A Fall Birthday

Fifty years ago this morning, at 5:09, our second baby girl was born.   She was brought in "care of the dawn" so her name fits her well:  Cara Dawn.

Such a pretty little girl with lots of dark hair which grew to be naturally curly.  She was always the most serious of our three girls and could do just about anything she set her mind to do: sewing for the dolls, drawing and painting, collecting insects (led to a master's degree in entomology), and in recent years electrical and plumbing (learned well from her dad).  She gave us our first and second beautiful granddaughters.  She's a very kind, compassionate woman, just ask all the doggies and kitties she takes in.

So, Happy Birthday, dear one.  May you have many more happy and healthy years.

We love you much, Mama Charlotte and Popa Noel

A Note for Me Today ~~

Dear Mom,

   I just want you to know
   that every year,
   as I understand
   a little more about life,
   and as I learn
   a little more about myself,
   and as I see
   a little more
   of the world around me...
   I realize--
   and am so much more grateful for--
   what a wonderful mother
   I have always had in you.

         Happy Birthday


(This was on the birthday card given to me today for my 72nd birthday, from youngest daughter)

It's My Day

April 5th -- It's my day! 2011 - 1941 = 70!! How did that happen?

"Once upon a time

when days were still fresh

and new,

ordinary

and uncomplicated,

I was a free child

in love with everything...

a bee buzzing

the wind in my hair

a branch to hang from

bare feet in the grass

dandelions and fairies

teddy bears.

I don't remember growing up.

It must have happened while I wasn't looking

but it is obvious from my heart

that it has happened

for I am less simple

more complicated

and more cluttered.

I would not choose

to become a child again

but I am looking to children

and searching in them

for a simplicity and ordinariness

that makes being an adult

easier to accept

and miracles easier to see.

Children are not too sophisticated

to wonder

to take off their shoes

to reach out, and up

and all around

for that's where miracles are.

The child in me longs

to touch all of the adults I know

with the magic wand of littleness

and perform that great miracle

of enabling them to understand

that it's not too late

to live happily ever after.

The problem is so simple

they could miss it.

Their teddy bears

they've thrown too far

and how desperately they need them."

From page 21 of the Harper paperback, Seasons of Your Heart, by Macrina Wiederker

(Can anyone tell me how photos, like the one above, were colored? This was taken at home; I know because that's our old house behind me.)