mysteryoriley

Prologue:  Few things can make me more crazy than when wordpress is not working like it usually does, thank you, very much.  Tonight is one of those nights, when I’m having trouble with the site I depend on so very much.   

Maybe tomorrow, I’ll log on, and all will be as it was yesterday.  Better, I hope.  Yesterday was my birthday, and it kinda sucked.  This was my first birthday since giving birth to my kids, without Owen here to help celebrate, or at the minimum, remind me of one of the many reasons why I’m here.  A few others pitched in, in his absence, and tried to support me through the WTF part of continuing on.  Thanks all.

Here’s what I’m wondering tonight: if it’s important enough to print bumper stickers that say, “Shit Happens” why is it not important enough to print bumper stickers that say, “Phenomenal Things Happen”?  Maybe I’m supposed to print and distribute them.  Maybe one of you will.

What one little thing can you do, to change the world?  I can think of hundreds of things I can do.  On occasion, I think I actually do make a difference.  Is that arrogant of me?  Maybe.  Maybe not.  I wonder what things Owen did, that made a difference.  I find plenty, and I wonder who else remembers.  I hope Nat continues to feel his plans for the future will make a difference.  I hope we all do.

Phenomenal things really do happen.  Here are a few things I recall from yesterday and the last 53 years of my life:

• My parents loved each other enough to bring two kids into the world
• My oldest son, Nat, was born
• My youngest son, Owen, was born
• My kids learned and offered lessons
• I helped someone through a bad day
• Someone helped me through a bad day
• My husband, Dave, gave me a birthday gift this year, that had a symbolic meaning
• My friends called me to ask how I’m doing
• People I hardly know stopped by to ask me how I’m doing
• Lea spent 24 years being my friend
• Karma checks on me regularly
• Michael helped me bring Nat and Owen into this world
• The Rileys gave me a larger family
• The Wachtels expanded on that larger family
• Dave’s parents befriended me
• Melinda was always there even when we didn’t spend much time talking
• Jeannie S (then M) stayed with me from the time we were 3 years old
• My mom was always committed to me and my kids, her grandchildren
• My brother created music that still resonates in my heart, and continues to share his love through music
• Jackie asked the right questions, and accepted answers that didn’t suit her ideas of “right”
• Cheryl taught me that nothing stays the same, and you can lose a friend before s/he dies
• Jeanne B taught me that prayer has little to do with religion
• Gretchen taught me that stained glass windows can break, and be reconstructed
• Becki taught me that laughter can heal, if only a moment at a time
• Kathleen taught me that poetry can mean more than the words
• Lo found ways to make me love and laugh, beyond the here and now
• Danny and his family taught me that it really is okay for men and women to congregate in separate rooms (or backyards)
• Jon and Donna taught me that oddities are the norm
• Ken taught me that pain is common
• Dave’s girls taught me that the outcomes of our best efforts are unpredictable, rarely dependable, and are sometimes, even, unwelcomed
• My dad taught me that words have many meanings, and it’s in our best interests to look up their various definitions; and that comic strips are a great way to begin Sunday mornings
• My grandparents taught me that difference is most often just “difference”
• My blogfriends taught me that love and understanding have no geographical boundaries
• Our pets taught me that love is not confined to humans
• Art taught me that love exhibits itself in many forms
• Carla taught me that love can be different things to different people, and all of it is worthwhile
• Helen taught me that love has no definition
• Jordan taught me that love is indescribable
• Kathleen D taught me that love can be limiting
• Ruby and Trey taught me that love is circular
• Anna taught me that love is patient
• Nat taught me that love continues, even when words fail us
• Owen taught me that love is endless
• Love taught me that love…is

Others have taught me phenomenal things about phenomenal things, and if I haven’t mentioned you in my list tonight, it’s only because I have a terrible memory now, especially for one who used to bank on a near-photographic one.  I remember painful conversations over the last few weeks, with Owen’s acquaintances and strangers who knew of him, and while I wish I could forget them, I acknowledge those conversations as…phenomenal. 

Epilogue:  If you could change the world with one little thing, what would it be?  My short list above is not nearly complete, in terms of things that have made a difference in my life, but it’s a start in the context of a blog.  What would your list include, if you sat down to contemplate “that one little thing that could make a difference”?   

Song for the night: “Change the World”, Eric Clapton (sometimes this video plays, and sometimes it cuts off after the first few notes – phenomenally bad timing, when that happens – just go to youtube if you can’t get it to play here)

http://youtube.com/watch?v=fHPWoDsyE6M

~ by Linda on March 8, 2008.

Posted in beauty, blogging, brothers, child loss, grief, friends, Nat Riley, Owen Riley, Michael Douglas Riley, Linda Siniard, loss, love, children, death, family, forgiveness, friends, grief, learning, Life, missing persons, mothering, music, mystery, parenting, pets, poetry, writing
Tags: Change the World, David Tegnell, Emmitt Owen Riley, Eric Clapton, Linda Siniard, love, missing persons, Nat Riley, Owen Riley