A Life Remembered

Yesterday I attended the funeral services for a fourteen-year-old girl.  It feels so inherently wrong to attend a funeral for a child.  I'm not saying that a child's life isn't to be celebrated, not at all.  Her life touched the hearts of many people, and she left a legacy just as we all do.  It's just that it is not what we expect.  It's not supposed to be this way.  Parents don't expect to outlive their children.  I can't imagine how difficult this must be.  How do you pick up the pieces and go on after losing your child?  Life doesn't always make sense, and it definitely is not always fair.  

The little girl was the daughter of my friend and co-worker.  Some of you who have been reading my blog for a while will remember me talking about this little girl before.  For the past two years she has struggled and fought a battle against a malignant brain tumor.  Unfortunately, she did not win this battle.  Her parents did everything they could to help her fight the cancer, trying both conventional and unconventional treatments, but nothing worked.  In spite of the odds, they held onto hope that a miracle would happen for their little girl.  When hope is all you have, you hold onto it pretty tightly.  The miracle never took place and this little girl's family, and indeed, our entire town is mourning her passing.  The church for the services yesterday was packed.  Every pew was filled.

A couple of years before she was diagnosed with brain cancer, this little girl sang the song, "I Can Only Imagine," by the group Mercy Me as part of a school program, and her performance was recorded on video.  That video of her singing this song was shown as a part of the memorial services.  There was not a dry eye to be found in that church as we listened to her sweet voice sing this song.

This little girl loved the cartoon character, Snoopy.  If you are of a certain age, you may remember the way Snoopy danced when he was celebrating something. The family of this little girl stated that they'd like to think that their little girl is dancing that same celebratory dance  that Snoopy danced, now that she is free from pain and suffering and in heaven.

Hug your kids, hug your grandkids, folks.  Keep close all those you hold dear.  Tomorrow is not guaranteed for any of us, no matter how old or how young we may be. 

If you are not familiar with the song, "I Can Only Imagine," you can listen to it here.  It is a song of celebration and wonder and joy.  Happy Sunday, everyone. 

Still Pinching Myself That I Get Paid For This (Truly Grateful Series)

I haven't shared with you for a while what I've been up to at the library lately.  It's been a busy summer.  The summer reading programs at the main library and at each of our five branches have been in full swing, and I've been busy promoting them all.

I've been taking lots of pictures of the events and writing press releases and articles about them to send to the local newspapers.

Boys line up in the parking lot for a scooter race at a carnival held at one of our branch libraries.  They found the scooters were harder to steer than they realized!

Other games were going on elsewhere, like ring toss, water games, and hula hoop contests.

At a carnival held at another one of our branches, a tug-of-war was a big hit with the kids attending.

The parachute games were quite popular too.  There was even a miniature parachute for the littlest visitors to play with.  They had fun tossing a bean bag up in the air on it.

Playing all those games can make a person pretty hungry, and what's a summer party without a picnic to enjoy?

Don't forget to save room for an ice cream sundae!

Teacher Thursdays story times gave the kids a a chance to learn new things about other people and places in keeping with the summer reading program theme of "One World, Many Stories."

A visit from the mascot of the Ft. Wayne baseball team was popular with the kids at several of our branch locations.

He signed autographs and posed for pictures with the kids to their delight.

Arts and crafts are always fun too.  These two brothers are working with homemade play-doh.  The cans are to use as rolling pins to flatten the dough.

This little boy made a bowling ball and was working on a gingerbread man.

His brother made a gingerbread man too.

A magician impressed the kids with his many tricks and illusions.  A particular favorite was the illusion he created by threading a very large needle and yarn through the center of a balloon without popping the balloon.

There were visiting authors who read their own books to enthusiastic listeners.

I did some other work too, besides traveling from one library to another and promoting their programs.  I also designed brochures like those above,

printed bookmarks to give away to patrons,

created promotional flyers to post on doors and bulletin boards and handouts for patrons to pick up at the circulation desk,

and used my computer to design and print signs such as this one for our annual Friends of the Library book sale.

Updating this sign with current messages is another one of my duties.

These are letters I took down from the previous sign that was posted.  Below is the box in which I file the letters and numbers when they aren't being used on the marquee sign. 

Oh, and because I wear a lot of hats here at the library (Some of you already know I like to wear hats!), I've also been helping to keep the flowers watered outside of our building during these hot days of summer.

How about you?  What have you been up to this summer?

Lord, for a job that I love and enjoy every single day, please let me be truly grateful.

Who Are THOSE People?

Who ARE these young, skinny people?   Oh...I guess one of them is me, or it used to be me.  The other one is my husband.  Although, he was my fiance in this picture.  In fact, this was our engagement photo, the one that was put in the local newspaper to announce our engagement.


On July 27, 1985 we were married.  That's right.  We've been married for 26 years now.  Imagine that!

I'm Sitting Behind Someone With a Big Head Again (of course!)

Our City Orchestra held another concert in my church this past week and my younger son was there playing along with them on his upright bass.  We were very grateful to have the air-conditioned sanctuary for the performance. As in much of the country, the heat has really settled in here.  This song is Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'."

This next song called "Arabian Dreams" was performed by a quintet made up of the high school orchestra conductor, the city orchestra conductor, two college students with music majors, and my son.  He was thrilled to be invited to join this group for this song.  It is a galloping piece that just might put the thought of Arabian horses racing through the night  into your head.

Happy weekend everyone!

Head for the Hills!

I went with my husband and younger son on a short getaway this past weekend.  We drove to Hocking Hills State Park to do some hiking and sight-seeing of the caves and rock formations there in the hills.

This is the road going back to the cabin that we rented.

This is the cabin.  It was a nice two bedroom with plenty of space for us.

This is the kitchen and living area of the cabin.  

I loved the view from the picture window in the living room.  It was a very peaceful and secluded place.

Out back was a deck with a hot tub and a grill.

The hot tub was a great way to relax after going on the hiking trails.

 The next several pictures show some of the scenery from along the hike to Ash Cave and some pictures of Ash Cave itself.

 Some people climbed up and were hiking along the ridge of the cliff above the waterfall.  They look like little ants in this shot.

I zoomed in so you can see them better in this shot.  I couldn't watch them for long.  They made me nervous up there.  I was afraid they were going to fall over the edge.

Do you see that red arrow I drew on this picture?  It is pointing to a spot on the rock.  Upon getting a closer look, we discovered the "spot" was actually a HUGE spider.  My son thought the spider was pretty cool.  I, did not!

Next we went on a hiking trail by Old Man's Cave.  This is a creek that was along the trail that I thought was pretty.

More sights of the scenes along the trail at Old Man's Cave follow.  Click to enlarge any that you'd like to see a clearer view.

 That's my younger son and husband on the walkway.  My older son was working and wasn't able to get away with us for this trip.

 I loved the way the sun filtered down through the greenery above our heads looking out from under the upper ledge of the cave.

This picture was in the visitor's center.  It is of the "old man" from Old Man's Cave.

We ate lunch one day in this large open dining room of the lodge at the state park.  The food was very good.

This is me holding Max, our dog who traveled with us, my son, and husband at our cabin.  It was a fun and relaxing weekend, and it was nice to get away for a few days.