New Growth

Evergreen

 Carrot

Dogwood

Azalea

 :-)

Connections

Neil's Lit. class at the High School is reading Tuesdays With Morrie.  His teacher gave the class an assignment to write a paragraph about how they relate to Morrie and his perspective on life.  Neil took this assignment on with enthusiasm.  Here are his remarks:

Just like Morrie’s life, mine was changed so much by my car accident last year that my perspective on how to live has been changed completely. The way that I find enjoyment has been altered; I now find great satisfaction in watching other people succeed. Another way I deal with my circumstances at this point is trying to detach myself from life, and trying to convince my brain that my current skills are good enough to fulfill my daily needs. The hard part about living this way is merging the idea that I still need to improve, with my previous thought. Living in the present takes dedication, and also some help from others. I feel that I might as well help others as much as I can now in gratitude for the help I have received. By serving others who are in need of an instructor or mentor, I can show how to not be down in life while living through a situation such as this.

How To Tell That Spring Has Sprung

The grass has started growing.

The cat is content in her patch of sunshine.

Eric has come home happy from a Scout campout despite a soaking from an

April shower.

Strawberries have been planted in the garden.

A sturdy fence has been erected to keep the hungry deer out.

Happy Spring!

Love On the Line

When Neil came home from the hospital, we bought him a new phone--one with a screen big enough for his poor eyesight, one with bigger keys that he could see to push and could easily be used with one hand. Within a couple of months of using the new phone we realized (with the help of his speech therapist) that he needed a better one--one that he could use as a memory tool, one that was even easier to text with one hand. So after the second phone purchase, I ended up with his "old" new phone. Oh, poor me :-)

On Saturday, as we were sorting through the tangles of random cords and computer parts in our electronic junk drawer, I came across my old phone. I began to package it up with its charger to be given away or recycled, when I realized I'd better delete my private information. As I checked the old text messages, I knew I could never part with this phone. It holds a story. It holds tangible evidence of powerful love. It represents the significant support that sustained me through the darkest days of my life because most of our communication in those early days of silence in the ICU was through texting. Here's a sample of what I found:

"...i just wanted to throw my support into the ring. my heart absolutely aches for you guys. Stay strong. Please tell Neil we want him to fight hard. love you-"

"I love you so much."

"Mom called us about neil...We are praying for him and you. We love you all so much."

"I love you and i love our family." (from Scott)

"Lori, i love you and wish i could take some of your grief away. Please give my love to scott and eric too. We are all praying so hard for neil"

"We're with u in prayer and spirit"

It goes on and on...

There are several from Scott that say, "are you awake?" that came in the middle of the night as one of us tried to sleep at the hospital, and one tried to sleep at home. One said, "I like our nurse tonight."

So many are simple notes to tell me there was food delivered to the house. Others are from close friends who were waiting in the lobby in case I needed a hug.

See what I mean? This phone is a keeper.

April Fools!

My apologies to anyone using the Kessler calendar. I just realized the month of April is a mess! An extra 10th has been inserted after the 19th of the month, throwing the rest of April off. I haven't checked any other months, but I hope there are no more mistakes.