November 25, 2008
Janna is singing the 25th psalm of the Lisbon Psalms and Charles is playing the piano accompaniment which he wrote sitting in a tent in the city camp at Lisbon, Portugal; “Turn thee unto me and have mercy upon me; for I am desolate and afflicted. . . ” and “Show me thy ways O Lord; teach me thy paths. Lead me in thy truth and teach me, for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day”. The sun is shining through the south bay window with its winter landscape of bare trees out beyond – the African Grey parrot sits on the back of a chair in front of the window seeming to listen intently to the music. This time of sight and sound makes everything within this trip to Lake Bluff worthwhile whatever the outcomes.
We began on Sunday afternoon, and we arrived here on Monday morning after having a good and uneventful car trip across Iowa. We are going forward with plans put in place several months ago. This evening we will go to a Chicago Symphony presentation of Mahler’s 2nd Symphony (the Resurrection) complete with the symphony chorus and soloist, etc. It should be very grand and wonderful. We will take Janna and Todd as our guests, and I will wear my bright blue aqua medical mask wrapped under a fine silk scarf.
All are agreed that this is likely not the wisest, however, leading up to this, I heard my mother’s voice again in an oft told story in the family.
Charles and I took the children and my parents along on a summer weekend to Spirit Lake in northern Iowa. Charles determined to rent a motor boat so we could all do a tour of the lake, and enjoy the sights from the water. We were delighted to embark on the adventure with the exception of my Dad. He adamantly refused to go saying that Mom would not go either, as they were not swimmers, and therefore would NOT be taking a boat out on the water. My mother, always adventurous and delighted with the concept of going boating, looked at my father and said with great intensity, spacing her words out, “What are we saving ourselves for??” With that she picked up her hat and sweater and headed for the boat. Dad said no more and came also, having no reply to the query. Since then, the question she asked has been used more than once as an aid in decision making. So in this last week, I heard “What are you saving yourself for?” and it was easy to pack my bags.