Happy Father's Day

I think of all of the men in my life that I can pay tribute to this Father's Day.

First of all, I am keeping my dad in my heart on this day. Although he has gone from this world, he is always close to me and I continue to love him and speak to him. "Happy Father's Day, Dad".

I keep all of the dads in my prayers today...my husband, who has been a good dad to our daughters and a wonderful "PA" to our granddaughters. My father-in-law, my brothers-in-law, my cousins, my niece's husband, my nephew (his wife just miscarried last week, so I keep them especially close in my prayers today), my friends. I would like to acknowledge one man, who I haven't seen in years. I worked for him for about 8 years and he taught me so much about being a dad, a mentor and a friend. "Happy Father's Day, Tom".

Happy Father's Day to all of the dads out there.

Love,

Jo-Ann

Look Beyond

Do you ever look around you, in this most familiar world of yours, and think that maybe there is something more to it than what meets the eye? Do you wonder where your loved ones have gone once they leave this earth? Is this the ultimate existance or is there another dimension to our wourld that we cannot see with the eyes of this world. Do you ever think about the connection we have to one another, you may be searchig for an answer to an internal question and in conversation or reading a book, the answer is right there? Have your answers been cofirmed? Or you feel a strong sense to pray for someone for a reason unknown to you, only to find out that they desperately needed prayers. I have sat many times and pondered these thoughts in my mind. Maybe we have to learn how to see past the physical and fix our eyes and our hearts on the spiritual aspects of this life. This is very hard to do because we are such physical beings and we need to touch and see things to believe in their existance. But it is not impossible. All we have to do is to have the desire to see things in a different way and I believe God will help us do the rest. Do I have the definite answer? No, but I do have many thoughts and strong beliefs on this subject that made me "look beyond" the obvious.

Does She Count

Iwrote this in 1995 in honor of my beautiful aunt, I called Toots.


A frail older woman, sitting in her wheelchair, the colors and shapes of this world stolen from her sight. The sounds of life robbed from her ears. All she has is her thoughts, but what are they? She keeps them bundled up in a neat small package inside of her mind. So thightly secured that she can't open it to let them out.


Pain...suffering... lonliness, she knows them all too well. But she never complains.


As I go about my life I can find no one to compare to this simple, humble woman.


Does she count?...She has touched my heart and a piece of it will always belong to her.







What made me think of this was when I went to church tonight.


I was walking up to go to communion. In front of me was a woman about my age. She looked very tired and disheveled. In front of her was an older man...about 90 or so, walking hunched over a cane. Each step was a struggle. The woman in front of me, I assumed to be his daughter was guiding him with her hands on each side of his waist. As I looked at him I saw an old man, on the outside, but I looked at him from within and saw a young soul inside of this old shell. The shell was breaking down, but the inside was just as it began but much much wiser. After he took communion, his daughter took it, then grabbed his hand and walked down the aisle hand and hand with her dad. This just gripped my heart.


Back at my seat, I knelt and wept, from the beauty and pain of this scene, the determination this man had, to take that long hike up to the alter to receive communion, the committment this woman had to her dad.

I have fallen and I can't get up

(Not a picture of me)

Here I am sitting in church on a warm sunday morning with my husband sitting next to me. Dressed in white capris, a summer top and new black sandals. Time to go up to communion...no problem going up the aisle. On the way back, my new sandal twists on my foot. I fall like a ton a bricks. Picture this...there is a traffic jam in the aisle because I am on my butt in the asle trying to fix my sandal. Hopefully I can get up without bringing too much more attention to me. I feel someone pulling on my right and left arms, but I am not ready to get up yet because my sandal is still twisted around my foot. I finally fix it and allow my husband and this woman I have never met pick me up off the floor. Boy was my pride bruised. Sitting back in the pew, I feel the seat vibrating...what the heck? Oh, it's my husband laughing his you know what off...his shoulders are bouncing up and down. If I wasn't in church I think that I would have smacked him. As I sit there I feel a breath on the back of my neck...it was the young man behind me asking me if I am ok. I told him that I was, just my pride bruised abit. He told me not to worry about what others thought. I think he may have been referring to my husband. I thanked him and sneered at my husband.

On the way out of church, I stopped to thank the woman who helped picked me up off the floor. She told me that the same thing has happened to her before (I think she was just trying to make me feel better).

On the way to the car I was thinking that the next time I buy sandals, I am going to buy the right width regardless if they are on sale or not. I thought that it really wouldn't make a difference getting the wide width. Oh well, you live and learn.