But as I approach my birthday this year I have been feeling a deep sense of gratitude, primarily brought on by the re-discovery of mementos and photographs uncovered in the process of cleaning out closets and storage spaces this past spring. These artifacts from decades past, these scraps of paper representing significant experiences, these photographs capturing just a moment in time…. They all bring the past back to the front of my mind as if they happened yesterday. And with that a flood of memories, most of them good.
Blog posts generally should be shorter than this one, but the more I think about how enriched my life has been, the more I have to say and I don’t feel like condensing something so important.
Over the course of my adult life I’ve lived in 6 cities, moving from Mansfield to Columbus, to Canton to Stow/Akron to Sandusky and finally to Parma/Cleveland. And the challenge of each transition was made so much easier by the new friends and acquaintances made along the way and how we enriched one another’s lives.
My career path might seem convoluted to some, but to me it’s been a rich variety of colorful and challenging experiences and its all contributed to making me good at what I do today.
I’ve worked in a hospital laboratory, and served people with disabilities and their families in a variety of ways (I’ll save the details for another blog post). I got to travel around Ohio providing technical assistance to social service agencies. I’ve earned a living as a portrait photographer and I’ve sold cameras and worked in photo printing labs. At The City Mission I’ve produced a variety of marketing materials (newsletters, annual reports, brochures, displays and videos.) I filled in for a short time at our women’s shelter and now I’m a grant writer, but also do much of the photography and write copy for various media. I can say with certainty that in each instance I’ve given it my best.
I can look back with satisfaction on the challenges met and conquered. I aced a graduate level course in statistics. I conducted a research study in graduate school and reported the results in my master’s thesis. I climbed the 14,000 foot Mt Princeton in Colorado. I was part of a team that helped get Mike out of shackles in a state mental health hospital to living in his own place in the community. I managed a crisis intervention team serving people having both a cognitive disability and mental illness and together we got two bureaucratic systems to work together.
I’ve experienced the beauty and wonder of this land’s rich biodiversity, from Acadia National Park in Maine to the Grand Canyon and many places in between. The ocean spray, the dessert heat, the expansive skies, the vast plains, the cool mountain stream, sunrise over the Blue Ridge Mountains.
I could probably write a book on how my camera has gotten me into some very interesting places/situations, like a 12 hour ride on a lake freighter hauling iron ore, a Hungarian debutant ball, and a homeless shelter and that in turn led to a job.
Through it all my family has always been close by as together we work our way through life’s joys and challenges. The value of that is beyond measure. And what a joy it has been to watch my brothers’ children grow up into such fine adults.
Remembering in such a way seems good for the soul. It keeps a healthy perspective on all that’s gone before and provides a foundation of gratitude that keeps our dwelling standing when the storms come.
“You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. How precious are your thoughts about me, O God.
They cannot be numbered!” Psalm 139: 16-17 NLT.
Best of all, God knows the worst about me yet he believes the best, because he sees me as what I’m becoming through His work in my life. “…we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” Ephesians 2:10 NLT
.
Happy Birthday to me...!
