godspeed...

i received an email from our school that a father of two students (a 3rd grader and a kindergartner) passed away over the weekend...

i didn't know the dad personally, i knew who he was and that he was a very jovial, friendly and popular dad amongst our mutual friends/parents....

despite not knowing him, i'm so sad to hear the news...  i can 't even imagine the kind of grief they must be experiencing...  i pray for him, his wife and their children, family and friends...  i pray that God helps them in their sorrow...  sheltering and embracing them through the stormy and weary days ahead...

i just learned that the dad was also very connected to the chicago music scene as a musician for a very popular local band and as a manager of many bands - local and elsewhere...  he wrote the song below about his life and his children, it's performed by the band, kaiser cartel...

please join me and leave a light on for this family tonight...

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facebook fast - update

so, it's been almost three weeks since i started my facebook fast...  and it's been a tough go of it...  facebook may have it's warts but for me and my family and friends who now live in different time zones and continents, it really is a wonderful way to stay in touch, even if it is only through a status update...  personally, i find some status updates truly intimate and genuine...

anyway, i'm glad that i've been able to keep my lenten sacrifice so far...  i tell you this now, because tomorrow is my birthday and i will most likely break it...  i just think if people take time to send you good wishes, the least you can do is thank them....

i have definitely noticed in the past three weeks that i'm my more observant self.   i have re-opened my eyes to the world around me that was often obscured by my phone and my facebook wall...

although, i've failed thus far to write any letters, i have blogged more and have read more and am still planning on writing letters....  one of the hidden gifts of being more observant is how something mundane or coincidental will rush memories of someone and bring them to the present and the need to communicate with them becomes a priority...  i've also noticed that i've struck up conversations with complete strangers more often than before.  and they've been very funny and productive interactions....

not too recently, during one of our chicago snowstorms, i noticed an elderly man struggling to free his car from the middle of an unplowed intersection.  eventually, after he'd managed to back up onto the street corner,  i helped him to move his car and asked a couple of construction workers to help me.  we released the car and the man waved weakly from his window.  i bought my fellow helpers hot chocolates at the cafe.   we joked a bit about the man and his mercedes and what could possibly be so important for him trek outside on a stormy day like that day.

late in the afternoon, it was still snowing...  and while tromping home thru snow with the kids  from school, we spied a lovely old sewing table (sans machine & retrofitted with a new top).  The metal legs were in very good condition and the pedal still moved the large wheel.  i couldn't let the table languish in the alley, so i started to half drag/half carry the heavy table home...  which was only a half block away...

the two construction workers from the morning saw me.  they came to my rescue this time, and carried the table the rest of the way home and up our front steps...  i am so very thankful for and humbled by their generosity.  it was a good day.  i was thankful that i was present to help the man in his car and thankful i was present to see the sewing table....  :)

fwiw, these three weeks have been an excellent reminder of how absent i have been in other parts of my life...  and that i should endeavor to balance my online life and my off line life... and be more present and observant in both....

chicago is currently hiding under a blanket of snow...  she's quite pretty nonetheless....  i hope you are warm and safe wherever you are...  thanks for coming by and reading...  :)


 

the facebook fast

oh man....

i can't take it back, it's already out there...

so, i stumbled upon and read this very reflective post about Lent...  and this quote kinda stuck:

"...Lent isn't only about giving up things.  It's also about adding things, God things..."

*insertreflectiveandquizzicalpause*

then this quote is followed by a short list of examples including - "Having given up on Facebook, to whom will you devote meaningful conversation?"

which really got me thinking about the people i care about and the ways in which i choose to communicate with them and why i always choose facebook...  for years and years and years, i happily wrote letters and drew and doodled with glee on envelopes...  and then, i stopped... maybe i got too busy and too lazy... and then, i discovered facebook....

so, i'm giving up facebook for lent and i'm going to (try to) write to someone every day....  maybe a blog post.  maybe a post card.  maybe a letter.  maybe a note in a lunchbox.  maybe a post-it at an ATM....

please wish me luck! (and please pray for me, if you pray...)  no, really!  i look forward to reading status updates and browsing photos from my friends and family who are so far away....  these next 40 days are going to be very challenging...  :)

hope

if there was any story i desperately needed to see/hear last night...  it was this one:

 

God bless you and your family Steelo!  Whenever I lose patience with my slow healing, I will watch you!  Best wishes for a complete recovery!

there is no greater love...

happy sunday!