Still Cool
It has only gotten up to forty degrees here today; a normal January temperature pattern. The weather channel says that it will be in the mid-fifties by this weekend. So it looks like this El Nino winter may only be a couple of days long this year. Mild winters are nice, but certain scientists are predicting that this summer will be the hottest on record. The last time that we had an El Nino summer, we had a drought along with it. Look out !
My condolances go out to J.R. and R.R. J.R.’s great grandmother passed on recently and both families paid their respects to her yesterday, one final act of service to a beloved family member. Fortunately I do have one family member left, my Mom. Part of my daily ritual is to have lunch with her. Today it took her even longer that usual to finish her meal and the tedium level was intense. Fortunately I remembered that experiencing tedium (in the service of the aim of helping someone else) is a good way of working on myself. My Mom enjoyed the meal and I made a point of noticing the energy that can be generated by an act of suffering in the service of an aim. ( my Mom’s enjoyment of a meal )
Since I am on the topic of service toward cherished family members, I should probably share this piece of family history. My great, great grandfather was a man named Thomas Hardy. He was a descendant of the Hardy side of the family that is from Pembroke, Wales. Anyway, Thomas fought in the Civil War of the United States, on the southern side of the war. He lived in Upson, County where I live. During the war, he was captured and held prisoner at a prison camp in Elmira, New York. He contracted chicken pox while in the prison camp. Ironically, he was taken into the home of a northern family in Elmira and nursed by that family. This family was obviously on the other side of the conflict but they nursed him and did their best to keep him alive. When Thomas’ wife was notified of this, she packed up a horse and buggy and proceeded to travel to Elmira to assist in his recovery. She was turned back in Virginia because the fighting was just to heavy and unsafe. She never saw her husband again and he died in Elmira and is buried in a confederate cemetary in that town. I visited that cemetary when I was eleven years old. There is a picture of me kneeling next to his grave stone. I wish that I could find out the name of the family that took care of my great, great grandfather and thank them for the kindness that their ancestors provided him. What a heartbreaking story !
In the spirit of service,
I.C.