Go, Chiefs! (Or is it Cowboys?)

Christian is in his third year of soccer!  Here he is racing after the ball with Tyler in front (Tanya's son). 

"We lost again, Mom!"  "Don't worry, you're trying your best," his Mom and Dad assure him. 

Gaby and Jojo took a nice long walk around the park with Tanya's other boys, Cameron and Danny. 

Beannachtam na Feile Padraig!

We drink to your coffin. May it be built from the wood

of a hundred year old oak tree

that I shall plant tomorrow.

It's Saint Patty's day, so it also means that we celebrate Aunt Patsy's birthday.  AFTER we returned from lunch, but BEFORE we could dig into the cake, Grampa and Mike set up Patsy's new table.  Grandma G.G., who has such a sweet tooth, kept asking, "When are we going to have cake?  The table can wait!" 

The boys kept staring at the luscious cream cheese cake with chocolate icing Yours Truly made.  And they put two candles on the cake.  "She's 65?!" Christian exclaimed.  "Wow!" 

The ladies were all decked out in green.  Aunt Patsy posed with Grandma G.G. and Aunt Tonie.

The boys wanted to blow out their own candles when they received their piece of deli-cio-so cake.

Happy birthday, Aunt Patsy!  Although the family celebrated with her this past weekend, today is spent bingo-ing and lunch-ing with her friends.

May you have all the happiness

and luck that life can hold—

And at the end of all your rainbows

may you find a pot of gold.

Life's Journey

Last month my Great-Uncle Frank, my grandma's brother, passed away after having suffered for many years with Parkinson's-like symptoms.  To be honest, I did not know him very well, even though we lived in the same town for most of my life.  But I saw my cousins, his children, rally around their father. But especially, I saw how Aunt Loretta dedicated herself to staying by his side, even with all the round-the-clock nursing care they had. 

Funerals and weddings are the two occasions in which our family gathers.  In a strange way, the reunion with everyone last month was joyous, and some of us commented how we regretted that our families only see each other during these times.  Within families, there are often many regrets.

My dad gave the moving eulogy.  Something he said struck me: "...sometimes God, in His infinite Divine Mercy, elects to choose a Victim Soul – a soul who will participate in the redemptive process of atonement begun on Calvary to expiate flaws in him, his family, his community, his nation, the whole world. Frank answered this call with an embrace: without complaint and with immense faith and humility and dignity. We owe Frank a lot."

Sometimes we don't know where the road of life will lead to.  As we wait for a job to come through for Mike, we wonder where will we end up?  Will we stay or will we continue down another path?

The sky's the limit. And I'm (almost) at peace.