A Mixed Bag of Tricks

 October is A Mixed Bag of Tricks

No. This is not a Halloween Post. I’m not a big fan of Halloween. So the bag I’m opening this October isn’t filled with candy.

First in the bag is JOY:

My second daughter, Danielle, was born in the month of October. October 26^th to be exact. We lived in Florida. The weather was perfect. Our daughter, Allison, was 4 ½ at the time. We were excited to welcome a new member to the family. 

This one was due in November but arrived a bit early. We called her “our yellow rose.” The moniker came from the fact we had a rose ready to bloom any day. I told Tom, “The day that rose blooms is the day I’m going to have the baby.” It opened in full bloom the morning of October 26^th. A few hours later, we held Danielle in our arms.

I was blessed with three beautiful little girls who have turned into three beautiful women. All wives and mothers now. That is, for me, pure JOY.

This Yellow Rose Bloomed 
This October in Ohio
Happy Birthday, D!

Second in the October bag is the opposite of joy. It is SORROW. 

On October 29, 2014, my husband of almost forty-three years, left the house for his daily bike ride. He rode for exercise. He rode to keep his heart healthy. He rode because he enjoyed it. He hadn’t been gone long when I received the call that he had an accident. His bike went off the pavement and threw him into a tree. I was there in minutes. So were the paramedics. But two hours later, Tom was pronounced dead at the hospital. That can only be described as sorrow. Deep SORROW.

It is hard to imagine it has been ten years now. 

In that ten years… I traveled to India with my daughter to work with young women rescued from human trafficking. I moved to into a new house. I moved to Kosovo for a year to teach fourth grade. I saw my second novel, Libby’s Cuppa Joe published, helped organize a writing conference, and welcomed grandchild number eight into the world. 

And I remarried. Mike Tyler is a wonderful man. Recently, he and I traveled from our home in Florida to visit my mother and our family in Ohio. He loves my family. And they love him. He and Tom were friends. We speak easily of Tom as we also speak easily of his late wife, Betty. 

So what will I pull out of the bag now?  The third item is CONTENTMENT

Contentment is a state of happiness and satisfaction. That is where Mike and I are now. We are content. We are happy and find ourselves satisfied with life.

It is October. We left the warm weather of Florida expecting cooler temperatures and falling leaves as we headed to Ohio. But the weather in the Cincinnati area was like summer. In fact, my grandson, Spencer, arrived at my mother’s house in Ohio to mow her lawn.

Then…after church on Sunday, we met some of the family for lunch. Driving back into our neighborhood in Ohio, we noticed the trees had seemingly changed overnight. I took a picture. The grass is as green as ever, but the trees are yellow and red and orange. So beautiful. 

The changing of the seasons reminds me how life is ever-changing. Each season of life offers something new. We can weather the storms of life because of the promise of tomorrow. 

Like I said, “October is a mixed bag of tricks.”