Diddle Diddle Dumpling

Diddle Diddle Dumpling, My Son, John




My son, John, turns 30 today.....Just that thought brings back such tenderness......

He was born 7 weeks early and was so small. I remember holding him in my arm with his head in my palm and his feet at my elbow....I vowed to him at that moment that I would help him in anyway I could.

A couple of precious memories:

He used to make up all kinds of jokes. At least he thought they were jokes....most of the time Jerry and I couldn't figure them out, but he told them with such voracity and conviction that it was easy to laugh!

Once he was traveling with me to another city where we attended the wedding of a cousin. This was just a couple weeks after his dad and I divorced so my mind was kind of fuzzy after the wedding. John kept asking me questions....

"When will I go to school, Mom?"

I replied, "I don't know, son."

"When will we get home?"

I again replied, "I don't know, son."

"When will I get to see grandma?"

Once more I replied, "I don't know, son."

"When will I get to see my dog?"

Another, "I don't know, son."

He pretty well quieted down and sat in the back seat, pensive in thought.

We arrived back at the dormitory that I was managing and we went into the lobby. There were all kinds of college boys there at that moment. John went up to one of them and stated matter-of-factly. "Hi, my name is John. This is my mom and she doesn't know much."

When we was 4 he went to a day care center that my good friends ran. One day after visiting the local old-folks-home, John came home all excited. "Mom, when you get old I'm going to put you in an old folks home!"

I looked at him quizzically and questioned..."Oh you are?"

He replied very happily, "YES! They play the piano, play cards and VISIT. ALL THE THINGS YOU LIKE TO DO!"

He certainly had my best interests at hand.

At the end of one school term and he was waiting for his Dad to pick up him and his brother, He looked at me and said, "I'm gonna forget all about you."

I had to fight back the tears and said, "Well, I'm not going to forget you. I will think of you every morning, every noon and every night and often in-between." He wouldn't even kiss me goodbye. The greatest joys I have had in my life came from my sons....and my greatest sorrows. That's the nature of being a parent, I reckon'.

In the dormitory, we celebrated Halloween with the 400 residents. I dressed up and gave out candy to the trick or treaters that came to my apartment. I dressed up in a long pink gown and put a wreath of flowers in my hair. Jerry asked, "What are you, Mom?"

I replied, "What do you think I am?"

He answered, "I think you are a fairy!"

John said, "No, she is a princess and all of her dreams are going to come true."

What a wonderful son, my John is! Happy Birthday, son!

Epiphany Today

Today we celebrate "Epiphany"..... Traditionally thought of as the day the Magi visited the baby Jesus....but more than that, meaning 'appearance' or 'manifestation' intended to celebrate the "shining forth" or revelation of God in human form, to the Gentiles, in the person of Jesus. Some Christians commemorate the visitation of the Magi to the child Jesus on this day, while others use the day to commemorate the baptism of Jesus as an adult. It is also called Theophany, especially by those commemorating Christ's baptism.

Through all of this it has come to be known as the "Ah ha" day. The day when we have an extreme amount of understanding about something.

The Magi are an interesting group. They are still in existence today. Dr. Westphall, of the Vietnam Veterans National Memorial in Angel fire, New Mexico has been a member of this same sect for nearly 80 years. He truly was a "Wise Man", in accordance with those that we have known from before. As design would have it, each day on January 6, Dr. Westphall would make it to my home to have coffee and conversation with me and we always talked about things of "importance". He truly was a gift to me of the Magi.

So what is my Epiphany today? Today the form of my thinking takes on a different course. I am listening to the "Last Samurai" and it tells me that the word "samurai" means "to serve". So how am I serving today and who am I serving and what am I serving?

How I am serving today takes the form of allowing myself to be at peace and hence allowing the rest of the world to be that way also. Today I am free of past guilt's, past assumptions, past expectations, past sorrows, past hurts, and just plain old "past". This is such a better place to be. I am grateful!

Who am I serving today? I am reminded of Scrooge in "A Christmas Carol". At the end he says, "Mankind is my business." And like so many before me I choose to serve "mankind".

What am I serving today. Using the Dahli Lama's creed "My true religion is kindness." I choose to serve mankind with that edict. With kindness. Just plain ol' kindness.

So my Epiphany today is about being who I am....nothing more and nothing less. Just being the person I was created to be.

That makes me smile..... all over. :)