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Just dropping in again to relax and by reading through the pages here, refresh my memory that people need not agree on all matters and can still sit side by side in a peaceful circle. to walk side by side requires of us to only drop our burdens of malice and prejudice and learn they are unnecessary loads we need not carry.
May we all enter this new year with our needless load left on the wayside. may our hand be always empty of weapons and never clenched in a fist, but be left open to freely give or accept friendship. Each person we meet is a good teacher if we listen, let us always be good students and keep our ears open, may we all have the wisdom to know, we can learn from the person sitting along side us.
Some times I hate this season. It is so filled with joy and happiness and gift giving and carols. Last week I attended the memorial service of someone I thought I would have forever to visit, share with, laugh with, party with.....it was not to be.
About 6 years ago my ex married a man who was fun. He and my ex-wife stepped up and took my grandkids into their life to provide the stability that they needed. He was strict, he had humor, he had love in his heart. He did have some health problems but again I thought I had a lot of time to share, to visit, to party with............today he passed over.
I know it isn't the fault of the season. It is coincidental. But I am so tired of death and dying. I am so wishing the season was over.
Some times I hate this season. It is so filled with joy and happiness and gift giving and carols. Last week I attended the memorial service of someone I thought I would have forever to visit, share with, laugh with, party with.....it was not to be.
About 6 years ago my ex married a man who was fun. He and my ex-wife stepped up and took my grandkids into their life to provide the stability that they needed. He was strict, he had humor, he had love in his heart. He did have some health problems but again I thought I had a lot of time to share, to visit, to party with............today he passed over.
I know it isn't the fault of the season. It is coincidental. But I am so tired of death and dying. I am so wishing the season was over.
Your story here and other stories such as yours that I have heard or experienced in the past always reminds me of this song.
The beginning of a New Year. January: Cold Moon Unolvtani.
This time of the season is a time for personal and ritual observance, fasting and personal purification. During this season, families prepare for the coming of the new season, starting in Windy Moon Anuyi or March. Personal items and tools for planting are repaired, and new ones made. Stories about ancestors and the family are imparted to the younger ones by the Elders. A mid-Winter or "Cold Moon Dance" is usually held in the community as well, marking the passing or ending of one cycle of seasons and welcoming the beginning of the new cycle. Hearth fires were put out and new ones made. The putting out of Fires and lighting of new ones anciently is the duty of certain " priest" of certain clans, and coincides with the first new-arrival of the morning star (Sun's daughter, now called Venus) in the east.
I had a fun New Year Day. My 9 year old grandson went deer hunting with me. He's been asking quite a bit to go, so this year he went. Trouble is, he thought hunting was something that goes like this: Get out of the truck, walk 50 yards, see a deer, and pull a trigger. the next step is having a venison dinner.
So off we went. Walked to the back of the farm onto the Corps (Corps of Engineer) land leading to the lake, found a meadow where they would typically be found....I've seen a lot of sign in the area...........found a wood pile to shelter us from the breeze, sat down and got comfortable, then admonished him that we had to listen for the deer. We don't look for them, we listen for them. that means we don't talk. We don't stand up and stretch, we don't look around, every noise you hear needs to be identified. You must listen. Fairly simple, eh? Try telling a 9 year old boy to sit still and not talk. This is a kid who is accustomed to sitting in front of a screen and playing action games. It was a pleasant time in the woods. Except for incessant "Did you hear that grandpa?" Or the "When do the deer come by?" Or "How long are we going to sit here?" Or "Do you think we should go somewhere else?" So, from about 5:30 or 6:00 to about 9:30 in the morning I got to listen both to the woods and to the chatter from a 9 year old. Some day he will learn patience........I know I did. Just not at 9. but my grandfather started me in the same way. Life can be good, you know. In reviewing the losses I've encountered this year and experiencing the passing on of a tradition to another generation I think I have experienced the complete cycle in a matter of weeks. And for the first time since Kevin passed, I feel comforted.
I had a fun New Year Day. My 9 year old grandson went deer hunting with me. He's been asking quite a bit to go, so this year he went. Trouble is, he thought hunting was something that goes like this: Get out of the truck, walk 50 yards, see a deer, and pull a trigger. the next step is having a venison dinner.
So off we went. Walked to the back of the farm onto the Corps (Corps of Engineer) land leading to the lake, found a meadow where they would typically be found....I've seen a lot of sign in the area...........found a wood pile to shelter us from the breeze, sat down and got comfortable, then admonished him that we had to listen for the deer. We don't look for them, we listen for them. that means we don't talk. We don't stand up and stretch, we don't look around, every noise you hear needs to be identified. You must listen. Fairly simple, eh? Try telling a 9 year old boy to sit still and not talk. This is a kid who is accustomed to sitting in front of a screen and playing action games. It was a pleasant time in the woods. Except for incessant "Did you hear that grandpa?" Or the "When do the deer come by?" Or "How long are we going to sit here?" Or "Do you think we should go somewhere else?" So, from about 5:30 or 6:00 to about 9:30 in the morning I got to listen both to the woods and to the chatter from a 9 year old. Some day he will learn patience........I know I did. Just not at 9. but my grandfather started me in the same way. Life can be good, you know. In reviewing the losses I've encountered this year and experiencing the passing on of a tradition to another generation I think I have experienced the complete cycle in a matter of weeks. And for the first time since Kevin passed, I feel comforted.
Life is a good gift. Something we should cherish for the time we have it. But like all things it is just a temporary moment and the cycle goes on. Eventually we reach the point of understanding that life and birth are simply opposite sides of the same coin. Both are a part of life and as such part of the cycle.
It is when we look into the eyes of a child we get a glimpse of the cycle. At that moment we can say "Life is Good" all will unfold as it is supposed to and there will always be a future. A child is a window into the future. We need not be part of it to enjoy it, but we can have an impact on it just by teaching one thing to one child.
Could I borrow your 9 year old grandson to teach me how to use my new phone? lol I am baffled by the droid, and do I need such a thing?
Glad to hear of your hunting adventure, I could picture the whole thing and I laughed. Alot of my deer stories start out :We drove out to a good spot, woke from a nap and shot the deer. We did use the cable van once...dont tell...lol must have looked suspicious though, a cable tv van roaming the deep woods for an outage. A babys got to do what a babys got to do when you have to get meat to the freezer.
My youngest baby turned 21 yesterday. Time slipped by so fast with that one. She is still in college, by a thread. I pray she wont have to struggle so hard to survive. She is a mountain woman no doubt, she wears flip flops year round lol. She went hunting with us when she was 3, and she remembers all the 6 kids bunched up in the van staying a distance from the tick ridden deer we had to harness into a ball to get it in to get it home. It was and it wasnt very funny at the time )
I had a rough time this season, thinking of Molly, my Border Collie that I lost in May, I cried alot, and had a great lump in my throat for weeks. I suppose I had to let go all that I had suppressed when she died. I didnt finish grieving I guess, I dont know. I love Mickey, she is however, the biter of the brood, and I just am exhausted of trying to get her to stop. She goes fast after my skin, and has bitten punture wounds every day since I got her, 5 weeks ago. My hands are shredded. I have to wear gloves so she wont reopen the wounds, but the biting seems to be her way of loving. I hope I can break her of that, my grandkids wont be able to be around her if she cant stop. Any advice is welcomed...
Peace.
I have never really liked this song - it always seemed so sad. This is the nicest and most spirit-filled version I have ever heard. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
I had a fun New Year Day. My 9 year old grandson went deer hunting with me. He's been asking quite a bit to go, so this year he went. Trouble is, he thought hunting was something that goes like this: Get out of the truck, walk 50 yards, see a deer, and pull a trigger. the next step is having a venison dinner.
So off we went. Walked to the back of the farm onto the Corps (Corps of Engineer) land leading to the lake, found a meadow where they would typically be found....I've seen a lot of sign in the area...........found a wood pile to shelter us from the breeze, sat down and got comfortable, then admonished him that we had to listen for the deer. We don't look for them, we listen for them. that means we don't talk. We don't stand up and stretch, we don't look around, every noise you hear needs to be identified. You must listen. Fairly simple, eh? Try telling a 9 year old boy to sit still and not talk. This is a kid who is accustomed to sitting in front of a screen and playing action games. It was a pleasant time in the woods. Except for incessant "Did you hear that grandpa?" Or the "When do the deer come by?" Or "How long are we going to sit here?" Or "Do you think we should go somewhere else?" So, from about 5:30 or 6:00 to about 9:30 in the morning I got to listen both to the woods and to the chatter from a 9 year old. Some day he will learn patience........I know I did. Just not at 9. but my grandfather started me in the same way. Life can be good, you know. In reviewing the losses I've encountered this year and experiencing the passing on of a tradition to another generation I think I have experienced the complete cycle in a matter of weeks. And for the first time since Kevin passed, I feel comforted.
I had to smile at this too. I can picture your morning with your grandson and his chatter.
I think my ex-husband believed as your grandson - especially since most of his Army buddies had venison in the freezer. He went hunting one time and didn't talk about it when he got home other than to say he never saw a deer, much less had the opportunity to shoot one. We both grew up in an urban/suburban environment and hunting was very far removed from our lives.
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