Posts Tagged Stinking Firsts
Overwhelmed Again (Naturally) (Graces and Mercies, Stinking Firsts)
Posted by Tom in Uncategorized on July 15th, 2009
Wow.
When I first floated the idea of celebrating Ian’s birthday at Feed My Starving Children, in my pessimism I thought that we would be able to get 10 people, max. Now, we’re at five time that amount, and we still have people asking if they can come. Every time we pass a round number, I keep thinking, “I bet we can get a few more…”
I want to say “thank you” to everyone who is going with us. First and foremost, you are fulfilling Jesus’ command to love your neighbors, in a very profound and intimate way. Thank you that you are helping other parents to not experience the pain that Deb and I are in. Plus, thank you for helping to give Deb & I something to focus on, instead of having to think about the upcoming “stinking first”. While Ian’s actual birthday is the 19th (the day after our party), hopefully we’ll be too tired to think about it.
BTW, today is the last day to RSVP. If you are interested in coming, either to the party, FMSC or to both, we need to know today. We look forward to seeing you on Saturday!
Father’s Day (Stinking Firsts)
Posted by Tom in Uncategorized on June 20th, 2009
I’ve been meaning to write on the subject of the next year or so, ever since Mother’s Day. Deb and I are in for a year of very difficult anniversaries and “firsts”. We survived the first Easter without Ian by keeping our focus on Ian’s resurrection. We made it through the first Mother’s Day by going to Iowa and focusing on our own mothers (and grandmother). The anniversary of his diagnosis flew by as we left on our trip to Michigan. I’ve been meaning to use these occasions to start a new post category: “Stinking Firsts”. When he encountered something unpleasant (such as a 7-10 split in Wii Bowling), Ian would assign it the worst adjective he could think of–”stinking”. Granted, it’s not the worst thing I can think of, but it seems like a polite compromise.
Now I’m facing the next “stinking first”–my first post-Ian Father’s Day.
It doesn’t help that retailers are desperately trying to get people to buy things, so the advertising industry has been reminding me on an hourly basis that tomorrow there is nobody who looks to me as a paternal figure. Additionally, neither Deb nor I have any living male ancestors, so there is nobody on which to focus the day. In my weaker moments, I’m considering not attending church tomorrow. However, I found out that tomorrow is communion Sunday, and I hate to miss that. I’ll probably decide in the morning, around 9:55.
One thing that struck me today, and I hope I can figure out a way to convey it without sounding arrogant. I loved being a father, and it’s something that I truly enjoyed and invested myself in.* Perhaps instead of wondering why Ian had to be the child to have a brain tumor, I should wonder why I was the father of such a child. Perhaps God picked me because he knew that I could handle the assignment. I need to flesh that thought out more, and I might write about it.
Thank you to everyone who is taking the time to leave encouraging comments. They are appreciated, and help more than I can ever say.
*How many sentences can I end in a preposition in one post? Yikes...
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