Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Stephanie Nielson and the pancake pan


Today was one of those days, you know, one of those monthly hormone driven days. Sorry friends and family that had to endure my wrath, amends were made in person! :)

Anywho....standing at the kitchen counter smattering butter onto wheat bread I was thinking of Stephanie Nielson. If you don't know Stephanie I highly recommend that you go and meet her...here. She is a delightful, God centered, doting wife and adoring mother, and a survivor of a horrific plane crash. Flip through her blog for a minute and you will see why this dear soul inspires me, everyday!

I think a lot about Stephanie but today, mid butter smear I was thinking about the fact that after the plane crash her family moved the 4 small Nielson children from their home in Arizona to Utah to be cared for by Stephanie's family while their parents fought the fight of their lives. And how months after the crash when Stephanie was well enough to finally leave the hospital and go "home" that she was unable to go "home" to the house that she and Christian her husband and made into a home with their children in Arizona. Stephanie's new "home" was now in Utah, a house so generously bought for the Nielsons by her sister and brother in law so that Stephanie's extended family could care for them and their children long term if needed....now that is a Christmas present! But "home" was the Arizona house, the house that family members lovingly packed up and moved the contents to Utah while Stephanie slept, the house where sticky fingers smeared the large glass sliding doors and where Christian had hand crafted a tree house for the kids. That was/is home.

Can you imagine leaving your home one day, say to run some errands or go on a weekend getaway with your husband.....never to return. To never be able to look out your kitchen window while washing dishes, never to run around your backyard pulling small children in plastic yellow jeep, never to lay in your bed looking at the stars talking to your husband while hearing the soft hum of your child's noise machine. Wow, that is pretty deep.

So I am thinking all of this, feeling "off", making grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch and reach down in the cabinet to pull out pans for the stove. I reach and and pull out his pan, his pancake pan, you know, my Mr. Lydic's pancake pan. The pan that he uses every Sunday morning to make us his lovely pancake creations. The pan that has been loved so often and so methodically that one can see the imprints of perfectly formed pancakes on it.....simply lovely.

And that is when it hit me, on this gloomy, rainy, off day. What is my problem? I have ALL that I want, I have ALL that I need. Stop complaining and start being grateful.....

So, Stephanie Nielson, and the pancake pan both inspired me today to remember my truth and live it, even on my "off" days.

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