Memories

Sorry about the non-blog post yesterday!  I wanted to take advantage of the last warm day before the next cold front moved in.  Yesterday it was in the 80’s and today is supposed to get up into the high 40’s.  So, I got an early start yesterday and tried out my new 10” pole saw attachment for my variable head gas trimmer.  And you know… it worked pretty well!  I was able to prune some of the overhanging branches along the fence line, cut off some large broken branches hanging on since the last two hurricanes and clean up all the scrub growth around the Bradford Pear near the front gate.  It was good, hot work… and I enjoyed it all… except that my shoulders and elbows are talking to me a little today!

I was thinking as I worked around the yard that Piper and I never really had a lot of opportunities to make some long-lasting memories in the yard of this house.  I mean… I always took her out with me when I mowed the lawns, planted the various fruit trees, and built the raised bed garden frames.  But it’s not like she was really interacting with me due to her growing inability to talk.

But that didn’t stop me from remembering all kinds of other fun times that we had outdoors over the years together.  We tended to enjoy and explore the great outdoors from very early on in our relationship.  An incident the other night when I took Fiver out for his before-bed-ritual outback and spotted a large grey owl sitting on our burn barrel by the shed stirred my memory.  I hadn’t seen one around our property since we’d been here and realized in fact, that I hadn’t seen an owl in the wild for a long time!  But yesterday while pruning the Poplar Tulip tree, I remembered the last owl we’d seen while Piper and I were on one of those early explorative adventures during a church camping trip on the Mendocino county coast in northern California in the early 1970’s.

The College-Career group (“Faith Action” as Piper named it) went on a weekend camping retreat to a State Park that was located on either side of the coastal highway.  It was in a gorgeous location and Piper and I decided to take a hike and do some exploring in the Redwood grove amongst the hills on the east side of the park.  So we stole away alone and hiked through the woods… okay… if you really must know… if I remember correctly… we did sneak a kiss or two along the way… but don’t write a letter to the church to rat on us please!

Anyway… in the middle of the dense and kind of dark forest we suddenly came a cross a gorgeous pure white owl perched in a tree.  Piper and I just stood there for quite a while, staring in awe!  It was a sight that we’d remember for a long time.  The bird the other night was rather plain looking but was outstanding in his own right.  The way that he blended into the night was kind of outrageous!  I would have never seen him if I hadn’t done my customary sweep of the yard with my tactical flashlight.  But the bird didn’t move at all.  He just sat there calmly until we went inside.  When I returned a moment later with fresh batteries in my flashlight… he was gone!

But the memories of Piper, as you know if you’ve been following this blog, just keep flowing along.  It doesn’t take much to trigger a remembrance.  I realized the other day that a good care-giver tends to always put the one under their care first in their actions, thoughts and concerns.  I’ve mentioned before how it used to bug me to no end when people would call to inquire how things were going and invariably ask “What about you?  How are you doing?”  which I appreciated but some at times, would go on and on about how important it was for me to “get away from Piper” and spend some time alone or with others.

The thought of “getting away from Piper” was the furthest thing from my mind!  I wanted to spend as much time as possible with her… just like I always did!  And while I understand that most callers had very sincere and positive motives for their encouragement, I got the idea from a few, that they were more concerned about me than for Piper.  For these it was almost as if Piper had become a non-entity!  And some of that has increased since her passing, with her memory being as if it were a very distant memory.

Proverbs 10:7 in the Contemporary English Version of the Bible declares that “Good people are remembered long after they are gone, but the wicked are soon forgotten.”  This verse gave me an extra boost of peace this morning as I considered Piper’s memory in my heart.  I can rest assured that the precious memory of her good and sweet life with its countless accomplishments will be around for quite some time.

Isn’t God good that he enables us to remember the good times in our lives?  I know that we are not supposed to live in or through the past, but those fun memories of some of the very special times have definitely acted as the booster cable when the engine of my life is overcome with sorrow and pain.  Those memories of life’s experiences along with and empowered by the memories of the Word of God that I have placed in my heart, have proven to be the foundations that are moving me into the next chapter of my life.

How about you?  Do you have any exciting memories you’d like to share?

Have a wonderful and hopefully restful weekend, and as you do, keep saying with me… “I am expecting the great memories of life and of His Word to stimulate me to greater things today!”