1. Oh My Father
Happy Father's Day to my dad! I have always known he loves me almost unreasonably. That is a gift of surety not everyone has. I went through some old pictures this week and found some of my young parents with small kids. These were from my blessing day, which happened in New Mexico. Maybe at a reunion? I liked them because I relate to this stage of life and I think my dad looks so handsome. Trying to do everything right, trying to keep everyone happy, and mostly succeeding. But it is hard work! And I would surely have the expression Mom has on her face if I were the one standing there. I often see her not ready for the camera and think she looks like me. When she looks all ready and glamorous, she looks like Paige.
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| My dad holding me, Grandpa Joseph Nielson, Roy Buhler, and I didn't know the guy I cut off. I'm loving the earth tones. |
2. The Soul's Sincere Desire.
This weekend Alan and I had an unusal date. Kansas City has a stark racial divide that was started and perpetuated by racially restrictive housing covenants. The red line below is called Troost Avenue and is often studied and known as the Troost Wall. Although I generally knew about the racial segregation here before this, I didn't know the extent or history of it till this week. The picture below shows data from the 2010 census. Green dots are groups of 25 Black people. Blue dots are groups of 25 White people. Area churches gathered on the evening of Juneteenth to pray for healing the divide, and we were there. We wore masks and stood socially distanced on the East side of Troost and prayed a bit and waved back to exuberant people in cars driving by honking and waving and showing peace signs and raised fists. The human prayer chain seemed to go the whole 10 miles of Troost. It was wonderful to see and be a part of.
3. Grateful Praise
Other things that felt like blessings this week: summer flowers in full bloom, play dates at the park, a zoom visit with my Texas walking gals, seeing a doctor who thought my pelvic varicose veins could be treated, and celebrating Father's Day with the excellent father of my children. We had a fun breakfast party with lox and bagels and presents, two family walks and grilled bugers followed by brownies and ice cream.
And this girl! I'm so excited to go back to see her this next week!
Your remarks about pictures of Mom made me laugh out loud! You are so funny. When I saw it I didn't think, "Oh, that looks like Heather." I thought, "That's a bad picture of Mom."
ReplyDeleteI'm so impressed with your date with Alan! Interesting (and sobering) to learn about the Troost Wall. What a memorable experience.
Your spring flowers are so beautiful and you even get them in your own yard!
Love that precious little Juliet for all of us. We are all enchanted with her already.
Fifth try to make this comment. GRAND! Leaving quick.
ReplyDeleteFun picture of your parents and I agree with Kirsta, I thought poor Aunt Patty got caught at a bad moment. But maybe you are like me and feel like you get caught at bad moments a lot in pictures like I do?
ReplyDeleteWhat a memorable date. So interesting to find out about that divide and neat that you got to participate in hopefully the beginning of healing.
Your flowers and kitties and kiddies are all great! So excited you get to visit Juliet again! Sending lots of love to you and all your great people!