Our daughter, Amy, dropped by for a nice visit today. She and her dad and I caught up on the last few days and just spent some good time together. When it came time for her to leave we went out the back door to the backyard and as we were standing in the warm sunshine on this January '13 day, I saw time pass. Really.
As we chatted, I looked at Amy and her dad, and I considered myself and thought of the nearly thirty-three years we'd lived in this house that Byron built. I noticed our ages; Byron's not a young man anymore, I'm not a young woman and Amy is in her prime.
My eyes scanned our backyard and thought of the two, little white haired girls who played here with their next door neighbor cousins. I remembered how they all sat in the shovel of a back hoe and had their picture made. How they'd swing on the tire swing from the huge oak near the kitchen door. How they romped and stomped with whatever pup we had at the time.
I saw my girls riding the old tractor on the back of the lot and heard them singing church songs to the top of their lungs. They didn't know we could hear every word they sang over the noise of the tractor. I remembered the playhouse Byron's dad built for their older cousin, Candy, and how we brought it out here after she outgrew playing with it. I thought of those five mean and nasty pigs we raised and how Sandy and I had to round one or two of them up one afternoon after they'd escaped. I thought about the first chickens we raised, the bunnies and, later on, our 13 sweet goats.
I thought of school plays when Amy was a flower and Holly was a leprechaun and performances of The Patchwork Singers in elementary school. "One singular sensation..." and "Start spreading the news..." I saw Amy driving her little white Datsun station wagon to pick up her cousins the evening of the day she got her license and Holly coming home from school in her little red Tercel. I remembered Flag Corp practice for Amy and marching band for Holly.
We had Amy and her cousin Chris' high school graduation party here and there were about a million people who showed up for it and we had a blast! Two years later instead of a graduation party, Holly wanted a wedding and it was beautiful and so was she. I remember Byron and I sitting down on the couch that evening after the long, great day and how I sobbed my eyes out. I was totally exhausted and I was sad for my baby growing up and leaving home, but I was also happy she married a wonderful man to start a home a family with.
I remember the bonfire Amy's youth group had here. I don't know how many young adults showed up but there were a LOT of them. I also remember talking with a young man and woman in the kitchen that evening, who weren't dating at the time, and about how they are married now with two kids of their own.
I thought of all the dinners and cookouts we've had here with family and friends, many of them passed on now, and I miss them, even though we made great memories while they were here. After most dinners with my immediate family, I'd take tiny Hannah out in the backyard and we'd identify plants and talk about stuff. Later after Summer was born, we'd take those same walks but we also had the goats so we'd take time to give them a little treat of corn. They are so different in their ways and growing up lightning fast along with our terrific grandson, Sid, who joined our family when Amy and Lane married a few years ago.
Thirty-three years...it is a mist, a vapor, and it passed by so very quickly. It reminds me of these lyrics...
Memries, like the corners of my mind, misty water-colored memories, of the way we were.
Scattered pictures, of the smiles we left behind, smiles we gave to one another, for the way we were.
...so it's the laughter, we will remember, whenever we remember...
The way we were...
The way we were...
and a few Bible verses;
Some of you say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to some city. We will stay there a year, do business, make money. But you do not know what will happen tomorrow. Your life is like a mist. You can see it for a short time but then it goes away. So you should say, "If the Lord wants, we will do this, or that." James 4:14
It's been good, thus far and I'm so looking forward to what the Lord has for us for the rest of the vapor! I know it will pass quickly but it's going to be good, Lord willing.
What a fun thing to think of today, Father! It was kind of weird, seeing the years pass like that, but you brought back some really great memories for me. Thank you! I love you!
Suzanne
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