THE JOURNEY: Brand spanking new babies are so tiny an soft that it can't help but melt you into memories long forgotten. On our way to Los Angeles for basketball, my youngest daughter and I went to Vegas to visit my oldest daughter and my nephew and his wife who just brought home their new baby Elizabeth. The parallel story of their young lives and Barb and my own early story is something that registered deeply within me. We both lost our first born sons. Our son named Joshua had a heart problem and died at ten days old from complications of surgery. Their son Joseph died at birth from complications of delivery. Now I tell you that not to invoke any kind of sympathy but to take you to the next connection of the stories. All of us went through similar angst through the following pregnancy with the second child. In the back of my mind there was always that nagging concern if everything was going to be OK the second time around. So you go through the whole pregnancy on hope and faith. And, when the time comes and the new baby enters into the world and you hear the nurse say that the baby is breathing and has all their fingers and toes, you finally breathe. You didn't realize that you had in a sense been holding your breath for the past nine months. I remember Barb and I pulling off the side of the road after leaving the hospital and just taking the time to be the new family, look at the miracle all wrapped up like a cocoon and just breathe and cry. Life gives us second chances after what would seem to be insurmountable losses. What we do with those second chances is entirely up to us. Beautiful new babies, second lives, new jobs or new relationships. I believe they are all placed there for a reason and if we just learn to breathe again we will utilize them to the fullest.


SCENTS

SCENTS OF A TIME GONE BY
RECORDED IN THE SUBCONSCIOUS
RETRIEVING THE MEMORIES
WHEN THE TIME IS RIGHT

FLASHES OF WHAT WAS PAST
CONNECTED TO WHAT IS PRESENT
REMINDS THE SOUL
TO NOT FORGET

BRING THE FLASHES WITH YOU
CHERISH THE SCENE
BY HOW IT MAKES YOU FEEL
AND DON'T FORGET THE OTHERS

CONTAINED WITHIN THOSE LINKS
IS THE UNDERSTANDING
THAT THE PAST AND THE PRESENT
ARE THE AVENUE TO WHO YOU ARE