My Heart Hurts

No, it's not angina after my bike ride yesterday, but thanks for being concerned.  It's something silly and trivial and yet big and hurtful.

Today when we pulled into the parking lot at the Fencing Academy, there was a big fat robin sitting along the curb where the cars nose in.  I even remarked, "look how FAT that one is!"  As I slowly pulled up, I expected it to fly away.  It hopped a little bit towards another car, but it didn't fly.  That was my first clue.

I waited until it moved away and after I parked I got out and went to look at the bird.  Up close it was clear that it was big and fat because it was seriously injured and was holding itself all fluffed up.  Because we are owned by a bird, I know that is the "stressed" position.  Peering closer, I could see its eyes were cloudy.  More telling, it didn't fly off or try to move away at all.

My daughter asked me to call some Wildlife Rehabilitators so they could take care of it. That's why I got the iPhone, right?  So I could look up things like that and make phone calls at important times?  But every place that showed up on the list in the surrounding area dealt with injured raptors. Robins are not on the list of birds that Rehab places want to use their scarce resources on.  I told her to go in to class and I'd think about what next to do. By then the robin had hopped up onto the sidewalk.  As the students went in and out, they walked within inches of the bird and it didn't move. Most looked down at it, but no one stopped.

I needed to go to run an errand, so I told myself that if the robin was still there when I got back, I'd try a little harder to come up with an idea. When I returned, the bird was gone. My hope is that someone else took pity on it and did something useful or merciful, but I really don't know what happened.  I walked around a bit outside looking for it or a corpse, but didn't see anything.

Across the parking lot I did see some fledglings trying out their flying skills, and I imagine that is what happen to this one. Perhaps it zigged when it should have zagged. Better that it would have been killed outright though.

I know God makes plenty of robins, and one more or less will not endanger the population. And I know that animals get injured and sick and many die, especially wild ones who don't have humans to spend increasingly obnoxious amounts of money on them. What bothered me about this, and what still bothers me, is that the bird was so obviously suffering.

What bothered me more is that I did not have a clue what to do about it. This wasn't one of those situations where I could put money in a bucket or make a paypal donation to let someone else alleviate the suffering of a creature. I really, really hate to see animals suffering -- even if it's just a spider!

And then I started wondering.  If some of those children with huge eyes and distended bellies were actually in the parking lot of someplace I frequent, rather than in photographs, what would I do?

Last night, we watched The Blind Side. This is the remarkable story about a woman who couldn't stand to see a young man suffering so she did something about it. If you haven't seen it, you need to get it from Netflix. Don't be put off by the football player on it -- it's a true story of one of today's NFL players, Michael Oher.

I really need to spend some time in prayer about this who issue of how I should be responding to suffering around me. You see, I get impatient with people who seem to lean into their suffering. Or those who complain about their suffering constantly. I am much more drawn to those stoics -- like the robin -- who are carrying their pain silently as they just try to get through the next five minutes.

In the meantime, I know that Jesus asked,

"Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care." Matthew 10:29


I'm pretty sure that includes robins as well.

Be kind to one another today. And be particularly kind to the small ones amongst us.

Perfect Riding Weather

I was to meet a friend for lunch at Silver Diner at 11, so I got on the bike at 9:30 -- just to be safe.  What a perfect day for a ride.  It is just cool enough to be comfortable in bike shorts with a windbreaker jacket. My ears were even a little bit cold when I had some downhill speed!

It was 4.1 miles there and 4.1 miles back, and I had a salad with salmon.  But will my daughter give me any Easter candy?  Ha ha

Here are some photos of the ride.

My neighbor's azaleas -- the photo does not do them justice!

This tree was HUGE

Doesn't that look like an invitation to another world?

Irises at Silver Diner


HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!

School Lunches

I read a story yesterday about a school in Chicago that has banned home-packed lunches.  The children MUST take the lunches served at the school.  Here's the story:  SCHOOL LUNCH  I think the photo is eloquent.

The first eight years of my daughter's and five years of my son's education, they attended a school that did not have a cafeteria service, so school lunches were the ONLY option.  On occasion my son spoke enviously of friends whose moms brought fast food to them. I asked the principal about it and she said it was an occasional treat when that mom was pulling "lunch" duty.  That made sense to me.  If I had to take my children out for an appointment, I would similarly treat them to something exceptional like fast food. (Especially milk shakes).

But, because I packed lunches for years, I'm pretty familiar with what's available and what they will eat. Fortunately, mine are NOT picky.  They are both hungry by the time lunch rolls around, so if I pack it, they eat it.  Of course, they occasionally trade for food (strictly prohibited at their schools but I'm not stupid).

So, if the locals were to ban my kids' packed lunches, this is what they would be telling my kids wasn't "good enough."

Daughter:
Deli Meat (usually ham) w/dot of mayo and bigger dot of horseradish on wheat bread
Slices of red or orange bell peppers (she loves them) or edamame or celery
An apple, orange slices or grapes
Milk (those little long shelf-life ones)
Yogurt (if we have it) or a treat (this week it's two pieces of Easter candy. Small pieces.  I send two because she always has a friend who needs a lift)
Often, pieces of seaweed.  She loves it.

Son
PBJ on wheat (used to be Sun Butter) x 2 (he's nearly 6 feet tall)
Orange slices or grapes
String Cheese or Hard Boiled Egg or both, depending on late his lunch is that day
Milk
Yogurt (if we have it) or a treat (this week it's two pieces of Easter candy. Small pieces.  I send two because he is the horse trader in the family. And he only gets a treat if he makes time to practice his trumpet before he goes to school. But I'm not legalistic about it.  Today he skated.)

Sometimes they get those small packages of Pringles or a handful of crackers of some kind. But we buy those very infrequently.

Interestingly, my son says the item that is the most 'high value' for trading is milk.  The water fountains are too far away, and kids hate carrying water bottles, so by lunch time they are desperate for liquids.  He also says the only kid he knows who brings soda consistently belongs to a teacher.  Whoops!  They can purchase bottled water (courtesy of the school system with its own logo) for $1.25 each.

You might notice my son doesn't take a vegetable. The easy one to take is carrots, but they make his mouth tingle.  At dinner however, I try to make sure he eats twice as many vegetables as anyone else.  And we ALWAYS have a salad at dinner and they ALWAYS eat some.  Okay, maybe not always, but 96% of the time.

There is the argument that the children in the story might live in a food desert, or without sufficient resources to make good choices.  I don't buy that.  The free and reduced lunch programs for kids in those situations are very generous -- we're only talking about kids who pack their lunches.

And that's the key.  The reason my kids' lunches are healthy is because I still pack them (yes, even for high school kids). They would choose what was quick and convenient instead of what might take 3 extra minutes but would be nutritious. Why? Because they're human beings, and most of us default to doing what is convenient rather than what is the best choice.

So, I guess the lesson for me, too, in my struggle to lose weight is that the few extra minutes to put together a healthy lunch is worth it.  Leadership by example and all that.

Final point:  I can tell you having left private school for public school, I am often dismayed at the implication the public school sends that "they" know MUCH BETTER how to raise my children than I do. This policy in Chicago is an example. And I'm dismayed at the number of parents who don't think they have any authority to challenge it!

Atticus Finch Says ...

I recently received an e-mail from my uncle. He is a retired English teacher, so his e-mails are always formal and you can just HEAR a teacher's voice when you read them. But this was even more stiff and formal.

The e-mail informed me that one of his children, one of my cousins, has just received a final divorce decree. I didn't know the cousin was getting divorced until December, when another family member told me.  When my uncle heard that the family member had told me, he was incensed and hostile towards the family member, and then called me to warn me that this was PRIVATE and NO ONE'S BUSINESS and that I was not to pass it on.

Okay, fine.  I think his instinct to protect his child's privacy is a little over the top, but I respected his position. I didn't tell anyone else in the family -- not that any one else would have cared.

So, I have to say this thing has been weird all along.  But this is one of the paragraphs in the e-mail he sent:

This has been an arduous process for [cousin's name], and we continue to champion all of [cousin's name]'s decisions related to these events.  Above all, we remain steadfast in respecting [cousin's name]'s privacy on this matter and the decisions [cousin's name] might make about sharing any particulars with us or other family members.  


It sounds to me like the cousin was afraid of what everyone might think -- including the parents.  What I find so heartbreaking is that IF we had known, we would have been able to pray, encourage the cousin, and be loving.

I believe in what the great philosopher Atticus Finch said, “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view - until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.”


I would never have condemned, judged or maligned my cousin. I would have asked, "how can I help you?"

Sad. Very Sad.

Muffed Target

It's a good thing Quilly plays, because it always reminds me to play, too!  Tuesdays are very busy for me so its nice to slip it in.

To find the rules for Muffed Target, go HERE.

Here's my muffed target from Easter. I have NO idea what was going on at this moment.

He is Risen, Indeed!

The family is coming over in about an hour, so just a quick note to wish you all a Happy Resurrection Sunday!

For fun, this year I made these:

Italian Sweet Bread with Easter Eggs in the middle.  I did a trial batch yesterday.  NO PHOTOS of that batch.  Today the yeast worked better, and I was more confident!

The recipe is easy, so let me know if you want me to send it your way.  OR, you can go get it from theitaliandishblog.com

I also made a German Potato Salad.  This is really yummy.  No photos though because no time!

4 potatoes
4 sliced bacon
1 Tbs all purpose flour
2 Tbs white sugar
1/3 cup water
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1/2 cup chopped green onions
salt and pepper to taste

Boil potatoes in skins for about 15 minutes.  Drain, cool, peel if you want to, and chop.

Place bacon in a large, deep skillet.  Cook over medium high heat until evenly brown.  Drain, crumble and set aside.  Reserve bacon fat.

Add the flour, sugar, water and vinegar to skillet and cook in reserved bacon fat over medium heat until dressing is thick.

Add bacon, potatoes and green onions to skillet and stir until coated.  Cook until heated and season with salt and pepper.  Serve warm.

Enjoy your day!

From church this morning.  That handsome trumpet player is my son.

UPDATE:  Google (picasa) or Blogger or Apple (iPhone) is jerking me around and the video won't play.  My apologies.

Easter Beagle?

When my kids were little we'd pull out a videotape (yeah, back then) for every holiday.  I loved the Charlie Brown Christmas special because Linus got to share the real point of the season.

For Easter we also had a Charlie Brown tape -- but it was all about the eggs and the bunny and spring and somehow, it just seems hollow these days.

The most important day of the Christian calendar is NOT Christmas. It is tomorrow. The world calls it Easter, but it's Resurrection Sunday. Because if there's no resurrection, there's no point at all.

Sure, the eggs and spring are symbols of rebirth. And cultures have celebrated the earth re-awakening after the winter for many thousands of years. But the world around us is NOT celebrating the glorious news that Jesus is ALIVE.  They're missing the point!  Death could not hold Him.

He willingly gave His life as atonement for my sin.  Your sin.  The whole world's sin.  Whether or not those people He gave his life for wanted Him or NOT...

I know there are people in your life who you love very much. But would you sacrifice them?  If you're a parent, would you sacrifice your child so that another might live?  Of course not!

But God did. Do you realize how loving, generous and amazing that is?

Then how can you continue to spurn Him? How can you continue to look in the face of the Creator (you can see Him all around you) and say, "I do not want you?"

There's no gimmick. No special way of praying.  No putting in money or joining a particular church. No new way of dressing or rules about what you eat.  Just accepting.

He Died For You.

Is that not enough?