New Life

Gavin David Bruce Norton

Born on the anniversary of his

Great Grandma Patricia's death,

and named after his Uncle Gavin and Great Grandpa Bruce,

this little guy has already stolen every heart in sight.

Not long after his birth, Lincoln and I walked

out to see Uncle Gavin's pine,

the one he planted

only a few days before his death.

It has recently sprouted a new

little sapling. I imagine it comes in honor of this new life just begun.

See how the larger tree lovingly bends to hover over it's little charge.

My life is swollen with miracles.

Am I Really Looking?

Dad and I found this seagull kite in Sedona last fall and bought it for Uncle Bart. The first thing he did after we gave it to him was take it out and attach it to his golf cart.  At first, the little seagull dipped and twisted like a drunken sailor and we laughed and laughed as the neighbors drove past or stood in their driveways and shook their heads.  Later, he went out again and drove up and down the street in front of the house so Gretchen could take a picture of Jonathan to send me.  He really made sure we knew how much he loved this silly gift.  Now that he's gone, I'm cherishing this memory of my brother's good heart.

It's funny, it's often not until after a person is gone, that we come to fully appreciate the little things they did in a way we never quite got around to while they were alive and here with us.  Why do we wait until they die to realize how precious they really were?  What are we waiting for?

Today, I'm wondering what kinds of things I might be forgetting to appreciate in the people I love.  Am I remembering to really look?  Do I have eyes that see?
Thornton Wilder captured it well in Emily's cry as she tried to re-experience the joy of  her twelfth birthday from the other side of the veil, 

 " Oh earth, you're too wonderful for anyone to realize you . . .

 Do human beings ever realize life while they live it?"

All is well.

The following is the best Mother's Day gift I ever could have received--from the best daughter I ever could have imagined.  I am so blessed.  So blessed.

Dear Mom,

I'm breaking my "no posts on Sunday" rule for you on this very significant day. It is Mother's Day, yes, but more significantly it's the first such day you have spent without your sweet little boy. I know that he is thinking of you today and longing to be near you just as you long to be near him.

If I may be so bold as to speak for a moment in his behalf:

Dear Mom,

Hi Mom! Thank you for being so wonderful! There could not have been a better mother for Natty and I than you. We both feel so blessed to have you. You gave us your whole heart in everything, and always. What an angel mother you are. I know you miss me today mommy, I miss you too, but remember where I am and all the wonderful things that I'm doing. Remember how happy I am. Remember that I'll see you soon, and mostly, remember that I love you sooooooooooooo much. Ooooh I love you! I am nearer than you know. I walk beside you in the sunshine and I dance with you through the wind. I am forever your little boy, and I love you.


Mom, I'll see you sooner than you know.
Happy Mother's Day!!

Yours forever,
Gavin
AKA: Gavin Son, Gavtron, Gaver Dave, Gabbie, Gavzilla, Venus. . .Unkie

PS. "You're so bamboo tops!"

Mom, we do love you, Gavin and I. So much more than you could ever know. We will all be together again very soon. Thank you for always giving yourself to us completely. Thank you for teaching us to work and to play, to love and to forgive and to accept others unconditionally. Thank you for teaching us to be independent and strong but mostly thank you for teaching us to be humble and for teaching us about He on whom we should rely for all things. . .

We couldn't have asked for anything better, not in our wildest dreams.

I love you Mom!
Happy Happy Mother's Day!
xoxo,
Nat

I love you so much, Natty Gann.  

I couldn't get through this without you.  

You are my angel.

All you need is love

Gavin and I met this peaceful vision of a soul amid the ruins in the main temple at Angkor Wat, Seim Reap, Cambodia. It was June of 2005, just 2 years before his death. We were awed by her pure joy and beauty, deeply moved by the love she radiated.  She doesn't own a cell phone or a credit card or a car or a checking account. She was barefoot; we later wondered if she even owned a pair of shoes. We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering through those ancient ruins, wet from the weight of the Cambodian sun, smiling and singing All You Need is Love. It was one of the very best days of my life.  

Trailing clouds of glory

Look who just dropped in from Heaven.
Have you ever seen a more exquisite little girl? Just check out that perfect little cupid's bow mouth and her porcelain cream skin. At only 3 days old, this angel baby is already cover girl worthy. 

Bridget Claire, we are so happy to see your precious little face!  Its going to be such a joy to watch you grow!  We're ALL, already smitten.  

Bridget Claire Steen

April 20, 2008   11:07 p.m.

6 lbs 11 oz.   19 inches

Exhausted, Joyous Momma: Kelly Steen

Head-over-heels in love Daddy: Thomas Steen

Congratulations guys! Nice work!

A room with a view

A good, solid eclipse can be a consciousness altering event, and yes, even without any drugs. In fact, if I were Queen of the World, I would declare that every person ever born should be given the opportunity to experience one Total Lunar Eclipse at least once in his or her lifetime. 

I watched my first lunar eclipse on a warm June night on the shores of Lake Powell, in the apricot sandstone desert of southern Utah. (Man, I wish that place was still a secret.) Greg and I were snuggled up with the kids; Natalie was 15 and Gavin, 11. We'd just finished burning marsmallows for s'mores and had moved away from the circle of firelight and into the desert night to better see the show. We sat and laughed waiting for it to start. The moon hung silver and low in a pristine sky, and the earth gradually began to cast her silhouette across its face. As the shadow advanced, the moon slowly began to lose her usual flat, communion-disk face, and suddenly, in the slip of a moment, she transformed into a perfect, ripe, glowing orb.  My breath stopped.  I was, in that moment, split-infinitive fully-body HIT with the clear, raw awareness that I was sitting on A PLANET! and, I was watching that planet's shadow pass across another PLANET! and all of us - me, my husband, my kids, the sleeping bags, the left-over s'mores, the sand, campfire, lake, Earth, moon - were all sailing together through outer SPACE! For a moment I felt like I needed to HANG ON! Oh, my gosh, this was such a . . . uh . . . such a . . . I regained my composure, and pulled the kids close, ready to whisper, I don't know, something profound, when suddenly Natalie jumped up and stretched. "Well, that was pretty cool, but I have to pee." 

Here's the skinny: Welcome to planet Earth. Its a beautiful place. One night while you're here, be sure to step outside and enjoy the view. Like Natalie says, its pretty cool.

"Lunar Eclipse" Photographer: David Holland  As found on: Space.com  Shot with Vixen Refractor, Mount: Orlon Atlas, Camera: Fuji S2 Pro, Software: PhotoShop

Freedom to see miracles

Sarvey Wildlife Center 

Meet Freedom and her BFF Jeff Guidry. Freedom, who by all accounts shouldn't be alive today, lives at the Sarvey Wildlife Center,  an extraordinary animal rescue sanctuary in Arlington, Washington, where she and Jeff have worked together for the last 10 years.  Their story is a sweet one. One that I'd even venture to call a miracle.

A miracle? I know, I know. As we watch the news, read the paper, or even listen to the catty gossip around the water cooler, it's pretty tough to believe in miracles in our day. In fact, it's very easy to believe instead, that the world is going to hell in a hand basket and we're all destined to be either crispy or drowned before next Wednesday, but here's the skinny: There are places like Sarvey Wildlife Center, people like Jeff, and miracles like Freedom all around us. There are miracles in our children's faces and voices.  There are miracles in the stories you'll hear if you'll only take a moment to really listen to your grandmother or your Uncle Phil. Miracles in your garden right now as spring begins to coax new life from the earth.  If we'll just turn off the news, put down the paper, stop listening to all the whining out there, and allow ourselves to develop eyes to see, we'll discover that we live in a world filled with miracles. All we have to do is slow down a bit, open our our eyes to see and our hearts to celebrate. Give it a shot; you're gonna start finding miracles at every turn.  Here's a good one to get you started.

  

From Jeff Guidry's story:

Freedom and I have been together 10 years this summer.  She's my baby. When she came in she couldn't stand; both wings were broken, she was emaciated and covered in lice.  We made the decision to give her a chance at life . . . From then on, I was always around her.  We had her in a huge [topless] dog carrier, loaded up with shredded newspaper for her to lay in.  I used to sit and talk to her, urging her to live, to fight, and she would lay there looking at me with those big brown eyes. We had to tube feed her for weeks.

[After 4-6 weeks] she still couldn't stand . . . [and] the decision was made to euthanize her if she couldn't stand within a week. You know you don't want to cross that line between torture and rehab, and it looked like death was winning.  She was going to be put down that Friday, and I was supposed to come in on Thursday afternoon.  I didn't want to go to the center that Thursday, because I couldn't bear the thought of her being euthanized. But I went anyway, and when I walked in everyone was grinning. . . I went immediately back to her dowl cage, and there she was, standing on her own, a big, beautiful eagle. She was ready to live . . . 

We knew she would never fly, so the director ask me to glove train her.  I got her used to the glove, then to the jesses, and we started doing education programs for schools in western Washington. We wound up in the newspapers, radio, and even some TV. 

[Then], in the spring of 2000, I was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.  I had stage 3, which is not good (one major organ, plus everywhere). I wound up doing 8 months of chemo. Lost the hair, the whole bit. I missed a lot of work. When I felt good enough, I would go to Sarvey and take Freedom out for walks. Freedom would also come to me in my dreams and help me fight the cancer. This happened time and time again.

Fast forward to November 2000, the day after Thanksgiving. I went in for my last checkup. [I'd been] told that if the cancer was not all gone after eight rounds of chemo, my last option was a stem-cell transplant.  They did the tests, and I [went back on] Monday for the results. . . . The cancer was gone! 

The first thing I did was get up to Sarvey and take the big girl out for a walk. It was misty and cold. I went to her flight and jessed her up, and we went out front to the top of the hill.  I hadn't said a word to Freedom, but somehow she knew. She looked at me and wrapped both her wings around me to where I could feel them pressing in on my back. I was engulfed in eagle wings. She touched my nose with her beak and stared into my eyes, and we just stood there like that for I don't know how long. . .

You can email Jeff: jeff@sarveywildlife.org  Sounds like Freedom doesn't need email. (Now there's an aphorism for you.)