President Obama to 106-year-old admirer during Black History Month visit to the White House: “Slow down now! Don’t go to quick!”
Pure JOY – 106-year-old @ the White House
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Category Archives: Love
The Dostoyevskys – a Love Story
If you relish literature and insight into the inner worlds of those who write the greatest of it, this selection on the life of Fyodor and Anna Dostoyevsky is a meal like no other:
“Anna Dostoyevsky on the Secret to a Happy Marriage: Wisdom from One of History’s Truest and Most Beautiful Loves” – Brain Pickings.
- Gordon C. Stewart, Chaska, MN, Feb. 21, 2016.
Verse – Pajamas
Hers may be lacy, but this you can mark,
Even if sweat pants, it’s always a lark:
He can take hers off quickly,
And when she turns prickly,
Big buttons on his she can find in the dark!
- Steve Shoemaker, Urbana, IL, Feb. 18, 2016
Verse – But when…
John Dixon/The News-Gazette Steven Shoemaker, a retired pastor who attends the Philo Presbyterian Church, wrote a letter to the editor saying the Philo church leaders would be discussing hosting a syrian refugee family, despite Gov. Bruce Rauner’s stance on the issue. Shoemaker was photographed at his home in south of Urbana on Wednesday Nov. 25, 2014.
But when…
But when will you die? asked my two kids.
In sleep, my Doc said, are the best odds.
But I will not die,
I’ve propped open each eye,
But the toothpicks keep hurting my eyelids!
- Steve Shoemaker, Urbana, IL, 11:58 p.m., Feb. 11, 2016
Two hours after Steve posted this on his CaringBridge page, one of his old friends with an equal sense of sardonic humor commented:
I think it is sly
to prop open each eye
and frustrate the doctor’s prognosis
What a wonder to see
that the powers that be
can be limited in their diagnosis
Death and dying are NOT fun or funny, but humor is one of God’s greatest gifts.
- Gordon C. Stewart, Chaska, MN, Feb. 12, 2016
Verse – When Cancer Patients Cry
It may mean nothing when you see
The tears, or when you hear the voice
Begin to catch and whisper. The
Strong drugs for pain remove the poise
And self control. Emotions rule.
Or
The patient, for some reason, may
Regret the loss of family
And friends… Feel sorrow not to stay
In this the known world, possibly
The only world. Hope fades, Faith flees.
- Steve Shoemaker, Urbana, IL, Feb. 11, 2016
Note: Views from the Edge followers recall that Steve was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer in November with death expected no later than mid-January. He’s outlived the original prognosis by a month. His home on the Illinois plains has become a hotel for family and friends from around the world.
Steve posted this verse last night on his CaringBridge page. The sentence that introduced it said:
[Bad day. 2nd in a row. I’ll try to be funny tomorrow…]
Verse – Brothers
Steve Shoemaker
Our parents clearly could control our births:
Each one of us born three and a half years
After the other–boys, four boys… Our baths
Could hold two squirrelly kids, but always tears
Would start to stream, if three or more. Now all
Of us at sixty-two to seventy-three
Swim in our own oceans at home, but still
Can shower at the beach house by the sea
In our own room. Our ten grand-kids will scream
As they run up and down the halls, fly kites,
Stomp through the castles in the sand, and dream
Of being oldest, strongest–win the fights
That always happen when the cousins dart
Around–all born three or four years apart.
- Steve Shoemaker, Urbana, IL, Jan. 31, 2016
NOTE: Steve and his his brothers are together this weekend in Urbana, still three and a half years apart! But very much together.
The Story of Ed
Click The End of Exile to read the story of Ed, the beloved Jewish atheist communist in the assisted living facility. The story is memorable, especially for those losing their memories.
I’m hearing voices in my head
This original composition by Momoh Freeman is inspired by Momoh’s fellow Liberian refugee who lost his entire family. Scroll down for what the lyrics and what inspired the song.
“It was the morning of August, 1995 in Liberia when my friend went out to look for some food for him and his family. When he got back, he met the bodies of his family laying there. They were killed by the rebels. He moved to the U.S. in 1997 still carrying the pain and suffering he saw that day. One day he called me and asked me if I could come visit him at the Mental Institution. I said yes. So I went there. He told me what was going on and that he hears voices in his head and all this stuff, so I wrote a song about it. Hope you like it and thanks for watching.” – Momoh Freeman
Lyrics (copyrighted)
V1. I’m hearing voices in my head.
They are telling me I’m not good enough.
I asked myself what’s going on…… I think my
mind is playing tricks on me… can it be I’m going
crazy…? don’t want to go near insanty.
Bridge: If I loose my mind, where does that leave me
will I be a shell of what I used to be?
send down the rain, and wash away my fear
send down the rain and set me free
V2. I don’t think that I can take this alone
I need some help from above
I can hear them getting louder
and these voices are driving me crazy.
V3. What can I do to get these voices out of my head
I can’t sleep, as if monsters under my bed….
I need some help to get me through the night…
what can I do not to be afraid anymore…..
PERSONAL NOTE:
Momoh’s works in a group home for mentally-challenged adults, serves as Music Director at Immanuel Lutheran Church in North Branch, MN, and performs in various venues on weekends.
Momoh and I served Shepherd of the Hill Presbyterian Church in Chaska for eight years. He defines for me “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” In his voiced response to his friend’s voices, I hear God. Thank you, Momoh, for the privilege.
- Gordon C. Stewart, Chaska, MN, January 26, 2016
Link
Last Monday I learned of a student’s tragic death in Saint Paul. This morning I read this remarkable reflection. The writer and blog are new to me. I’ve chose to “follow” this site.
The Three Kings [aka Stooges]
Wednesday evening three old friends from Texas, Arizona, and northern Illinois descended on the Shoemaker home in Urbana, IL to sing their own semi-humorous re-write of the traditional Epiphany hymn We Three Kings. They concluded by presenting gold, frankincense, and myrrh to our mutual friend Steve Shoemaker. There’s a video of the trio on Steve’s FaceBook page for those want to watch and sing along. Steve, diagnosed with terminal cancer, is feeling remarkably well – even got up to make oatmeal for the guys the next morning!
EPIPHANY 2016
A Tribute to the Rev. Dr. Steve Shoemaker (Harry Lee Strong)
(Tune: Three Kings of Orient; John Henry Hopkins, 1857)
We three friends from north, south, and west
Gather here as your grateful guests.
Pardon our singing – gifts we are bringing,
Just hoping not to be pests.
O … Husband, father, poet, bard:
How we loathe your journey hard!
If we could, you know we would
Make this damn disease retard!
It’s so good to see you again
Here at home on your Illinois plain,
Still with humor, despite tumors,
Teaching to die is to gain.
O … Talk show host and scholar bright:
Few compete with your great height!
On the air and through your care,
Keepin’ Faith both day and night.
Only God can possibly know
How many lives you’ve enabled to grow:
Words and actions, breaking down factions,
Allowing your light to show.
O … Classmate, preacher, prophet bold:
No respect do we withhold!
From our coffers we now offer
Frankincense and myrrh and gold.
- Gordon C. Stewart, Chaska, MN, January 8, 2016. Wish I’d been there.
Views from the Edge 