Can mean so much. Last Saturday, Alan took his sister, his fiance, and a friend to NYC for a quick tour of the most popular sites. While they were at the World Trade Center Memorial, they took the time to find this name on the wall....Carl Anthony DiFranco. Cold chills ran over me when I saw this photo in a text he sent me. You see, I feel as if we knew this young man, who perished so suddenly and needlessly in that horrific act of terrorism. Thank you kids, for being so incredibly thoughtful as to interrupt your day in the big city to find and photograph this for me. It meant a lot.
The Lord has given and smile at the softly creeping fog as it flows over pastures like pale molasses and pools and swirls across the creek. Take the quiet that it brings along, muffling highway sounds and silencing the trains...at least a little....and enjoy the softness of the morning. Take the sleepy sounds of daybreak, blue jay, puppy play, caterwauling cat-on-the-porch demanding instant breakfast. Hold them close to happiness somewhere at the edges of your heart. Take the cows emerging earnestly from the eerie early mist, on their way to yard and stable, eager for the added feed they will find awaiting there. Love them, for they are lovable in the clean-cut, functional way of animals, love their secrets and their puzzles. They may not love you back but they trust you...you can love that you have earned that from them. Take the sun struggling to find its way through low-lying clouds and then bursting through in all its glory. Love the cool and calm of dawn as it gives way to the jangling business of morning. Let it seep into your heart and make it leap for joy. We may be facing an early fall on top of a summer of drought and disaster. There may be a hard and worrisome winter in the offing. Some folks are saying so and the signs are right for all of that bad news. But take this day and love it as it leads you. It is still high summer yet and wonderful with it.