<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto">Greetings to you Judy. <div>Thank you <br><div>Your reflections have stayed with me overnight. </div><div>Still ruminating </div><div>Mary DSouza<br><br><div id="AppleMailSignature">Sent from my iPhone</div><div><br>On 14-Jul-2018, at 6:17 AM, Marsha Hahn via OE <<a href="mailto:oe@lists.wedgeblade.net">oe@lists.wedgeblade.net</a>> wrote:<br><br></div><blockquote type="cite"><div><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif;font-size:16px"><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1531491881240_75702"><span id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1531491881240_75701">Thank you, Judy, for the profound and touching poem. May you and Norm be sustained in your new home, and may you continue to give creative expression to your interior world.</span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1531491881240_75704"><span><br></span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1531491881240_75707"><span id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1531491881240_75706">Marsha</span></div><div class="qtdSeparateBR" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1531491881240_75709"><br><br></div><div class="yahoo_quoted" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1531491881240_75713" style="display: block;"> <div style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1531491881240_75712"> <div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1531491881240_75711"> <div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1531491881240_75710"> <font size="2" face="Arial" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1531491881240_75715"> <hr size="1"> <b><span style="font-weight:bold;">From:</span></b> Judy Lindblad via OE <<a href="mailto:oe@lists.wedgeblade.net">oe@lists.wedgeblade.net</a>><br> <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">To:</span></b> Order Ecumenical Community <<a href="mailto:oe@lists.wedgeblade.net">oe@lists.wedgeblade.net</a>> <br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Cc:</span></b> Judy Lindblad <<a href="mailto:nj.lindblad@gmail.com">nj.lindblad@gmail.com</a>><br> <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sent:</span></b> Friday, July 13, 2018 8:22 AM<br> <b id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1531491881240_75718"><span style="font-weight: bold;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1531491881240_75717">Subject:</span></b> Re: [Oe List ...] Earthrise @ 79<br> </font> </div> <div class="y_msg_container" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1531491881240_75720"><br><div id="yiv0025141304"><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1531491881240_75725"><div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1531491881240_75724"><div><font face="Times New Roman, serif" size="3">Greetings to all,</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman, serif" size="3"><br clear="none"></font></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1531491881240_75723"><font face="Times New Roman, serif" size="3" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1531491881240_75722">Now in my 81st year and 10th year as care-partner with Norm Lindblad on the Alzheimer's /dementia road, I welcomed John's words. Indeed, </font><span style="" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1531491881240_75727">"You just never know where wonder will break through, but when it does, it’s well worth celebrating."</span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1531491881240_75729"><span style=""><br clear="none"></span></div><span style=""></span><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1531491881240_75731">I have been graced with amazingly good health and read recently that 80 is the new 65! Perhaps over stated and I feel wiser now, but I do give thanks daily for the worldview many of you shared and instilled in us. I will not list it all but I do know that RSI, countless projects pulled off with astounding results using limited resources and not enough time, colleagues support, and <i>celebrations </i>have seen us though. Symbol <u>is</u> key and the Earthrise on our wall in many different residences have made a difference. </div><div><br clear="none"></div><div>This poetry helped me celebrate the intense 5 days we experienced just a week ago today. Norm is finally relaxed and doing well in a carefully designed, patient-focused care facility.</div><div><span style=""><br clear="none"></span></div><div><div style="margin:0px;font-stretch:normal;font-size:12px;line-height:normal;font-family:Helvetica;"><span style=""><b>A CRAZY COSMIC COMPLEMENT?</b></span></div>
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<div style="margin:0px;font-stretch:normal;font-size:12px;line-height:normal;font-family:Helvetica;"><span style="">After 56 years of f<i>or better or worse promises</i> and carefully crafted care...</span></div>
<div style="margin:0px;font-stretch:normal;font-size:12px;line-height:normal;font-family:Helvetica;min-height:14px;"><span style=""></span><br clear="none"></div>
<div style="margin:0px;font-stretch:normal;font-size:12px;line-height:normal;font-family:Helvetica;"><span style=""><span class="yiv0025141304gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre;"> </span>Is this some crazy cosmic complement?</span></div>
<div style="margin:0px;font-stretch:normal;font-size:12px;line-height:normal;font-family:Helvetica;min-height:14px;"><span style=""></span><br clear="none"></div>
<div style="margin:0px;font-stretch:normal;font-size:12px;line-height:normal;font-family:Helvetica;"><span style=""><span class="yiv0025141304gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre;"> </span>Some gracious gift beyond imagining?</span></div>
<div style="margin:0px;font-stretch:normal;font-size:12px;line-height:normal;font-family:Helvetica;min-height:14px;"><span style=""></span><br clear="none"></div>
<div style="margin:0px;font-stretch:normal;font-size:12px;line-height:normal;font-family:Helvetica;"><span style="">It took 4 years, 5 moves, and countless hours googling...</span></div>
<div style="margin:0px;font-stretch:normal;font-size:12px;line-height:normal;font-family:Helvetica;min-height:14px;"><span style=""></span><br clear="none"></div>
<div style="margin:0px;font-stretch:normal;font-size:12px;line-height:normal;font-family:Helvetica;"><span style=""><span class="yiv0025141304gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre;"> </span>for Arden Courts to come into focus for us...</span></div>
<div style="margin:0px;font-stretch:normal;font-size:12px;line-height:normal;font-family:Helvetica;"><span style=""><span class="yiv0025141304gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre;"> </span>Just when we were ready and needed it!</span></div>
<div style="margin:0px;font-stretch:normal;font-size:12px;line-height:normal;font-family:Helvetica;"><span style=""><span class="yiv0025141304gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre;"> </span>Thank Providence they had room for Norm!</span></div>
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<div style="margin:0px;font-stretch:normal;font-size:12px;line-height:normal;font-family:Helvetica;"><span style="">Not only that, but an apartment for me at Valley Creek will meet my needs as well.</span></div>
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<div style="margin:0px;font-stretch:normal;font-size:12px;line-height:normal;font-family:Helvetica;"><span style=""><b>Of course it isn’t over</b>,<b> but...</b></span></div>
<div style="margin:0px;font-stretch:normal;font-size:12px;line-height:normal;font-family:Helvetica;"><span style=""><span class="yiv0025141304gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre;"> A friend</span> offered a ride to our church's annual Poetry by the Pool gathering and </span></div>
<div style="margin:0px;font-stretch:normal;font-size:12px;line-height:normal;font-family:Helvetica;"><span style=""><span class="yiv0025141304gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre;"> </span>I’m here tonight to celebrate our new life begun! </span></div><div style="margin:0px;font-stretch:normal;font-size:12px;line-height:normal;font-family:Helvetica;min-height:14px;"><br clear="none"></div><div style="margin:0px;font-stretch:normal;font-size:12px;line-height:normal;font-family:Helvetica;min-height:14px;">JOL 7/6/2018 <br clear="none"><span style=""></span></div><div style="margin:0px;font-stretch:normal;font-size:12px;line-height:normal;font-family:Helvetica;"><span style=""><i>from</i> “<i>morning has broken” poetry fragments</i></span></div><div style="margin:0px;font-stretch:normal;font-size:12px;line-height:normal;font-family:Helvetica;"><br clear="none"></div><div style="margin:0px;font-stretch:normal;font-size:12px;line-height:normal;font-family:Helvetica;">(<i>Focus of the evening was "Palindrome" a book of poetry by Cincinnatian Pauletta Hansel written in response to her mother's dementia...</i> <i>and I read this poem!</i>)<br clear="none"></div>
<div style="margin:0px;font-stretch:normal;font-size:12px;line-height:normal;font-family:Helvetica;min-height:14px;"><br clear="none"></div>
<div style="margin:0px;font-stretch:normal;font-size:12px;line-height:normal;font-family:Helvetica;min-height:14px;"><i>Thanks to the Creator, the Redeemer, the Sustainer, and many family, friends, and strangers!</i><br clear="none"><span style=""></span></div><div style="margin:0px;font-stretch:normal;font-size:12px;line-height:normal;font-family:Helvetica;min-height:14px;"><i><br clear="none"></i></div><font face="georgia, serif"></font><div><font face="georgia, serif"><br clear="none"></font></div>Grace and Peace and do Take Care to Celebrate! </div><div><span style="font-family:georgia, serif;">Judy and Norm Lindblad, </span></div><div><font face="georgia, serif">10620 Montgomery Road Apartment 109, Cincinnati, OH 45242 (Judy's address after July 27)</font><div style="margin:0px;font-stretch:normal;font-size:12px;line-height:normal;font-family:Helvetica;min-height:14px;"><i><br clear="none"></i></div><div style="margin:0px;font-stretch:normal;font-size:12px;line-height:normal;font-family:Helvetica;min-height:14px;"><i><br clear="none"></i></div><div style="margin:0px;font-stretch:normal;font-size:12px;line-height:normal;font-family:Helvetica;min-height:14px;"><span style=""></span></div></div><div><span style=""><i><br clear="none"></i></span></div></div><div class="yiv0025141304gmail_extra"><br clear="none"><div class="yiv0025141304gmail_quote">On Wed, Jul 11, 2018 at 5:55 PM, Sarah H. Buss via OE <span dir="ltr"><<a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" ymailto="mailto:oe@lists.wedgeblade.net" target="_blank" href="mailto:oe@lists.wedgeblade.net">oe@lists.wedgeblade.net</a>></span> wrote:<br clear="none"><blockquote class="yiv0025141304gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;"><div class="yiv0025141304yqt0253111266" id="yiv0025141304yqt70044"><div>Me too 80 last December. That got my attention more than any “just one more” birthday ever had. But I am grateful for the challenge. ☺️<div>Sarah <br clear="none"><div><div><br clear="none"><div>Sent from my iPhone</div><div><div class="yiv0025141304h5"><div><br clear="none">On Jul 11, 2018, at 4:41 PM, Del Morrill via OE <<a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" ymailto="mailto:oe@lists.wedgeblade.net" target="_blank" href="mailto:oe@lists.wedgeblade.net">oe@lists.wedgeblade.net</a>> wrote:<br clear="none"><br clear="none"></div><blockquote type="cite"><div><div><div class="yiv0025141304MsoNormal"><span style="">When I chose racquetball as my choice of aerobic exercise over the boredom of fixtures, there were some who worried that I might fall. This I have done more than once, but as I explained to them, If I “might” fall, I’d rather do it while enjoying something than falling in our home doing nothing interesting. <u></u><u></u></span></div><div class="yiv0025141304MsoNormal"><span style=""><u></u> <u></u></span></div><div class="yiv0025141304MsoNormal"><b>From:</b> OE <<a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" ymailto="mailto:oe-bounces@lists.wedgeblade.net" target="_blank" href="mailto:oe-bounces@lists.wedgeblade.net">oe-bounces@lists.wedgeblade. net</a>> <b>On Behalf Of </b>Jean Long via OE<br clear="none"><b>Sent:</b> Monday, July 9, 2018 7:35 AM<br clear="none"><b>To:</b> Order Ecumenical Community <<a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" ymailto="mailto:oe@lists.wedgeblade.net" target="_blank" href="mailto:oe@lists.wedgeblade.net">oe@lists.wedgeblade.net</a>>; Jean Long <<a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" ymailto="mailto:jean.long512@gmail.com" target="_blank" href="mailto:jean.long512@gmail.com">jean.long512@gmail.com</a>><br clear="none"><b>Cc:</b> Jean Long <<a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" ymailto="mailto:jean.long512@gmail.com" target="_blank" href="mailto:jean.long512@gmail.com">jean.long512@gmail.com</a>><br clear="none"><b>Subject:</b> Re: [Oe List ...] Earthrise @ 79<u></u><u></u></div><div class="yiv0025141304MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></div><div><div><div class="yiv0025141304MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:18.0pt;">What a group!!<u></u><u></u></span></div></div><div><div class="yiv0025141304MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:18.0pt;">Thanks for your reflections on a wonderful time in life many of us have reached. You can't know what being 80 is like until you get "up in years" as my mom would say. I'm only 78 but I claim 80 because it causes such wonder in me. This is me, Jean Long, being 80!!! I promised myself when I was 12 that I would never be "old" like my aunts and uncles sitting in their rocking chairs on their farmhouses in Iowa (and they were only in their 60's). ...and I have succeeded. First thing in the morning, when I don't remember yet that I am 80ish, I can't figure out why my back is so stiff. Except for fibromyalgia, which has weakened my legs I have all my faculties. I wouldn't trade one ache or pain - or the insights that I have about life from this plateau - for a young body and the beginning glimmers of wisdom of anything younger than 50.<u></u><u></u></span></div></div><div><div class="yiv0025141304MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:18.0pt;"><u></u> <u></u></span></div></div><div><div class="yiv0025141304MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:18.0pt;">When I think of someone who is 80 I don't think of any of you - Randy, Claire, John, Lynda, et al., The spirit in all of us - the yes to life we demonstrate - allows our presence to be a beacon, a call to something different.<u></u><u></u></span></div></div><div><div class="yiv0025141304MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:18.0pt;"><u></u> <u></u></span></div></div><div><div class="yiv0025141304MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:18.0pt;">We chose to be chosen - and that has made all the difference.<u></u><u></u></span></div></div><div><div class="yiv0025141304MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:18.0pt;"><u></u> <u></u></span></div></div><div><div class="yiv0025141304MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:18.0pt;">Continued Grace & Peace is yours,<u></u><u></u></span></div></div><div><div class="yiv0025141304MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:18.0pt;">Jean Long<u></u><u></u></span></div></div></div><div><div class="yiv0025141304MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></div><div><div class="yiv0025141304MsoNormal">On Fri, Jul 6, 2018 at 1:51 PM, Jann McGuire via OE <<a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" ymailto="mailto:oe@lists.wedgeblade.net" target="_blank" href="mailto:oe@lists.wedgeblade.net">oe@lists.wedgeblade.net</a>> wrote:<u></u><u></u></div><blockquote style="border:none;border-left:solid #cccccc 1.0pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 6.0pt;margin-left:4.8pt;margin-right:0in;"><div><div><div class="yiv0025141304MsoNormal">I so appreciate your witness, John and this entire string<u></u><u></u></div></div><div><div class="yiv0025141304MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></div></div><div><div class="yiv0025141304MsoNormal">I turned 81 on June 11. As I recall the phases, 60-80 was Elderhood and at 80, we enter Sage-hood. . While that implies wisdom, with the memory lapses I'm experiencing, I feel less, not more wise. On the positive side, staying in the present moment isn't such a challenge, since I can't remember much of the past. <u></u><u></u></div></div><div><div class="yiv0025141304MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></div></div><div><div class="yiv0025141304MsoNormal">Here we go on another adventure around our great Sun. Happy birthday, John.<u></u><u></u></div></div><div><div class="yiv0025141304MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></div></div><div><div class="yiv0025141304MsoNormal">Jann <u></u><u></u></div></div><div><div class="yiv0025141304MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></div></div><div><div class="yiv0025141304MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></div></div></div><div><div><div class="yiv0025141304MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></div><div><div><div class="yiv0025141304MsoNormal">On Fri, Jul 6, 2018 at 4:02 AM Randy Williams via OE <<a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" ymailto="mailto:oe@lists.wedgeblade.net" target="_blank" href="mailto:oe@lists.wedgeblade.net">oe@lists.wedgeblade.net</a>> wrote:<u></u><u></u></div></div><blockquote style="border:none;border-left:solid #cccccc 1.0pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 6.0pt;margin-left:4.8pt;margin-right:0in;"><div><div><div class="yiv0025141304MsoNormal">So Lynda, a similar experience. Several years ago when my 2 oldest grandsons were about 4 and 6 years old, they were having a day out with “Grandy,” their name for me. At a point the younger one, Josh, turns to me and says, “Grandy, you sure are big. You eat too much.” The older one, Devin, sensing this was not an entirely appropriate thing for Josh to have said to his grandfather, retorts. “Josh, he doesn’t eat too much, he’s just old.” What a great illustration this would have been in the Christ lecture for the moment grace strikes. Josh and Devin are now 23 and 25 year old men, but I’m still their Grandy. <u></u><u></u></div></div><div><div class="yiv0025141304MsoNormal">Randy<u></u><u></u></div></div><div><div class="yiv0025141304MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt;"><br clear="none">On Jul 5, 2018, at 7:28 PM, Lynda C via OE <<a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" ymailto="mailto:oe@lists.wedgeblade.net" target="_blank" href="mailto:oe@lists.wedgeblade.net">oe@lists.wedgeblade.net</a>> wrote:<u></u><u></u></div></div><blockquote style="margin-top:5.0pt;margin-bottom:5.0pt;"><div><div><div class="yiv0025141304MsoNormal">It’s like the joy of a Senior Discount! I taught VBS this summer to a class of 4 year olds, with the able assistance of Lyndon, our 14 year old granddaughter (Jono’s). One little boy, out of the blue, said, “you are really old, aren’t you?” I smiled and told him he was correct, but I felt really young at heart being with such a smart class. <u></u><u></u></div><div class="yiv0025141304MsoNormal"> <u></u><u></u></div><div class="yiv0025141304MsoNormal">Lynda (78) <u></u><u></u></div><div class="yiv0025141304MsoNormal"> <u></u><u></u></div><div style="border:none;border-top:solid #b5c4df 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in;"><div class="yiv0025141304MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black;">From: </span></b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black;">OE <<a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" ymailto="mailto:oe-bounces@lists.wedgeblade.net" target="_blank" href="mailto:oe-bounces@lists.wedgeblade.net">oe-bounces@lists.wedgeblade. net</a>> on behalf of OE List <<a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" ymailto="mailto:oe@lists.wedgeblade.net" target="_blank" href="mailto:oe@lists.wedgeblade.net">oe@lists.wedgeblade.net</a>><br clear="none"><b>Reply-To: </b>OE List <<a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" ymailto="mailto:oe@lists.wedgeblade.net" target="_blank" href="mailto:oe@lists.wedgeblade.net">oe@lists.wedgeblade.net</a>><br clear="none"><b>Date: </b>Thursday, July 5, 2018 at 12:37 AM<br clear="none"><b>To: </b>OE List <<a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" ymailto="mailto:oe@lists.wedgeblade.net" target="_blank" href="mailto:oe@lists.wedgeblade.net">oe@lists.wedgeblade.net</a>><br clear="none"><b>Cc: </b>Paul Schrijnen <<a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" ymailto="mailto:pschrijnen@aol.com" target="_blank" href="mailto:pschrijnen@aol.com">pschrijnen@aol.com</a>><br clear="none"><b>Subject: </b>Re: [Oe List ...] Earthrise @ 79</span><u></u><u></u></div></div><div><div class="yiv0025141304MsoNormal"> <u></u><u></u></div></div><div class="yiv0025141304MsoNormal">A fine reflection John. Thank you. <u></u><u></u></div><div><div class="yiv0025141304MsoNormal"> <u></u><u></u></div></div><div><div class="yiv0025141304MsoNormal">What has begun to happen to me is that people on the London Underground have started to offer me a seat. As someone born 16 years after you, you can imagine the range of feelings that such civility causes. But when this happens on the way home from the airport after delivering a 5-day programme I am just grateful - glad to get of my feet and rest my weary bones….<u></u><u></u></div></div><div><div class="yiv0025141304MsoNormal"> <u></u><u></u></div></div><div><div class="yiv0025141304MsoNormal">Best wishes to you and all,<u></u><u></u></div></div><div><div class="yiv0025141304MsoNormal"> <u></u><u></u></div></div><div><div class="yiv0025141304MsoNormal">Paul<u></u><u></u></div></div><div><div class="yiv0025141304MsoNormal"> <u></u><u></u></div></div><div><div class="yiv0025141304MsoNormal"> <u></u><u></u></div></div><div><div class="yiv0025141304MsoNormal"> <u></u><u></u></div><div><div class="yiv0025141304MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt;">Paul Schrijnen<br clear="none">13 Bloemfontein Avenue<br clear="none">London W12 7BJ<br clear="none"><a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" ymailto="mailto:paul.schrijnen@gmail.com" target="_blank" href="mailto:paul.schrijnen@gmail.com">paul.schrijnen@gmail.com</a><br clear="none">+44 7973 206 766 <br clear="none">skype: paulus.schrijnen<br clear="none"><br clear="none"><br clear="none"><u></u><u></u></div></div><div><div class="yiv0025141304MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt;"><u></u> <u></u></div><blockquote style="margin-top:5.0pt;margin-bottom:5.0pt;"><div><div class="yiv0025141304MsoNormal">On 4 Jul 2018, at 22:47, John Epps via OE <<a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" ymailto="mailto:oe@lists.wedgeblade.net" target="_blank" href="mailto:oe@lists.wedgeblade.net">oe@lists.wedgeblade.net</a>> wrote:<u></u><u></u></div></div><div class="yiv0025141304MsoNormal"> <u></u><u></u></div><div><div><div align="center" class="yiv0025141304MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:8.0pt;text-align:center;"><b><span style="font-size:14.0pt;">Earthrise @ 79</span></b><u></u><u></u></div><div class="yiv0025141304MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:8.0pt;"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;">Recently we were returning from a trip to Kansas and stopped for lunch at Denny’s in Limon, Colorado. We’d been watching storm clouds gathering on the horizon and were hoping to make it home before they hit. As we were leaving, I held the door for an obviously elderly couple – both were white-haired, somewhat bent-over, and he had a cane. Walking was a chore and pushing open the door would have taxed their capacities. They could obviously use some help, so I pushed open the door and held it as they struggled through. Then they uttered the words that still jar me: “Thank you, sir.” “Sir?” Coming from them? I was taught to use that term to refer to those older than I. That statement occasioned an interior rainstorm of reflections, including lots of wind, rain, and some hail.</span><u></u><u></u></div><div class="yiv0025141304MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:8.0pt;"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;">Looking back over the last month, I’ve had more “sirs” thrown at me than at my senior year at The Citadel. There it was earned, deserved, and welcomed. Here it’s a surprising address heralding the onset of elder-ness that I didn’t think I had earned (yet) or deserved, and certainly not welcomed. There are plenty of signs, from the number of medications it takes to keep going to the diminishing energy and frequent naps. But I have ignored those as simply the afflictions of a young man with something gone wrong (to use a phrase from JWM). </span><u></u><u></u></div><div class="yiv0025141304MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:8.0pt;"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;">Reality will not be denied. It breaks through our facades.</span><u></u><u></u></div><div class="yiv0025141304MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:8.0pt;"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;">This time it drove me to look at a work I’d heard about but never examined: “On Holy Living and Dying” by Jeremy Taylor published in 1839 (a century before my birth). I turned quickly to the section on Holy Dying. Here’s an excerpt. “A person is a bubble…all the world is a storm, and people rise up in their several generations…like bubbles descending from nature and Providence; and some of these instantly sink into the deluge of their first parent, and are hidden in a sheet of water, having had no other business in the world but to be born, that they may be able to die: others float up and down two or three turns, and suddenly disappear, and give their place to others: and those that live longest in the face of the waters, are in perpetual motion, restless and uneasy; and being crushed with the great drop of a cloud, sink into flatness and a froth; the change not being great, it being hardly possible it should be more a nothing than it was before. So is everyone….”</span><u></u><u></u></div><div class="yiv0025141304MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:8.0pt;"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;">This goes on for 10 pages with powerful images and the same message about our relative insignificance in the cosmic scheme of things. Somehow, and I don’t know how, I found this strangely comforting, and not unsettling as one might assume. You just never know where wonder will break through, but when it does, it’s well worth celebrating.</span><u></u><u></u></div><div class="yiv0025141304MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:8.0pt;"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;">John Epps</span><u></u><u></u></div><div class="yiv0025141304MsoNormal"> <u></u><u></u></div></div><div class="yiv0025141304MsoNormal">______________________________ _________________<br clear="none">OE mailing list<br clear="none"><a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" ymailto="mailto:OE@lists.wedgeblade.net" target="_blank" href="mailto:OE@lists.wedgeblade.net">OE@lists.wedgeblade.net</a><br clear="none"><a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" target="_blank" href="http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/oe-wedgeblade.net">http://lists.wedgeblade.net/ listinfo.cgi/oe-wedgeblade.net</a><u></u><u></u></div></div></blockquote></div><div class="yiv0025141304MsoNormal"> <u></u><u></u></div></div></div></div></blockquote><blockquote style="margin-top:5.0pt;margin-bottom:5.0pt;"><div><div class="yiv0025141304MsoNormal">______________________________ _________________<br clear="none">OE mailing list<br clear="none"><a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" ymailto="mailto:OE@lists.wedgeblade.net" target="_blank" href="mailto:OE@lists.wedgeblade.net">OE@lists.wedgeblade.net</a><br clear="none"><a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" target="_blank" href="http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/oe-wedgeblade.net">http://lists.wedgeblade.net/ listinfo.cgi/oe-wedgeblade.net</a><u></u><u></u></div></div></blockquote></div><div class="yiv0025141304MsoNormal">______________________________ _________________<br clear="none">OE mailing list<br clear="none"><a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" ymailto="mailto:OE@lists.wedgeblade.net" target="_blank" href="mailto:OE@lists.wedgeblade.net">OE@lists.wedgeblade.net</a><br clear="none"><a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" target="_blank" href="http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/oe-wedgeblade.net">http://lists.wedgeblade.net/ listinfo.cgi/oe-wedgeblade.net</a><u></u><u></u></div></blockquote></div></div></div><div class="yiv0025141304MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt;"><br clear="none">______________________________ _________________<br clear="none">OE mailing list<br clear="none"><a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" ymailto="mailto:OE@lists.wedgeblade.net" target="_blank" href="mailto:OE@lists.wedgeblade.net">OE@lists.wedgeblade.net</a><br clear="none"><a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" target="_blank" href="http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/oe-wedgeblade.net">http://lists.wedgeblade.net/ listinfo.cgi/oe-wedgeblade.net</a><u></u><u></u></div></blockquote></div><div class="yiv0025141304MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></div></div></div></div></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><div><span>______________________________ _________________</span><br clear="none"><span>OE mailing list</span><br clear="none"><span><a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" ymailto="mailto:OE@lists.wedgeblade.net" target="_blank" href="mailto:OE@lists.wedgeblade.net">OE@lists.wedgeblade.net</a></span><br clear="none"><span><a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" target="_blank" href="http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/oe-wedgeblade.net">http://lists.wedgeblade.net/ listinfo.cgi/oe-wedgeblade.net</a></span><br clear="none"></div></blockquote></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><br clear="none">______________________________ _________________<br clear="none">
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