Poems, Personal Stories, and Observations

Archive for the ‘Personal story’ Category

Lost Item Axiom

For the last several days, we’ve been looking for our glue guns so that my hubby can fix a wooden item. After several days of searching, we happened to be at a store, so we decided to buy a glue gun, reasoning: “Maybe we gave the old ones away.”

Well, an hour after we got home, I happened to be in the basement for another reason, and noticed an open moving box with four shoebox-sized boxes inside it. Spotting one of them, I thought, “Wait a minute, that looks like the old glue gun box.” Sure enough, it was.

We will be returning an unopened new glue gun soon.

Axiom: If you can’t find an item, buy a new one, and the old one will soon turn up.

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Personal story

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Beautiful and Terrible

I was visiting my medical oncologist for a follow-up appointment. I’ve been apparently cancer free for about five years now, after bouts with kidney and breast cancer. Fortunately both were detected quite early on.

While waiting in the exam room, I looked up to notice a white board with scribbled writing on it. The first scribble, on the upper left, was: “Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don’t be afraid.” The second scribble, in the lower right corner, said “Fear ye not, for I am with ye. Yea, I am with ye always.” Then in the upper right corner was a picture from a movie, I think, but the caption was, “Hasta la vista, melanoma — the Terminator.”

These little sayings struck me profoundly. ”Beautiful and terrible,” for sure. The world is full of so much suffering, like cancer, war, violence and hatred, to name a few, but with so much beauty as well: nature, human love, forgiveness, mercy, art, and many other things. But the saying ends bravely with the words, “Don’t be afraid.” Upon further research, I learned that the quote is by Frederick Buechner, a Presbyterian minister who had a painful childhood, his family moving about almost every year, and his father committing suicide when he was fourteen. Despite those events, he went on to become a prolific writer and a preacher.

The next saying echoes the first, although its original was written long before the first saying. Again, “Fear ye not.” As far as I can tell, this is partly from Isaiah 41:10 and from Matthew 28:20, or perhaps three or four other places in the New Testament where Jesus tells his disciples to not be afraid. I think we humans need constant reminders not to be afraid.

So, the doctor arrived and after some discussion, I was told I could finish my five years of medication in June. Also, after the exam, he said I was healing well. So it was all good news. When he went out the door, I got emotional, I suppose from relief that all was well. As I went to the car and in the car, I couldn’t help but be overwhelmed. ”I shouldn’t even be alive, and here I am!”

All praise to God, who has allowed me to continue living for His purposes, which I don’t always know or understand.


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Personal story

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The Quirks of Family History

So my husband spent much of his young life growing up in eastern Ohio. Since he had many, many cousins, I started gathering data to keep track of everyone, but also got interested in the past.

I learned that his ancestors on his dad’s side came to America a few years before the American Revolution (unlike mine, who are very recent). Eventually some of them moved to western Ohio.

Another interest of mine is cemeteries, and when we have time we visit them at random. One day we picked a cemetery in Indian Hill, Ohio. While walking around, Tom asked, “What’s that pyramid-like structure over there?” We walked over, and much to our surprise, the pyramid had the original spelling of his family name carved on it! It was a family plot, and upon researching, the persons buried nearby were relations. Amazing!

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family, Personal story

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Nostalgia

So I seem to be getting more and more nostalgic.

Recently we were on a day trip in our car and inquired from someone about how to get an ice cream cone. I had said to my husband that I thought at least once in a summer, on a hot day, a person should buy an ice cream at an ice cream shop. I wanted to enjoy that happy memory.

Well, we ended up at a soft serve place, kind of like Dairy Queen or Foster’s Freeze. I ordered a SMALL chocolate cone, dipped in chocolate, like my dad used to get us as an occasional treat.

When the item was presented, it was more like a GIANT ice cream, about five or six inches taller than the top of the cone, and at quite a low price! As a child, I might have gotten one that was three or four inches taller than the cone, at most.

Being a hot day, we decided to eat the cones inside to prevent melting. Ha! Soon enough, we had ice cream dripping off our faces and onto the table, with piles of napkins to mop things up. A clerk took pity on us and offered cups to put the mess in. Finally finishing up, we thanked the clerk and left.

Next day, our blood sugar was way up (we are both Type 2 diabetic).

Well, it was fun, but maybe in the future I’ll try to make new memories, since the old ones don’t always work.

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Personal story

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Veterinary Nurses

This past week my husband and I have been veterinary nurses for our older (about 13 years old) cat Josie. The vets diagnosed her with rhinitis, sinusitis, and gastritis. Yikes! I can’t figure our how she got the infections; she’s an indoor cat living with one other indoor car and my husband and me.

The whole week has been a great exercise in patience: giving the cat pills (4 to 5 a day), feeding her liquified cat food through a syringe (3 to 5 times a day), and cleaning up the ugly messes she makes at her water bowl. She was drooling a lot and her eyes and nose were a mess.

My husband is an angel in the patience department. He has gotten several scratches. I was ready to give up half way through the week, and he said, “Why are you so negative?”

One can debate about how much time and money to spend on a pet, but as long as there’s reasonable hope of recovery, which the vet thinks there is, we can keep going, unless it interferes with higher concerns (grandkids, etc.). Of course, we are retired so we have the time, but even before this, I don’t know if I’ve ever had so many physical tasks (the vegetable garden, for one, and except maybe when the kids were young) in my life. I suppose that the one time we had a renter living with us was also a lot of work.

God does care about animals. Were not many of them saved on Noah’s ark? But humans have priority.

“For every animal of the forest is Mine, The cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird of the mountains, And everything that moves in the field is Mine. (Psalm 50:10-12)

“Should I not also have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 people, who do not know the difference between their right hand and their left, as well as many animals?” (Jonah 4:11)

“Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.” (Matthew 10:29-31)

‘Then he said to them, “If one of you has a child or an ox that has fallen into a well, will you not immediately pull it out on a sabbath day?”’ (Luke 14:5)

About ten days after the first symptoms, Josie is starting to eat on her own again. The extra care is paying off! We’ll keep it up.

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Personal story

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Refugees

Last Saturday at our church, we had an event that was part of a series on Truth, Goodness, and Beauty. That particular night was about Goodness, specifically how even through difficult circumstances, there is a lot of good to be found. That night a family of five (most especially the mother) presented their story of fleeing Ukraine as refugees of the current war. I was intrigued to hear about their experience, especially since my parents were refugees from Hungary around 1946.

While the mom was speaking, I found myself on the verge of tears several times. Throughout the talk, she cited Bible verses that had given her encouragement. She talked about their decision to leave Ukraine, which included leaving her parents behind. It took them five days to reach the border, with hundreds or thousands of cars creeping along the roads. Many people along the way offered them food and clothing. Gas stations gave out a limited supply of fuel. When they did reach the border, others helped them with paperwork, etc., and they entered into Poland.

Soon after, they were offered beds and showers at a convent. It was their first safe place where they could rest and get cleaned up. That was another highlight of the goodness of others. In five more days, they were able to come to the United States. They received a lot of help, during the total of these ten days, from the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic organization, of which the father is a member. Eventually the mother’s parents also came to the United States, in an even shorter time frame.

After the talk, I approached the mother to thank her for coming, and mentioned that my parents had been Hungarian refugees. Then I started crying and had to quickly escape. After so many years, and the fact that my PARENTS, not me, were refugees, I didn’t understand why I was reacting so strongly, and perhaps I never will. I was amazed that after the Ukrainian family’s ordeal, the mother was able to stand in front of an audience and not break down.

I won’t go into it much here, but I thought of many reasons why my parents situation was a bit different and possibly more traumatic, but not necessarily. For one, it was a much longer process for them; they were refugees for perhaps five years, not ten days. Their travel to the United States was much longer; perhaps about two months by boat and train; no jets for them! But there could be other reasons: emotional, family background, financial, and other factors.

In the end, I’m very grateful that the United States accepted them and that I’m here today.

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Personal story

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The God Who Loves You

Here was another life-changing book for me. I can’t find the exact quote, but the idea in the book that hit me like a ton of bricks was “God creates only out of love. That means He made me only out of love. Therefore, my reason for existence is love.” Something like that, anyway. I will edit this if I can find the exact quote.

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book review, Personal story

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The Hiding Place

This book is one of many that changed my life. There is a chapter in which Corrie is challenged to forgive a man who had been one of the Nazi prison guards in the concentration camp she had been in. At first, she is unable to shake his hand when he offers it, after a post-World-War- II lecture she gave on forgiveness. But after praying, she has the grace to put out her hand and shake his.

I remember realizing: If God can forgive a Nazi guard, He can forgive me — I don’t deserve it, but it’s not about what I deserve. It’s about God’s grace.

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book review, Personal story

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Halloween 2022


The eve of All Saints’ Day was magical, in a good way. For one, it had been raining, right up to about the 6 p.m. start of the trick-or-treating. [Ohio has townships, a subdivision of counties. The township suggests (or is it a law? I don’t know) that trick-or-treating should take place between 6 and 8 p.m.] I had been doubtful as to whether we should even bother giving out candy. Suddenly at about 5:50 p.m. or so, the rain stopped.

My husband helped by putting out a little firepit at the end of the driveway, which is a custom for many in our neighborhood. The homeowners sit by the firepit while giving out candy, and they may have a party themselves.

I wrote the following after it was all over.

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It’s quiet now. The clowns and freaks, saints and sinners, ghosts and ghouls are gone. I stand in the driveway, on the darkened and empty street, wondering what it all means. The silence after all the childish shrieks. The candy bowls empty. How did I come to be in this crazy world?

We talked with neighbors whom we don’t often see. One came over on his own, and when we got short of candy, he gave us some of his own. I went over to another neighbor after we had run out of candy again, just to say hi. I found out that the husband is related to a political candidate. When these neighbors learned that we had run out of candy, they gave us some of theirs.

Sitting with my husband by a firepit, we ate pizza and drank seltzer water between candy giveaways. A citizen patrol car drove by twice. The sounds of laughter in the neighborhood were comforting.

Shortly before 8 p.m., our neighbor to the right yelled, “Have a good night; we’re calling it quits.” Somehow I got to asking him what he did for a living, and he explained. Here was another neighbor whom we hardly ever talk with.

So quiet and silent now. The voices are gone. The air is still. The weather is mild tonight. We are blessed to be alive.

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Rejoice with Me / Love Is Worth It!

Rejoice with me, for my cat was lost and now is found! (paraphrase — see Luke 15:6, 9, 24).

Last night our younger indoor cat (Pepper), a male, escaped during a thunderstorm. We’ve had him less than a year and he doesn’t know the neighborhood, which possibly has coyotes. I know that many cats do return, and sure enough, he was back in the morning, not even wet!

On the grand scale of what happens to people, this event was not a big deal, but nevertheless I was praying and asked others to pray, was somewhat anxious, and didn’t sleep much. It did make me consider many things, one of which is how God pursues us relentlessly when we are lost. He is an awesome God!

In Matthew 18:10-14, Jesus says, “Take care that you do not despise one of these little ones; for, I tell you, in heaven their angels continually see the face of my Father in heaven. What do you think? If a shepherd has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. So it is not the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones should be lost.”

The morning after my night of poor sleep, I considered how I would lure Pepper back. Since we have another cat that I didn’t want to escape, I put her in a room and shut the door. I opened the back glass sliding doors about eight inches, then put some wet and dry cat food near the door. Soon he appeared at the door, after I had heard a bit of meowing, but he wouldn’t come in right away. I backed off to about 30 feet away, and after some more meowing, he rushed into the house towards me. I scooped him up and hugged him like a baby!

So my heart was full after a rotten night. This brought to mind another passage from the Bible, John 16:20-22 (No, I do not have these passages memorized; I cut and paste them from websites.): “Very truly, I tell you, you will weep and mourn, but the world will rejoice; you will have pain, but your pain will turn into joy. When a woman is in labor, she has pain, because her hour has come. But when her child is born, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy of having brought a human being into the world. So you have pain now; but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.”

It’s hard to believe in joy while we’re going through sorrow, but when Pepper returned, I certainly experienced that the sorrow had been worth it! It hurts at times to love God or others, but we suffer because of the love that we have, and the love is worth it!

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Faith, Personal story

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