An example of a good Advent

For the 2^nd time in my working career, I am taking a two week vacation leading up to Christmas.  I thought I was going to be able to write quite a few entries here to make up for lost time but here I am a week-and-a-half in, and I haven’t written a single thought.  I’ll try to catch you all up!

 

First, Mom has moved in with my sister-in-law in Southern California.  She realized that she simply can’t live on her own anymore.  Living with Marilyn will still give her some semblance of independence, while providing daily care as well.  It’s like living in an assisted-living facility except that she is going to be assisted by someone she has known and loved for over 50 years, instead of strangers (even if they are nuns!).  We took the past few weekends deciding what she wanted to take with her, what she wanted to store, and what she wanted to donate.

 

Last week, we rented a trailer and took the items she wanted to have with her at her new home as well as the items she wanted to store and got her moved in.  We talked about the move for a long time, and now that it is done, she seems happy.

 

The move gave me many great occasions for meditating on Advent.  Mom has lived in the same apartment for 35 years.  As far as I can piece together the information from the original leases we found while going through her files, she signed the lease for the apartment she just left in 1977.  She was in another apartment in the same complex for about a year or so before that!  That’s a lot of memories.  She has had 2 brothers and two sisters live in the same complex over the years.  Grandma lived with Mom for about 10 or 15 years.  My brother Tom lived with her for about 3 years as well, until his death in 2001.  She has seen many neighbors come and go.  Her best friend Rose is still living there.

 

This move has been described by many of her nieces and nephews as a “new beginning”—an anticipation of better things to come, and a preparation for a new life; in other words, an Advent.  We had a discussion recently about what we can do during Advent to help others see the joyful hope we have as we await the birth of our Savior.  We thought it would be great if we could help just one person see Christ in us by our actions of love toward our neighbor.  Mom went above and beyond that.  Mom took so little with her.  She left behind an entire apartment full of furniture and furnishings that would have to be dealt with.  So a few weeks ago, she invited some of the nieces and friends to come in and take whatever they wanted.  That still left her with an awful lot of “things of the world” that she would have to divest herself of.  She had lots of religious “trinkets”, statues, books and prayer cards that she donated to the woman who brought her Communion every Thursday.  She had a closet full of clothing she felt she would never wear again—she donated those to the homeless shelter.  There was a lot of food left in the refrigerator and in the cupboards that she gave to Rose.  The rest of the “stuff” she donated to a non-profit neighborhood thrift store that is a part of the church attended by another of her neighbors, who is the youth minister there and who has been extraordinarily kind to her including cooking her a Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings last year!   All proceeds from the sales of the thrift store are used to feed and clothe the poor in the area.  The standard response from each and every one of the recipients of Mom’s generosity (after Thank You, of course) was “God Bless Angela”.  I would have to agree.

So I would say that Mom did quite a bit more than her share this Advent season; how did YOU do?

Secondly, I have been battling a cold since the first day of my vacation and—of course—now I’m battling my chronic bronchitis!  You would think after all these years I would know how to prevent it, but I can’t.  It hasn't been all bad though—Lily has also had a cold, and watching her tenacity in playing and smiling through all of her discomfort has been a real example for me to stop feeling sorry for myself.

Speaking of Lily; today is her 4^th birthday!   She is certainly growing up fast.  I love that little bundle of joy!  We've been able to play almost every day I've been home.  For some reason, a child having fun can make anything better!