Today's view from the porch is covered in snow. The sun is shining for the first time since the clouds dropped snowflakes like feathers this week, for days. The thick snow blanket is nearly 11 inches deep, I'm told by our local newspaper.
Many of us are dead sick of winter, but it's now March and the snow won't be here for long. It's three weeks until the first day of spring and next Sunday, we set the clocks forward for spring time. Extra sun at the end of the day will feel very good.
It's been a week that has seen a lot of life. We ordered a class ring this week for The Boy. Class of 2016. And here we go!
Another life moment...My dad lost a classmate this week and when you only had eight in your class, that's kind of saying something. Their friendship is an example of something that seems to be slipping away in our global living these days. It used to be just a given thing that your family and other families in your area knew each other well for generations. It's much more rare today that we live in the same community as our grandparents or even our great-grandparents once did.
My dad and his classmate Glen, are an example. Their parents knew each other, raised families together. Dad and Glen have been friends for nearly 70 years as they have known each other since they started school. And then the next generation gets involved and Glen's daughter Tess and my sister Julie were best friends. I even dated Glen's son for a summer, too. Still good friends. I can come up with several families with whom we have multi-generational relationships.
Here's another. My son's 7th grade band teacher here in Grinnell had a familiar name from my southwest Iowa upbringing, but one doesn't hear the name Sandholm as much in eastern Iowa. We started talking and the next thing you know, his sister and her husband farm my grandparents farm and live on their family homestead in the Nyman/Coburg area. We have many people in common. I've gotten to know Mr. Sandholm's daughter Heidi and I think it is very cool that I have a "new" friend in Grinnell and that our grandmothers were neighbors and friends.
The connections of life weave us together to the generations of the past and between the generations of today. For me, it causes me to simply stop in awe and soak in all in. Don't pass by these little moments that drop around you. They can be easy to miss in the full-on way we live these days. Savor this and enjoy that connection to those generations past. They are a foundation that our lives are built upon. Who could you remember and honor today?
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