May

Today turned out to be a pretty busy day. Had it not been for COVID19, I would have been together with the MOPS group at our church this morning. As it turned out, I took part in the Belmont County Public Bible Reading by reading aloud in my house from the book of Numbers, not the first of the Bible’s 66 books that most of us think of, but the one that tells the story of Israel’s spies going into the land Moses had brought them to and returning discouraged and afraid, unwilling to claim what God had promised to give them.

Then a friend stopped over to pick up some cookbooks I was giving away and drop off a few sewing supplies from her cedar chest for me to use in mask making. We enjoyed a sweet visit as she stood on my sidewalk and I sat on the front porch. After lunch, I met one of the First Grade teachers in the school parking lot to pass some little books I had prepared for the students off to her for inclusion in home learning packets. How nice it was to have a lengthy conversation with her, something we’ve never been able to do during my visits to her classroom.

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Dave’s view from the dining room office was more interesting today as he watched not only birds and squirrels, but a tree trimming crew who arrived at 8 a.m. to remove two trees and cut dead chunks out of another, no doubt leaving the backyard critters confused.

As the afternoon wound down and dinner time approached, I was not feeling inspired to write today. Then, remembering that this is May 1, I glanced at the calendar, noticing that in addition to meeting with Mothers Of Preschoolers and the First graders, I was planning to travel to Holland, Michigan, with my husband to attend son Eric’s master’s degree ceremony, making an overnight stop on the way to be with Mom on Mother’s Day. That was the first of two special family trips to be stricken from the May 2020 calendar page. We were to attend the annual Frisch Fish Fry on May 16.

Certainly we miss seeing our family members who live hours away and are saddened to have special plans cancelled. May will likely be the hardest month for many families this year as the special days pass by with out the looked forward to activities. As for me, I’m enjoying the more frequent phone calls from Eric and to Mom, as well as the meaningful encounters with friends and neighbors. As my husband and son finished their work week, we enjoyed a casual meal together; then Dave and I took a walk up the street, stopping to chat with a neighbor, feeling grateful for another day of blessings.

Holland, Michigan, is home of the Tulip Time Festival, annual event that is skipping 2020.

The tulips of Oglebay Resort in Wheeling, West Virginia, brighten our spirits.

The verse on my May 2020 calendar page quotes Ecclesiastes 3:11, “God makes everything beautiful in it’s time.” The Contemporary English Version of the Bible translates the verse to:

God makes everything happen at the right time. Yet none of us can ever fully understand all he has done, and he puts questions in our minds about the past and the future.