On Thursday we celebrated the 5th anniversary of the day we moved into this house. In honor of that event, I thought it would be interesting and fun (for me anyway) to take a look back at all the homes I have lived in.
Home #1 – THE FARM
Duration: I lived in this farmhouse my first 18 years.
Cost: I have no idea. Dad bought the farm from his dad in the mid-fifties.
What I loved about it: It was a great place to grow up.
What I didn’t like: It was cold and drafty in the winter.
Home #2 – Grandma’s Upstairs Apartment
Duration: Jeff and I lived here about a year, beginning the day we got married.
Cost: We paid $165 in rent each month.
What I loved about it: It was our first home as man and wife.
What I didn’t like: We didn't know too many people. Not much to do.
Home #3 – Redwood Falls Apartment
Duration: Jeff and I lived here 2 years, from 1987 to 1989.
Cost: We paid $275 in rent each month.
What I loved about it: Living in Redwood Falls (Jeff’s hometown) was tons of fun. Always something to do.
What I didn’t like: Paying rent each month. We wanted a home of our own.
Home #4 – Our First Home – Sleepy Eye, MN
Duration: Jeff, Mandie and I moved here May of 1989. Nine years later, Jeff, Mandie, JJ, Danica, Zack and I moved on to home #5 on the other side of town.
Cost: $33,000
What I loved about it: A wonderful fixer-upper, on a huge lot in a great neighborhood.
What I didn’t like: No A/C. I melted every summer.
Home #5 – Our Second Home – Sleepy Eye, MN
Duration: We lived here for a total of seven years, from 1998 to 2005.
Cost: $129,500
What I loved about it: A beautiful home with lots of room, located only half a block from the public swimming pool.
What I didn’t like: Not much. It was a very nice home. But one thing that always bothered me was that you couldn’t see out the front very well. Most of the windows faced the backyard. Unlike our current home...
Home #6 – Our Current Home – New Ulm, MN
Duration: As of Oct. 28, we have lived here for 5 years.
Cost: $164,900
What I love about it: Location, location, location. It’s walking distance from my four favorite places: (in alphabetical order) church, Flandrau State Park, the library, and work. Plus, the view of Harmen Park from our living room is always lovely.
What I don’t like: Well, with winter right around the corner an attached garage would be nice… or a mud room for snow covered boots and mittens. But I must say, there isn’t a room in this house I do not like. I hope we stay here a long, long time!
Yesterday a bunch of us old friends from high school got together. It was tons of fun getting caught up, and looking back at old photos, remembering when we were kids. It’s hard to imagine it’s been 30 years since that first picture was taken. Where has time gone?
I suppose the answer can be found in the classic Steve Miller hit, “Time keeps on slipping, slipping, slipping, into the future…”
We all know it’s true. You can only travel through time in one direction. Forward. Looking back can be fun, but going back is impossible. Man may have learned how to fly like birds, send his image across the globe instantly as a spirit, and even create light at the flip of a switch like the Lord God Almighty, but there has not yet been, nor do I believe there ever will be, a man-made working time machine. No matter how advanced we think we are, time is one dimension man will never master. It just keeps on going by at the same speed as always, one second at a time.
Tick. Tock. Tick.
It certainly doesn’t feel that way. Sometimes we feel time stops all together. More often, we feel it whizzing by in fast forward. But in a large part, time defines our existence. It brings order and structure to our lives. And until we leave this world and go to the next it will be with us until we die.
Now I need to tell you what happened on Tuesday.
Every Tuesday at 6:00 we have handbells practice. I always look forward to it. I love playing the bells. I love our director. And I love the all the ladies in our choir. It’s a great bunch of gals.
Our director began the practice by telling us why Peggy wasn’t there. “She wasn’t feeling well,” I heard her say, “so they did some tests, and they found out she has pancreatic cancer.”
What? We were all stunned.
“She just found out?” Jan asked.
“Yes. She called me on Saturday. They’re just going to try and make her comfortable.”
“It’s progressed that far?”
“Yes.”
I couldn’t believe it. Our Peggy? Dying? It didn’t make any sense. Peggy is a bit older than me, but she’s still in her prime. What will this do to her husband and sons? Or the law firm where she works? And, what will I tell Danica? Danica has gone on mission trips with Peggy and knows what a dear sweet, person she is. She’ll be devastated. What a shock.
I could barely keep my mind on the music. And then, Peggy walks in the door!
She looked tired, and like she had been crying, but she didn’t look like she was in too much pain. Our director asked her how she was doing, and she nodded and said she was all right. I wanted to rush over to her, but what would I say? What can you say to someone who has just found out they have a terminal illness? Perhaps that’s what held me back.
As soon as practice ended, I went over to her. We hugged. She cried. Through her tears she told me something. I couldn’t quite make it out. So I just nodded and hugged her again. “She’s ready to meet her Savior,” she said. I wondered why she was talking about herself in the third person, but maybe it was easier for her to talk about herself that way.
“I can’t believe it,” I told her. “You take such good care of yourself.” She made that funny little smirk Peggy always does when she’s thinking, and said, “So does she.”
“Wait,” someone said next to me. “Is it your mom?”
“Yes,” Peg nodded. “My mom.”
“Oh,” I exclaimed. “Your mom!”
“We thought it was you,” another friend put in.
For some reason (probably because we were visiting) our side of the table had missed that part of the news. We all thought it was Peggy who has dying. Thank goodness we heard wrong!
Eventually, we were able to talk to her and comfort her in her distress over her mother’s illness, but after 60 minutes of believing our friend was the one whose time was nearly up, it was with mixed feelings. Sympathy, laced with relief.
On my walk home I thought about what I had just learned and felt. It wasn’t Peggy who had cancer, but the truth is, it could have been. It could have been any of us. It could have been me. It could have been Jeff. It could have been one of my kids. Or one of my old friends from High School. Death does not discriminate. We can never know when our time is up.
So what’s the lesson here?
Without a doubt, this whole experience has made me appreciate the time I have even more. It’s sort of like an alarm going off. Wake up! Value the time you have. Every second. You don’t know how many more you’ll get.
Tick, tock, tick.
I hope you’ll think about that too as you listen to the Steve Miller Band hit I referred to in this blog. It’s Fly Like an Eagle, from 1976.You'll find it below my notes.
A few notes about this blog:
First, I suppose I should apologize to Danica. I handed her a copy of this blog to read, without warning her that Peggy was okay. She was quite upset and nearly stopped reading to text all her friends that Peggy was dying. And we wonder how rumors start.
The missing person on the left in the 2010 picture is our friend Betty. She’s alive and well and teaches grade school in Arizona now. We’re hoping to get together with her the next time she comes home. How ‘bout it, Betty?
Halloween is only two weeks away. Did you buy your candy yet? I haven't, and I probably won't. Where we live now, we don’t really get any trick-or-treaters.That wasn’t the case a few years back. We used to live in a neighborhood that got all sorts of traffic on Halloween night. In those days, I put a lot of thought into figuring out what treats to pass out. I even wrote an article on the subject, which appeared in the October 2003 edition of Forward in Christ magazine. In case you missed it, I’ve reprinted it here:
Halloween – Trick or Treat for the Christian Parent
I used to love Halloween when I was a kid.
I grew up on a farm in rural Minnesota with my six older brothers and sisters. Halloween was a big event back then. It began early in October when we brought down the costume boxes from the storeroom. The seven of us would try the costumes on and decide who would go as what. I’ll never forget the year I went as a butterfly. You can just imagine the trouble I had getting in and out of the car with my huge cardboard wings strapped to my back and the wire antennae tied to my head.
But my fondest memory of Halloween is the candy. Even though we only went to a handful of houses back then, I can remember the excitement of coming home and emptying my bag onto the floor. What a thrill! Halloween was the best.
Now that I’m a mom, my view of Halloween is quite different.
Like most moms, I tend to worry. I worry about the kids going out after dark. I worry about pins in candy bars and pranks done by teens out for a good time.
Most of all, as a Christian mom, I wonder if it’s even right for our family to celebrate this “holiday.” When you think about it, Halloween is probably the most non-Christian day of the year. From what historians tell us, the celebration of Halloween began with the ancient Druids, who lit fires on the eve of All Saints’ Day to ward off the evil spirits called forth by Saman, the lord of the dead. This fear of returning spirits continued through the ages, and so it is that dressing up as ghosts and witches is a common Halloween custom today.
It may be common, but does that make it right? I say no. My kids don’t agree. “Nobody gets any of that stuff, Mom,” they tell me. “It’s just fun.”
I know they’re right, because I was just like them once. I loved Halloween just as much as they do.
For years I wondered how I could make our family’s observance of Oct. 31 into something that didn’t plague my conscience with guilt. My first idea was to omit the door-to-door begging for treats with some sort of party at our church – a Reformation Party or a Harvest Party perhaps. I ran this idea by several people, and at first they seemed to like the idea. But when they realized I wanted to hold this party on Halloween night, the response was mixed. “Do you think anyone will come if we do it on Halloween? They’ll all be out trick-or-treating.”
I tried to tell them that that was the whole idea – to replace our traditional customs with newer, more God-pleasing customs. I soon realized these nay-sayers were probably right. In the words of the old proverb, “You can’t fight tradition.”
But another proverb says, “If you can’t beat them, join them.” After giving the whole issue more thought, I finally came up with a way that I could celebrate Halloween without sacrificing my beliefs. I knew Halloween night would bring scores of little ones in search of treats. What better treat to give them than the gospel message!
The first year I made a little seek-and-find on the computer, with a short Bible passage on the side. I rolled up the puzzles and wrapped them around crayons, playfully tying each one with a colorful piece of yarn. Suddenly, Halloween was fun again.
Now I get excited each year coming up with new ideas for my treat bags. In doing so I’ve discovered lots of ways to take the traditions of Halloween and use them to spread the good news. The pumpkin picked from the field, cleaned, and carved with a smile, can represent the Christian’s life of being chosen by our Lord, cleaned from sin, and left with a smile of peace and forgiveness. The practice of going door to door in search of free treats can be used to symbolize the door to heaven, always open, always free, and always good. I’ve finally learned how to celebrate Halloween with joy and thanksgiving.
So many times in life we see how God can take something negative and turn it into a positive. For me Halloween is an example of this too. I used to think of Halloween as an unavoidable evil. I now see it as an opportunity to spread the good news. Any opportunity to do that is worth celebrating.
I’m happy being me. I like who I am, and I’m grateful to my creator for the gifts he has given me. I guess you could say I have great self-esteem. Most days, when I look back at what I’ve accomplished, I’m proud of myself.
But as the Bible warns…”Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.” Proverbs 16:18 (KJV)
Many times, I must admit, I’ve fallen due to my pride. It happened again on Thursday.
I do not like making mistakes.
That’s actually an understatement. I HATE making mistakes. Especially when it involves letting others down. Naturally, I feel sorry for whoever has suffered due to my blunder. But in truth, a large part of my frustration stems from the feeling that others have lost confidence in me. I can’t stand the idea that people might think I’m anything less than dependable, efficient, and trustworthy. Because that’s what I am. Really…I am!
Do I sound defensive? That’s how I tend to react when I mess up. I go through a stage of denial. “No way. I didn’t do that.” Even in cases where my guilt is obvious I tend to check and re-check, hoping the error was an error. But no. It was me.
The next thought I usually have is something like, “Oh, that’s not so bad.” I try to minimize the damage and somehow justify what I’ve done. “I meant to do that,” is another great line, but seldom believable.
Finally, I have to face up to the fact. I messed up. I hate this part the most. It usually involves admitting both to myself and others, that I’m to blame. This is hard for me. That beautiful self image I have of being dependable, efficient, and trustworthy pops like a bubble, and my true self is exposed. The Apostle Paul knew the feeling. He wrote about it in that famous Biblical tongue-twister: “For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do…O wretched man that I am!” Romans 7:19 & 24 (KJV)
At this point, feeling completely wretched, I’m ready to say I’m sorry.I confess my sin to both God and man, (or woman, as the case may be) and hope they’ll soon forgive me. God always does, (see Isaiah 1:18, John 3:16-18, Acts 3:19, Romans 6:23, Romans 8:1, or 1 John 1:9) and the others usually do too.
Forgiving myself, on the other hand, is a little harder. It can take a while. And during that time my self-esteem is pretty low. But you know what. That’s okay. As much as I hate it, I know God lets me mess up to keep me humble. I need to know I’m not all that great. Any skills or good in me is a gift from God. “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above.” James 1:17 (KJV)
There’s one last stage in this despicable cycle of humiliation. It’s when I look back at the experience, and see what I can learn from it. At the risk of boasting, I have to say, I rarely make the same mistake twice. Here’s what I learned from Thursday’s mess up.
1.I’m not perfect. No one is, except God. And He’s looking out for me. If He weren’t, I’d be making far more mistakes than I do now.
2.My supervisors at work are very patient and forgiving. They are a blessing to me.
3.I need to take a few extra minutes to edit my work before I hit print. Jeff suggests I use a technique the proof readers use where he works, and go through letter by letter, forwards and backwards. I may just do that from now on!
As they say, “All’s well that ends well.” That’s not a quote from the Bible, but it does ring true. Here’s perhaps a better verse to end with: “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” Hebrews 12:11 (NIV)
Amen!
A few notes about this blog:
As alluded above, one of my mistakes on Thursday was that I typed “post due balance” instead of “past due balance” on 60 letters. That was embarrassing and annoying, but some (Jeff) would argue, not worth fretting about.
Unfortunately, that was not my only mistake. In a moment of weakness and poor judgment, I also downloaded some stuff I shouldn’t have onto the Bookstore computer. When I complained to Network Services that the computer was acting strange, they told me it was likely due to viruses, and took it away for “disinfection.” This was also embarrassing, and even more annoying as I had those 60 letters to do over, and no computer!
Thankfully, the supervisor that got her letters a day late wasn’t overly upset with me. And my Bookstore supervisor was actually quite pleased when Network Services pronounced our old computer a lost cause, and gave us a new one. Again, I feel blessed to work for such kind people.
I’d also like to give a quick word of thanks to my husband Jeff. He was a big help in the writing of this blog, and in cheering me up when I was feeling down this week. He’s a blessing to me too.
And one final note, not about this blog: Tomorrow, October 11th, Zack, turns 16. Send him a Birthday email or call his cell phone to sing “Happy Birthday.” Email me if you need his contact info and I’d be happy to forward it to you.
