Summer time, summer time... yeah, summer time!

Summer is in full swing and I love it! I sit on my couch staring out the picture window looking at the beautiful trees swaying in the gentle breeze. How often do we have an opportunity to appreciate the wonder around us? Not often enough!! It is moments like this that make me reminisce about my childhood and the childhood of my children.

As a child, I remember playing in the hot sun, sweat running down my face and thinking that I could do this forever. The neighborhood I grew up in had SO many kids that there was always someone ready to play. Baseball games erupted in the middle of the quiet suburban street. We played 9 full innings unless the ice cream vendor came during game time. Of course, the 7-up popsicles, sno cones and eskimo pies ALWAYS took priority over any baseball game.

As a mother, I remember watching my daughters play in the backyard. Like their mother, they loved sports; however, baseball was too slow moving for them. Soccer was their passion. These talented girls would orchestrate soccer games that only imaginative children could create. Their antics were so detailed that I could "hear" the crowds cheering them on.

I look forward to being a grandmother and sharing special moments with my grandchildren. I look forward to frolicking in the pool with them, looking for Easter eggs, and falling onto the ground in laughter so intense that we can hardly breath. I look forward to cooking their favorite foods, just like my grandmothers cooked mine, and my daughters' grandmothers cooked theirs.

Summer is such a special season. Enjoy it like you did when you were a child. Life is too short to care what the neighbors think when they see you gleefully screaming as you run through the sprinklers!

Coming up for Air

Well hello again old friend,

Many careers are pursued because of earning potentials, recognition and status. I have found that people working with vulnerable populations are passionate about what they do and have a great deal of compassion. This week, I read a passage in the Bible that repeated "If I.... but have not love....." What a difference love makes! (I Corinthians 13) I see this love in the professionals that work in the field of aging. This is one more reason I am so enthused about working along side these professionals as they bring quality to the lives of precious older adults.

It has been quite some time since I have blogged. It has not been my intention to go so long between blogs, but I have been immersed in an intense discipleship class for the last two months.

What is an intense discipleship class? In essence, it is a two month immersion class for specific biblical topics. Like most immersion classes, you set aside nonessential activities to dedicate this new found time to learning about a specific topic. I have spent the last two months focusing on the life of Jesus.

I took the class to enrich my spiritual life, but my entire life has been enriched by the class. The compassion that Jesus showed throughout His life is now a constant reminder of how important it is for me to show compassion to all with whom I interact. Jesus broke through the gender, socio-economic and racial barriers. He ate with tax collectors. He fed the poor. He valued women. He interacted with people of all ethnic backgrounds. How much better the world would be if all of us would follow His example.

My long term goal is to strive to be as compassionate, non-judging and helpful to my clients as Jesus Christ was to the people with whom He interacted.