The 31 days of the month of October flew by us in record speed, just like always. My sons turned another year older and their mom did as well. My sweet Aunt Rebecca saw her 101st birthday come and go. "The 22" finished up their first nine weeks of school and have begun the second quarter. Before we know it, Christmas time will arrive as it leads us to the end of the year 2014.
And what will 2015 bring for me and for you as well? Only God knows.
It seemed strange to realize it last evening but I stopped to consider that the end of this year of 2014 will mark the first full year and a half of living here along the Western Slopes of the Rocky Mountains. I left my old home back in south central Kansas on Friday, the 24th day of May in 2013 and moved over 600 miles to the west and a new life in south western Colorado. We didn't make it more than to the edge of the Reno County/Stafford County line before tears started to roll down my face. You will be happy to know that I'm better about that now. Whether I was homesick for "home in Kansas" or not, time marched on. 526 days later I find myself sitting here thinking the question that I ponder over a whole lot these days.
Where on earth does all the time go?
At the year's end, 2014 will have been a pretty good year to have been alive in, all things considered. Sure, it had its share of ups and downs but when you stop to consider it, what year doesn't? For all of the bad things that seem to make their way into our lives, there are a gazillion more things that intervene and help us to remember just how greatly we are blessed, even in times of trials and troubles.
There will be many things for me to remember about the past 365 days when New Year's Eve rolls around come the 31st day of December. It will have been the year to have returned to teaching the little people, first graders at Olathe Elementary and a time to introduce them to another new friend that I met mid-year named Norman. Even though "old lefty's" hardware has been causing my arm to ache sometimes as the weather changes, it will have been another good year to have tried to remain healthy and strong. 2014 will probably go down in the Renfro record book as the year I made the most back to back trips to Kansas ever but that's ok. Sometimes you do what you have to do. All is well back there with everyone and everything. I don't have to be preoccupied with worry any longer.
On this November 1st, I find myself thinking back always to one of my older sisters named Janice. In 1969 (which now seems like several lifetimes ago) she was killed in an accident that was not even five miles away from her home in the Sandhills of Harvey County, Kansas. Her life was over at the very young age of 27. The late autumn sun on that fourth day of November must have blinded her vision temporarily and even though she stopped at the stop sign on Highway 50 and looked both ways, she never saw the semi that she pulled out in front of. Janice's life was taken quickly. Her little 10-month baby was with her in the front seat and was critically injured in the crash. Kimberly lived on for another 23 years after the accident. My parents took her home when she was finally released from the KU Medical Center. They brought that little girl home to our house in Haven, Kansas and raised her. She was an invalid for the rest of her life, blind and unable to sit up on her own. Kimberly never walked, went to school, had fun with friends, or even went out on her first date. But she had something every day of her short life that people sometimes miss out on. She was loved so much by her family and by a community of people called the town of Haven. Ironically she died on the 3rd day of November in 1992, living nearly 23 years to the day of the accident.
I can remember how sad my parents used to feel when the calendar's page turned over to November each year after that. It was a horribly difficult time for them to get through and perhaps even though as the years passed by it might have become a little bit easier for them to live with, they never forgot and the truth be told, I never did either. The 45 years that have now quickly sped by us all since the day of her accident have been filled with many changes. The world is different now and so am I. Knowing the brevity of the thing we call "life", I will pause this day to remember my sister and all of my family and friends that have gone on before me and give thanks that my life has been as good as it has been.
It's the early morning hours along the Rocky Mountains and the wind is blowing from the south at a pretty steady pace. Our temperature is at 52 which is about 20 degrees warmer than my family and friends back home in Kansas are feeling right about now. Tonight as we go to bed, we shall set our clocks back an hour as we settle into the "old time". The season of the year I prefer the least shall return and "the dark of winter" will once again be our companion for the longest 3 months of the calendar year. As the years have gone by I have found myself trying to bellyache less and less about the cold and snow of winter, choosing to remember that it is a blessing and gift to be alive in the first place. The 24-hours of each winter day pass by at the same rate as those of spring, summer, or fall. The reality is that time flies in winter as well. It only seems like it doesn't some times.
Friends and family may this November 1st of 2014 be a day of joy and peace for you. Even if I have told you a gazillion times before, it is worth saying it once again.
Thank you for being my friends and I love you guys all. Where would I be without you? In a world of hurt, that's where.
Despite everything, life has been so very good to me. I feel very blessed by God. And just for the record, age 59 is working out pretty good so far.
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