Moving Forward

Elizabeth Musser's latest album, 'Words Unspoken', went with me on my trip to Pittsburgh in April and I read the first 100 pages or so. Now near the end of July, I'm near the 250 mark and really enjoying the interwoven lives and stories. The story centers on a young lady, Lissa Randall, who lost her mom in a tragic accident for which she feels responsible. The book focuses on her driving lessons with Ev MacAllister and his gentle way of drawing her out towards healing and re-entering life. The main characters live in Lookout Mountain, TN, but also featured are scenes from Montpellier, France, where I met Elizabeth and her family back in 1990.

Now almost twenty years later, I feel a kinship with young Lissa as I face how many ways I choose to live on the edge of life rather than diving in to the center. Six weeks ago yesterday, we lost Dad. Last night, I took Sarah out to The Cheesecake Factory all fancied up like the 'Fancy Nancy' series we've been reading. A young couple was seated next to us with their six week old son, Elijah. It wasn't until I got home that I figured out that he was born about the same time that Dad died. I think God wanted me to see that even though I miss my Dad, that he has Life eternal to enjoy, while I have an opportunity to engage in life like Sarah, little JT, and now baby Elijah.

The past week has gone better despite a crazy schedule of parenting with Tom's work requiring extra hours, an esophagram on Tuesday, and two appointments on Thursday. I promised myself a fun day on Wednesday and got out to see the new Harry Potter flick. But Wednesday through Friday, I started the practice of 'freewriting' - free-flow writing for 10-15 minutes. On Thursday, I looked over chapter two of my dissertation and found some notes to work from that I had typed out in May before I left for Ohio. So this afternoon, I'm heading over to do some freewriting as well as some planning for the ch2 work this coming week.

We're having grilled salmon tonight compliments of Tom's charter fishing trip with some colleagues last night. Yum! Sounds like getting back into life to me!