Whoosh! 5 Years! What a Ride!!!

Whoosh!  5 Years!  What a Ride!!!

     I never am sure how these calender pages can fly by at mach speed.  It seems like yesterday we had this celebration for the 90 year old sweetheart on the previous post.  But it did do just that.  And it somehow passed without any sharing of the celebrations that we've had since.  Yes, my mother in law is still up and going strong as of this post.  We have gathered every year since in her 90th birthday.  That, of course means......

2019

2020

2021

2022

we even gathered together during the COVID pandemic.  Everyone was blessed to be together, to keep some distance, to use bottles of antibacterial lotions and with most, but not all, be vacinnated. Or as the media would put it "be vaxxed".  Don't you just love all those coined phrases that came out?  Yes, special blessings! .  We came out on the other side older, a bit more fluffy, and fairly intact.  

But it did not happen without a few family changes.  We lost a brother in law

and some cousins.  

AND

We gained new "perfect" great grands. 

          There were several births in the family.

                      Here's three of them.

New family members joined us at an altar.  In the middle of the words in these sentences there were a lot of tears of all sorts. Both happy and sad.  Since I last shared part of our lives with you, we have seen some of the craziest government  shinanigans and they still continue today. 

Almost all of us stood in lines to get into stores only to find empty shelves and no toilet paper, no sanitizer, no change that no baby formula etc. etc, ... and we wore masks.

We were highly encouraged to get shots that were developed in record time.  I still don't know how I feel about that.  Churches closed,  then schools and businesses closed, and I do believe the whole world turned upside down and never fully recovered.  We are all on the other side for now and actually go out without masks although I saw about six people today move through the restaurant with some on.  My mother in law?  She tried to comply with everything and is doing well enough to still be found outside early in the morning picking up limbs and picking blueberries.  

So what does any and all of this tell me and you

    Change can happen in a nano-second, that's what screams out at me.  We travel on our merry ways and all of a sudden there are multiple angelic little people who steal our hearts. We see diplomas that we honestly weren't sure were going to happen.  We see beautiful brides walking down the aisles and more.  But we also hold the hands of those who in the blink of an eye get that dreaded diagnosis and before we know it we are selecting songs and people to carry caskets. And the whole world knows how fear and politics can mix and make everyday life a nightmare. We stand in line to look for food that might not be there.  We wear masks.  We don't wear masks.  We stand 6 feet apart.  We drive up to an outside testing site to have a swab stuck up our noses.  We say goodbye to loved ones having medical proceedures at the door and wait in our cars.  We have brand new vaccination cards.  And no one goes to work and the likes.     Life is indeed precious and truly memorable moments are all around us.  If we blink, we will miss some of them.  So, let's take inventory of them when we see them and cherish the good ones and learn from the bad ones.  And cherish the fact that as of today, we can still gather in little and big buildings with pews and chairs and sing praises to God and listen to messages taken from the Bible...all warning us of times just like we went through....except they don't get better.  Let's be grateful for the grace and mercy of the Father!  And let's love one another and be kind but be honest and truthful friends to those around us.