A Blizzard is on the Way to My House

Right Now	Next 36 Hours

	Tonight	Tomorrow	Tomorrow Night
Mostly Cloudy	Blizzard	Blizzard	Snow / Wind Early
18°F	23°	27°	10°

Here's what's heading our way here in Maine. Keep posted if you like on my "Home Blog".

Live Like You Are Dieing. I Dare Ya

A Dad and His Kid

Yesterday's post about priorities received some great reviews from you, the reader, and I want to thank you for that. Today's post is a companion piece to yesterday's with an even more profound question - what if this were your last Christmas and you knew it? What would you do? I am post this not be depressing, quite the opposite actually. I present this article as a invitation for you to live - to live like you were dieing. It's an invitation from me to you to see the world with the mind of a man (or woman), but view it through the eyes of a child. I invite you to  observe and marvel at simple things. One of my favorite simple things in life is the dragonfly. Sounds a litle goofy, doesn't it? I developed an appreciation for dragonflies many years ago when I went fishing as a child. I delighted in the way they'd just sit on the tip of the fishing pole until they were disturbed. Years later, as a grown man I grew to like the dragonfly even more. When I would walked a mile or two into the woods of East Texas to one of my fishin' holes, I would pitch a plastic worm into the creek and fish it very slowly, occasionally twitching the tip of the rod. Soon, along came Senor Dragonfly to light on the very tip of my fishin' pole. I'd twitch the end of the rod, he'd hover a second or two over it waiting for me to hold still his perch on the tip of the rod. It was a kind of game we'd play until one of us moved on to find what we were looking for. At the next fishin' hole in the creek, I'd meet up with Senor Dragonfly's cousin and the game between us would begin anew, much to both our delights. It was real peaceful in the woods, just me the dragonflies and the Sounds of Nature, the music of God's Creation.

One day soon, I will teach my little girls how to befriend a dragonfly. I will watch them marvel at their new friend and I will marvel at their marveling, all the time thanking God for the Honor of being Issy's and Bailey's Daddy. That's a start to the countdown to my final Christmas. And a damn good start it is.

Read this when you can. The article isn't doom and gloom, so it's not too heavy. It is peppered with questions and what ifs and that it's main goal. To pepper you with those questions and what ifs so you'll exercise the gray matter (no matter how little..  :) ) between your ears. Having said that, the article may bring a tear to your eye as you ponder your response to each question in it. If you get a little "passionate" about your children like I do mine, you'd be best served finding a quiet place to read the post. It's OK to shed a tear or two of happiness, even if your are a big burly SOB. Live like you were dieing. It's cool, man. Because Toby said so.

Priorities

Bill and His Priorities

Every once in a while I'll read something that turns me into an Honest-to-God sap. Especially when it comes to kids. As many of you know, I am the Father of four kids. My two sons are all grown up, Trey has his own children and young Toby just became a Dad to my three newest grand kids when he moved to Colorado to be with his sweetie pie. In addition to my sons, I inherited my first little girl, Isabella, when I moved to Maine. As I like to say, she was a little girl without a Daddy and I was a Daddy without a little girl. It all worked out just right. :) About nine months and two days (almost literally) after I got here, Bailey became the latest member of the Shoemaker Clan. She's now three going on seventeen.

I tell you these things because I came across an article that hit home when I saw it. I am now 54 years old and my mortality enters my thought process from time to time. It's not that I face an early demise, I fully expect to have a long, rewarding life. My life has already been eventful, so I'll settle for long and rewarding these days, but eventful will, I'm sure, pay me a visit every once in a while. I am prepared for that eventuality whenever it decides to happen. Anyway, I found this article about a guy named Bill who was living a normal life and all of the sudden BAM!. He contracted a rare liver disease and soon thereafter, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. Talk about being hit the adversity 2 x 4. In an instant, Bill's life and his priorities changed forever.

I am not going to excerpt the article that I read, rather I am going to link to it and let you read the whole thing. It's a short article, so it won't take but a minute or two to read, but its impact on you could very well be profound. At the very least, it'll get your attention.

Here's the article. Read it when you can and never forget its message.

Because Toby said so. 

"The Blizzard" as Told by Bob Zeller

The Blizzard***

I am going to do something I'd rather not do. Not that I am betraying a trust or anything like that, I still feel a little uneasy about doing it. I am going to share a story with you that I feel needs to be shared - a story of being lost and all of the sudden seeing the beacon of Hope that lets you know that the end of your strife is near. I can't take credit for this story, all due recognition goes to my Blogging Buddy Bob Zeller at Texas Tweeties. This is the kind of miraculous story that we seem to hear a lot at times like Christmas, although it's a great story to be told any time of the year.

Here, in Bob's own words, is a story of Hope:
Your post about all the snow on the streets, etc. reminded me of this story.

This girl was driving at night and got lost. Then she remembered that her Daddy had always told her to just follow a snow-plow and you will always get led to safety.

So soon, she spotted a snowplow and fell in behind it. She followed it for what seemed to her several miles. Finally the plow stopped, the driver got out and came back and rapped on her window. He asked what she was doing. She related what her Daddy had told her to do.

The driver then said, "Hey that's all right with me. When I finish with this Walmart parking lot, I am heading over to the K-mart." :-)

Merry Christmas, Bob!!!  :) Because Toby said so.

***Photo by hugh haas***