Animals are such agreeable friends - they ask no questions, they pass no criticisms. -George Eliot

This is such a true and meaningful quote, and as good as any that I could find to begin this post.

A week ago today, on October 1, 09, Calcasieu lost his battle with cancer. His full name was Black Oaks Calcasieu. One day he was playing, jumping, and being himself, then suddenly the next day, he just wanted to lay around. Just being 4 yrs old, we assumed it was something he ate, or some bug that he would quickly recover from, but that was not the case. It turned out he had a highly aggressive form of cancer. We were told that we possibly could have him with us for 2-3 more months, but that was not to be. He died within a few weeks. All the dogs are special - in different ways. He was one of my personal favorites. When he was small, he was ‘chewed up’ pretty bad. He looked like a little dish rag. We gently picked him up and took him to the local Vet who sewed him up. At that same time we had our oldest dog- Apache, a beagle mix at the Vets. She had just had a large football size tumor removed- (thankfully self contained ) We had both dogs in the house, the pup, and old Apache. Apache is not the type of dog to let have the run of the house when you are not looking at her, but Calcasieu- even being a puppy, I never had a problem leaving him when I went to work. When I would go to sleep, it never was long until he would gently slip up beside me and cuddle up to me. I would call him my little sleeping buddy. We took both Calcasieu and Apache to get their stitches out at the same time. Apache was first. She sat there not moving as the Vet removed each stitch, but empathetic Calcasieu-- each time a stitch was removed ftom Apache, Calcasieu would give a little yelp! How I will miss him! We have been blessed to have our dogs as long as we have. Most have been at least 10 plus years when we had to say good bye to them, so Calcasieu being just 4 was a shock.

I appreciate all the friends, who understand the pain of losing a dear pet-- those who said prayers for Calcasieu, those who have prayed for us, after the loss.

It was not lost on me that (as a friend commented on) Calcasieu left us so close to the day when we honor St. Francis, and all the animals that he cared so much about. It was like having an extra amount of comfort from above.

Note: Calcasieu is a Parish in Southern Louisiana. It is pronounces CAL-ca-shu. My daughter named a whole litter of pups after La parishes. Once they went to their new families, they named them what ever they wanted. Calcasieu was the one we kept.

I have been thinking of time, and what it means. Some people seem to be able to do so much and some people so little with their time. I never feel that I get as much done with my time as I should, and I often think-- where did the time go? I always promise myself that I will do better.

How many times my daughter has responded to me with the words, “I don’t have enough time for XX or YY”

Time is a big word.. That is the one thing that each of us has the same amount of each day, the same amount of hours, minutes, and seconds in a day. Time does not discriminate. It doesn’t care how rich or poor you are, it doesn’t care if you are important or not-- we all get the same amount of hrs in a day.

It is the one thing that none of us can ever get back. Once a minute, or an hour is gone, once a day is gone, its gone. What you have done with that time-- is done, you cannot go back and change it. And if a person gives you their undivided attention, gives you their time, that is one of the greatest gifts that a person can give to you.

I have said this about both time and money, but it really is true about time, since we all have the same amount. It isn’t like we can make more hours in a day. Notice what a person has time for and what a person doesn’t have time for and you will know what is important to that person regardless of what they say.

Many times, in people that I am close to, I have heard them say what is important to them, then watched them and saw what was really important to them.

I don’t have time to call Jane, but I do have time to call Ruby. I don’t have time to spend a few hours with my family, but I do have time to spend a whole week-end at a concert, or with friends.

Time can mean different things at different times. If you are in the hospital and a loved one is in surgery, every minute can be like an hour.

If a loved one dies in an accident, one second can be an eternity.

If you are visiting family that’s far away that you rarely get to see, a week long visit can seem like mere minutes.

A year to a 6 yr old seems like a very long time. A year to someone who is 60 doesn’t seem very long.

I do find it puzzling though, to an 18 yr old, everything may not happen fast enough, but to someone 81, they are usually not in that big of a hurry or rush. The young who seem to have all the time in the world are in such a hurry, while the older we get the less in a hurry we are!

Lord, you have blessed us with this time; help us make the most of it. Help us to use the time you have given us to serve and to honor you, in everything we do.

This is from a forward sent to me recently. I think I have seen it before, or something else similar. It says it was written by a man that was 90. My dad turned 90 this year, so that peaked my attention. Each of the 45 life lessons are good ones. Some really hit home with me, and I could make comments in several places, but I will just post this as I received it, giving credit to the author and let it speak to you, as it did me. Some were lessons that I needed now.

Here is the Forward, just as I received it

Written By Regina Brett, 90 years old, of The Plain Dealer, Cleveland , Ohio
To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me.
It is the most requested column I've ever written. My odometer rolled over
to 90 in August, so here is the column once more:

1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.

2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.

3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.

4. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick.
Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch.

5. Pay off your credit cards every month.

6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.

8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.

9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.

10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.

11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.

12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.

13. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey
is all about.

14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.

15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry; God
never blinks.

16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.

17. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.

18. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.

19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood.
But the second one is up to you and no one else.

20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for
an answer.

21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie.
Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.

22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.

23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.

24. The most important sex organ is the brain.

25 No one is in charge of your happiness but you.

26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words 'In five years, will
this matter?'

27 Always choose life.

28. Forgive everyone everything.

29. What other people think of you is none of your business.

30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.

31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

32. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

33. Believe in miracles.

34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did
or didn't do.

35. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.

36. Growing old beats the alternative -- dying young.

37. Your children get only one childhood.

38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.

39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.

40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd
grab ours back.

41. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.

42. The best is yet to come.

43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

44. Yield.

45. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift.

While [the wayward son] was still far off, his father… was filled with compassion.

Luke 15:20

So many times in the last year or two, there have been parents of grown children that have been dealing with problems concerning them, even if the grown children were/ are “good kids”

Maybe I have noticed it more since I am the parent of a grown child. The problems are many and varied.

Parents who are sending off their young adult children to College for the first time away from home. Some dealing with College financing for the first time.

Some are raising their grandchildren for one reason or another.

One young man, that I watched grow up, has 2 young children , and he and his wife are going through a divorce. I am sure his parents are hurting too.

There are young women in bad relationships, some even in dangerous relationships

Some suffer from addictions that they have a hard time leaving.

The list goes on, and in each of these circumstances there are parents who are broken hearted, some hurting with their children, and some hurting because of them.

My daughter had a lot hit her at once, and has had a number of crisis hit her in the last few years, but especially in the last year and a half. It has taken its toll on her, and it has taken its toll on me. Sometimes I have hurt for her, and at times I have been hurt by her. Yes, she is a “good egg”, and I am sure there have been times when she has felt like Humpty Dumpty.

There’s a situation I have tried to settle but have not been able to. It involves another young woman, who at one time I was very fond of, I use to call her ’my other daughter’.

Hard feeling arose, and misunderstandings. I wanted to settled things quickly and for there to be peace again, but that was not to be. I turn it over to God to handle.. And very often God’s time is not our time! We, want everything done… ’yesterday’. We are not fond of waiting, and especially now days when everything seems to be so fast, with computers etc.

During and partly because of this unsettled problem, I called out to God. Do I give up?

I have ask this before, and God would say, ’Don’t give up”, so I didn’t.

This time completely out of steam, and at the end of my rope, I asking God to give me some sort of small sign that he didn’t want me to give up so I could keep going.

That evening I reached into a box of promise cards, with verses on them. I closed my eyes, and picked a card out of the middle. It was the above verse about the wayward son. That was a clear sign. Yes, Don’t give up, but this time I saw it with new eyes!

I noticed what it didn’t say. It didn’t say that the father traveled all over the country looking for his son. It didn’t say that the father repeatedly called the son and tried to

reason with him. It didn’t say the father went and got the son and brought him back.

“While he was far off the father saw him“. The son made the decision to go home. He had walked to his father’s, He was the one that came back, and then his father was there, where he had been all the time, ready to take him back.

His name is David, but to me he is “Little Brother” Each time I say it, I can feel the warmth of the words, and it is me saying “I love you, Little Brother”

Little Brother was/ and is special in that he was born when I was 11, a couple of moths shy of being 12. I doted on him, and loved him, I fed him, changed his diapers, and that was when they had to each be washed out by hand, laundered, and hung on the clothes line (now tell me if that isn’t love?! Lol!)

His middle name is one that I gave him. He often uses it as his name now, and some people only know him by his middle name. That makes me feel good, even though I don’t think I have ever called him just that.

He is a loving man, a good father, and adores his grandchildren, to the point that he pulled up stakes and moved to where they lived just to be near them.

He and his wife took care of our mother (with Alzheimer’s) in their home for as long as they possibly could. I know they sacrificed a lot during those long hard years, especially time. Time when their daughter was young.

The beginning: When my mother was expecting David, she was a Camp Mother. Probably not the best idea, but … She was the “mother” over the girls from our church.. On the last day, when everyone was gone except our little troop, after all the packing, and waiting, my mother was missing. She had fallen in a ravine between 2 hills of the mountain. It was just us girls, and a 16 yr old boy that had worked in the cook house. The 16 yr old boy helped get my mother up the hill though my mother had a broken leg. That is how David was almost born at the church camp.

A few years pass. David is at the same camp. He looks down from the mountain into the valley where the town is. It doesn’t look too far to him, so he decides to walk home. Angels must have been looking after him. Searchers found where he had slept the first night, and a snake track was near. It was a lot farther down the mountain than he had thought. Once a person starts walking in the mountains they can’t always see the city below. Thankfully he was alright when they found him after his ‘big adventure’.

[ A few years after that my brother Tim died in an accident in those same mountains]

David came for a visit, and it was wonderful to get to see him! He now lives about 8 hrs away. That is like a hop and a skip next to how far away he did live. We have never been able to just drop in for a visit with each other. It was a real treat to get to see him, and I am hoping that while he is living that close we will get to see each other fairly often. I would love to spend time with my little grand-nieces and grand nephew!

I think sometimes it is easy to take siblings for granted. One of the blessings that comes from the years of not being able to visit any time I would have liked, is every moment with my brothers, has been precious and I have wanted to soak it up like a sponge.