by Judy Handley | Oct 27, 2024 | 2024 Life Logs |
2024 Life Logs, Day 300: 50 Years Later
Date: Sunday, October 27, 2024
Weather: Sunny, Cool, Windy; High Temp 54, Low 39 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA
Our wedding day … Sunday, October 27, 1974. Yes, 50 years ago today Mark and I were married at sunrise on Lovers Key in Fort Myers Beach, Florida. Only a few members of Mark’s family were present. Mark and I wrote our wedding vows that ended with poems from James Kavanaugh’s book, “There are Men Too Gentle to Live Among Wolves.” Mark died on September 11, 2016, two months before Donald Trump was elected President. Mark was absolutely certain that the goodness in the souls of the people of this country would never allow a man like Donald Trump to be elected. He was wrong. If Mark were alive today and heard Donald Trump’s closing argument speech at Madison Square Garden this evening, I know he would maintain that there is no way the people of this country will elect him a second time. I wish with all my heart that he will be right this time.
In honor of what would be our 50th wedding anniversary if Mark were still living, I want to share our wedding vows. Reading them after 50 years makes me hope that there is a kinder, gentler way forward for our nation if the “searchers” prevail. Our children and grandchildren deserve that.
MARK: As the sun rises and a new week begins, so do Judy and I begin a new life together. We have something to read that expresses how we feel at this very special time. Judy and I are among the searchers. There are, I believe, millions of us. We are not unhappy, but neither are we really content. We continue to explore life, hoping to uncover its ultimate secret. We continue to explore ourselves, hoping to understand. We like to walk along the beach, we are drawn by the ocean, taken by its power, its unceasing motion, its mystery and unspeakable beauty. We like forests and mountains, little streams and tall trees, deserts and hidden rivers. Our sadness is as much a part of our lives as is our laughter. To share our sadness with one we love is perhaps as great a joy as we can know … unless it be to share our laughter.
JUDY: We searchers are ambitious only for life itself, for everything beautiful it can provide. Most of all we want to love and be loved. We want to live in a relationship that will not impede our wandering, nor prevent our search, nor lock us in prison walls; that will take us for what little we have to give. We do not want to prove ourselves to another or to compete for love. For Mark and me this marriage is the public pledge of our love for each other … my love for Mark …
MARK: And my love for Judy.
JUDY: In this pledge we wish to state our hopes for our relationship. We hope we will grow through the years to become stronger individuals and we hope our love will grow with us. Two people do not stay the same throughout a lifetime, but where there is love they change together. We hope we will have children and maintain a strong family union. In modern days the family structure has become weak, but we want to rear our children in a situation where we can all work side by side in everything we do … where we can all share equally in the joys and hardships of being a family and providing for ourselves. We make no promise to honor and obey…. only to love. I promise to cheer Mark when he is down and rejoice with him when times are good. I hope he will do the same by me.
MARK: I am here to pledge my love and to wed my life to yours with the hope that we may always be among those …
Who can hear the honking of geese
Above the sound of traffic
Who can hear the weeping of boys
Above the sound of mortars
Who refuse to take life as it is—
Because it wasn’t always.
—————————-
There is quiet water
In the center of your soul,
Where a son or daughter
Can be taught what no man knows.
There’s a fragrant garden
In the center of your soul,
Where the weak can harden
And a narrow mind can grow.
There’s a rolling river
In the center of your soul,
An eternal giver
With a rich and endless flow.
There’s a land of muses
In the center of your soul,
Where the rich are losers
And the poor are free to go.
So, remain with me, then,
To pursue another goal
And to find your freedom
In the center of your soul.
by Judy Handley | Oct 26, 2024 | 2024 Life Logs |
2024 Life Logs, Day 299: Still Fighting the Cold
Date: Saturday, October 26, 2024
Weather: Mostly Sunny; High Temp 64, Low 37 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA
It has been a bit of a mysterious day in terms of this cold I have. I woke up feeling good. No sniffles. It felt like I had kicked the cold, so Shadow and I took off on a long walk downtown and back. I still felt good when we returned, but to be on the safe side, I decided to eat breakfast and take a nap so I would have plenty of energy to go to Ollie’s soccer game in Lakeview, which is off Cape, this afternoon. I cuddled up on the couch with an afghan Heather made for her dad. I got it out on Friday when I felt so bad and was a bit chilled. When I got up from the nap, I felt a little sniffly, but I thought it was just because I been lying down. I got in the car to drive to Lakeview, and it wasn’t long before I realized I was all the way back to where I was yesterday. I felt horrible and just couldn’t figure out why. My eyes were so weepy I could hardly see the road and the sniffles had turned to a faucet. Before I got to the bridge, I had to turn around and head home. Things got no better as the afternoon progressed, but I had to go out to buy a few food items, so I did that. Heather had sent a message saying it was sunny and beautiful down on the beach and that maybe I should come sit and read on the beach. I did go by the beach and said hello to Heather, but decided not to stay because I was so sniffly. But even while I was standing there talking to her, the sniffles got a bit better. Why the instant reversal? I mentioned to her that maybe I am allergic to something in my living room since I get better if I am in the bedroom overnight or out of the house. I came home, fixed dinner, and continued to get better. Then I curled up on the couch with that afghan again, and almost instantaneously I got worse. So, my theory is that I am allergic to that afghan and since I have a cold already, it just compounds the situation. It has been about an hour since I put the afghan away, and already I am better. I sure hope the mystery is solved and that I keep going in a positive direction from here forward.
by Judy Handley | Oct 25, 2024 | 2024 Life Logs |
2024 Life Logs, Day 298: Lost the Battle
Date: Friday, October 25, 2024
Weather: Mostly Sunny, Cooler; High Temp 59, Low 47 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA
I have been fighting what I thought was a sinus issue for three days, but today I lost the battle. In fact, I totally crashed. Until today, the symptoms were just a runny nose and I took Sudafed when I went out to keep it under control. Since I didn’t have to go anywhere this morning, I didn’t take the Sudafed and by noon I was a mess. I don’t have a fever, but my body aches from head to toe and my head is stuffed with fluff. I think the problem is a classic common cold. I spent most of the day on the couch reading and sleeping except for going to pick up Ollie after school. I came right back home and slept until 6 pm and actually am feeling a bit better as the evening progresses.
I have never wished to be in Texas, but tonight I wish I was in Houston listening to Willie Nelson performing at the Harris rally. It has been delayed as the VP needed to get a briefing in the Situation Room about the latest developments in Iran before heading on to Texas. But she is on her way or there now and she and Beyonce will be on soon. I will stay up to watch that and then on to bed, hoping I will wake up in the morning feeling great and thinking today was just a bad dream.
by Judy Handley | Oct 24, 2024 | 2024 Life Logs |
2024 Life Logs, Day 297: Field Trip to Historic Lexington
Date: Thursday, October 24, 2024
Weather: Sunny AM, Turning Cloudy in the PM; High Temp 68, Low 44 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA
It is 10:30 pm on Tuesday evening, April 18, 1775. The Provincial leaders in Boston, Massachusetts, learn that British General Gage has issued orders for 700 British soldiers to march to Concord to remove all the military supplies the locals have gathered. The King of England wants Gage to calm things down in Boston and thinks removing the ammunitions will help to avoid a war. The colonists discover what is happening, and Paul Revere has two lanterns lit in the belfry of North Church to signal that the British are headed to Concord.
By midnight, Paul Revere, William Dawes, and other riders leave Boston to spread the word around the countryside. Samuel Adams and John Hancock, who are known revolutionaries, are hiding out at the Hancock-Clarke House in Lexington.
Dawes and Revere arrive to warn them that they need to leave to avoid the British, ride on towards Concord, and are captured by a British patrol. Another rider, Samuel Prescott, rides on to carry the word to Concord. Dawes is released and later Revere is released and heads back to the Hancock-Clarke House to find Adams and Hancock have not left yet.
Fast forward to 5 am, now Wednesday, April 19. Lexington’s militia await the arrival of the British at Buckman’s Tavern in Lexington.
As the British approach, the militia gather on the Lexington Common. They are led by young Captain John Parker who tells the men, “Don’t fire unless fired upon, but if they mean to have a war, let it begin here.”
The British also have orders not to engage, but when they arrive, shots are fired. Eight British soldiers are killed, and more are wounded. The British escape to treat the injured at Munroe Tavern just a mile from the Lexington Commons and then regroup and head on to Concord.
By 7:30, the British arrive at the North Bridge in Concord and are met by 450 militia and minutemen. By 9 am, the militia see smoke coming from the center of Concord, assume the British are ransacking the town, and are now saying, “Let it begin here.”
4:30 pm, the British are outnumbered, drop their heavy arms, and hightail it back to Boston. The colonial forces have grown to 3,600 men.
7:30 pm, the British barely make it back to Boston by sundown. The American Revolution has begun.
The Encore field trip today began with a guided tour of the Hancock-Clarke House, then on to Buckman Tavern for a guided tour. We had lunch in Lexington center, walked up to the Belfry,
through the Lexington Common, 
and on to Munroe Tavern for one last guided tour. On our way out of town, we stopped by Wilson Farm Market which had everything fruit, vegetable, and pumpkin, 
and then home. It was a warm and gorgeous day, with a cloudless, deep blue sky in the morning, turning cloudy in the afternoon. But the colorful foliage in Lexington kept things bright. What a beautiful fall day for a wonderful field trip.
by Judy Handley | Oct 23, 2024 | 2024 Life Logs |
2024 Life Logs, Day 296: Birthday Luncheon, Senior Soccer Night, Wine Group
Date: Wednesday, October 23, 2024
Weather: Sunny; High Temp 68, Low 55 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA
It was a busy day, but thanks to Shadow, I at least begin every day with a mile walk that helps keep me centered. But today, after that walk, I got food prepared for my wine group tonight and then went to a belated birthday luncheon for Jane Woodin. We ate at Sage Hibachi in Mashpee and I think all of us liked it enough that we will spread the word and will definitely return.
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After a late lunch, I returned home to play with Shadow, pick up the food for my wine group tonight, and then went to the middle school to pick up Ollie. Jed met us there and we all headed to the turf field at the high school for Sam’s last home game. Just to write that takes my breath away and brings tears. After 14 years of watching him play soccer, it just doesn’t seem real that I won’t see him playing again. This was Senior Night and all of the senior players walked onto the field with their parents.
That was special enough. But added to that was that Sam’s first best friend, Sebastian, was home from boarding school in the Netherlands to watch the game tonight. I first met Sebastian at Sam’s first birthday party. They have been friends since birth and it was so special that Sebastian was there tonight. When Mark and I returned from sailing around the world, some of my first photos are of Sam and Sebastian playing soccer in 2011.
I say it too often, but where have the years gone?
I stayed to watch the beginning of the soccer game, but I then had to leave to go to my wine group.
Tonight was Friendsgiving Night where we shared a Thanksgiving food favorite with a wine to pair with it. We call ourselves the “best wine group ever” and I believe we are.
