Nothing Stays the Same

Nothing stays the same.

July 6, 2012

We are on “vacation” in Iowa. I put that in parentheses because we—my husband and I, my daughter Anna and her husband and two pre-schoolers--are staying with my soon-to-be 89-year-old mother. Don’t get me wrong; I am glad and thankful to be here and to have them all with me, but it is not relaxing for me, what with the shopping, cooking, cleaning up, laundry, etc. But I digress. What started my train of thought was the family picnic on July 4. My cousin Debbie mentioned that it felt funny going to the Carlton Church without Carl being there and to the 4^th celebration without Ray. Earlier in the day, it had crossed my mind that it had not been many years since Gerald, Vernon, Carl, and Ray would have all been there. I commented that nothing stays the same, and it really doesn’t. We shouldn’t expect it to, and we really should try not to feel sad when it doesn’t. Another change we saw that day was that a new generation is coming up. Judy Dobson generously brought toys and costumes for Emily’s kids. Since Anna’s kids were there too, they got to join in the fun. Joey became a knight in shining armor; Nora transformed herself into “bat girl”; and Jackson made the cutest, fiercest little pirate you ever saw! And so, change is not a bad thing. Something in our make-up resists change, and it IS heart wrenching in a way. But we must not let fear and reluctance to change or nostalgia about the past keep us from relishing the present.