Month: June 2012

You Would All Be Right

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Guess to whom this saying refers!!!

I was sitting here pondering over the gazillion thoughts darting back and forth inside my head, searching for a way to begin this blog, and then I remembered the mug I had removed from the dishwasher earlier today.   A daily reminder that “the jig is up” as, apparently, over many years,  I have been revealing way too much of my strong-willed, somewhat stubborn, some might even say, “controlling” personality (LOL…….you are laughing about that controlling part, aren’t you?? ) to way too many family members  (it may have begun unraveling around the time of the highly touted King’s Island Main Street “incident” …….a not so quiet, very public stand-off that Caringbridge followers may remember occurred between Crick and me on a corner of a street in the amusement park on a blistering hot summer’s day over where to eat lunch……….outside of Restaurant #1 at a picnic table sitting on hard wooden seats with the sun beating down on us in the company of several different kinds of pesky insects…………..ooooorrrrrr…………….inside of Restaurant #2 sitting on soft padded chairs to be “waited on” in air-conditioned luxury and comfort!!!!!).  Now perhaps you are wondering who in the world  would feel a relationship with me to be so secure that he/she felt this sort of mug gift would not prove to be offensive??  Well, besides Crick (who secretly may have been wishing he had thought of it first…..LOL!).   Think sibling, think youngest female, think “Clark Culinary Queen ” (I taught her everything she knows about boiling water!!!!!!!), think person who is married to “Crick Jr.” (a brother-in-law who bears that title proudly)……………………………………………………………………..

Christine,………………………………………. you may take a bow as I am sure all family members are now applauding the Lucy likeness to moi :).  However, I would like everyone to remember that, regarding the “Great Pumpkin”, Lucy was right!!!!!!!!

As the previous blog was taken up with the details of my “heaven” encounter  (and, by the way, I have now read the book and, having many years ago read of others’ NDE’s (near death experiences), I can attest to the comfort and hope provided by these revelations),  I will detail just a few of the highlights of the activities of the past month.:

  •  In late May, I paid a visit to Glacier Ridge Elementary to return a book that was presented to me at the funeral home which the Glacier Ridge library had decided to dedicate in Crick’s memory.  It was a touching story of a Grandpa who was just the sort of character and mentor that Crick had been to all of the school kids.  Ann, one of the school’s secretaries gave me a copy of the 2011/2012 yearbook which had a touching memorial dedication on the first page.   I took with me two small gifts for Lauren and Maureen, teachers at GRE whom Crick had teased mercilessly about their politics (imagine that!!).  Back in October they had brought a huge bag of handmade Get Well wishes from students from each grade to the hospital along with a gift from Maureen of a red “Beanie Baby” elephant and some of Crick’s favorite “mints”.  She told Crick there was a companion blue donkey, but that she had kept that one for herself!  LOL  Anyway, I returned the elephant to Maureen so that she could remember which way to vote in November (jjjjjjjjjuuuuuuuussssstttt kidding!) and I gave a Barack Obama bell with a  tiny GOP flag to Lauren!!  (If only the election were not such a deadly serious topic)…………………….don’t worry, I am not going there :)
  • I have been most fortunate to have been visited by a couple of very dear high school friends in the past couple of weeks……………………I was treated to breakfast at Bob Evans with Tim Lavelle who was on his way, via motorcycle, from Florida, crossing the USA all by his lonesome…………quite an adventure and one Crick would have been quite envious of.  (oops, there’s that darn preposition again!).  Tim was encouraged by his son to write a blog of his journey (http://timlavelle.blog.com) and, as Tim is a funny guy, his blog is quite entertaining and filled with some amazing pictures of the beauty that is the USA.  While at breakfast, Tim had mentioned to me that he was thinking about heading to the Grand Canyon.   I immediately thought of Crick who, because of his “dreamcrusher” wife, missed out on, according to Crick, “the opportunity of a lifetime”!  Fifteen years ago, Crick and I had an occasion to visit Arizona for four days, compliments of the dental practice I was working for at the time.  We had a rental car, and there was a discussion among the small group of us, about taking a day and driving from Phoenix to the Grand Canyon.  Now, not only am I afraid of heights, but it was also the thought of driving hours to get some place just to see a “bunch of rocks” (I know, I know, I know…… I have seen magnificent pictures of the grandeur that is this national treasure, but at the time………………..the lure of the resort’s swimming pool just seem way more relaxing!!!).  Anyway, forever after that trip, whenever there was any mention of the Grand Canyon, I would get an earful of how I had deprived DH (dear husband) (who had only this one chance to travel West to God’s country…… his definition of Arizona and Colorado) of seeing “up close and in person” THE GRAND CANYON!!!  Therefore, I suggested to Tim that if he did choose the Grand Canyon route, maybe he could give a shout out in Crick’s memory……………………..well, Tim did one better than that………………….he made it his “mission” to go to the Grand Canyon taking a memento of Crick’s that I had given to Tim and placed it on the rocks in the south rim of the canyon overlooking some magnificent scenery :)  Hats off to Tim!!!!!!!!!!!!
    The other visit was from Beth who stayed overnight coming and going from Pittsburgh to Indianapolis to visit family.  We were able to catch up on our families and had long, long discussions about religion and politics……………………..the perfect combo LOL!!!!!  I nominate her to defend me in a court of law should I ever happen to be impugned for my writings as a “right wing nut”!!!!
  • The Clark family gathered in Granville for Shannon and Dave’s wedding on the 16th of June.  Nephews Jake, Sean and Matt came home for their sister’s big day.  Matt drove up from New Orleans, Jake flew in from California, but Sean topped them both…………..he surprised Shannon at the rehearsal dinner flying all the way from South Korea where he is teaching English!!  Now that is true brotherly love, don’t you think???   And what a great time we all had dancing to Shout, Sweet Caroline, YMCA, etc., and the little kids all loved the rendition of the Chicken Song.  Thank goodness, my left foot was completely healed so I could stay out on the dance floor till the very end (and no, it wasn’t pretty, but it was great fun!!).   The one song that has become a Clark tradition since Jennifer and Jim’s wedding 15 years ago is The Piano Man………………..from youngest to oldest this gets them all out on the floor forming a gigantic circle singing and swaying to the music of Billy Joel.

My word counter is telling me that it is time to wrap this up, besides I have a lot of “homework” to do now that the Supreme Court has made my life more difficult……………..sorry, I can only hold it in for soooooooo long :).  That being said, this is a good time to reflect on a reading from a few days ago.

“Stay calmly conscious of Me today, no matter what.  Remember that I go before you as well as with you into the day.  Nothing takes Me by surprise.  I will not allow circumstances to overwhelm you, so long as you look to Me.  I will help you cope with whatever the moment presents.  Collaborating with Me brings blessings that far outweigh all your troubles.  Awareness of My Presence contains Joy that can endure all eventualities.”                                    from  Jesus Calling

“The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside still waters;
He restores my soul. He leads me in right paths For His Name’s sake.
Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil;
For you are with me;
Your rod and Your staff – they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies, You anoint my head with oil;
My cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life. And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord My whole life long.”
[Psalm 23:1-6; ]

TNT

TGW

P.S.  Did you notice the new blog style????

Heaven Is For Real

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                                   Prologue                                        

I am inserting this little notation as a way to explain my absence for a week.   I started this post seven days ago, but as life often gets in the way of life (well, that’s how I define all of the interruptions!) such as, just as I am sure you all may also experience, the June array of bridal showers, weddings, graduations, birthdays, pool time, baseball outings, lawn care (that pesky euonymus!), jobs (even the 5-10 hour/week ones…LOL), lemonade stands (to be explained in the next post), religious liberty rallies (ditto for the next post), visits from old friends, research for “p” blogs………………………well…………………..you get the picture.

     Post

Where do I begin???????????  Well, I know where I won’t begin………………………….I won’t begin with any words about our President & I further promise you that I will not utter one, single, solitary political utterance for the entire length of this blog post!!!!!  There……………………….are you all breathing a sigh of relief?? You may now “safely” proceed:

Before the Memorial Tournament interrupted my thought process last week and started me out on a whole different topic than I had intended (which I cannot reference as it would lead to the mentioning of the “p” word…….LOL),  I had planned to write about another rather remarkable incident that happened to me.  It was the last Wednesday of the school year in which all eight grades at I.C. had their last opportunity to gather at Mass as an entire student body.  Usually there is a small group of daily church goers who remain after the Mass to pray the rosary, but on this particular day, after all of the students had finally departed, I found myself to be the only one remaining with the exception of one or two parishioners who were helping out in the sacristy.  And so, I decided to go over to one of the shrines devoted to  Our Lady which is set off to the side in the rear of the church.   I took out the rosary which had belonged to my Mom and began to meditate on the Glorious Mysteries.  Now for those of you who are not familiar with the Catholic tradition of the rosary,  it consists of the recitation of specific prayers corresponding with particular beads (from the Anglo-Saxon word “bede”, meaning prayer).  Around the rosary chain there are five sets of each of these beads and each set of ten beads is called a decade, and the thoughts during the prayer are directed to focus on a different mystery representing significant events in the life of Christ and Mary, His Mother.  (Clarks do not tell “short” stories!!!!)…………..now back to the Glorious Mysteries upon which  I was attempting to meditate!!!  I usually find the events of these Glorious Mysteries to be the more difficult for me to focus on as two of the Mysteries reflect on the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ into heaven (thus, it requires meditating on that very elusive and unnerving term………………….eternity!).   For some reason, as I was trying to put myself back to the moment in time when the two “Mary’s” went to inspect the tomb and encountered the angel who rolled back the stone and gave them the news that Jesus had been raised just as He had promised, I began to think about all of the “angels” that I have encountered in my life, especially over these last two years.  And then I questioned……………..just what would I have believed, had I lived over two thousand years ago, had I happened upon an Angel of God and an empty grave?? And then my terribly distracted mind started veering off track, wondering if “heavenly” angels really do have wings and what feathery material would they be made of…………..are the birds with their “feathery wings” and flying capability (minus their “annoying” chirping sounds LOL) thus divinely designed??  Does this then make the angels really stand out in heaven among all of those earthly beings (you know, like Crick) who dwell among them but have never had wings???

Fortunately…………… I came to the tenth bead (I probably should have started that decade over as I don’t think “angels”, their “wings” and the bird analogy was the type of “meditation” intended for spiritual growth!), and it was time to move on to the mystery of the Ascension of Our Lord into Heaven (reference previous comment from above regarding Clarks and “short” stories :-) ).  And, as I have just so clearly illustrated my inability to remain focused, I do keep with me a prayer-book which includes a chapter on specific thought-provoking scriptural passages pertaining to each mystery on a bead by bead basis.  I have found this to be immensely helpful (well…………….most of the time!).  As I was reflecting on the words………….”He goes to prepare a place for us, and has returned to the Father, in Heaven.  And He has promised: “Where I am, you can be too.”  I began to think of Crick and of all my other family members, who are gone from here and reflecting on how I have felt Crick’s presence on different occasions which have brought me peace and comfort; wondering about how he certainly must be enjoying heaven along with the freedom from all that plagues us here on earth.  As these thoughts went through my beleaguered mind, I began to consider what I might hopefully look forward to in the promise of Christ to share in that eternal joy of heaven.  My devotional passages spoke of the many Apostles, even the ones we don’t hear so much about, faithfully and trustingly committing their lives here on earth to spreading the messages of God’s promises to us, often sacrificing their lives in order that others might also come to know and believe.  I wondered if I was measuring up, hoping that Heaven would eventually also be revealed to me…………………..and then………………………in the stillness and emptiness of the church, a woman with whom I am only acquainted from our mutual attendance at daily Mass, taps me on the shoulder (how did she know that I was even there, kneeling at a shrine in a far off corner in the back of the church ????) and asks me if I have ever read the book………………………… Heaven Is For Real………………………………I can only imagine the startled expression on my face!!  She quite simply said, “If you haven’t read it, I think that you will really like it.”  That was all she said……………….I thanked her, she walked away as quietly as she had appeared.  Please follow the link below (for some unknown reason, and trust me (Stephanie, your phrases are haunting me LOL), I have spent hours and hours trying to resolve the fact that my wordpress blog no longer automatically links videos directly to the blog!!!)

http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/F3xItrGOi6Q?version=3&hl=en_US&rel=0

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, what do you think of that????????!!!!!!!  Well, as I am a believer (and becoming more so!!), in my heart of hearts, I believe that God and Crick were once again “discussing” me and felt that I needed a boost and yet another reason to continue to believe and trust in God’s very real Presence in my daily life and in the hope of an eternal life.  And that what awaits us is something,  “That eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, what things God hath prepared for them that love him”.   1 Corinthians 2:9.  God, who alone knows us with a knowledge we can not even begin to wrap our minds around, simply asks us to continually seek Him through the silence and stillness of prayer, and He will reveal Himself and His promises in ways that bring us hope, comfort and peace!!  I truly believe that there are some events in our lives that are just not mere “coincidences”.

Perhaps there is yet another reason why this particular post has been delayed until today and why I unwittingly chose the “Living Life” picture for this particular blog which each of the kids and I have hanging in our homes as a reminder of how Crick envisioned life should be lived.  Perhaps, it is because today is Father’s Day, a bittersweet day of remembrance for Crick and for all of our loving, caring, hard-working Dads and Grandfathers, now deceased, who spent a lifetime nurturing, providing for and giving guidance to their children and grandchildren.  Today’s Mass at Immaculate Conception was offered in Crick’s memory (and all nine of the grandchildren attended and the younger ones fidgeted, squirmed, chewed gum, ate goldfish, climbed and were passed back and forth…………..it was almost as if Crick were there egging them on…….LOL).   And……………………………..in conclusion (having exceeded my self imposed 1200 words……….imagine that!!)…………………………………………I would like to wish Christopher, Joe, Jim, the Clark and Schultheis brothers and brother-in-laws all whom I observe on a regular basis faithfully executing the responsibilities of fatherhood……………………….a very Happy Father’s Day!!

This video link is a wonderful way of celebrating all fathers everywhere and from all time, just as we also celebrate Our Father in Heaven.

http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/TffkAILd6EU?version=3&hl=en_US&rel=0

TNT

TGW

P.S. If someone taps you on the shoulder and tells you Heaven is for real……………..believe it!!! LOL

OOOOPPPPSSSS!!!!

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…..

OOOOOOOOOOOPPPPPPSSSSSSS…………………………………I had just sat down yesterday, turned on the television to catch up on the Memorial Tournament saw Tiger Woods teeing off and pulled this picture from the internet…………..now I see……………………………………. that it is not Tiger……………well what do you know?????………….do hope you can forgive one “nutty”, “old” person who really does try to see the humor in some of  life’s more serious issues :).  Myra, Myra, Myra, if you only knew that I was still giggling my way through life, you would be so appalled (new readers of this blog may not know the little inside Clark family joke about how I was called out by Myra, a hospice grief counselor,who was “helping” our family work through Mom’s death fifteen years ago, and apparently I tried to lighten the mood at what Myra determined to be an inappropriate time……..needless to say, we all decided that Myra was the one who needed the counseling!!……………a touchy, feely family, we are not).   The picture does actually bring me around to a conversation I had with one of my very liberal neighbors who really likes to “yank my chain”  whenever he sees me out walking.  Just the other day, (as I was finally freed from my “big black boot”), and was going out for a short walk around the block with Sydney and Josh, Phil saw me coming up the sidewalk with the kids & motioned for me to come into his backyard  to say hello to Elizabeth (his wife).  They are a super nice couple whose daughter went to grade school and high school with Stephanie.  He looked down at Sydney who was holding a bunch of thick, oval-shaped yellow leaves for her “collection” and he was reminded of the time Marion and Stephanie wanted goldfish and so they gathered similar looking leaves, put them in plastic baggies, filled them with water and “voila”!!!………….instant goldfish!!!   To know Stephanie, is to know that this is a perfectly logical solution to fulfilling her heart’s desires………..LOL (sorry Steph……….you had better work up some kind of contract for me to sign before other “family secrets” are let out of the bag!!   (Jennifer, Megan and Christopher…………………………….be worried………………….sometimes I grasp for TTTT (tall tales to tell – just made that up…………………..isn’t that alliteration?????!!!!!).  Whoa!  Got myself off track yet again…………………….as I was stating about my “liberal” neighbor (wait……………………..he actually told me recently that he is a registered Socialist…………………………………….as you can guess……………………………………. I am now praying for him (LOL).  AAAAAANNNNNNNYYYYYWay, as the kids were getting a little bored with our adult conversation and we walked back out to the front yard, he “taunted” :) me by informing me that he had just returned from a planning meeting for a  political fund-raiser for Senator Sherrod Brown (big capital “D”) and I countered back to Phil that maybe he should log on to my political blog “musingsofarightwingnut” for some real food for thought to which he laughed and asked if I had seen his new political bumper stickers on his car.  Well………………….there he kinda’ hit a nerve, because honestly I live in an extremely “blue” (Oh, and ” trust me” (two of Stephanie’s most used words :))……………..I know we are not supposed to be divided along color lines………….. I mean that as in “red”/”blue”) neighborhood and so all I ever get behind when I am waiting at a traffic light in Clintonville is an Obama 2012 car!!!!!!!!!!!  And so, over my shoulder as I was walking the kids back to the house, I teasingly hollered over my shoulder that us “tea party extremists” :) don’t feel the same need to plaster our beliefs all over our cars!  I can still see him laughing and grinning from ear to ear as we headed up the street.   Only in America!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You may all breathe a collective sigh of relief, as I have not run into any Socialists since running into Phil last week!!!  (Well, none that I am aware of!!)  I did, however, go to a bridal shower earlier yesterday afternoon for my niece, Kelly (Schultheis side) who is getting married on July 7th.   I had to regretfully decline her wedding invite as she chose her wedding date after several of my sisters, their families and mine had booked a week-long beach vacation in Kure Beach, North Carolina which happens to begin the very same weekend.  Oh, how I hate to miss a Schultheis family wedding as they are always, always so joyous and so much fun.  I would so love to be there to celebrate her special day……………I did tell Kelly that I would be sure to do a little dance on the beach in her honor…………….I just have to decide which song to dance to, and as I am such a horrible dancer it will have to be performed at a time when the beach is totally deserted!!  Once upon a time, a long, long time ago, Crick agreed to take Arthur Murray dance lessons with me.  Now while you are all wrapping your minds around that thought…………………….keep in mind that it was quite the cheap promotion, if memory serves me correctly it was maybe ten dollars for five or six lessons, anyway, it was something pretty ridiculous.  We didn’t think of this all our own, but were persuaded that it would be a great idea by Mary Ann and Tom, a trustworthy:) couple we know from I.C.  Hey, we thought getting away from the kids for a few hours and then spending some time afterwards with a couple of our peers was a different kind of “date” night.  Besides, if we were with Mary Ann and Tom, Crick and I would have to be on our best behavior and avoid any topics that might lead to a “discussion”!!  LOL  So, as I think back on this “idea”, I am remembering that the dance studio was on North High Street close to Worthington and the studio had this huge picture window through which every single one of the  dance students could be seen by any number of onlookers.  This may explain why, when I remember this one incident in particular, I can picture Crick and I hanging out in the very back of the dance studio in some remote corner!!  The instructor was trying his best to get us both to move in some kind of unison and with at least a sense of direction…………….Crick knew only one direction and that was a circle, and, a rather small circle at that!  I, being the “control” half of our relationship, kept trying to “direct” Crick to step out of the circle and venture into some kind of a…….you know…………… step, two, three……….step, two, three………..step, two, three, but we continued to look kinda’ like this: (only late 20 century version!)

In the end, the instructor finally declared us a lost cause………….I simply could not control my “controlling” and continued to do all of the “leading” while Crick, perhaps not wanting to venture out of his comfort zone in the back of the room, continued to resist my “lead”, and so we ended up just like the antiquated couple in the you tube video………….going round and round and round :).

I can’t believe that I am 1166 words into this blog (yes, WordPress actually totals up my word count) and I still haven’t gotten to the most incredible (well, at least I think so) story that I had initially intended to tell.  I do try to keep these posts under 1200 words, so as not to ramble on and on as is my tendency.  And since Crick isn’t here to “stifle” me, I am trying to do it on my own……….LOL.

Speaking of my “controlling” ways……………….I read this the other day and like the old saying goes, “If the shoe fits, wear it.”

“Seek My face at the beginning of your day.  This practice enables you to “put Me on” and wear Me” throughout the day.  Most people put on clothes soon after arising from bed.  Similarly, the sooner you “put Me on” by communicating with Me, the better prepared you are for whatever comes your way.  To “wear Me” is essentially to have My mind: to think My thoughts.  Ask the Holy Spirit to control your thinking; be transformed by this renewal within you.  Thus you are well equipped to face whatever people and situations I bring your way.  Clothing your mind in Me is your best preparation for each day. This discipline brings Joy and Peace to you and those around you.”        from Jesus Calling

TNT

TGW

P.S.   I am “putting the shoe on” now!!!!

P.P.S.  Presidential election 2012 Countdown Clock | CountingDownTo.com.  Sorry, but the ending had to go with the beginning:)