Thanksgiving Gratitude Poems

 It's Thanksgiving, in this year of 2020 where things are...different...than anyone expected them to be. Instead of being with my large family, I made dinner for just me and my husband (left photo collage). Macy's still held the parade, but no spectators and a bunch of masked volunteer participants (right photo collage).

This post started as a tweet:

Six-words of gratitude, inspired by the @nytimes newsletter (all about my spouse):

He holds me when I cry Tells me I can do anything Washes all the dirty dishes daily Driven by his sense of duty Sees things through to the finish Apologizes always, and grows with me.

but then I decided to expand it as I thought more about things I'm grateful for this year.

 Here are seven more six-line, six-word-each poems of gratitude (it would have been more poetic to only write six more but I lost count and then didn't want to delete one - better to have more blessings to be thankful for anyways).

-- Baby Bear --

one June day, blue plus sign

gel on my belly, flickering heartbeat

later, visible head, hands and feet

butterflies turn into punches and kicks

yellow paint, a crib, and diapers

next year holds such frightening wonders

-- Mom --

"What grandma name would you want"

when expecting myself, suddenly things change

I see mom with fresh eyes

memories of always tired, rarely angry

now taking my calls with grace

gently, firmly, pointing me towards Christ

-- Discord --

Notification from an app I had ignored

someone called Sophie remembered my name

an online birthday for sweet Jane

suddenly I have many new friends

in this year of weird loneliness

we are united with magical technology

-- Pioneer Girls --

March: the school year abruptly ends

no more church activities this spring

spend summer building new fall plans

return to activities, outside with masks

"I  really missed you, Mrs. Brown"

nothing like being loved by kids

-- Andrew --

"can you see how we fit"

she asked anxiously, "yes" I say

and honestly he has melted in

their wedding day seems long ago

my new brother from this year

much celebrated before the pandemic hit

-- Zoom --

maintaining regular monthly tag up dinners

online work meetings are now effortless

enabling coast-to-coast online parties

celebrations of loved ones without airplanes

full of security flaws; for sure,

but in an unusual year, suddenly usual

-- Long Reach --

Long bike paths around ponds and lakes

places to run when gyms closed

gardening advice, puzzles and baby toys

all within Buy Nothing walking distance

when suddenly told to stay put

one realizes this is a nice home

Prayers of the People

This morning I got to lead prayer for our church live stream during a regular segment, "Prayers of the People". I wrote out the prayer so that I'd be eloquent and not say um too much, and I want to share it with you all out there in the blog-universe.

Heavenly Father - We come to you this Palm Sunday as a remotely gathered body,
learning new ways to connect with each other, and grateful that we continue to
have prayer as a way of directly connecting with you. And as the weather turns
to spring, we’re reminded of your attention to every detail of creation, how you
care for the lilies of the field, and how much more you care for us. We know your
ability to hear each of our individual anxieties, and thank you for the grace we are
extended by being allowed to approach your throne in prayer.

We pray that you’ll continue to show us your power and grace and peace as we
face the global pandemic. We lift up our local and national leaders - Dr. Ball and
the Howard County General first responders, Governor Hogan and his task force,
the president and his task force, and ask that you give them wisdom and compassion
in this time of economic and public health crisis. We pray for churches around the
world, remembering that we are a part of a larger body. We ask that you help us to
demonstrate love for our neighbor, that you would remind our hearts that fear of
this virus cannot translate to fear of our fellow humans. We ask that you continue
to lead our elders, deacons and pastors in identifying and caring for the needs
of the church.

We pray for our missionaries, many of whom are facing this global crisis separated
from families in other countries. We lift up our local crisis centers, such as the
Grassroots shelter and the Saalam center, as they seek to serve those in our
community who struggle with homelessness, or have escaped as refugees
and are not equipped for social isolation in a new country.

We pray for the parents in our church - those who are managing remote schooling
for teens and tweens, or caring for young, active and bored toddlers, or parents
of adult children, who are distanced from their families for the safety of all - we
pray that you’d give these parents the strength to continue on. We particularly
pray for the D Family, as they seek to protect their son as he’s treated for cancer,
and for S&O, who have only just become parents this week. 

We pray for the marriages in our church, as those with spouses can find comfort
in the presence of a partner during this crisis, but also confess that we are sinners,
and that often the stress of this situation is sinfully spent in frustration towards our spouse. 

We pray that you’d comfort those in our body who are dealing with anxiety from illness,
unemployment, loneliness, or any other unspoken need. Lord, we crave your presence
and protection. It’s in Jesus name we pray, Amen

My Toast to My Sister

Today my sister got married. This is the text of the toast that I gave. My vocal inflections altered it slightly, and I added a few extra bits to reference the best man's toast, but this is the content.

Hi, everyone, I’m Emily, the matron of honor and Abigail’s only older sister

(though we have many younger ones). But Abigail never felt like a little sister.

In fact, I remember one time when I was very young, our Uncle Mike said

something about my little sister Abigail and I said, confused, “Abigail’s not my little sister!”,

So then Uncle Mike asked, “Well what is she?” and I said, “I dunno, She’s just my sister!”.

Just my sister. Just the person I’ve fought, cried, laughed, and played with, for all but the

first 18 months of my life.

When I got married, Abigail stood up as my maid of honor with a speech she had written

at 2 AM the night before. By contrast, I wrote this speech the day she and Andrew got engaged.

This story is one of many that demonstrates how different we are. I am a planner, and she is

spontaneous. I'm mostly an indoors girl, while she loves camping and hikes and will sometimes

lay on the grass just because it’s outside. I am expressive and emotional when she is mostly

logical - which made falling in love a bit confusing for her! Abigail had been out with a couple

of different guys, and evaluated the pros and cons of them, very logically. But with Andrew,

she couldn’t do that - she just liked him. Logic went out the window because of how much

she enjoyed spending time with him. Up until Andrew, Abigail had made fun of anything

cute or romantic that Ryan (that’s my husband) or Derek (our brother in law) did.

She wasn’t emotional, she didn’t do cutesy - until Andrew. And boy, was that confusing.

Eventually it was clear that Abigail had fallen for Andrew, hard. And this is when I began

to really like Andrew, because in these moments, Andrew looked out for my sister’s heart. 

When I met Andrew, I thought, he’s fine. He was like the guys I worked with, slightly nerdy,

into board games (REALLY into them, like the four hour kinds). He played frisbee, but not

like me where we casually throw it around, but ultimate, with rules and teams and a league.

He takes things seriously - and that is what I like most about Andrew. He considers things

carefully, and as I got to know him better, I saw more and more that this made him a good

partner for Abigail. He cared deeply about what was best for her. In the beginning, when

she was out to meet people, he respected that she might choose someone other than him.

When she did choose to date him, he was careful to make sure that she still spent time

with her other friends and he still spent time with his. When she was anxious to get married,

he prayed about it, and considered what it would mean, and (most notably for me) listened

to my opinions (which I had lots of, even though I wasn’t really entitled to them). Andrew and

I went to lunch once, and out for coffee another time, where I shared what I thought about

marriage, and my sister’s idiosyncrasies, and grilled him to see if he’d thought about these

things. Through these two private chats, I saw Andrew’s true appreciation for Abigail’s

independent spirit, and realized that he did love her and was just not vocalizing those

thoughts. A bit like Mr. Darcy, who says “if I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more”.

On that theme, and since Abigail quoted from Little Women in her speech, let me quote from

another set of my favorite literary sisters. This is from the moment right after Elizabeth Bennet

confides in her sister that she is going to marry Fitzwilliam Darcy. Once eldest sister Jane has

gotten over her astonishment, she says, “Now I am quite happy...for you will be as happy as

myself...Were it for nothing but his love of you, I must always have esteemed him; but now,

as your husband, there can be only Bingley (Ryan here instead) and yourself more dear to

me.” I ask you all to join me in raising your glasses to my dearest little sister and her

Darcy-like man - as you embark on this crazy, emotional, fantastic adventure called

marriage, we couldn’t be happier for you.