Today I was reminded of a video I took 2 years ago. It was my mom and her friend playing a duet on my mom’s piano. They were both wearing their “Plays Well With Others” t-shirts. I loved listening to them again and seeing my mom enjoying her music. It made me happy. It made me sad. And I was glad I came across it.
I Found God today listening to my mom’s music.
My neighbor and I visited on the porch this morning. While we were there, the lawn guys came and mowed, which led us to talk about our outside flowers and plants. We share the sidewalk, so we can see her house and garden area from some of our windows, and she can see ours. Earlier this summer, we both put in new plants. Some of them were given to us by her daughter in law who was thinning out her garden. My neighbor said she thought she may need to move some of hers around a bit as they grew differently than she had anticipated. I told her I loved all the flowers she had. She said she chose many flowers as she wanted my mom to be able to see them from her window. That was one of the most thoughtful things I have heard and my heart was very moved. My mom did, in fact, enjoy looking out the window and seeing the new plants and flowers that were there.
I Found God today in my thoughtful neighbor.
Today I came across 4 piano music boxes upon a shelf behind the pianos. As I thought about the best place for them, I remembered I was going to have dinner with our favorite caregiver tonight. We have been keeping in touch and it was a good time to get together. She was so good with my mom and would guide her to the piano and encourage her to play. She even knew which pieces of music were doable. I thought it would be a nice momento for her to have one of the piano music boxes so I packed it up and brought it to dinner. The young woman was so surprised and we shared a few tears. We caught up on life events. She was so excited to tell me that she is getting baptized in a few weeks. When she was at the house, we often talked about faith and God. She was going to one of the popular churches in the area and I guess I just assumed she was already baptized. In any case, she was pretty excited about it. She also talked about some tough decisions she made in her relationships as she tries to live a “pure and honest life” in her words. I told her I was proud of her for doing the hard but important things to care for herself. It was such a blessing to see her.
I Found God today in the blessing of a compassionate young woman.
Today I had lunch with our piano friend and another piano friend who we used to see every couple of months or so. She is younger than my mom and her friend and is still teaching piano. She is also very involved in her church and has been for many years. Part of what she does is to care for some of the elderly people. Well, they are elderly now, but they weren’t when she first started in the ministry. Now she visits 3 ladies who are all over 90 years old. She helps them with whatever they need, takes them out and about if appropriate, and makes sure they are well taken care of. She even arranges musicians to go visit and bring them some joy. The other day she took one woman out to lunch at one of her favorite spots. She can’t see well, so the restaurant staff met them at the back door where they helped the woman get to her seat and doted over her. I remember this happening with my mom. Sometimes when we went out, there were people who just wanted to help and were super attentive. Our friend told us another story of taking a 99 year old woman to the bank to try to get some financial situations straightened out. They were a little less helpful. I have found it can really go either way. While some people are very helpful, others seemed to be bothered by the situation. Perhaps they are uncomfortable with elderly people. Whatever the case, these ladies are certainly blessed to have the friend in their lives.
I Found God today in a selfless, caring woman.
Last year I planned a getaway for me, my kids and grandkids at a fun family hotel with an indoor water park and other activities. Unfortunately at that time, one son got sick. So I postponed the reservation. I had one year to use it or lose it. Several weeks ago, I made the new reservation for this weekend as that worked out for everyone. We spent time playing in the water and hanging out together. There was a very involved computerized interactive “quest” that sparked the interest of my granddaughter. She got her computerized wand and spent much of the time on the adventure. It was kind of like a scavenger hunt around the hotel, but much more detailed as different jewels and relics had to be found in a certain order to become a “master”. Over the 2 days, my granddaughter walked around and around with either her dad or my son’s fiancee in tote as she had played before. She completed the whole game at the end by battling and defeating a dragon and opening the coveted chest of jewels. We all just had a lot of fun being together for a couple days and I was grateful we were able to do so.
I Found God today having fun time with my family.
Over thirty years ago, I had surgery done on my eyes to correct my vision. This was even before the laser surgery. I was so happy with the results and have been seeing clearly for years. It was such a blessing. As was expected, I have been wearing reading glasses for a few years now and have been gradually increasing the strength. During the past year or so I have noticed that it was becoming more difficult to read street signs when I drove. I did visit the eye doctor who gave me a prescription, but while caring for my mom I wasn’t really going anywhere, so it wasn’t too much of a problem. Several weeks ago, I started having other kinds of problems with my eyes. They were itchy, irritated, and were getting goopy. One eye became painful all around it, swollen, and red. Then a sty formed. Then another. I visited the eye doctor who said it was an infection and gave me antibiotics. He also suggested a specific kind of drop for my dry eyes. After a week, it started feeling better. During that time it was even more difficult to see clearly. I went back to the eye doctor a few weeks later and the infection had cleared up. My eyes felt much better, but my vision still wasn’t up to par. After the exam, the doctor said my vision was the same as last year and recommended glasses. This time I was ready as I am out and about quite a bit. I looked at the glasses at their office, but the prices were so high. I asked if they had a bargain bin. The girl pretty much laughed and said I didn’t have to buy them there. My sister reminded me that we had a membership to Sam’s Club and they had glasses. I went there today. The optometrist there was super nice and helpful. I told him I just wanted glasses for distance and would use over the counter readers. He said that I would be able to buy a pair of glasses and get a second pair almost half price. His recommendation was to get prescription readers due to the astigmatism. I would still be straining my eyes with the higher strength generic kind. So, I agreed. My vision is important. He sorted through frames and helped me pick out the most reasonably priced ones that fit and looked nice. After all was said and done, I’ll be getting two pairs of glasses that even include the blue light block for less than one pair at the doctor’s office. I was elated and grateful and looking forward to seeing clearly regularly. When the gentleman said have a blessed day, I knew I was having one.
I Found God today in a helpful gentleman who helped me be able to see better.
My brother was going to run some errands today and asked if I needed anything. I looked at my list and remembered my mom’s broken walker. One night when she was struggling and up a lot and I was doing my best to help her, she kept unlocking her walker when it needed to be locked. I would lock it again and she would unlock it again. One time I locked it too hard, likely out of frustration, and the brake cable broke. It was now useless. Luckily, hospice had provided her with another one. We kept the broken walker because I figured some day we might get it fixed and someone could use it. I asked around at medical supply companies who did not do repairs and suggested to try a bike shop. So, it’s been sitting in my mom’s closet. When I saw the line item on my list, I asked my brother if he would like to see about getting it fixed. He contacted a bike shop who said they could fix it. He brought it in and waited while they did the repair. It only took about 15 minutes. Now the walker is back in the closet, but it works. It’s ready to be donated or put to good use of some kind. I was grateful that my brother got it taken care of.
I Found God today in my brother’s help and a working walker to be put to good use.
One of the ladies in our prayer group had emergency surgery 2 weeks ago and is currently in a rehabilitation facility. Tonight was our meeting night, so we brought the meeting to her. The facility allowed us to use one of the common rooms. One of the guys even brought his computer so we could Zoom with one member who is out of state. Once everything was ready, the woman in rehab was wheeled in the wheelchair by her husband. She looked really good and we all told her so. She said it was because she was able to take a shower today. But even beyond that, she had good color, bright eyes and energy. We read and discussed the Gospel for this Sunday as usual. Our friend said she was having difficulty finding the right words to say what she wanted and was taking therapy for that. But she engaged in conversation and I thought she did just fine. She said she had some work to do before she goes home because she wants to be able to function on her own without being a burden to her husband. From my point of view, it was good to see her doing so well. One of the other ladies brought Holy Communion, so our friend and her husband were able to receive. It was a blessing to be all together, seeing one another, praying together, and encouraging each other.
I Found God today praying with friends and seeing healing taking place.
I have been wanting to drive a certain gravel road that I know of through the mountains. It was a gorgeous day today and a friend of mine was able to get away, so off we went. We first took the highway to a mountain town. The Fall colors were stunning after the cool, wet weekend. We stopped several times for photo opportunities, but when I looked at them later I realized just how difficult it is to capture that beauty in a picture. Once we reached the town, we met my brother for lunch. Then we all headed to the gravel road to make our way back down. I drove my car with my friend and my brother took his truck with his dog. The road was as expected with a mixture of washboards, ruts, runoffs, and smooth spots which added to the experience. We certainly didn’t have to worry too much about traffic, although there was an occasional truck hauling rocks or lumber, and a couple other sightseers like ourselves. The scenery was breathtaking and we stopped plenty of times to take it in and to record the day. We even saw a deer which stood and posed for a while. Our goal was to make it back home before dark, which we did. To me, this day was pretty perfect as the weather was best as it could be and I spent it driving in the mountains with a good friend, enjoying the beauty of nature, and taking photos. I felt so blessed.
I Found God today in a perfect Fall day.
Last night after dinner, I read the first prayer of the novena to St. Therese with my sister. I realized how much I missed praying with my mom. Every night after dinner we would pray with whoever was there. We prayed according to the liturgical year, or special novenas. And we would almost always end with our personal intentions and a prayer to St. Bernadette followed by “getting on our Holy Water.” Unfortunately, that habit stopped after my mom died. The reflection I listened to this morning on the Hallow app was called, “The Importance of Praying Together”. It started by saying how difficult life is – and it’s even harder if you try to do it alone. It’s the same thing in our faith life. St. Padre Pio was quoted, “Today’s society does not pray together. That is why it is falling apart.” That statement really touched my heart. I decided I wanted to try to make a more concerted effort to pray with others. After all, Jesus said that when 2 or more are gathered in His name that He is there too. Tonight my sister and I read the 2nd day of the novena to St. Therese of Lisieux. So far, so good.
I Found God today reminded of the importance of praying together.
Still Finding God 