As my husband might say, “I have a case of the fall-a-parts”.

Things have been breaking loose, you know… a summer of being undone.

The last couple months have been full of things I’ve never experienced before…

– cancelled a very important trip for an emergency tooth extraction

– lost all my credit cards and didn’t even know it… for three days!

– after years of thinking I must be immune… got a hefty dose of poison oak, or ivy, or some such evil plant (why did God even invent those??)

– helped my parents move into a senior retirement community

– and what we “thought” would be the easy installation of new tub, new surround and new tile in the old bathroom of our ancient house which has sat empty for almost a year sucking up money we don’t have…. WAS NOT.

So, I’ve learned a couple of things….

…wear long sleeve shirts whilst weeding the back forty… ibuprofen does not fix everything (call the dentist)… there are a lot of good people and some of them work at Home Depot where credit cards were found and kept safe… and I think I want our next home to be a travel trailer hooked on the back of our pick-up truck… SIMPLICITY, folks, that’s what I’m aiming for!

Last Saturday my parents moved into a cozy, comfortable apartment.  It’s in the midst of a senior community where they will be safe, secure and won’t have to worry about rotted old houses that need major repair.

I spent last Monday night alone in their house.  I slept on the fold-away in Dad’s old office.

It was odd to walk thru the rooms… tables loaded with life possessions, ready for this weekend’s estate sale.  Hard to grasp… no more family gatherings here… no more Dad puttering in the garage… no more cups of coffee and conversation on their back patio.

Days earlier I helped my sister load the rocker in the back of her car, odd bags and boxes of things tucked in and around it.  And eventually the back seat of my car and trunk were filled too… with things they don’t have room for… things too precious to sell or throw away… things I couldn’t imagine walking away from.

…like the hat box – filled with love letters between two young people – lives interrupted by World War II.  She asked me not to read them right now. And I won’t… just put them away safe.  I’ll be the history keeper for now… until it’s someone else’s turn.

Tuesday morning I said goodbye to the house, then stopped at their new place on the way out of town.

They were waiting at the door, coffee on, sun streaming into their small living room, happy and rested.  And it occurred to me… it doesn’t matter where they (or I) live… it only matters who they are… and Who they place their trust in.

And that’s the best thing I learned this summer.

I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill me completely with joy and peace because I trust in him. Then I will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit – Romans 15:13