At Old Kent Fifth Third Park last Sunday.
A button on the back of his chair read "Veterans for Kerry"
Lansing Lugnuts fans. Clue: red hair
Monthly Archive for June, 2005
Drew and Meg. He’s got my eyes, but that’s about it …
What was I doing 20 years ago ? Not really thinking about having a baby, that’s what. You weren’t due for four more days and I had no reason to believe I wouldn’t go beyond my date, since in my family, that’s what women do …
But that particular evening just as I was ready to take dinner out of the oven (a quiche — a new recipe), I sprung a small leak, and the doc said get to the hospital NOW. Your dad was in the middle of painting the living room, but the paint brush went into a bucket of water, the quiche stayed in the oven, and off we went.
By 10 the next morning, you were with us in all your 9 lb, 2 oz glory. My first baby, Andrew Clayton, you’ll always have that special place in your mom’s heart. Happy birthday.
We had a nice outdoor Father’s Day.
Drew (left) and his "studly" friends (their word, not mine) take a
break after some driveway basketball.
Susan, mowing for money (to fund a James Dean poster, I think).
She’s a year old. Already!
Just had to share this photo sent from Isabelle’s first birthday party. She’s my nephew Jake’s daughter. Guess that makes her my (first) grand niece!
I’m using Lori’s Canon G2. Because she got a cool new Nikon.
Wow wow. This is really cool. I have such a generous friend!
Lori takes great photos. I’ve always envied her eye, her skill. And ever since I’ve known her I have never failed to apologize for my own lack of same. And for my crummy camera.
So, when she got her super cool new Nikon and got used to it and all, she offered me the use of her "old" camera on a sort of trial basis. She hadn’t used the G2 since getting the new one so she thought maybe she’d see how she’d do without it. She does have three other cameras, after all.
Now the only excuse I have for bad photos … is a lack of all the things that really go into taking good ones! Now she’s gotta give me some pointers. (Watch out, Lor! I’m gonna be buggin’ ya.) 
Westminster Presbyterian in Grand Rapids, Michigan
It isn’t every Saturday that I have the opportunity to be a part of both these rites of passage. Weddings and funerals don’t really go together so neatly. Yet they do give pause for thought.
The funeral was for a man I was not acquainted with: 80 years old and a pastor in the Presbyterian church, he’d held offices at the Presbytery, Synod, and National church levels, and he was pastor here at Westminster in the late 60s and early 70s. When he retired he and his wife came back and made Westminster their church home. He had requested that the choir sing at his funeral. We lead four hymns and ended the service with a small-choir, jubilant rendition of Hallelujah from Handel’s Messiah.
That evening, my second eldest nephew, Joe, was married in an outdoor ceremony at the gorgeous Horticultural Gardens on campus at Michigan State University. He and his bride, Erin, are recent grads of MSU. For reasons I won’t go into here (a long, uninteresting story — really!) my family did not make it to the wedding. But we arrived in time for the reception, a small, simple, beautiful celebration. Joe and Erin will honeymoon in Cancun before settling here in Grand Rapids, where Joe landed a job with Deloitte-Touche. More photos here.
Joe & Erin Viraldo
OK, I know just about everyone on the ‘Net has linked to this by now, but just in case you haven’t read Steve Jobs’s speech to Stanford’s graduation class, here’s a link so you can.
There are so many reasons to admire this guy, and the very accessible message of this speech is just one of them. An excerpt that hits home:
… You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.
Finding courage to act on that is quite another matter. But Jobs has a thought for that, too:
When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.
Jobs had a brush with pancreatic cancer about a year ago, which obviously gave him even greater resolve to live the life he desired. But most of us never look squarely at death, much less trick it away. For us it becomes very easy to say, "oh, that — I’ll fix that later." But in case you’re thinking he’ll let you off easy, Jobs drives it home further:
Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.
If you’re still reading this, you’re probably a friend or relative and you know that two weeks ago my daughters turned 16, and last week I observed nine years in my present job. My son will be 20 next week. And today is my wedding anniversary. The older I get, the more gravity seems to mark the passing of these events. Which, I think, is why Jobs’s speech resonates.
Yet the thing that resonates does not necessarily compel. The title of this post is "Words … to go forward on," and I think that is a very real possibility. And one that remains to be seen.
