Seasons...

There has been a lot of change going on at home… every time I go home it seems like some visual memories are gone. While I know that is a sign of progress, it’s also a little discomforting. Dad’s side of the closet is now moms, which is a good thing. I am really proud of her for getting to the point that she could clean out those things… and not just get rid of them, but donate them or give them away to others... Daddy would have liked that. Mom is also doing a lot of things to make taking care of the land easier for her. She has had a large shed built to house the camper, trailers, and tractors as well as dug up some large bushes that are hard to maintain. At Mawmaw and Pawpaw’s house, well… I guess it’s just Mawmaw’s now the old fence has been pulled up, bushes pulled up, and Pawpaw’s garage turned workshop is being cleaned out to go from workshop to garage. It’s kind of a hard pillt o swallow that every time I come home things are different… I’m thankful that I was home as my uncle was cleaning out the workshop, because I was able to keep some of the treasures (well, I consider them treasures… memories) from Pawpaw before they were thrown away. You know, maybe that is my problem… I’ve missed out on the cleaning out process… have not been able to get things that remind me of my grandparents… unless they are saved for me by other family members. That’s another sad part about being away from home… not having the opportunity to go through the season of cleaning with the family… physically moving on from the sorrow to progress back to life without our loved ones with us on this earth.

I am on the train as I write this blog… (well, as I write in a word document to be posted later). I thought it would be interesting to take the train back to Birmingham from Hattiesburg. In the hour that I have been on the train, I have seen parts of communities that I have known, but have never seen. The train track follows a similar path to the highway I drive every time I come home… but this journey gives me a new perspective on the drive. Not one of frustration with traffic, but of wonder in wondering where I am… I look out the window and all I see are trees. Green, yellow, orange, and red… and everything is wet today… kind of marshy in some areas. I see a glimpse of a roof, then the station of a small town. A deer stand on a power line (yes, this is South Mississippi), and I hear the muffled sound of the train whistle. It’s all a blur out the window at points… those colors swirling past me as we drive northward. It reminds me of life… today is one of those seasons when I am not in charge. I am on someone else’s train, not as a conductor, but as a passenger. I know my ultimate destination… but am not really sure of the path. Along the way… you make friends (like the sweet Birmingham couple in front of me who are returning from a birthday trip to New Orleans) and get annoyed (like the guy behind me watching a movie on his laptop without headphones). In a lot of ways… the cleaning and purging that are going on at home are like my train ride. I am not there to be a part of it… so I’m just a passenger on the way to progress… where we help some other folks along the way and pray that God will get us to our final destination in good health, with good hearts, and with open minds… because no matter the path… He is in charge.

Ecclesiastes 3
A Time for Everything

1 There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:
2 a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,

3 a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build,

4 a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,

5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,

6 a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away,

7 a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak,

8 a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.

Writing on the train...

The colors of fall passing me by...

Artwork on a train...