Promises of Spring

Since our Mother passed away (she died of Alzheimer's Disease in 2008), my brothers and I promised to continue the tradition of visiting with each other and going out to dinner together every two weeks, just as we had done when she was living. Previous experience, had led me to believe that this promise would be soon broken as most all family traditions had fell to the wayside with both the Kiper Family and the Stewart Family since the death of our Grandparents. With Mama and Daddy both gone, I suspected and feared that my brothers and I would follow the footsteps of most all our aunts and uncles, and only see other at funerals. Thankfully this has not happened, for the most part, as we really try to make this a priority in our lives. Its a shame to admit but it really does require effort to keep such simple traditions alive, for often, I find that there are other things I would actually rather do but I usually go, none-the-less.

Last night was such a case. As we were snowed in for our last meeting, my husband I could not go, and for whatever reason, I remember we did not go the time before that. With the big SEC Basketball Tournaments, my husband has been glued to the television, and we thought about not going last night. I am so glad we did for the first thing Don and Ronnie said when we got there was how glad they were to see me, and they had missed me. At the time, I just laughed it off, and replied "Gosh! Its not been thaaat long." They soon informed me that it had been six weeks since we had last seen each other. Still I really did not think much of it, and we went on to have our nice dinner together, and then went back to Ronnie's house and visited with each other for a little while before we came on home.

On our drive back home, I was enjoying the quiet ride, thinking about all the things I wanted to accomplish as I planned to start my spring cleaning on Monday but I also kept reflecting on the nights events. Their words kept ringing in my ears, "I have missed you! It's been six weeks!", and the smiles and expressions on their faces...well, I can see them even now. I began to feel ashamed for as I was getting ready to go up there, I kept thinking about all the reasons why we ought to just stay home ...we don't have the money to go out so Don will have to pay for the meal again ...Gary and Ronnie will just sit out in the garage and talk their computer junk ...I could get some scrapbook layouts done on my Creative Teams ...my son Matthew & his family could come to our house if we stayed home. Like ripples in the pond when I throw a stone, the list can go on and on but what it really comes down to, I was making excuses to establish a selfish belief that they don't really want us there anyway. I will never think that way again!

My brothers have proven to me time and time again that even though they don't always approve or even like the things I do or the way I act...Heck, sometimes they don't even like the sound of my voice, never mind the stupid things that come out of it! But they will always, always love me! Thank you God for opening my heart and allowing me to cast that stone in the pond once and for all. I am truly blessed with many tender mercies in this spring season.

I really enjoy this time of year. As the dark depressing days of cold and snow exits, the skies get bluer while the sun warms the earth's canvas in preparation for God's paintbrush in colors of promise, hope and rebirth. I love to sit out on my porch swing and witness God's masterful design as the birds start building nests in the outstretched arms of trees dressed in green. The daffodils brightly dance around the yard as the frogs start singing their sweet choruses from the creek. I look forward to the warmer weather and hope the longer days give my family many more opportunities to enjoy all the blessings of God's wondrous masterpiece.

Digital Scrapbook Designer, CathyK Designs has many of her own little masterpieces in her stores at Gotta Pixel and GingerScraps. One such little work is the Down By The Pond Kit by CathyK Designs, a collection perfect for scrapping your pond or lake photos and versatile enough for many other photos, as I have done in the following layouts.