Far away love…

As I write tonight, over my left shoulder are pictures of our four – Jordan, Andrew, Kristi, and Taylor. These pictures are always with me as I write from my desk in my cozy, crowded with books, kinda office I now share with my Miss. I’m currently reading Surprised by Scripture and A Free People’s Suicide, by N.T. Wright and Os Guinness respectively. I’ve just started N.T.’s and am in the final chapter of Os. My life feels kinda like that too…

I often turn to my left and gaze at our children and imagine them as they were twelve years ago when these particular portraits were so wonderfully made. Jordan was graduating high school, he’s now a professional poker player in Florida. Andrew was a sophomore in high school and is now in Berlin, Germany studying German and living on a boat. Kristi was twelve and has since doubled. She lives and works in KC. Tay, was gripping a soccer ball and smiling back in elementary school. He’s now doing more of the same in college. It seems, at least to me, these pictures and these little people can’t possibly be so far removed from reality. The fact is that they are…

Time, we all know, waits for no one. This weekend my Mom told me she plans to leave her home of sixty some odd years and move into a senior living apartment kinda complex. She feels she is ready after a couple falls and eighteen years by her lonesome. I haven’t lived at 858 S. 11th street for thirty seven years but it seems like some kinda loss for me, much less for Mom. Funny, huh.

Clive, I guess, was right when he worte his little diddy about love, life, and are limited time here. “There is no safe investment,” C.S. Lewis began in his book titled, The Four Loves. “To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness.” Good.

So, tonight, as I look to my left and see four of my great loves, I see them frozen in time as they were, if you will. I see them and reflect on our time together when the house was filled with them and their friends. Now, it’s just Miss, me, and our pups. And, my mind wanders to Mom and her decision to leave her little home on her quiet street in Salina. To love at all is to be vulnerable, isn’t it. Love, anyway my friends. Love, anyway. And, take plenty of pictures and portraits along the way. There’s nothing like looking to your left every so often and seeing a smile from a far away love…