Never Ever Dull
With every conversation, I always seem to end with "Never a dull moment"....our lives are rich, complex, and beautiful stories. Join me in laughing about everyday things and appreciating life-bumpy roads and all.
I knew exactly where to find the binder, stored on a closet shelf and mixed in with my stacks of memory boxes and scrapbooks. I reach for the slender blue binder and pull it down. My eyes immediately sting with tears as I see the words "My Recollections" and his sprawling signature: Alec P. Flowers.
My dad's thoughts and words about his life. Years before he died, he took the time to record on paper things he wanted his children and grandchildren to know-things that didn't come up in our daily conversations but the events that chiseled character and molded him into the man he became. I settle down with my faithful furry friend, Banks, and flip to the part I needed to read, the part about his role in WWII. The font size for this section is much smaller. I sense the hesitancy as he finally got on paper words that had been tucked away. The war opened his youthful eyes to all things horrible but those memories remained shut down until he decided to share what happened in his time in Europe. I remember the dagger and other weapons displayed in our home. Not much was ever stated about them. Guests would ask and we'd share that my father had returned home with them. We knew he had enlisted, gone to Europe towards the end of WWII, and collected weapons in all the houses he raided. One even has a special swastika noting a particular soldier's honor in Hitler's regime. But my dad didn't sit around and tell stories about his work on the other side of the Atlantic. I understand about this portion of his life from the binder. I read carefully with Banks nuzzling closer. My dad was shipped to La Havre, France...then to Paris. He was with the 36th Infantry Division and rounded up Nazis and SS. Later, he moved into Austria and Germany. He took refugees back to Poland, Russia, and the countries that they had been snatched away from. He was stationed in Augsburg, Ulm, Numberg, Hrilbronn, Wurzburg, and Bremerhaven. He says he "saw devastation" but doesn't elaborate. Although his words don't ramble with specifics, I'm now able to fill in the blanks. I spent this week reading a historical fiction by Kristin Hannah, The Nightingale. It's a heart-pounding, gut-wrenching novel that transports the reader close to Paris as the Nazis take over and carries you through to the time when my dad would have arrived in Paris. I felt overwhelming sorrow and despair but also the resilience and determination through the book's two main characters. I couldn't put it down but had to skim at times because my tender heart couldn't handle the horrors of what occurred during that awful period in history. I hold "My Recollections" in my lap and stare at that tiny font. Tears come. I now have a glimpse of what he saw and heard and the fears and tension he encountered. I can now fill in the blanks. http://www.amazon.com/The-Nightingale-Kristin-Hannah/dp/0312577222
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How do you react when life is throwing you zingers? With the events that have taken place with me personally and across the nation, I definitely experienced that knee-jerk reaction: to yank back and try to completely buffer my kids from life's hard stuff. I started rattling off places that were safe to my boys. Places that we could hang out, where nothing would harm us. The library. The library is safe. Nothing ever happens at the library and we could hang there, read, and just become more intelligent. That solved it for me. I had found a location where my people would be protected from life's problems. My youngest, KazKid (adopted from Kazakhstan) sheepishly grinned. He reminded me of the time we hunkered down in Tennessee as tornado sirens started going off, alerting us that a twister was in the vicinity. And then, there was that time in Charlottesville, when a random earthquake occurred while we were in the library. Bummer. So the library isn't always the ideal location. We bounced around other options. Grocery stores. Nope. Recently, I was wearing a long, very trendy summer dress as I did my shopping. My cart wouldn't go. I realized that my super-cool looking dress was tangled up in the wheels of the cart. In order to fix the problem, I had to go backwards down the aisle(s) to "unwind" the dress. Kind of embarrassing as I kept tugging the dress and trucking in reverse with my cart. So me =) Bummer. So the grocery store isn't always the best either. All week, I pondered what is "safe"? Amusement parks? Nope. You never know about those roller coasters. Water parks? Nope. You don't know what's in the water. Camping? Nope. You have all sorts of critters out there. Beach? Critters there too. The list can go on forever. No place is really "safe" from life's zingers. After exhausting it all for days, I finally concluded that I have to trust God to handle it. At the end of the day, He is really in control of it all no matter how much I try to grasp it on my own. So, I start another week. This time, I'm starting with prayer...and simply trusting. On Saturday morning, I found myself at an outdoor chapel. The pastor who had been brought in shared a message to a group of weary, emotionally exhausted, stunned staffers. I sat at the back but wanted so desperately to find my daughter and hold her. But it wasn't the right time.
The pastor had the staff look at the mountains and used a scripture I've heard many times: Psalms 121: I will lift up my eyes to the mountains; From where shall my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth... He said we all have mountains in our lives. He elaborated that as we continue on life's journey, some mountains are easier to climb, others are so steep that it doesn't seem possible that one could conquer that obstacle. Yet, he drew our attention to what was at the forefront. Whoever designed this outdoor chapel placed a wooden cross perfectly and beautifully in the center. The pastor said we need to view our mountains just as we see them from our wooden chapel benches: the cross and Jesus first, then the mountains. The writer of the psalms knew his help came from the Lord. Although life's mountains are huge and intimidating, may we all be reminded to view Him as the one who is always there to help us. We are not alone in this journey. My Oldest suggested that I blog about topics not covered often...like who has seen baby ground hogs? She reasoned that they must exist but questioned who really ever sees them. Loving a challenge, I set off to research these little guys and to create a fascinating post about them. However, along the way (as so often happens in our household), I got distracted with life. Things, events, and questions popped up and I was off to "google" and find more answers to this perplexing life. I started recording what our home had in its google history since it captures much of what life can look like for my family. Brace yourself. Here goes: baby ground hogs how to get a bug out of your ear Red Cross donations for Texas flood victims How are Red Cross donations used? best organizations to donate to for flood victims best ways to canoe with a partner best ways to row a boat with a partner how to shave your head You Tube: how to shave a boy's head what to do when you have mistakes shaving a boy's head Duck Doughnuts coffee doughnuts specialty doughnuts best franchises for specialty doughnut store investments how to make an indoor portal for Minecraft timing belts are timing belts important? cost of timing belts guitar chords for_________song Haitian food in Raleigh seals for an oil pump replacing an oil pump Pinterest end of year school photo collage ideas last day of school activities that are fun and easy ideas of how to survive last week of school free doughnut day The list can goes on and on. Seriously. I guess we're little googling fanatics over here. We're into a conversation, we start wondering, and then our brains search to find the info. Looking back at that much abbreviated list, you can catch a glimpse of all our random thoughts and life events. Always fun and never ever dull. |
AuthorFun-loving mom to 4 kids and 1 big puppy. Fifth grade teacher of amazing little people who have never ending things to share with me. Love to discuss Jesus, diy projects, and life. Trying to keep it simple: Love Jesus, love people. Archives
December 2021
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