You Are Always There
Okay, here’s the first attempt at describing why the blog is named the way it is…
For those who know me best, those people will understand me the most when it comes to posts like this one. Otherwise for those who don’t, due to recent experiences I have a very deep reverence for life. It’s not like I’m above other people, I just have an awareness for the sanctity of life and it makes me feel sad when we as human beings sometimes miss the boat as to why we exist. I have to catch myself sometimes when I think incorrectly about these things because people tend to think of me as too philosophical or egotistical. I must reiterate, I’m NOT like that at all. Sometimes when I express myself in writing it sounds like it, though. My friends will attest to the fact that I have a great sense of humor, and given the right cues I will go ‘off’ on tangents you wouldn’t believe. Part of my reverence for life centers around the family. My sister lives in Texas with her husband Tom and 3 children. I visit them at least once a year if I can. Since I don’t at this time have a spouse or children, I like to see my ‘other’ family grow and progress. I realize that being an uncle doesn’t always count as much as being a father, but little children look up to adults and watch them to see if what they are taught by adults are congruent with the choices that adults make. Truth is an eternal principle, and by some miracle, little kids somehow know right from wrong more than we realize. They don’t always know HOW to choose the right which is why being a good parent and teaching children moral values is so important. The last time I was out there in Texas, I was talking to my Brother-in-law, Tom while we were in a local park with his two boys. Isaac, his second was learning to ride a bike without training wheels. The seeming drama of getting him to overcome his fears of doing so was an amazing process to watch and touched me when he finally figured it out. When we as human beings become parents we embark on a great responsiblity and trial as we learn the ins and outs of what makes us human and we attempt to apply it to new arrivals on the planet. In this we become not only teachers but also learners as to why we are who we are, where we came from before we were born, and what happens to us after we die. In this sense we can also see why so many evils in the world we live in are aimed at destroying family life or at making families come second to other seeming distractions. Trials of parenting and family life abound at all turns and I’m grateful to the people who work against those evils. It is a tremendous work and very tiring at the least. I see Tom and Janette grow and get stronger as they work hard together in seeing to the physical and spiritual welfare of their family and I’m grateful to them as they work hard at it…because it IS hard, I have no doubt about that. Amidst changing all the diapers, many sleepless nights, putting up with their child’s attention problems, helping them to overcome natural insecurities and fears, many parents I’m sure ask "what’s it all for"? Finding out the answer to that question is as individual as finding out who we really are for ourselves. I’m sure all of my ‘theories’ about family will fly right out the window when I eventually become a parent myself. It will happen someday when I find the right person to marry, I become the right person for that someone, or that someone becomes right for me. At any rate, while I’m waiting for that to happen I love being an observer of the parenting process. I’ve compiled a small scrapbook of pictures and video footage as a birthday present for Janette and as a gift to her family that highlights the good times of their family activities. I realize that it is only my perspective; I can’t force my perspective on other people, but having an outsider’s perspective on your life can be a help and shows us many positive things that we, ourselves, don’t see right away that can be very obvious to other people. While reality sometimes gives you a different take on life, it’s important to focus on the positive and release and learn from the negative aspects of our lives. Memories, especially of the emotional type, are the ones that seem to stick around the most in our brains. If we work at it, focusing on the postitive emotional memories of our lives helps us to forget and/or minimize the negative ones. Happy Birthday, Janette…and thanks for being such a great sister to me and a great mother to your children: