Daughters!

Just in case you missed it on Mike's blog, here is the best picture from the time spent in South Bend June 7th and 8th. Danielle and Miki, the amazing and wonderful daughters of Mike and Diane. Wasn't it just yesterday when they were small?

If you want to see more great pictures of the Bird family, go here and type "portraits from South Bend" in the search box at the top left of the page.

R.I.P.

Mike’s dad passed away in his sleep Thursday night after a long and painful struggle with colon cancer. He had been ill and failing for a number of years, experiencing a gradual decline in his health. The promise of release from suffering makes death more welcome, but still his family is saddened by the loss of his presence. He was a highly intelligent and talented teacher, writer and editor, with an interest in a multitude of subjects and the ability to pass on that enthusiasm. His mind remained sharp and clear to the end, for which I am certain he was grateful, as were the members of his family. Though he outlived many of his friends, those he had were strong and loyal.

He had eight children, none of whom thought of him as a particularly good father, but rather spoke of the tremendous impact and influence he had on their lives. While he sometimes was belittling, confusing, demanding and maddening, at the same time he expected and encouraged his children to use their minds and their curiosity and their intelligence to explore and research the many facets of their world.

I saw him as a man with a brilliant mind, but also the common inability of geniuses to exhibit common sense or to cope with practicalities. His expectations for people were beyond what most could ever provide for him, so I suppose he was both disappointed and despairing of making ordinary connections with people.

While at home, he spent most of his hours in his library, reading, studying and writing. His self-imposed loneliness included drinking, and at times he became a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde personality. Unfortunately, that behavior alienated me and some others like me. Still, there’s no denying that he was an interesting person, whom one would very much like to get to know. Some did, and because their forgiveness knew no bounds, these are the ones who will miss him the most. … and so it goes.

A Day to Remember

Mother would have been 94 years old today. She was born January 5th, 1915. She died of cancer 40 years ago at the age of 54. Trying to imagine her at 94 is simply impossible. Her family and friends remember her as a beautiful, gentle and soft-spoken woman. She was all of those things. She was a lady in the finest sense of the word. Mother was also very intelligent and curious, a reader and a thinker. When our high school friends would come to our house she would engage them in conversations through which we learned more about them than they had ever confided in us. She was charming.

Like the three blind men and the elephant, my two sisters and I seem to remember different mothers, and after having had four children of my own, I think that difference in remembrance is because she made a distinct effort to become the mother she needed to be for each of us. Not an easy task, for you would be hard put to find any three sisters more different than we are. I've often told people that each of my four children came from a different planet, so I recognize and appreciate the challenge Mother faced. I never got the impression that she particularly enjoyed being a parent, but she certainly did a good job of it in the short time she was alive and able to influence our thinking, beliefs and behavior. We all turned out okay.

I will never stop missing her.

Christmas' Aftermath

Christmas is over and done with for another year. It was low key but very pleasant and family centered, and that's what is important to me about Christmas. We spent some special time with Eric, Colleen, Sheryl, Lucas and Ian at their house; Marty came down from Indy for a few days, which is always a treat; phone calls and blog pictures shared with Danielle and Phil, Naomi and Leah kept us as close as we could get to them, even though they're all the way out in the snow in the Pacific Northwest; we wished Miki and Kevin "safe trip" as they left on a car trip to New York to spend time with Kevin's mom.

Mike is taking care of their houses and cats in Bloomington while they're gone, so I plan to catch up with year-end accounting for the golf course, put Christmas decorations away (few though they were!), and write thank you notes. It has also become necessary for a new fitness regimen to begin after way too much eating of all the wrong stuff over the holidays. Why is it so easy to gain weight and so slow taking it off? No fair.

Marty and I are winding up a big project we undertook this winter involving over a thousand family pictures scanned and organized. Actually, it's the kind of project that will never really be finished as long as we continue to take pictures that we feel need to be online in the Bird Family Albums. Marty and I agree that it was a struggle for us to determine exactly how to separate groups of pictures (by year? by person? by event? by location?) because each of us is obsessed with organization of any kind... making it too detailed, too critical and too difficult... but we did finally make some decisions that made sense (Picasa to the rescue!). When it is all finalized, I will post the URL for public viewing.

What will the New Year bring? No one really knows, but I have sensed an atmosphere of anticipation and hope. Perhaps there will be a resurgence of volunteerism, or at least increased interest in becoming involved in helping our world become a better place.

"Of all the forces that make for a better world, none is so powerful as hope.
With hope, one can think, one can work, one can dream.
If you have hope, you have everything." Anonymous?

Mike & Miki in B'town

Here's Mike, all aglow and very happy to be minus the nasty pain of a molar that was pulled by Dr. Howell in Bloomington. This nice doctor called last night to check on how Mike was doing, so I told him that Mike was doing well and that he was a tough old bird, which elicited a chuckle.


...and here is Miki, all sparkling and beautiful, our first-born, who took Mike out for breakfast at Bloomingfoods after the extraction. She is multi-talented and brilliant, of course, employed as managing editor extraordinaire at IU Press. She and Kevin are preparing Thanksgiving dinner for the family this year. Yea!