Just because it is old…

Recently, I was going through the last few bins from our recent move, deciding what to keep, what to toss, and how to store what I am keeping. One of the bins I went through is a catch-all bin where I packed unsorted stuff that my wife and I knew was important to keep, even though it was mostly stuff we would almost never look at: folders with important papers, documents from my parents’ estates, tax records, educational certificates–stuff like that. It is the kind of stuff you need to keep, but you pretty much never look at it.

Superman

Photo credit: Emerging Gently.

He was four-foot something tall flash of energy under a platinum-blonde head of hair scrambling along the scree slope. They were on one of their many fishing trips in the rivers and lakes north of the city they lived in. In spite of having gone on many of these fishing trips, the little boy could not recall many times when they actually caught a fish. Catching fish was almost an after-thought. It was the journey–a few hours in the car, followed by a one or two-hour hike to the lake of choice for the day, and the peaceful time together at that lake that were the main events. Catching fish was a bonus that came along from time to time.

Family estrangements

Many an ex-Christian Scientist acquaintance of mine has spoken of being estranged from their still-in-Christian Science family members. I’ve often felt that I couldn’t personally relate to their situations simply because I have no family that remains in Christian Science. My parents and myself were the only ones on either side of my family that stayed with Christian Science, and my parents are dead. My cousins that had exposure to Christian Science, or who went to Sunday School are all either hostile or ambivalent about it. Most of my family thinks Christian Science is a huge bucket of crazy.

The value of friendship and a new sense of family…

Image credit: Emerging Gently.

Over the last six or so years since my parents died, and some major changes happened in my life, I’ve come to realize the true value and meaning of friendship. When you lose all of your immediate family, your sense of family undeniably changes.

Thoughts On Fathers’ Day

Today is Fathers’ Day. As many on Facebook have done, I posted as my profile pic, a picture of my Dad. Unlike many others I’ve seen posted, I don’t share the camera space with him. My cousin does. It was taken during a visit she and her husband had with him the summer before he died. It is also the last known picture that was ever taken of Dad. He died later that same year. I’ve looked at this picture often, and even posted it last year on Fathers’ Day. Even nearly five years since his death, it still brings a tear to my eye when I look at it.

Big Doubt

One might ask me, “what is/was your biggest doubt about the efficacy of Christian Science?” In answer to that, I offer three words: my younger brother. He had a motor condition known as cerebral palsy. In Christian Science-speak, it would be called a belief of cerebral palsy. Yeah, it’s not real (in the fairy-land of Christian Science)–but try telling that to those who have it, or those who care for those who do. Oh, how many times my teenaged self tried to deny the “reality” of my brother’s condition while I was either feeding him dinner or getting him dressed. Cerebral palsy comes in varying degrees of severity. There are many who live quite independent and full lives with it, becoming in some cases well known as actors and comedians, or in many other fields of endeavour. Others, such as my brother, have it in it’s most severe form–rendering them unable to walk, talk, or care for themselves in any way. Many people who are born with this condition as severe as my brother had it do not live much beyond age 30. My brother made it to 16. He died in 1985, the year I graduated from high school. I had just turned 18. I grew up fast. I did not take it well.