each night on our couch before we retire…

you can find us placing

A quilt to comfort us in case we want to read when we get up

or for those nights our mind is racing.

Deborah’s parents, Fred and Diane built this cabin

in the mountains among the deer, turkey and bears…

Their essence permeates these walls…

This cabin will always be theirs.

 

But as we make their cabin our home…

adding our furniture, artwork…potting our own flowers

we’re doing our best to keep their dream alive

as we make their cabin ours.

While searching through the cabin…we found this quilt.

It was one in the hospital her father had…

on which Deborah had printed

this quilt belongs to her dad.

This is the quilt that now sits on our couch when we turn out the lights

waiting for whomever wakes up during the night.

There is something very soothing

knowing when we wake up in the middle of the night…

we can find comfort under this quilt…

safe and warm within the walls of the cabin 

Diane and Freddy built.

A FAMILY OF RACCOONS

 

With our move into the country…simplifying is what it’s all about

We look critically at those things we need…and those we can do without.

From furniture and household items to clothes we find at the bottom of a drawer 

So many items we’ve discovered we don’t use or wear them anymore.

So we’ve been piling  and stacking these items on our porch

since in our life we no longer choose them…

to be given away, hopefully, to other families who will use them.

Well, word must have spread on the mountain…

because this morning what did we see

rummaging through these items but a raccoon family.

A mommy and her three babies…easy to spot by their distinctive masks and tails

Testing out our goods…like shoppers at a rummage sale.

Normally they come for food…looking to see if we’ve left them a surprise…

but this morning it was the items on the porch that caught those raccoon eyes.

I greeted them from the window…and when Mom looked up at me…

I told her to take whatever she wanted…that everything was free.

I said you’re welcome to the Dirt Devil…if it would fit into the hollow of your tree…

She smile saying, Thanks, but It’s much too big…and we have no electricity.

I tried to interest her in some pots and pans…She said raccoons don’t cook…

If’ it’s okay with you, she said…I think the children just want to look.

So I eased off the sales pitch…allowing them browse…as the night turned into dawn.

and the next time I looked out…the raccoon family was gone.

I’m not sure if they took anything…because in their life there is nothing that they lack

But by the way she lusted over that Dirt Devil…I imagine this evening…they’ll be back.

LISTENING TO THE BREEZE

 

In the darkness of the morning sitting on our porch nestled in the trees

I can’t help but smile while listening to the breeze. 

There is this kind of mystery inherent in the breeze…

I swear sometimes I can her her giggling as she rustles through the trees.

For she knows I haven’t the slightest idea…where her life begins…

and I can only guess where she is going

because I only know where she has been.

If I could talk the breeze’s language I would say, “Stop a moment please!”

And I wold ask her how it feels to travel over mountains, past rivers…through the trees.

In the darkness of the morning I cannot see what might be floating on her wings

I can only hear the sounds that ride with her…the ones that cause the breeze to sing.

I wonder if she ever wonders about each new morning song.. 

or is she content just to give a lift to all the sounds that ride along.

On today’s breeze I hear a million crickets chirping

and one owl…it sound to me as if she’s weeping.

These are the only sounds that fill the darkness 

while the morning continues sleeping.

It is a beautiful time of day…you have to enjoy it before it’s gone…

before these unique sounds of the night…cede to the singing of the dawn

I know if I wait long enough…the sunlit breeze will bring along

riding on her wings…a variety of songs.

And though I love listening and watching the day awaken… 

for now I am content…to let the morning continue sleeping

While I listen to the final crescendo of the crickets…

and one owl show sounds like she is weeping.

ADIEU

 

The day has finally arrived…

It’s time to say goodbye to the only home the two of us together have ever known

and looking back it seems amazing how fast the time has flown.

 

We made one final walkthrough remembering the life here we’ve created…

thinking of all the wonderful moments in this home we’ve celebrated.

This house is where so many of our seeds of love were planted…intermittently…

where those seeds were nourished through the years and grew into a family.

Our family…where each individual with their particular genes and chromosomes…

contributed to the building of our memories, 

our successes,  

our laughter, 

our tears…

our home.  

In this home so many wonderful moments…

huge achievements and milestones we have seen…

as well as so much wonder in those little moments in between.

Most days were made up of these little moments 

filled with their own wonder, their own flair…

and often in these little moments…we’ve found our comfort there.

For us…these little daily moments as we ride life’s carousel…

are what make a life worth living…are where our joy and happiness dwell.

One thought that dominates the rest…as each memory we cue up….

is how this house…this home we love…is where the five of us grew up.

It helped create the people we are now…the people we’ve come to know

which makes us a little sad today…now that it’s time to let her go.

But one thing we know as we move to a new home …a new habitat

is how change is a part of life…this old house has taught us that.

So it with a smile and a tear…we bid this old house…our home…adieu…

and thank her for 40 years of helping to make our family’s dreams come true.

HOME

 

Everything that can be boxed is boxed, the rugs are rolled,

the walls once a kaleidoscope of colors…are back to being walls

I’m awake before the dawn…listening to echoes as I walk the halls.

And I wonder how in this house now cloaked inside a silent shroud

Deborah is still sleeping…because the echoes are so loud.

40 years of echoes…finding their way to me.

Echoes of all who’ve lived or visited here…

echoes of our friends and family.

I love how hearing how the echoes in this old house have survived…

helps to keep the memories of the people who created them…alive.

 When I listen to these echoes as through these halls I roam

I am reminded of the voices that made this house a home.

The great thing about echoes…as into my brain they fall…

since they echo only in my heart and mind…

they are not confined within these walls.

Which means when we move away tomorrow…

to begin an adventure familiar…but brand new…

40 years of echoes are moving with us too.

The ultimate beauty of an echo is how they are ours…and ours alone

we are forever linked and near them.

They are stored somewhere within our heart

in a place where only we can hear them.

So…when we move our furniture and boxes into the new place we will dwell…

It’s comforting to know these echoes from the past 

will move with us as well.

OUR DAUGHTER AND TWO SONS

 

Our three children came together recently and our spirits couldn’t be higher

because our children now adults don’t get together as much as we desire.

It reminded us how lucky we are because from the time they were little ones

We’ve always been proud to say, “This is our daughter and these are our two sons.” 

We remember how our first wish for them was to live a long and happy life

where they’d be safe and healthy…and relatively free from strife.

Yet somewhere in the back of our minds…in a place no-one else could see

we dreamt of the life they’d be leading…of the people they would be.

We had a vision for their life…that remained in our hearts…unstated

until our vision was replaced by the vision they created.

We gladly ceded our dreams to theirs…and their individual points of view

because for as long as there have been parents and children… 

that is exactly what we do.

And we feel good knowing they’ve been healthy and happy

and lucky to have been by their side…

while they have made their way through life on their own roller coaster rides.

When it comes to parenting Harry Truman had a unique way to view it…

He said the best way to give advice to your children is to find out what they want

and then advise them all to do it.

That has worked for us…following Harry’s simple rule of Thumb

from the time our three children as children

to the adults they have become…

Because…as we did before they were adults

when the were little ones…

we are still just as proud to exclaim today:

This is our daughter and these are our two sons.