You Might As Well Smile

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I was raised on a wonderful musical diet growing up.  Glen Campbell, Elvis Presley, Lawrence Welk, Julie Andrews, Barbra Streisand, Englebert Humperdinck, classical music, orchestral arrangements, swing, hymns, choirs, you name it.  My parents usually had something wonderful playing on the large wooden record player cabinet that sat in in our front hallway.

Anyway, with all the alarming and constant bombardment of bad news in the world, music can treat most of what ails me.  Put on a good song…..poof, the worries are gone, and I’m singing.   I would love to hear from any of you….what kind of music makes you feel better?

Enjoy this old classic from Glen Campbell.  Love, Lisa

Listening to the Stories

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Wahpeton High School, Wahpeton, N.D.

Where my dad went to high school

I miss hearing the stories.  The stories of when our parents and grandparents were young.  How they worked hard on the farm, had to go to school through waist high snow drifts, how they cheered for the football team,  how they met and fell in love, their hopes and dreams.

I have been working on recording our family histories and memories, and I realize how  egocentric I was as a younger person.  I could have heard hundreds of wonderful stories that would have made the people I love come to life in a whole new way in my mind.  But I missed so many of them by not asking.  The ones I do know and heard I treasure like little nuggets of gold.

So I am trying better now.  To listen, to ask, to actually see the person I am talking to.  To imagine their life through their eyes.  And it has been wonderful.

Love, Lisa

A Hummingbird Doesn’t Need Strong Feet to Fly

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Hummingbirds have feet, but they are very small and are used for perching, scratching, and other low key movements.  But a hummingbird doesn’t need strong feet to fly.

I have had several wonderful moments with hummingbirds in the past few years, and I feel that God is using this amazing creation to show me something very important.

In 2015, while I was struggling mightily to walk months after an ankle injury, I was pretty low.  We were on vacation at a lake house, and I was unable to participate in any of the family activities, like going down the stairs to the lake, or boating, or taking a walk.  I told myself it was ok, but it gets you down after months of the same.

I sat there on the porch alone, and a beautiful hummingbird flew and hovered directly in front of my face…..within a foot.  He stayed there for almost a minute.  I felt so amazed and uplifted, and thought about it the rest of the day.

The next day, I was sitting in the same chair, and he came back AGAIN!  And again, hovered and beat his beautiful wings right in front of me.  I knew God was sending me a sign that there is always hope, that there is always something to be excited about, that He is always with me.

Fast forward to Christmas 2019.  I had just had my fourth surgery on the same ankle since 2016.  Feeling a bit low again, as the cycle of injury and surgery seemed unending.  I opened up my present from my son and daughter-in-law…..a hummingbird necklace.  They did not know about my hummingbird experience.  It brought me to tears.  God is the same; He is still with me.  There is always hope.

The hummingbird doesn’t have strong feet, but oh, how he flies.

Praise God.

Love, Lisa