The Birds Are Back

Debi Kabisch - My Guardian Angel Nurse

What a time for me! What a time for Laura! I’m getting to see them again and enjoying every moment and she is seeing them for the first time as a potential meal. Last summer she was merely curious – this summer we need to watch her.

I can’t wait for all the new signs of continued life I’ll be seeing during the next few weeks. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to re-find my backside and then get off it and around to enjoy the beauty that surrounds us. Kris and I keep promising ourselves that we’ll spend more time at Nisqually. I really want to get serious about taking pictures and then following up with watercolor. The year before last I got a lot of pictures of some deer. One night - Bill Bettyas and I went down to Nisqually just take pictures. We took a poor evening - lots of pictures - and I came away with one of the barn with a storm brewing over it that I’m very happy with just that one.

Sometimes we want everything to go our way, but that’s not the way it works. Even great artists have huge wastepaper baskets. Once you change your audience from others being happy with your work - to simply you being happy with it - you have reached the doable. Most of the stuff I have hanging from walls you would have probably hid it, but for me – it represents something new – something I gave a shot to – something I invested a lot of time into and got a lot of personal reward out of. If I would be completely lucky – maybe one other person might also get some pleasure out of it. It doesn’t represent my weakness, but rather my strength. I’m a very limited human being, but that’s okay because God still loves me despite - if not because of - my inadequacies. I’ll never be a Johnny Unitas, but I sure had fun throwing a football, and I’m glad I gave it a shot. Only a fool really thinks there can be two Johnny Unitas’s.

The birds are back and as I look out the window I would almost think some of the warmth of summer is also lingering around out there. My praying continues to move from the finality of something to the beginning of something else - from the end of life to the renewal of new life. I don’t know where (I must have been sleeping) the word death disappeared from our vocabulary, but please don’t hesitate to use it in my regard. I will die, but I will more fully live the beginning of my new life. I’m not waiting for a space vehicle, but a smile from the Father, the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the companionship of Jesus Christ. When the birds are all back I’m hoping that my spirit will be fully alive no matter what the state of my body.

As I wait for the doctor’s guidance this week as to the new strategy, cross your fingers and pray for all those who have asked for those prayers. Have a great week and look for the birds. They are out there, and they are worth the look.