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Memory Lane

Posted by eph21920 on October 22, 2025 in Connected, Family, Grateful, Life, Past, Travel

Today I left my aunt’s house and headed for the town where my parent’s were born and raised. I had been in contact with the museum there about donating some of my treasures. They were my first stop. The young woman who I had been in contact with appreciated the historical items. We talked about my parents’ family history and she helped me to locate the bakery that belonged to my grandfather. Ironically, she lived only a block away. On my way there, I drove past the college that my father attended and imagined him there. I found the bakery building easily and took some photos. It was used only for making the baked goods which were decorated and sold at the store not too far away. There was someone inside and I imagined my grandfather making bread with his bakers and my mother and the family living in the upper level. I figured I had to try out their treats so I headed over to their store. On the way there, I passed the small airport and imagined my grandfather, aunt, and others lining the runway with their vehicles and headlights at night for the airplanes to land. I chatted with the people at the bakery which was called “Tamaras”. They enjoyed hearing about the history of their bakery. Their baked goods were yummy, but I missed the anise cookies that my grandfather used to make. Then I spent the afternoon with another cousin. We shared the struggles of our caregiving experiences. Her mother died only a few months after my father. She got out some old photos and I got out mine. We reminisced and learned new things about the family. This trip is proving to be full of memories – past and present, planned and unexpected.

I Found God today in many wonderful memories.

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Buying Cheese and On Our Knees

Posted by eph21920 on October 21, 2025 in Faith, Family, Grace, Grateful, Mary, Miracle, Peace, Travel

Some time ago, a friend gave me the book, “Monuments, Marvels, and Miracles – A Traveler’s Guide to Catholic America”. I have had the dream of traveling and visiting many of the sites. The first time I was on the highway to visit my aunt, we drove by a sign to a shrine and I thought it might be in the book. Yesterday when I drove my sister to the airport, my aunt was with me and I asked her about the shrine when we passed the sign. She told me she had been there many years ago and had always wanted to go back. When we got home, I looked in my book and it was listed. So, we made a plan to go today. First we went to lunch with my cousin and told her about it. She really wanted to go too, so she picked up my aunt and I and off we went. On the way, we stopped at a local cheese shop that I wanted to go to. There was probably a hundred different cheeses and it was hard to decide what kind to get and to bring back to family. It was quite fun filling my basket with assorted flavors and the infamous cheese curds. Then we went to The National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion which is the first and only approved Marian apparition site in the United States.  It is a sacred site where the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to Adele Brise in 1859. Since then, pilgrims have come to its grounds to pray for the intercession of Our Lady of Champion and Adele Brise. Many have encountered healings or blessings that they attribute to the intercession of our Blessed Mother and Adele. It felt strange that it was in an out of the way place surrounded by farmland. We spent some time in the beautiful upper chapel where they have Mass. Then we found our way downstairs where part of the original chapel from 1880 had been preserved. It was warm, peaceful, and felt holy in the small enclosed space filled with candles. We each lit a candle and said some prayers. Before we left, I did a quick loop around the outside Stations of the Cross and Rosary path while my cousin and aunt took refuge in the car from the frigid wind. As we left we talked about how peaceful it was there. It really was a little retreat that we all felt blessed to experience.

I Found God today experiencing a Holy place.

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Safety and Companionship

Posted by eph21920 on October 20, 2025 in Doctor, Family, Grateful, Hope, Relationship

Today my sister had a flight back home from an airport a couple towns over. My aunt wanted to come along for the ride. But, she was also having some trouble with her leg swelling and wanted to talk with her doctor. She was able to make the phone call before we left and make an appointment, so decided it was fine to leave. As we were on the road, the doctor’s office called and suggested she go to an urgent care to make sure there wasn’t an emergency situation and changed the appointment for the day after tomorrow. Since we were already on the road, my aunt just wanted to keep going and go to the urgent care when we returned. The drive was beautiful. The red and orange fall leaves were glowing in the sunlight. My aunt noticed how things had changed since she the last time she had driven that far, which had been a very long time. She stopped driving on the highway on her own about 10 years ago. She realized she was nervous and that her reaction time was not good, so she made the decision to stop. She is still pretty self aware. We all enjoyed the drive, but sad to say goodbye to my sister. When we got back to my aunt’s house, she found lots of things to do and reasons not to leave for the urgent care. I told her I would be happy to take her and we finally got there in the late afternoon. They ran a few tests, assured my aunt that there was nothing emergent going on, and encouraged her to wear compression stockings. My aunt was very relieved and found the stockings when we got back to her house. I could see she was more relaxed, although tired. She is hoping to get a good night’s sleep after waking up worrying the past couple of nights. My sister kept in touch and made it back safely. We were all grateful for the safety and companionship of the day.

I Found God today in safety and companionship.

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Family Caregivers

Posted by eph21920 on October 19, 2025 in Connected, Family, Generosity, Life, Past, Relationship, Sacrifice

My aunt told my sister and I some great stories today of caring for others in many ways. She reminded us that her mother had a baby who died shortly after he was born. I had forgotten all about it. He was buried in a grave along side of many other infants. For many years, one of the uncles would place a cross at the site, as there was no headstone. After some years, my aunt had a headstone placed in the spot as she wanted to make sure it was marked. That really touched my heart. She also told us about their “Opa” – grandfather – who lived with them later in his life as the family cared for him. I remember my mother telling me about him too. She and her sister were just children at the time. He would sit and look out the window for long periods of time. One day when they came home from school, they couldn’t find their Opa. They looked all over, even in the closets as he may have been hiding from them. Then their mother told them that he had died. They learned very young how to care for others with dignity and respect. She also told us a funny story about neighbors taking care of others. When she was young, they lived in a house that was close to a small airport. If an airplane was going to come land at night, someone would put the word out and man neighbors drove their trucks out to the airport and lined up in specific spots with their headlights on. This would light the landing strip so the airplane pilots could see where to go. My aunt said she thought it was so much fun to get to hop in the bakery truck and go see the airplanes land at night. She told many other stories of how she and other family members cared for others. I loved hearing them all.

I Found God today in my aunt’s stories of taking care.

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Family Ties

Posted by eph21920 on October 18, 2025 in Connected, Family, Grateful, Healing, Life, Travel

Today my sister and I made it to my aunt’s house. When she first opened the door, I saw my mother, which took me by surprise just a little bit. But after only a few minutes, I recognized the accent and laugh of my aunt. It was so good to see her up and moving about. She was functioning pretty well after having a stroke this summer. We enjoyed reminiscing and visiting. In the evening we went to my cousin’s house. They were taking care of their granddaughters – my aunt’s great granddaughters. The little girls were adorable and so full of energy. They were shy for about 2 minutes, then wanted to be the center of attention. It was so fun to be in their world. We brought the family history scrapbook that my sister made with my mom. My cousins appreciated the hard work that went into it and loved seeing the old photos. I gave them the envelope of photos that my dad had sorted out for them which they referred to as “treasures”. I also brought some of my dad’s printed pictures and they chose some to keep. I was grateful to arrive safe, to visit with my relatives, and to share some of my parent’s memorabilia with them.

I Found God today in family ties.

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Not Quite

Posted by eph21920 on October 17, 2025 in Car, Family, Grateful, Travel

My sister and I started driving again this morning, hoping to make it to our destination. It got quite dark on us quite early and we were tired, so we ended up staying overnight with just 2 hours to go tomorrow morning. We spoke to our cousins who were also travelling today, coming home from the opposite direction. We also talked with our aunt who was happy to hear that our travels are going well so far. Everyone is excited to get together tomorrow. We did have a near miss on the highway. I was driving in the middle lane, passing a semi truck. There was a construction vehicle driving on the shoulder of the left lane. Just before we reached him, he came off the shoulder and was heading into the left lane. At that time, something big and black flew up either from his truck, or under his tires or something. I had nowhere to go, so we braced as we watched the object come towards the windshield. We heard and felt a loud thud and the object flew off the other direction. We saw no damage so we thanked God for keeping us safe and continued on. The next time we stopped, we took a look. There was a small dent on the hood just above the front grill. We were again so grateful that it hit that part of the car and not the windshield.

I Found God today in continued safe travels.

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Starting Out

Posted by eph21920 on October 16, 2025 in Begin, Connected, Family, Grateful, Life, Past, Relationship

I got up early this morning and said all the prayers of protection as I finished getting things ready. When my sister arrived, we started out on our road trip. We drove 9 hours which is half way to our destination. It was a pretty easy drive, not a lot of traffic, except it rained most of the time my sister drove. I enjoyed driving, riding, looking at the scenery, and talking with my sister. We stopped at a random Subway that was all decorated for Halloween and had a giant Jack Skellington from The Nightmare Before Christmas. It had a motion sensor and would move and talk when it detected motion. We never really understood what it said, but took a video and sent it to my grandson who loves that character. He appreciated it. At the end of the day, we stopped for the night in the city we were both born in, going back to our origins. We have been through a lot in the 60 some years since then. I was grateful my sister was with me, grateful for our continued relationship, and grateful for safe travels.

I Found God today in safety starting on a trip.

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Remaining Close

Posted by eph21920 on October 15, 2025 in Family, Grateful, Life, Relationship

I have been sharing the pictures of my son’s wedding the past couple of days. They include a photo of me and all my siblings. As I remember the wonderful day, it makes me grateful yet again for the blessing of having the whole family together for a joyful event. I talked to my sister today who lives on the east coast. She said we need to make it a point to get all together at least once a year. I thought that sounded like a great idea. When my parents were still alive, reunions like that usually centered around them. Now, however, it really is up to us to nurture our relationship. I am grateful that we all still want to be close with one another.

I Found God today in a close sibling relationship.

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Compassionate Friend

Posted by eph21920 on October 14, 2025 in Answer, Friends, Problem, Stranger, Struggles

A friend of mine works for a home rental company inspecting their properties to make sure they are being well maintained. He told me a story today about one of the homes he visited. The resident was there and had recently been through a surgery. While my friend was going about his business and chatting with the woman, she became overwhelmed by her situation and started to cry. My friend was taken aback by the emotion and asked what he could do to help her. The woman thanked him and asked if he believed in God and if he would pray for her. My friend noticed inspirational quotes such as “Be Kind” as wall art, or on a throw rug, and in various places. He encouraged the woman to look at the words and remember what they said and take them to heart. She was grateful for his compassion.

I Found God today in a compassionate friend.

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Finding True Wisdom

Posted by eph21920 on October 13, 2025 in Answer, Connected, Faith, Life

I listened to a meditation today that really struck a chord with me. The focus of the reflection was if and/or how we seek wisdom. The first question was are we trying to seek wisdom at all in our lives, or are we just happy to go about our way doing the easy things without being challenged? The next idea was if we are seeking wisdom, where are we looking? It is so easy to get information on the Internet now, but you have to do even more research to verify if what you found is actually true or not. Jeff Cavins, who did the reflection, stated that Google processes 14 billion searches a day. So, naturally I Googled it. AI said there were 8 billion a day. Another source said 16 billion. Those are quite different numbers. Evidently Google claims that they process over 5 trillion in a year, and if you do the math from that, it comes to just under 14 billion a day. In any case, the last statement made in the meditation was, “What if we, as a planet, asked Jesus for wisdom 14 billion times a day? What a world that would be.” Indeed. I personally felt convicted that I should be spending more time seeking God’s wisdom to help me walk on His good path.

I Found God today reminded that true wisdom comes from Him.

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