At the end of February, Marv asked me to organize a “last hug” tour to family and friends in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and Chicago. I worked up a schedule for the following week and sent it on to the folks he wanted to see and said I hoped it would work for them. We are …
Category: faith
God’s Grace #5: God Sightings this Week
I wasn’t going to church on Sunday. I was sick. Last minute I decided to go. Our “cantor,” who rarely sings a solo, sang a solo. And it was my favorite song: “When peace like a river attendeth my way…” We sang it at my folks’ funerals and at one of my sister’s. I choked …
God’s Grace #4: Tidying Up
Marv purged the pantry today. He’s been our grocery shopper and dinner maker for 46 of our 55 years. I think he doesn’t want me to find outdated cans when I take over his role. This week has been one in which we are planning for my future. His is secure; we just don’t know …
God’s Grace #3: A Written Legacy
Our kids, ages 50 and 48, want to know Marv’s stories. I guess it’s good to know, since his time is now limited to tell them. This strikes me as tremendously ironic, because I’ve been a huge proponent on this blog of documenting your stories. I’ve warned, more than once, that if you don’t write …
God’s Grace #2: An Adventure
We are home. Just a few hours after I wrote my last post filled with optimism about our travels, Marv said it’s time to go home. The word journey came to mind: we had to journey home on this journey of living with cancer As I made preparations, I decided I hate words we associate …
God’s Grace…
Just two weeks ago, my husband was diagnosed with lung cancer. We were traveling from Sioux Falls to Arizona when the call came. He’d made it clear to his doctors before we left that if results of previous tests were unfavorable, he was thankful for the life God has given him and would not be …
Growing Older: On Turning Seventy-six
The sobering thing for me about turning 76 is that I'm getting closer than ever to 80. Eighty! My head tells me I'm 29, my body says 99 on some days, and the me that's hanging around between these two ages is now on the way to 80. The most joyful thing about turning 76 …
Coincidence Anecdotes for the New Year
"Room 373," the hotel clerk said. I sighed with relief. I'd been staying at numerous hotels in the past year and trying to remember room numbers had become a nuisance. But 373 instantly registered as the number of the hymn, Beautiful Savior, in the red Psalter Hymnal of the church of my childhood. The hymn …
Preparing for Death
Morbid, right? In a sense, yes. In another, no. Around twelve years ago, my four older siblings and their spouses started planning for their funerals by buying cemetery plots. I followed their actions via our email chats. Since I’m five to eleven years younger, I saw no need to start planning. Now, unbelievably, six of …
A Tribute to My Sister Esther – 1937-2017
I have her shoes, the new white Skechers she’d packed carefully in her “wear home from the hospital” bag. There’s something not right about this. We did not expect her death. We were ecstatic when we heard her surgery for cancer was successful. We were relieved when she transferred out of ICU, then greatly worried …
Write Along with Me 