W^2 or W squared for Wordless Wednesday, March 31, 2021
demolition is almost complete on this piece of ocean frontage. Key Colony Beach, Florida March 28, 2021 12:49 PMa black and white version of the same photo, Key Colony Beach, Florida March 28, 2021 12:49 PM
Hurricane Irma came ashore on just east of this location on September 10, 2017. Irma was a category 4 hurricane with winds in over 100 mph and a storm surge of 6 to 10 feet. She left behind damaged homes, buildings, and this condominium complex in her wake. Most were able to rebuild, but for some the damage was too great to rebuild. Sometimes, it’s easier just to start over. Making the Days Count, even when I must press the reset button and begin again.
When was the last time you pressed re-set?*
*Full disclosure, I went back to ”play’ with Adobe Photoshop and decided to add a black and white version of the photo.
We started with a few students coming back to school. The change was immediate. The change happened because our building became a school again where children’s laughter filled the halls and the classrooms. School isn’t school without a little bit of shenanigans and tom foolery, now and then. Making the Days Count recognizing that a little tom foolery and shenanigans boost the soul from time to time.
W^2 or W squared for Wordless Wednesday, February 3, 2021 on Thursday. Ooops.
Ice covered topiary. Wheaton, IL February2, 2021 5:16 PM
We have had several inches of snow fall over the past week and we are expecting another few inches today. Fresh snow is pretty, but when it melts and refreezes it’s another kind of beauty. Making the Days COUNT, one day at a time, looking for beauty anywhere I can find it, beauty in the world makes my day count.
Where have you found beauty lately? Are you looking? Or does it just happen?
W^2 or W squared for Wordless Wednesday, December 16, 2020
A herd of deer grazing peacefully, Spring Brook Prairie Forest Preserve, Naperville, IL. Sunday, December 13, 2020 3:42 PM
We all would like to gather this holiday season, but we are keeping our distance. Making the Days Count, one day at a time while remembering to look, listen and be cautious, always.
W^2 or W squared for Wordless Wednesday September 9, 2020
a sweet tango apple plucked from sweet tango apples packed for sale in pecks, ½ pecks, and ¼ pecks Casnovia, Michigan – Monday September 7, 2020 – 2:19 PM
The ringing phone woke me, but my B, my wife, answered it. It was Tuesday night or Wednesday morning.
It was the phone call every parent fears and it was 1:15 AM.
I climbed out of bed and started getting dressed listening carefully as my wife listened and responded. She was serious locked in and her look and tone gave it away. The phone call was short, but it seemed like an eternity.
She hung up and shared details of the call. It was William our son, he’d been in an accident and it was serious.
We dressed and left for the hospital.
A lot of things went William’s and our way that night and in the days since. That was a year ago tonight. William’s accident happened around 11:09 to before 11:17. The accident report has the emergency crew arriving on scene at 11:17 PM.
We called William’s girlfriend on our way to the hospital.
When we arrived at the hospital the fire chief for the fire department William had begun working for was waiting to greet us and share details of William’s accident. He asked us if there was anything, he, or the fire department, could do for us before the doctor came in to talk with us. It was a single vehicle crash William and the motorcycle had left the roadway and struck two mailboxes before coming to a stop.
When the doctor came into talk to us, the fire chief gave us his card and left.
It was serious, but William was stable. He had sustained a serious head injury even with wearing a helmet. He had a serious scrape on his left knee but no broken bones. Beth asked a few questions and the doctor shared it was early and William was being transferred to a Level 1 trauma hospital in Chicago.
We were able to see William briefly before he was transported. He was sedated and it was severely injured, but he was stable. Some things in life can never be unseen. At some point William’s girlfriend arrived and she was able to see him with us.
A lot of things went William’s way that night and, in the days, weeks, and months since.
William and I on a walk- September 2019
His accident was a year ago this evening and he is doing well and continuing his healing.
William spent a month in the hospital and a rehabilitation hospital. He relearned how to walk and talk and lot of other things we take for granted. After his release from the hospital, he then spent another three months in extensive out-patient rehabilitation.
William worked hard. We prayed and cried. He grumbled, he wanted to be exited early, but he stayed the course. In late December he was exited from out-patient rehabilitation services and cleared to return to normal activities.
Today was supposed to be the first day of my 2020-21 school year. It will be my 22nd year as a classroom teacher. It was also supposed to the first day of our daughter O’s senior year.
But it’s not. Our first days are a few more days away. My first day of school is nine days in the future and O’s is fifteen.
It’s been a summer of uncertainty and anxiety for many people as the future is constantly changing and beyond our control. I am reminded of a prayer my mother shared with many years ago when I was struggling and needed lifting up,
God, give me grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, Courage to change the things which should be changed, and the Wisdom to distinguish the one from the other. Living one day at a time, Enjoying one moment at a time, Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace, Taking, as Jesus did, This sinful world as it is, Not as I would have it, Trusting that You will make all things right, If I surrender to Your will, So that I may be reasonably happy in this life, And supremely happy with You forever in the next. Amen.
That prayer is better known as The Serenity Prayer. There is so much beyond my control, it is best to focus on the present.
And, I have been. I’ve been making the days count in more ways than I can write about.
Currently, I am on a streak of seven days of walking or working out.
the wooded path from my hike at the Morton Arboretum
A week ago this past Saturday I drove to the Morton Arboretum for a hike, or as it turned out, it was a troll. I was able to take in four of the six trolls on my almost 4-mile hike along the trails at the arboretum. It was my longest hike going back to April and it felt good to walk along the wooded paths and hear the birds and the rustle of the gentle wind through the leaves above.
