Ordinary Life

I started to write a post about loss (and legacy reels) back when my grandpaw passed away ...and then tried again recently when my uncle departed. Days got busy, I'm easily distracted and all of my attempts felt too frilly...too feely. What I'm really aiming to say has been said in countless ways so, maybe that is why I feel too antsy to pin the words down ( pen the words down?). It amounts to "Life is beautiful." though there are plenty of other worthy and valid things to be said about lives well-lived and legacies left behind. Like the following statements: "The Grand Canyon is large." "Niagara Falls is wet."  "There's gold in dem dar hills."  improvements could be made but the fundamental idea is present and accounted for. Sometimes that's the best one can do. So, here I am, sharing the video made in tribute to my uncle as a stand-alone excuse for where I've been lately, a picture-postcard from this other place for which ...

Back in January, I started a post about some things I've been thinking about ever since my Grandpa's funeral. Thoughts about life and death and all the moments in between...pivoting on the idea that a life of 80 plus years, distilled into the few scant minutes of a "legacy reel"  packs more punch than a shot of 80 proof whiskey. Days got busy, I got distracted and further attempts at plumbing those depths were abandoned. In March, my Unc le Roy passed away . He was 88 years alive.  I did not arrive in time to say good-bye to Roy but I spent a few hours that same day huddled with my family as the downpour of loss washed over us. Before I returned home, I was asked to help make a slideshow to be played during a celebration of Roy's life. It was being planned for what would have been his 89th birthday. I had just shy of two months to prepare. I see now that more than the privilege of being asked to help pay tribute, I was given a box of bittersweet morsels (with ass...

It is said that life is not a dress rehearsal,  but I've become convinced it may very well be the raw footage of a story yet told. The lead up to a highlight reel. And like the actor who never views his own work,  we do not see the final cut. ..at least not in a theatre this side of Heaven. I keep thinking about my grandfather. .. his funeral specifically.  An entire life concentrated within the walls of that old Nazarene sanctuary for 2 hours and a day. Sons and daughter told their tales,  some bickering afterwards about the tellings.

Sneak Attack!

    I let my full weight fall against Burger King's heavy glass door and pushed against it. By nature a fairly passive person, I knew the door would absorb my unusually forceful shove with no loss of dignity. I even imagined it welcomed me a little. Better doors than people. (or...doors are better than people?)    We were en route to the bedside of a very sick relative and I knew we may not make it in time to say good bye.    Over the course of the morning, I had morphed into a tiny black rain cloud, prone to outbursts like thunder claps and sudden showers that washed away any semblance of "strength".     Once inside the ladies room,  I wiped away what streaked mascara could be budged and sighed a prayer of "please".    I wasn't praying for extra time. I wasn't praying to get there. I was praying for peace and that all would be well with my uncle...soul wise...you know..." It is well...it is well...with my soul ." And I wa...

There's just something special about Walt Disney's Experimental Prototype Community Of Tomorrow. It is my favorite park for several reasons, and it seems to me one of the most fitting monuments to the man behind Mickey Mouse. At its inception, Walt said of EPCOT:  "EPCOT will be an experimental prototype community of tomorrow that will take its cue from the new ideas and new technologies that are now emerging from the creative centers of American industry. It will be a community of tomorrow that will never be completed, but will always be introducing and testing and demonstrating new materials and systems. And EPCOT will always be a showcase to the world for the ingenuity and imagination of American free enterprise." Ingenuity. Imagination. America.  I think that's all of it in a nutshell.  Walking through the park makes me nostalgic. Not only for past visits and childhood adventures, but also for the strong broth of a certain philosophy, spooned to me steadily f...

On our recent anniversary/family birthday, we were able to catch up with Snow White. She was a lot of fun.  

After Riley's first visit to Disney , the weather forecast a dreary next few days, so we headed home until the weather was to improve. Using the bleak days to clear certain business matters from our plate, we were free to return when the weather was nice... and just in time to celebrate our family's seventeenth birthday (anniversary). We chose Epcot park this time- my personal favorite. Aurora was scheduled to make one appearance so we made a bee line for her pavilion once we had checked in.  We were not disappointed.

When asked what she was most looking forward to at Disney, Riley hoped to meet Princess Aurora. Everyone else agreed that watching RyeBird explore the Magic Kingdom for her first time would be the highlight of our experience. While we didn't catch Sleeping Beauty this go around, Riley hardly seemed to notice once she got inside the park.  And we enjoyed watching her have a big day every bit as much as had been anticipated...even the part where she was scared of Daisy & Minnie... a decision she made only after we waited in a considerably long line, and only once we were close enough to judge they were just too big, too real for her comfort.  At the end of the day, Rye's favorite part was "Dream Along With Mickey"- the stage show at Cinderella's castle where we all defeated Malificent by chanting 'Dreams DO Come True!" until the jilted sorceress had no choice but to storm off in a huff and puff of smoke, promising we hadn't seem the last of her... (...

We had waited in a respectable line to meet Merida, listening all the while to people in front of us discuss 'underground trading' for Fast Pass slots to meet other, more in-demand characters. Apparently that's a real thing.  When we reached the front, the kilted line manager noticed Riley passing the time by testing the twirl of her dress. He asked her how his own twirl was, flaring the kilt with a full 360° spin. Gotta love those cast members who like to have fun. Before I could ask him for an encore twirl and photo it was our turn to greet the princess...he said "Let's see if Merida's dress twirls." It did.