As most of you know, I'm from St. Louis MO, was born here, and have lived here most all my life.
There is a strange disease that inflicts itself on this area every few years. It does not happen every year, but when it does it is highly infectious. It is known as RED OCTOBER! For those of you who do not reside in the St. Louis area or even in the midwest, this is a disease you may never have heard of. No some of you are thinking, well DUH, October is often red, or orange, or yellow, all the beautiful colors of the leaves changing and St Louis is full of those colors. Well yes in most years you are correct, but every few years we get an extra helping of red. It is a disease that totally takes over the brain. Keeps people up late at night, causes extreme anxiousness, sometimes even results in extreme euphoria. It only lasts about a week or so, but sometimes the effects last thru the winter and on into spring. It is a very strange disease.
This year we all thought that the chances of catching this disease was very slim. It appeared that the virus would pass us by and we would not have to worry about it. HOWEVER the jet stream shifted and the winds changed, and the final days of September turned to October and low and behold, St. Louis had contracted RED OCTOBER disease. It is everywhere. You cannot escape it. IF you even travel thru the city, chances are you have been exposed to it, and will probably catch the fever.
In 1982, it was a highly infectious fever. It led to dancing in the streets, parades, adults totally acting like children. It is though this disease affects the brain and totally disconnects it from any kind of common sense. It has struck St. Louis 18 times over the years. The 1st time I can remember is 1964. I just assumed it was something that happened, but while that is what happened that year, it was a couple of years before it struck again. Out of those 18 times it has struck, it has been really bad only 10 times however this year they are expecting it to be really bad again.
Well before some of you wonder what in the world Im talking about, Im talking about St. Louis Cardinal Baseball. The RED OCTOBER is because the Cardinals have made the playoffs after being considered out of contention as late as August 25. They were 10 1/2 games out of the wild card spot, and went on an improbably run of winning games and other teams losing an improbable run of games. As September came to an end, the Cardinals found themselves in the throws of RED OCTOBER. St. Louis fans have become like children and have all started dressing in red and making really silly bets with the other team in the final 7 games of the season known as the World Series. Now the Cardinals had to get past a team that had won 102 games, and another team that really hated the Cardinals, and they had won 96 games. Yes it indeed seems as though the "baseball gods" are smiling on the Cardinals. Now they are playing a team, the Texas Rangers, (sounds more like a police force), whom they have only played one other time for 3 games, and only in TX. The Rangers never had been to St. Louis. I wonder if they were overwhelmed by all the red? You hear terms like "Rally Squirell", "Don Tony", "Torty Craig", "Carp", (NO that last one is not a fish!) Mayors of the 2 competing cities are throwing down bets for things that are synonymous with their particular city. The governors of the 2 states, MO and TX have thrown down food bets. Seems as though beer plays a significant part of all these bets. Texas has only been to the World Series 2 times in its history, while the Cardinals have been involved 18 times, 2nd only the the Yankees.
There seems to be no cure for this fever. Unfortunately should the Cardinals win this series, this fever will probably last all the way to next baseball season. Should they lose, it will still linger in the lives of some of the more die hard fans. Seems as though there is a never say die attitude amongst the Cardinal Nation faithful. There seems to be no shortage of prognosticators about who will win and in how many games. I myself and saying the Cardinals in 7, but will accept a shorter time frame as long as the winners come out with the "birds on the bat"! GO CARDS!!!!
Stories about life in general, politics, where I have been, where Im going, what I like to do.
Friday, October 21, 2011
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
LIVING, DYING, AND SO ON, PART 2
Well the 1st chapter of this scenario is over. People have come, people have gone back to their everyday lives. Rachel has had her funeral, and everyone has said their good byes. Honestly is was a very nice service. Lots of great words were said about this wonderful lady. She touched so many lives, and those lives touched more lives. Interesting how all that works. 6 degrees of separation I think is how a lot of people put it. I know you, you know someone else and what I do affects the person you know and so on. In this case it was true. In her 82 years she touched many lives, not only thru her 4 children, and their children, but thru her everyday life. Church friends, church leaders past and present, and even those in the nursing home up to the day she went home to heaven. The simple act of dying touched the people in the nursing home and the hospice workers, even her husband of 65 years. Yes Jim was touched by the way she died. In his Alzhiemers fogged brain, he knew that is bride had gone on ahead of him. He will miss her, but somehow he was able to understand that he would see her again someday in heaven. Wonderful love story there. Maybe another time I will write more about that.
Now it is about the living. In this life it is about the living. Once a person dies, and the funeral is over and people go on, often times it is out of site out of mind. I don't believe that to be the case here because Rachel's family loved her very much. However as the saying goes, life does go on. Work, school, travel, all these things seem to take up our time. Maybe we should slow down a bit and not let circumstances control our lives so much. Maybe we should control our lives. Rachel seemed to do this, at least until she was unable to. When Jim was away at sea, (he was a merchant marine), she would load up the 4 kids and drive them to whatever port he was coming in, and then they would all drive back. She ran the house, ran the family business, controlled the finances, made sure the kids were where they needed to be. Kinda reminds you of the "typical" 50's family where mom was home and had dinner on at 5. Well that is not exactly the way it was, but way different that most of us tend to stay. We are all way to busy with life to take the time to understand that we are God's creatures and that He wants us to be.
Yes I think Rachel left a legacy that anyone would be proud of. She left 4 children, 6 grand children, and yet to be determined any number of great grand children. All are good, hard working, honest members of society. The children are married and much in love the way Rachel and Jim were. One grand child is married and much in love as well. Perhaps the legacy of 65 years of staying together will rub off and become the standard of the family rather than the exception.
Remember that Rachel loved God, Jim, her family. All in that order. She had the order right, she had the priorities in her life right, and it paid off in the end. She ran the race and she finished strong. How are you living? How is your race going? Are you going to finish strong?
Now it is about the living. In this life it is about the living. Once a person dies, and the funeral is over and people go on, often times it is out of site out of mind. I don't believe that to be the case here because Rachel's family loved her very much. However as the saying goes, life does go on. Work, school, travel, all these things seem to take up our time. Maybe we should slow down a bit and not let circumstances control our lives so much. Maybe we should control our lives. Rachel seemed to do this, at least until she was unable to. When Jim was away at sea, (he was a merchant marine), she would load up the 4 kids and drive them to whatever port he was coming in, and then they would all drive back. She ran the house, ran the family business, controlled the finances, made sure the kids were where they needed to be. Kinda reminds you of the "typical" 50's family where mom was home and had dinner on at 5. Well that is not exactly the way it was, but way different that most of us tend to stay. We are all way to busy with life to take the time to understand that we are God's creatures and that He wants us to be.
Yes I think Rachel left a legacy that anyone would be proud of. She left 4 children, 6 grand children, and yet to be determined any number of great grand children. All are good, hard working, honest members of society. The children are married and much in love the way Rachel and Jim were. One grand child is married and much in love as well. Perhaps the legacy of 65 years of staying together will rub off and become the standard of the family rather than the exception.
Remember that Rachel loved God, Jim, her family. All in that order. She had the order right, she had the priorities in her life right, and it paid off in the end. She ran the race and she finished strong. How are you living? How is your race going? Are you going to finish strong?
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
LIVING, DYING, AND SO ON
It has been awhile since I wrote on here, but not because I did not want to, just was not in the mood. LOL It is sometime after 2AM and I could not sleep because though my body was tired, apparently my brain was not and would not shut down. Kinda sucks when you are on vacation.
An unfortunate, fortunate thing happened this past Monday. My mother in law died. Well that is when she stopped breathing. Some would say she actually stopped being the person she had always been last December when she had a stroke, however she physically left this life on Monday at 11:30 AM. Her husband of 65 years was holding her hand. (Who in the world stays married these days for 65 years. THEY did.) Though in the last year they were not physically living in the same room, the were in the same place, a nursing home. My father in law has Alzheimers and really does not always know what is happening, however he did apparently realize that his wife of 65 years was gone. They were forever known as Jim and Rachel. This is all so seemingly sad, however there are some things that make this a bit better and easier for the family. This is where the "fortunate" part comes in play.
Rachel was a Godly woman. A fact that she had passed to her whole family thru the years. I happen to be married to the oldest and she is one of the sweetest people I know, and I truly do not deserve her. (A fact that did not escape Rachel when we were 1st married. :)) I was always raised in church. I know that dying is a part of life. People die all the time. Seems like there is this tug of war at times. Doctors want to perform heroic life saving measures to keep someone alive and their body is saying NO please let me go. This is why I think Hospice care is so great. They allow a person to be comfortable and allow the inevitable to happen. Rachel had been on Hospice care for several months.
One of the things I have heard my whole life is we have, as Christians, this "Blessed Hope". What does that mean? Well is means that as Christians, we have this promise of seeing our loved ones, who were also Christians, again in Heaven when we also die. How strange is that. Im sure that you probably thought, when Im dead, Im dead, just leave me alone, I can finally get some rest. I've always been pretty pragmatic about death. I guess that is how I was raised, but I have also always found it just a bit interesting. Have you ever wondered about it? I have. How can you be alive and breathing one moment, and then poof, you are gone? Our bodies are extremely complicated if you really think about it. Once you are born the clock starts ticking. Some of us have a very long time, and others don't. Think about this. This body has an incredible amount of healing power. If you cut yourself, you heal up within a few days. Should you get a cold, it only lasts a few days. Break a bone, and it heals in a matter of weeks. Have surgery and typically you heal. God made a pretty incredible thing when he made us.
Getting back to why Im up at 2AM writing a blog. This kept going thru my mind. I kept thinking of the verse in Revelation 21:4 that says "God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow or crying, neither shall there be anymore pain" I personally think this is more the Blessed Hope than just seeing a loved one again. To be able to rest in the arms of God, to be able to have HIM wipe away our tears, and for there to be no more death. To us who are left here on this earth, losing a loved one stings. It hurts. Even when it is someone who because of a stroke was really not the same person she had always been, it is still a shock to the system. You are always expecting the phone call, but when it comes it still hurts. I've lost both of my parents, as well as other family members. I've gone thru this and can hold my wife's hand and hug my daughter, but they still will grieve, and that is a good thing.
Rachel is no longer in pain, she is no longer having to take insulin she no longer has to worry about anything in this life. She has fought the good fight, she has run the race, she is now with her Father in Heaven. She is reunited with friends and loved ones that went on before her. She has no worries at all about anything. The family and friends she left behind, will of course miss her, but they have the "HOPE" of seeing her again when they reach Heaven's shores! So don't cry for Rachel, weep for your loss, weep with tears of joy for her, she is in a far better place and God has wiped away all of her tears.
An unfortunate, fortunate thing happened this past Monday. My mother in law died. Well that is when she stopped breathing. Some would say she actually stopped being the person she had always been last December when she had a stroke, however she physically left this life on Monday at 11:30 AM. Her husband of 65 years was holding her hand. (Who in the world stays married these days for 65 years. THEY did.) Though in the last year they were not physically living in the same room, the were in the same place, a nursing home. My father in law has Alzheimers and really does not always know what is happening, however he did apparently realize that his wife of 65 years was gone. They were forever known as Jim and Rachel. This is all so seemingly sad, however there are some things that make this a bit better and easier for the family. This is where the "fortunate" part comes in play.
Rachel was a Godly woman. A fact that she had passed to her whole family thru the years. I happen to be married to the oldest and she is one of the sweetest people I know, and I truly do not deserve her. (A fact that did not escape Rachel when we were 1st married. :)) I was always raised in church. I know that dying is a part of life. People die all the time. Seems like there is this tug of war at times. Doctors want to perform heroic life saving measures to keep someone alive and their body is saying NO please let me go. This is why I think Hospice care is so great. They allow a person to be comfortable and allow the inevitable to happen. Rachel had been on Hospice care for several months.
One of the things I have heard my whole life is we have, as Christians, this "Blessed Hope". What does that mean? Well is means that as Christians, we have this promise of seeing our loved ones, who were also Christians, again in Heaven when we also die. How strange is that. Im sure that you probably thought, when Im dead, Im dead, just leave me alone, I can finally get some rest. I've always been pretty pragmatic about death. I guess that is how I was raised, but I have also always found it just a bit interesting. Have you ever wondered about it? I have. How can you be alive and breathing one moment, and then poof, you are gone? Our bodies are extremely complicated if you really think about it. Once you are born the clock starts ticking. Some of us have a very long time, and others don't. Think about this. This body has an incredible amount of healing power. If you cut yourself, you heal up within a few days. Should you get a cold, it only lasts a few days. Break a bone, and it heals in a matter of weeks. Have surgery and typically you heal. God made a pretty incredible thing when he made us.
Getting back to why Im up at 2AM writing a blog. This kept going thru my mind. I kept thinking of the verse in Revelation 21:4 that says "God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow or crying, neither shall there be anymore pain" I personally think this is more the Blessed Hope than just seeing a loved one again. To be able to rest in the arms of God, to be able to have HIM wipe away our tears, and for there to be no more death. To us who are left here on this earth, losing a loved one stings. It hurts. Even when it is someone who because of a stroke was really not the same person she had always been, it is still a shock to the system. You are always expecting the phone call, but when it comes it still hurts. I've lost both of my parents, as well as other family members. I've gone thru this and can hold my wife's hand and hug my daughter, but they still will grieve, and that is a good thing.
Rachel is no longer in pain, she is no longer having to take insulin she no longer has to worry about anything in this life. She has fought the good fight, she has run the race, she is now with her Father in Heaven. She is reunited with friends and loved ones that went on before her. She has no worries at all about anything. The family and friends she left behind, will of course miss her, but they have the "HOPE" of seeing her again when they reach Heaven's shores! So don't cry for Rachel, weep for your loss, weep with tears of joy for her, she is in a far better place and God has wiped away all of her tears.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)