9 posts tagged “sarah”
it was Colorfest week end in my town of Thurmont. sorry but i forgot my camera so i don't have any pictures this year.... check out last years post, and it looked just about the same (but cloudier and cool) ... :-)
i drove up to Sarah's house and picked her up about 9 and we went to breakfast. then we hit the streets of Thurmont. as i drove into town there are lots of "parking lots," some of which are actual parking lots, some of which are lawns that people will let you use for a fee. the fee this year was 10 dollars. no way! i said. i live here, i'm not paying to park! so i drove on some side streets and pretty quickly found a parking space 1/2 block from Main St. ha.
Sarah and i walked around town for a few hours looking at all the vendor booths and tents. she was looking for fall decorations for her house, and she found a couple of things. she also got to see her mother there. she was there selling mirrors that she'd decorated. i didn't go up to her table, so i don't know what they really looked like.... but later we went back by that area and i was going to walk up, but she was gone. Sarah found out from someone else there that her mother was frustrated by the wind and that she hadn't sold any mirrors, so she packed up and left early. oh well.....
as ususal the town park and the streets were full of people. the food was good. i didn't buy anything. nothing really appeals to me there, plus i think the prices or what they have is too high. so i don't buy, i just window shop and walk around....
so Sarah got tired of looking at the vendors stuff and wanted to go to yard sales. Thurmont is full of yard sales too, on Colorfest week end. so we had lots to check out.... she picked up some more fall-ish decorations at the yard sales and then we headed back up the mountain to her place and Alex grilled some steaks for us. yum...... we were there for about 5 hours walking around, i'd say.... we ran into a couple people we knew. i saw a guy from work that drove out from Delaware with his wife. i got to catch up with Crystal Picazo, and Ruthann Shaw and Sherry. and i saw Steph and Mike from the old church. they have a pet grooming buisness and were set up with a vendor tent..... i think that's about all the folks i saw that i knew....
Sunday i went back up the mountain to get Sarah again and we went to church. and then lunch with Stefan and Judi. and then a ride on the motorcycle. we rode up to visit with Sean and Laura and the kids.... i was not sure about taking the bike but Sarah wanted to. she thought that it'd be one of the last rides we'd get in before the cold weather hit to stay.... however, it was already pretty chilly on Sunday...... we went by the house and got the bike and suited up with coats and sweat shirts and my leather vest, etc... , but even before i got out of Thurmont, i said that this may not be a good idea. we should go back and get the car.... Sarah wanted to ride up and said so... i said ok, we'd give it a shot. hopefully we wouldn't freeze.... so we hit the road... it was pretty cold on the bike, but not too bad. we got to Hershey and got to see the kids, hold Vencenzo for a bit (he's getting big), and visit, but we didn't stay long. i wanted to get back home before the sun went down because i knew it'd be really cold if we were out in the dark. so the ride home started out ok, but we didn't beat the sun. it went down behind the hills and trees and we were cold.... we laughed about it when we finally got home. it was an experience... fun ride, but cold.... i should get myself a full leather outfit for riding in the colder weather one day.... but i don't usually do that....
so Sarah and i had a pretty active week end together. fun. :-)
the day after Christmas.
Sean and family moved up to Richland, PA so Sarah, Linda and i drove up
to see his clan. it was so nice to have Sarah with me for Christmas and
the day after! i know she was glad too. she hadn't seen her brother for
a couple of years i think...
i had a lovely week end.
i drove up to Richland, PA. on Saturday to see the LaFianza's new place. as always, it was very nice to hang out with Sean, Laura, Eli, Eva, and little "on the way." they have a nice little town house now in a small town about 30 minutes north of Lancaster. while i was there Sean, Eli and i went to get water. natural spring water. from the spring. a neighborly guy who lives up on the top of one of the mountains near by has built a nice turn around drive way off of the roadway, with a running well and spigot in the middle of it. we filled up a bunch of gallon jugs and took them back home. i played with Eva for a while and then we headed down to Lancaster for dinner and some arcade play. that was a good day.
Sunday i went to church and it was All Saints Day. it was a good service with a lot packed in. hymns, sermon, lighting candles for loved ones that have gone home before us, communion.... i've also been going to a Sunday School class before church that i've been enjoying. Pastor Barbara is leading a discussion on "practices of faith." that includes just about everything, really. yesterday we talked about "food," and basically how we relate that to fellowship and honoring God and family with meals. next week's topic: stuff.
driving home with Stefan and Judi, Judi pointed out the colors in the trees up on the mountain. as i drive by the mountains on the way home from work, i kinda look over and see that's it's beautiful, but as Stefan was driving us home on Sunday i was able to look and really notice the fiery, vivid, extravagant colors in the trees this year. it is an especially gorgeous fall this year up in my part of the country. every color in the rainbow glows and blends like God took a giant paint brush and a palette full of piled up colors and made a master piece for Thurmont to enjoy. i was actually thinking that i don't remember a more beautiful fall then this one. and we have some beautiful falls.... so i was really enjoying the drive home from church on Sunday. :-) .... [while i'm kind of on the subject...Maryland is way underrated as a beautiful state. it's definitely top ten in beauty. awesome hills and mountains in the west. beaches on the ocean and bays towards the east. lovely country sides, and very cool cities like Baltimore, Annapolis, Frederick, Ocean City....and the sea food!...]
after church i got home and found Sarah at my door. she came to see me and hang out for a while that afternoon. we took care of some things at the house and on line for her and then went out to lunch at Wendy's. well, i took her out to lunch actually. since i had already eaten something at Proof, a great deli in Frederick, after church. she's doing fine. staying employed, paying her bills... both good things. :-)
after a few hours Sarah took off and went home. and i finished my week end with some local music. i drove back down to Frederick and saw some live music including Aneirin. it was a cd release show so i picked up their new ep; five pretty epic songs that i'll probably review for the Tollbooth soon. the boys put on a great show, as usual! i always have fun at their shows.
i got into bed around 10:30 ready for sleep after a pretty active, pleasant, and fulfilling week end.
my daughter Sarah went to church with me today. i've been going to a Evangelical Reformed United Church of Christ in Frederick. the church has a few buildings down town including a Chapel/Sunday School building, the church building, the church office building, and a building down the street that is multipurpose. we rent out some of it for retail stores and the rest is donated to non-profits, ministries, low/no rent apartments.
i like them...
i think it's pretty cool....
i had a cool dream the other night..... the Rolling Stones asked me to come out on the road with them and play bass. so i went to the rehearsal hall and they had a huge stage set up. so i had my Ovation on as we started practicing, but it turned into an electric guitar as we played. i was standing stage right and Mick was jumping around singing, Charlie was on a drum platform playing, and Keith was stage left. i remember thinking that we were missing Ronnie but i don't know where he was... Keith was watching me and i was watching his hands and guitar learning the song. as i approached him the rest of the band seemed to stop and take a break and Keith turned into Eric Clapton. so now it was me and Eric standing next to each other and he was giving me a private guitar lesson up on a huge stage with our Fender Strats, and large amp stacks behind us. talk about a dream!... so the time with Eric went on for a bit until we were pretty much done with that song. i don't remember if it was an actual song or just some riffs and chords and such.... after that i jumped down off the front of the stage and met up with Sarah, my daughter, who was there. we decided to go bass shopping as i didn't actually own a bass guitar. we got to the music store and were looking at bass guitars... and then the dream was over..................
the winged frog has meaning for me beyond just a cool looking wooden carving that hangs on my ceiling.
i think this winged frog is on the back cover of The Choir record, "Free Flying Soul." i may be wrong about that... but i think so... that record came out in '96 very close to the time i'm going to talk about in this post. Steve Hindalong told me that he still has the frog and it still hangs in his studio. and now, of course, he has the frog with wings tattooed on his arm. cool. (interesting factoid: Free Flying Soul was release by a record company called Tattoo Records)
well, that has nothing to do with my story though.... however to get to my feelings on the flying frog i'll have to go through a bunch of back story. i'll have to go back to a time that was a long, down, confused, devastating, detailed, eventful time, but i'll try to be short. i'll still say a lot, but there will have to be a whole lot i'll leave out... i've never written about these things before, so here goes....
once upon a time in 1995, i had one of the worst days of my life. after 20 years of marriage my wife ran away with all our money and a neighbor's husband, leaving me with a big house and two kids. she slipped out in the middle of the night while i was asleep and the kids were in bed. it was a very stormy July summer night and the loud thunder woke me up while it was still dark in the wee hours of the morning, and i noticed she was not in bed. so i went looking for her in the house, but she wasn't in the house. after much fretting and driving around town, things were starting to fall into place that she had left with another man, someone else's husband...
it was a Sunday morning and i was supposed to lead a Bible study and play worship in church, and my wife was scheduled to sing a special number; so after the sun came up, i had to call the church and let them know that we weren't going to be there because she was gone. i also had to call all of her day-care clients that day and let them know that she had left and the day-care was closed until further notice. one father got mad at me when i called. he asked me what he was supposed to do now, i answered his question with a question, "did you just hear what i said? my wife left me." ...
one of the most painful and ingrained memories i have about that day concerns a 16 year old Sean. i told him in the morning that his mother was gone and i didn't know where she was, but she'd probably be back later so he should go ahead with his plans for the day. he was going out with his girl friend to a picnic or something that day. but when he got home around dinner time, she wasn't back and i had to tell him that i was pretty sure that she'd run off with another man. what happened then is like a movie scene that i can screen in my mind. Sean stood at the hallway with his girl friend when i told him that his mother was gone with another man, he became pale and said, "why?" i said, i didn't know and thats when the news hit him. but it hit him with literal force, not just words, or emotions, the situation hit him with an actual blow. as he lost his breath, he made a sick groan that sounded like nothing i'd heard before and he stumbled back against the wall and almost fell down. but he caught himself, turned and ran to his room. in a few minutes i went back to check on him. he was not well. but thank God, he did recover and became a solid support to me. he helped me so much in those days and beyond.... my daughter was six at the time and didn't quite get it, i suppose. i remember a few days later when i was on the couch still crying and Sarah came near to comfort me and said, "it's alright daddy. i guess since you knew her longer you miss her more than me." ...
it took a few days before my wife called me after she left. at first she was apologetic saying that i was the best man she'd ever known; and that she knew what she was doing was wrong, but she was going to do it anyway... but the phone calls quickly became ugly. she and the boyfriend started to call my house, especially when i was at work or out, and left messages for me. i think i still have a tape of them somewhere. the boyfriend would call me and boast about taking my wife from me. she would call me and say that i was ugly. they left hateful messages full of insults and names. i don't know why they were so mean to me, but they were! i guess they didn't think i was hurt enough... one of the favorite names they'd call me was "a toad," or "a frog." "you're a toad. haha." "you look like a frog." adults?? yep. but during this time God was so close. it was during this time that i came to realize that God is good - all the time! God gifted me with strength and wisdom as he carried me through the next awful weeks and months.
it was while this was going on that i walked into a mall store full of imported odd gifts and knick-knacks and there it was. my eyes locked onto my frog with wings! that frog was flying! God had gifted him with wings of eagles and he could soar above the muddy bog that tried to swallow him. he no longer hit his butt with every step, or hit his nose on every obstacle. he flew above the hills, the valleys, the snakes, predators, and problems. and from up there small people were even smaller. the winged toad was probably not that special, not that pretty, but for me it was profound. maybe i was a frog, but i was a frog that God loved! and i was blessed! i knew that i was gifted with abundant grace; and with wings like eagles to rise above my situation.
i took my flying frog home and hung him above my bed to remind me every morning and every night that i was blessed. God's grace was enough to sustain me. but His grace doesn't just sustain me, it lifts me up over top of the dirt that wants to muddy my vision, and the foxes that want to hurt me.... it's been a long time now since i found him, but he still hangs above me when i climb into bed and pray. and he watches over me as i sleep and dream.
and he still reminds that i'm blessed! :-)
