Celebrating and mourning...

2021.04.19

Apr 19, 2021

Song of the day:

Video of the day:

Last night family and friends gathered to celebrate the life of our friend Kim who passed away a few weeks ago. My friend Amanda put together this incredible slide show that we played during the event. I wanted to share it with you today.

National Poetry Month

Near the End of April - William Stanley Braithwaite

Near the end of April
On the verge of May—
And o my heart, the woods were dusk
At the close of day.
Half a word was spoken
Out of half a dream,
And God looked in my soul and saw
A dawn rise and gleam.
Near the end of April
Twenty Mays have met,
And half a word and half a dream
Remember and forget.

Today I get the joy of wishing this soon-to-be college graduate the happiest of birthdays. I’ve known him since he was a week old and feel like a proud aunt even though we are in no way related. Happy Birthday, Xander! Can’t wait to see what’s next!

A few other thoughts for a Monday…

I thought about writing another post about mass shootings since there has literally been one every day this last week, but I honestly don’t know what the point is anymore. Nothing is going to change. The Republican lawmakers continue to have no interest in voting for sensible gun laws. I don’t understand it at all.

I’m not sure how it didn’t all end after Columbine, which happened 22 years ago tomorrow. Or how it didn’t end after Virginia Tech, which happened 14 years ago last week. Or how it didn’t end after Sandy Hook, which happened a little over 8 years ago. Honestly, when nothing happened after that group of children was killed, I knew we were pretty much doomed. But a few years later I thought something might happen after Orlando (2016), or Las Vegas (2017), or Parkland (2018), and the countless number of other shootings that weren’t as widely known, or even known at all. But here we still are…mourning the loss of life, wondering why, wishing we knew the answers. Here we still are with thoughts and prayers - which are of course good, but not even close to enough. Here we still are without sensible gun laws.

I have no interest in taking away all of the guns. There are very few that want that. We used to have guns in the house when I was a kid. My dad used to hunt. I worked for the rifle team at West Virginia University and have a lot of friends who own guns. Many of them are also hunters, some of them were in the Olympics. I have friends who own guns for the purpose of protection. It’s not something I personally want but I don’t care that they have them. I don’t want to take any of those guns. I just want the automatic weapons to be banned, and for there to be greater penalties for having one. I want stronger background checks and mental health checks before being able to purchase a gun. I want waiting periods and required instruction before being able to take that gun home. And of course, at the end of the day, I just want people to care more about other people; to value human life whether it looks like your own or not.

Well, I guess I did write another post about shooting. Kind of hard not to when it’s a constant in the news. But I’ll try to end this post on a more positive note…here are a few things I like right now…

Do you have HBO?

I highly recommend checking out the Tina Turner documentary. I watched over the weekend and it’s fantastic!

Are you a hockey fan? Or maybe a fan of records being broken?

Tonight the Sharks’ Patrick Marleau will break the record for the number of games played in the NHL, a record that Gordie Howe has held for more years than many NHL players have been alive. Marleau tied the record on Saturday when he played in his 1,767th game. After he takes the ice tonight he’ll be at the top of the list at 1,768 games. I mean, that is a LOT of games. Even though the Sharks are having a lousy season, this is pretty awesome. Learn more about his journey.

Do you have a favorite treat?