The Three Minute Grandparent

  "I'll be home for Christmas, you can count on it. Please have snow and mistletoe,  and presents on the tree." Home for Christmas,  the phrase has a nostalgic sound, and brings up memories of family, friends, a church, and perhaps a pet.  Since these are important, let's ask, "what is family?"  Whom are we thinking of when we think of family? Perhaps the question should be, "who is our family?"  Jesus was asked a similar question. "Who is my neighbor?" He answered with "The one who needs you."  We are to be neighbors to those around us, to anyone who needs us.   Mr Rogers asked, "Won't you be my neighbor?" My family began with Father, Mother, and two sisters.  As my awareness grew, so did my family, with grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. My church family added more to my growing family group. As my world increased in size, so did family in school, college, Seminary and grad school. Along the way the way...

The house was quiet.  It was always quiet at 5:00 AM. I was able to study at this unearthly hour, so each morning, my weary body rolled out of bed. Consuming a cup of coffee helped. Oh yes!  My books and notes seemed blurry this morning. I guess it was the lack of sleep last night. Bedtime came at the normal time, yet, sleep escaped my body. The quiet was almost screaming at me. My eyes jerked open! What was that sound? Sound? It was more of a whisper. "Who's there?" I cried. No one should be here.  The kids were with my wife visiting relatives.  This was supposed to be my time to finish the project. Editors were calling for the manuscript.  I needed to complete it! More sounds...whispers... "Who's there?" I rose from the desk and tried to figure our where the sounds originated.  Quietness. There it was, again. A scratching sound, then a whisper. This was getting spooky.  I zoomed in on the direction and began moving, slowly,  toward...

The Travel Bug bit Grandma and Grandpa and away we went!   Number three child and wife invited us to visit in the far away land of Seattle.   The trip was almost a let down after the hype of traveling with a mask.   Yes, we wore our masks from the moment we entered Atlanta’s ATL, until we exited Seattle’s SeaTac. The land of air travel has many peculiar rules of which the most peculiar pertaining to masks, is the rule of social distancing.   First, there is nothing social about distancing.   My Mother taught me to be social by speaking to people, shaking hands and offering help to needy individuals.   We tried to speak to everyone we encountered but mainly received stares and muffled replies in answer to our efforts.   Most of our replies sounded like, “Gmmouff td mrffty yommmmth.”   We can only assume that our efforts sounded similar.   Our endeavors at hand shaking showed that to be a dying or dead art.   The closest movement to a ...

" The days are just packed,”   has become my byword since retirement several years ago.   Instead of a regular schedule of 9 to 5, my days could begin at 5 AM and go until 3 PM.   Another day might be a short one of 10 AM to 1 PM.   The rhythm and predictability are gone; five days of 8 hours’ work are a thing of the past.   The time that I so carefully spent working for someone else is now divided between sporadic teaching jobs, daily exercise, and writing assignments. Recently, my day was spent at the dentist.   Perhaps you can feel the excitement.   The need for dental care began the week before with pains in my jaw.   As any Senior citizen would do, I took pain medication hoping that my jaw aches would go away.   No such luck was in my corner and the pain continued, in fact, it grew worse and worse leading me to call our family dentist.   An appointment was granted and I entered the domain of…The dentist. Entering this domain is ...