Anniversary

Yesterday marked the 27th anniversary of our wedding. Like most couple who mark such milestones we remember what we once looked like and the people who were at our wedding. Some of that number is gone from us now and so we remember them perhaps more vividly. Others like our own children, the very fruit, of our union and who have been and continue to be the focus of our lives seem to have with us since the beginning. That cannot be but it seems that way.

We spent an overnight in Buffalo, New York. Traveling a short 50 miles from our home doesn’t seem like much of a trip yet it provided us with a memorable overnight in the Queen City. We had great accommodations at the Embassy Suites there. A short trip to Niagara Falls last night after a great dinner at our hotel.

This morning we rose early to watch our daughter, Dara compete in the  Buffalo Marathon. She actually competed in the half-marathon. A thirteen mile run in no mean accomplishment and she did it in two hours and two minutes. We were very happy for her. Following the race and checking out of our hotel we traveled across the border to Ft. Erie and then up the Niagara Parkway past the Falls and on to Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON.   Niagara-on-the-Lake was mobbed today and so we only tarried long enough for a couple of tarts and juice. On our return trip on the Parkway we decided to pull off and enjoy the peaceful backdrop of the Niagara River.

There is something about the peaceful and contemplative setting of still waters. Whether I find myself along the Cooper River in South Carolina or the still waters of the Niagara along the Canadian border I return renewed and refreshed.

“he leads me beside the still waters.”

Every wall is a door

It’s been a long time since I wrote anything here, but its not been a long time since I wrote anything. As most college students will attest writing is not a lost art in college and this year in my graduate studies at St. Bonaventure University, I’ve been doing quite a bit of writing and enjoying it too. Next week I start another course and then this summer I’ll be working in an internship. My life has been very busy and I’ve really been too tired to write.

I think often of writing here, but most days I’ve been very tired so my Facebook and Twitter friends have seen much more of me than this blog has. A great deal has changed in a year. I’ve gone from nearly retiring to being fully engaged in teaching and learning and in the process I’ve earned 13 graduate credits at St. Bonaventure with another course to begin next week. Retirement holds no fascination now. I’m fully engaged and eager to keep plugging along.

There is an old expression from Ralph Waldo Emerson, “every wall is a door,” and those words could not have been more prescient in my case.  I have found that what lies beyond the door is not to be feared but to be embraced and while I continue to fear because it seems to be my nature I continue to embrace too.