Trotz aller Hindernisse,
Die dem eilenden Flusse entgegentreten:
Alle Wasser, die sich trennen,
Um Bänke und Riffe herum,
Strömen doch endlich,
Endlich wieder jubelnd zusammen!

(unbek. japanischer Dichter, von HANS BETHGE)

Okay, so when I asked last year for companions on a long walk in England, I got only one response, from Marla, so this trip will be a father-daughter time.

Here's the planned route. The red is the entire Coast-to-Coast walk; the purple is our adaptation of it. We plan to walk to Richmond, following the first 120 miles of the walk, then bus to Thirsk to see James Herriot's surgery, then bus to York to tour the minster and the city before returning home.

We plan to go over the last week in April and spend two weeks. As always, prayers are appreciated!

LATE BREAKING NEWS
Yamaha has recalled 20,000 pianos due to a problem with the pedal sticking, causing pianists to play faster than they normally would, resulting in a dangerous number of accidentals. The sticky pedal also makes it harder for jazz pianists to come to a full stop at the end of a piece, making it risky for audiences. Everyone should turn in their keys until it is determined whether this is a major or minor problem.



Typical scenery:

  

  

Other people's pictures:
Dirk's
Lausanne's

This year, a contemplation on aging by a poet who didn't see live to see his thirtieth birthday

Kindliness
by Rupert Brooke

When love has changed to kindliness—
Oh, love, our hungry lips, that press
So tight that Time’s an old gold’s dream
Nodding in heaven, and whisper stuff
Seven million years were not enough
To think on after, make it seem
Less than the breath of children playing,
A blasphemy scarce worth the saying,
A sorry jest, “When love has grown
To kindliness—to kindliness!” ...
And yet—the best that either’s known
Will change, and wither, and be less,
At last, than comfort, or its own
Remembrance. And when some caress
Tendered in habit (once a flame
All heaven sang out to) wakes the shame
Unworded, in the steady eyes
We’ll have,—that day, what shall we do?
Being so noble, kill the two
Who’ve reached their second-best? Being wise,
Break cleanly off, and get away,
Follow down other windier skies
New lures, alone? Or shall we stay,
Since this is all we’ve known, content
In the lean twilight of such day,
And not remember, not lament?
That time when all is over, and
Hand never flinches, brushing hand;
And blood lies quiet, for all you’re near;
And it’s but spoken words we hear,
Where trumpets sang; when the mere skies
Are stranger and nobler than your eyes;
And flesh is flesh, was flame before;
And infinite hungers leap no more
In the chance swaying of your dress;
And love has changed to kindliness.

I wonder if at 60 he would have read the truth of his verse with satisfaction or with sadness?

Most of you who know our family know that my wife lost her sister Karen this Christmas from injuries she sustained in a traffic accident involving a drunk driver (Kennon has more about this). I found Kelia's remarks at the funeral moving and encouraging, and share them with you here with her permission. If you have comments, feel free to direct them to Kelia.

---

On the occasion of my sister Karen Lou Allen McGuyer Emerson’s funeral, January 2, 2010

Please excuse my ramblings. I am both grieving and jet-lagged. That is a hard combination.

When my brother Ken called me in Germany last week to say “our sister is dead!”, I went into shock over the news of my big sister Karen’s untimely death. We thought she was doing OK after the awful wreck she was in. I was even planning to come be with her as she recovered, however long that took.

But that was not meant to be.

Karen was born almost exactly 2 years before I was born. She was K2. Ken is K1, I am K3 and Kenda is K4. We were the 4Ks.

All my life my sister Karen’s presence has been with me. I knew she was there somewhere, available for me to call and talk to or to see in person. Now I’m struggling with the reality that I’ll never again be able to talk to her, to see her, to be with her, this side of heaven. That really hurts me a lot. I miss her already.

By the way, what you see in this coffin is not the part of Karen that I love. She is no longer there.

I frequently tell people that our siblings are good for at least two – no, three! – reasons.

One is to keep us honest.

Karen and I didn’t get along very well while growing up. We irritated each other a lot, e.g., the first several years of my life I had to sleep with her in the same bed. I remember that she would draw an imaginary line down the middle of the bed and threaten me if I crossed it. I know that line was more on my side than hers, but she always insisted that it wasn’t. Well, I crossed the line, of course, and we would have a kicking match until either one of us started crying, or Mom or Dad broke up our fight.

Since our birthdays are only a week apart, we usually had joint birthday parties. Her friends would sit on one side of the picnic table, and mine on the other. Mom very graciously would provide a cake for each of us at either end of the table. Over the years Karen frequently insisted that the parties were always closer to my birthday than hers. Frankly, I don’t think so, or at least, I don’t remember. Maybe I’m not remembering things quite how they were. I will miss her interjections with her side of the story.

The second reason siblings are good for is to build our characters.

Proverbs 27:17 says, “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.” In our case it has been one sibling sharpens another. Growing up, Karen and I certainly rubbed each other the wrong way. She was the girlie artist. I was the tomboy scientist. We clashed a lot.

All my life Karen was not afraid to tell me things I needed to hear. She would generally speak kindly, but I didn’t always want to hear what she had to say. Frankly, I don’t always want my character to be built. But that didn’t stop my sister from saying what she needed to say to me.

After Karen and I both left home, we didn’t have much close contact with each other beyond family gatherings until after Dad and Mom died. Then the 4Ks were thrown together much more while dealing with family business. It has not been easy for us to do that.

After Karen’s marriage ended, I had more and more opportunities to come stay with Karen to help out in some small ways. A highlight of my visits with Karen was our many discussions – arguments, sometimes – about the Bible and Bible things. Karen had a passion for God and His Son Jesus Christ and His Word that I admire and respect and strive to emulate. We both had finally mellowed enough to appreciate and respect each other.

I already miss my big sister, and I praise God for her.

The third reason I believe siblings are good for is to love us and for us to love. It took us a few years, but I know my sister Karen loved me, and I loved her.

Karen wasn’t perfect. Believe me, I know. She made some pretty big, foolish decisions that hurt herself and those around her. She was often infuriatingly adverse to any risk in business. But Karen sought to love people as they are and as she thought they needed to be loved. She had a very tender heart, especially for those who can’t speak for themselves. Her kids and grandkids were the “apple of her eye”. She loved them very, very much.

And one last thing: I never heard Karen speak evil of those who hurt her. And I never heard her speak evil of God when bad things happened to her. We would do well to do the same.

My big sister Karen will be missed greatly. The 4Ks are not complete without her.

“It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, because that is the end of every man, and the living takes it to heart.” (Eccl. 7:2) Karen will not come back to where we are. But we will go to where she is. I pray for each of us that that will be in the arms of God, where I trust Karen is right now.

Kelia Ballou

We're off to Germany to see Kennon and Chris. First stop, Munich, where they really know how to do Christmas. One day window shopping in the open-air Christkindlmarkts, one day visiting the Scholl siblings monument (the White Rose monument at the uni), then driving on the autobahn to Leipzig. After that, no explicit plan - maybe Dresden, maybe Berlin, maybe Torgau, maybe Lusatia... Flying back on New Year's Day, hoping the heavy price discount reflects the buying public's demand, and not a concession from the airline for using hungover pilots! :)