Transitions

It only took a fall. A broken hip. Then everything changed.

Now, my mother-in-law is transitioning from independent to assisted living. As we have cleared out her apartment and moved her to a new place, we have stumbled upon tokens of a lifetime of memories.

As part of the greatest generation, my mother-in-law has lived through the Great Depression, has been a wife to a soldier before, during, and after World War Two and mother to baby-boomers. Since late 2008, she felt compelled to write down some memories of these, which have enjoyed many visitors in cyberspace:

Cherry Blossoms
The Great Depression 1929 - 1945
The Great Depression 1929 - 1945 Part Two
World War Two - before, during, and after
Memories of Japan

Thoughts of the brevity of life bring me to the following poem I wrote 30 years ago ... and it seems like yesterday when I penned this one.

On Mortality

Moment by moment
A blur in the mind
Time slips away
Where none shall find

Come back! Oh, days,
Which long have past!
Hold to a moment,
Which flees so fast!

That which was done
Shall ever more be
A shadow that only
The mind can see

© August 1980 S. K. Smith

As this 92 years old lives out her latest chapter, I am comforted by this blog post: Why You Aren't Dead Yet.
The best is yet to come.
The following Psalm is for all ages as we transition through the various stages of life:

O God, thou hast taught me from my youth: and hitherto have I declared thy wondrous works.
Now also when I am old and greyheaded, O God, forsake me not; until I have shewed thy strength unto this generation, and thy power to every one that is to come.
Thy righteousness also, O God, is very high, who hast done great things: O God, who is like unto thee!
Psalm 71:17-19 (King James Version)
Photo courtesy of everystockphoto.com: Handprint

The Shot Heard Around the World - 235 years ago

Listen my children and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere,
On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five;
Hardly a man is now alive
Who remembers that famous day and year.
So go the first verses of Paul Revere's Ride by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

On April 18, 1775, it is unlikely Paul Revere cried out, "The British are coming!" as the American colonists at this time considered themselves British subjects and such a warning would only confuse them.

The following day, April 19, 1775, the battles of Lexington and Concord would the first military engagements of the American Revolutionary War.

The phrase "the shot heard around the world" comes from Ralph Waldo Emerson, whose grandfather fought in the Battle of Lexington and Concord:

By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
Their flag to April's breeze unfurled,
Here once the embattled farmers stood,And fired the shot heard round the world.
from Concord Hymn

Today, this phrase that has come to represent historical incidents throughout world history.

As for summing up what happened 235 years ago and the start of the American Revolution, The Shot Heard Round the World- Schoolhouse Rock shows it best:



God bless the patriots who gave us America!

For more information: Lexington and Concord
Timeline of the Revolutionary War: 1754 - 1788

photo from everystockphoto.com : "Minuteman" Statue, Concord, MA

Titanic Voyage - 98 years ago

It took her three tries. That's what my grandmother had told me. Finally in 1913, she immigrated from Austria-Hungary to America.

First try, Grandma got scared and turned back at the Rock of Gibraltar. Next time in 1912, she tried to board the Carpathia. She could not afford first class. No way would she go in steerage. Second class was all sold out.

If Grandma had made that trip on her second attempt, what a story she could have told. That particular voyage on that ship was the one that rescued the survivors of the Titanic.

Many movies have been made about this ill-fated voyage of this "unsinkable" ship, such as:

Titanic (1953)  provides a powerful last scene.

A Night to Remember (1958) - a film about the final night of the RMS Titanic

The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1964) - a musical about one of the Titanic's most colorful survivors

Titanic (1997) - a box office record breaker




Survivors allege that the musicians on the Titanic played "Nearer my God to Thee" to calm the passengers while the ship was sinking. This hymn sung by the passengers and crew in the 1997 film version conveys how quickly our focus can change when we realize we are about to step into eternity. For those perishing, social standing and wealth, or lack of it, suddenly seem unimportant.

The Titanic set sail on her maiden voyage, April 10, 1912. It hit an iceberg close to midnight on April 14. It sank over two hours later in the early morning of April 15. Of her 2,228 passengers and crew members who set sail, only 705 survived.

This happened 98 years ago.

For more information: check out Titanic Facts

photo from everystockphoto.com: TITANIC DISASTER

Welcome Home, Troops!

In my neck of the woods, the men and women in the Army National Guard, who have spent the last year in Iraq and Kuwait, are coming home.

In the cities, I see businesses display marquee's and signs:

Welcome Home, Troops!

or

Thank you, Soldiers!

American Flags, yellow ribbons, and appreciation signs are displayed along the streets, on fences, in windows, on bulletin boards, or are hung from buildings.

I am so thankful for the internet, where I can find sentiments that I find hard to put in words or in pictures.

One such website has created this wonderful tribute:

WeSupportU


photo from everystockphoto.com: US Army Soldiers

Earth Shaking Easter - a wake up call

In 1981, I was living the California as the Easter season was approaching. Then, I was awaken early in the morning by a large BANG. It was an earthquake. And it was loud enough to wake the dead.

My thoughts took me to the first Easter. Back then, there were earthquakes that actually did wake the dead. The Gospel of Matthew - and only the Gospel of Matthew - records such an account when Jesus died on the cross:

Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.
And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;
And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,
And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.
Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God.

Matthew 27:50-54
(King James Version)

I always wanted to hear more about this earthquake that woke the dead. Please! Matthew, tell us more! But he doesn't. And neither do the other Gospel writers.

As it says in the Law of Moses:

The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.

Deuteronomy 29:28
(King James Version)

And this is one of those times.

Twenty-one centuries later, we still experience earthquakes. Yet, the hope of Easter is that it looks to the future, as we wait, too, for the dead to awake:

Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice.

John 5:28
(King James Version)

Death is only temporary. The New Testament calls it sleep. And we will all wake up.


photo from everystockphoto.com: It's Friday, But Sunday's Comin

Winds of Destiny - eBook review

Show, don’t tell. This is the pithy advice given to writers.

Many American history classes tell the story of the Puritans, their search for religious freedom, and their subsequent immigration to the New World. Jayne Bullock’s novel Winds of Destiny shows the story, which many history book writers only tell.

The times during England’s Civil War are seen through the eyes of a spirited and adventurous heroine, Catherine Grafton, the Catholic daughter of a landlord. A Puritan family, the Ringolds, rescues the heroine from a providential mishap. Her adventurous spirit beckons her on a journey with them, which takes her beyond the point of no return to her old life.

The author has thoroughly researched this tumultuous period, showing the details and the settings of the times. The writing brings to life the regional dialects of the characters.

The book is quite relevant for today, in many ways.

First, it can give us a better understanding of American history. What were the struggles of people of conscious in a land that did not tolerate religious freedom? What events in mother England drove the Puritans to such places like America?

Second, Jayne conveys the message of tolerance and understanding, much like the parable of the Good Samaritan. The heroine finds compassion from an unlikely source - those who are “the wrong religion.”

And last, in the uncertainty of the 1640s, Providence takes the heroine on a journey she could not have foreseen. Likewise, are not these uncertain times in twenty-first century America?

Since I have been researching life in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance in Europe, I was most interested in Jayne’s historical novel during such times. I liked this story because she humanized this period as narrated in the first person of the heroine. I would recommend this book not only to those who love a good yarn of adventure and romance, but to Anglophiles as well. It covers the few decades in the seventeenth century when England actually became a republic, which is fascinating.

eBook can be purchased at: synergebooks.com/ebook_windsofdestiny.html

Pages: 175
Words: 106,473
Reading Time: 304-425 minutes


Lord, be my rock of safety, the stronghold that saves me. For the honor of your name, lead me and guide me.
Psalm 30:3-4

Spring Forward? Why?

This Sunday, March 14, 2010, we "spring" forward, set our clocks ahead one hour, and lose one hour of sleep.

Why?

Daylight Saving Time (DST) .

Whose bright idea was this?

The one who said:

"Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise. "
Benjamin Franklin (1706- 1790)

As an American envoy to France, Ben Franklin anonymously published a letter suggesting that families in Paris could save 64 million pounds of candle wax in six months by rising earlier to use morning sunlight. (Reference Benjamin Franklin: America's Inventor)

It took well over a hundred years for this American inventor's idea to catch on .... at least, in America.

Daylight Saving Time was first officially observed in the United States in 1918, during World War I, to save energy for war production. And during World War II, FDR instituted year-round Daylight Saving Time, called "War Time," from February 9, 1942 to September 30, 1945.

Between the World Wars and post World War II, communities observed the time change as they pleased. In 1966, Congress passed the Uniform Time Act, which standardized the length of Daylight Saving Time. Today, Arizona and Hawaii are the only US states that do not observe it.

In 2007, DST was extended by four weeks as part of the 2005 the Energy Policy Act. Yet, I can recall the earliest DST time of all. (Other than World War II. I'm not that old.)

The United States was reeling from its first major energy crisis, post World War II. Since the US took sides with Israel during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, the Arab states aligned to punish Israel's allies with the Arab Oil Embargo. Hence, this embargo precipitated long gas lines, an energy crisis, a recession.

"On January 4, 1974, President Nixon signed into law the Emergency Daylight Saving Time Energy Conservation Act of 1973. Then, beginning on January 6, 1974, implementing the Daylight Saving Time Energy Act, clocks were set ahead." (Reference: Daylight Saving Time.)

Living in a northern state, I recall walking to school in the dark .... or in the moonlight ... when this law was enacted.

So March 14th? It could be worse. Could be all year round. Could be January 6th. And we could be in a war. Or another energy crisis. A recession. Wait. We are? Hmmm.

"Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it."
George Santayana
Picture from Wiki Commons: Ben Franklin