Category Archives: Love

My Tribute to a Great Writer

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Maeve Binchy, born 1940 and passed from this world two days ago in 2012, was my favorite Irish writer.  She wrote fiction set in rural Irish villages, and filled that fiction to the brim with characters of all types, realistic daily happenings that somehow never seemed boring, and some of the best dialogue writing I have ever read.  When you read her books, you felt as if you were transported to that Irish town, and had suddenly become close personal friends with the characters by the intimate writing voice she used.

I didn’t always like her characters or the choices they made…sometimes they made bad decisions that I didn’t agree with.  But they were always real.  Binchy’s characters weren’t flimsy, stereotypical fabrications; they seemed like people you run into everyday.  People making good and bad decisions, people making decisions that affect the rest of their lives one way or the other.

So thank you, Maeve Binchy, for giving me so many wonderful reading hours beside your stories.  I enjoyed every one of them, and will enjoy many more when I re-read them.  Slainte, Lisa

A New Day

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The sun breaking through the rain clouds off of Doolin’s coast.

O God who created the sun, You are the sun of my soul & I adore Your brightness.

I love You, O Everlasting Light.  May I see You in the bright light of Your glory.

-Irish blessing

Some mornings you wake up, and you’re not really awake.  But other mornings, you wake up and begin to realize how amazing the gift of life is.  To be alive, to have a purpose, to breathe deeply of God’s good air, to see the sunshine or the clouds and be glad that you’re seeing them.  Take a moment…breathe deeply….thank God for whatever blessings are around you right now.  Be blessed.  Slainte, Lisa

Romantic Attachments and the Fortune Cookie

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My husband and I were enjoying a quiet, kids-are-out-of-the-house dinner date at home.  Eating Chinese take-out, talking without interruptions, laughing at silly inside jokes, you get the picture.  Then we get to the “opening of the fortune cookie” ritual.  My slip of paper was of no consequence and is irrelevant to the post at hand.  Ed’s paper however, said the following:

“Don’t expect romantic attachments to be strictly logical or rational!”

My sweet husband held this small piece of paper up beside my face, read it out loud, looked at me, looked back at the paper, nodded, and said, “Yep, I can see that.”

I laughed indignantly, pretending to be insulted, but it was too funny to be.  Besides, I was strangely flattered to be considered illogical and irrational.  Don’t ask me why; it’s probably some side effect of being a musician.  🙂

Romance is wonderful, heady, lovely, and yes, sometimes illogical and irrational.  But marrying Ed was the most logical and rational thing I have ever done, and I’m glad that he romantically attached himself to me.

Slainte, Lisa

 

Lost & Found

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Yesterday, my daughter lost her first baby tooth, after much wiggling, fretting, excitement, and general carrying-on.  The whole household rejoiced with our last “baby” as she seems to be growing up very quickly all of a sudden.  Happy for her, but there is a bittersweet feeling as a parent as you watch that little one bloom into the young lady that God has planned for her to be.  Here is a very poorly lit picture of the momentous moment and the tooth gap.  (Why is it you can never find the camera at these moments?  Thank goodness for computer cams)

She is now fixated on the new “big girl” tooth that will be coming in; checking the mirror, asking me if I see it yet.  She has lost a tooth, but she will find a new one.  What is lost is found.  I was lost, but now I’m found.  Thank you, Jesus, for finding me when I was lost, and giving me new life.  Thank you also for the gift of watching old things become new, everyday, all around me.  Old teeth fall out, new ones come in.  Old caterpillars burst forth into new beautiful flying butterflies.  I feel joyful this morning watching Amy’s excitement, and I am so thankful for that.

Slainte, Lisa

 

Pass On the Tune

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Irish music is an oral tradition, passed on through the generations, learned by listening and doing.  Here is a dear man who sat outside of the Rock of Cashel in County Cork, playing his accordian joyfully for the passersby.  Joshua was fascinated, and this generous soul invited him to sit down and play awhile with him.  It didn’t matter that Joshua had never played an accordian in his life; this man’s open and sharing spirit encouraged Joshua to feel as if he could.  As my little guy pushed keys and squeezed away, the man nodded in time and tapped his foot.  What a wonderful thing, and what a wonderful memory.

Share what you love to do with some little soul today, and watch their sweet face.  Pass on your tune.  Slainte, Lisa