Stillness in the Air
The neighborhood is still today. No cars reving their engines across the street where some younger fellows tinker on their vehicles. The neighbor’s dog, Peaches, hasn’t been heard today. Peaches usually howls when Bob forgets to let her back in the house. Could this be a sign that 2020 is beginning with less commotion than 2019? Wouldn’t that be great!
I am not a complacent individual. My dander can get up just as the next’s . . . when it strikes near to home or to family. What others may believe or say is none of my business. What has been the usual is that nothing can be said or left without someone coming out of the work work making a big deal about it. How can so many have the time and resources to pick an argument. I do not believe they are sensitive to the issue, they just need to call attention to themselves in fear that they may be forgotten.
Now . . . getting back to the New Year . . . in times past families would get together that perhaps had not had a chance to be together for Christmas. I am recalling Mom and Dad’s sibling coming over for the new year day to visit, perhaps playing several games of cards.
For our family back then, I know one particular new year day, we took advantage of nice temps by bundling up Carrie and Kevin and heading to Beaver Falls to sled on the pasture hills. Orlin’s sister had a huge amount of pasture that was nothing but steep hills for their beef cattle to roam on. In fact, we had such a good time, that later on in the month we invited Elvera’s family to join us. We each packed food and had a picnic in the snowy hills of the pasture. Fun memories of times past.
Whether it was Mom and Dad’s family or if it were my family of my siblings, people don’t gather as they used to. The reality is, is that people need whatever time they can glean to gather fortitude for themselves to meet the next week of a job or of family schedules. I remember the times when Orlin and I both held down jobs and it felt like we were meeting ourselves coming and going. The stillness was gone.
There no longer abounds “stillness.” I miss the stillness that I grew up in. I miss the stillness of the years of raising Carrie and Kevin from the times of their birth going forward. Now . . . those were special years. My prayer is that each and everyone can take time for some stillness so they may have special memories in times to come.
Here on Stuaffer Avenue we are nurturing “stillness.” We cherish the fact that drama is not a part of our days. Rushing through the day is no longer required. Our job is to stay upright, keep moving, respect the health that each of us enjoys so we can continue enjoying watching the world go around . . . even if it is faster than Dennis or I would like.