One Challenge, Endless Rewards

You might expect that someone who has kept a diary steadily for the past 11 years and teaches other people how to form and maintain this rewarding practice would be raising children who are also avid diary-keepers.

Wrong. While their mother scribbles away every night and tries to spread her message to audiences, these poor children have been shamefully overlooked. Neglected, even.

I decided to put an end to that and (try to) teach my children the art of keeping a daily diary. This is the best time for them to begin a lifelong habit that will enrich them and influence their families for the generations ahead. They’re all old enough now to write and they’re still young enough to pay attention to what their mom tells them.

A few weeks ago, knowing how difficult it is to find an inexpensive, predated daily diary, I went to the Journals and Organizers section of our local super bookstore and looked at the variety of journals on the shelves. Spiral bound, perfect bound, leather bound, plain, colorful, illustrated and embellished—so many to choose from. But I had four basic criteria: durability, size, page count, and price, which made it easy to eliminate many of the offerings.

• Durability—Kids are hard on everything, especially a book that they’ll (with fingers crossed) use every day for a year. A sturdy book with firm binding, substantial pages (not flimsy or too thick), and little possibility of loose pages was important.
• Size—One of the most essential success factors in keeping a daily diary is to write on only one page, so the size of the page is critical. No one—especially a kid—should be overwhelmed by a blank page that begs to be filled. (You know where that diary will end up.) So, I needed a book that was large enough to hold the day’s major events but small enough to invite, not intimidate, my children. Also, knowing that they will be traveling during the year, it was important to choose a book that they could take with them.
• Page count—So many journals on the shelves were beautifully designed and decorated, but they lacked the required number of pages. When I found one I liked, I stood there in the aisle and turned each page, counting in my head. When I reached 50, I knew I had 100 days. Then I eyeballed the rest of the pages to determine if there were 365 days in the entire journal.
• Price—Please, we’re not those Hiltons.

Also, because I wanted to personalize the books for each child, a plain cover was more appealing to me than an embellished one.

After carefully looking at the contenders, I decided on a 4”-by-6” perfect-bound, plain-covered journal with sturdy, lined pages, for $5.99. It has a ribbon bookmark and a covered-elastic loop that keeps the book closed.

Then I headed to the crafts store and bought paint markers in bright colors, and wrote 2007 and the child’s name on each cover. Very simple, very easy. I could have done more, but I had cookies to bake.

Later, with pen in hand and liquid erasing fluid nearby, I wrote the date in the upper corner of each page—and turned three small books into three keepsake diaries.

Finally, I slipped a good ballpoint pen through the loop of each one and wrapped them all up with a hope and a prayer.

On New Year’s Day, we’ll all sit at the kitchen table and have a little training session. We’ll take it one week at a time, and I’ll give rewards for the first month. After that, writing every day will have become their new habit.

What about you? Is this your year to start keeping a daily diary? Why don’t you use part of one of those holiday gift cards for a simple, inviting book that you can turn into a diary by filling it with the daily events of your amazing life? A few sentences a day will record and preserve your life—for you, for those you love, and for those who will come to know and love you through your diary.

Are you willing to take the challenge? If you are, leave a comment and tell me you’re going to keep a diary each day for a month starting January 1. If you keep it up for a month, I'll send you a reward.

For help getting started, see Keeping a Daily Diary in September.

Join me and my family, and let’s do it together!

© 2006 by Marilyn C. Hilton

~Next up: A review of must-read Real Women Scrap by Tasra Dawson~

A Horrible Warning

There are many ways to create a legacy of your life, and I believe that almost all of them are some form of sharing stories--either through telling stories or writing them. That's why this blog is here. More important than sharing stories is, I think, living to the fullest of our potential, being the best we can be, and leaving that example as our legacy.

Lately, I've been learning much about this from King Saul.

"King Saul?" you might wonder. "What kind of hero was he?"

I know, he was hardly a good example. He was more like the poster child for the saying: "If I can't be a good example, then let me be a horrible warning."

When God told Samuel to tell Saul that he must completely destroy all the Amalekites--"completely destroy" was the key phrase there--but Saul spared King Agag and some of the prime animals to use as sacrifices, God took his Spirit from Saul and dethroned him as Israel's king. Then, when Samuel went looking for Saul to give him the bad news, he discovered that Saul was off erecting a monument to himself.

That part is astounding--he was erecting a monument to himself. Nervy. I can't help contrasting that to the memorial the Israelites built from the stones in the bed of Jordan River, to memorialize God and his miracles on the day he led them safely through to the other side.

After Samuel delivered the news to unrepentent Saul, he left Saul forever and mourned (some Bible translations say he grieved) for a long time--until God gave him a new assignment. I imagine that Samuel's mourning wasn't done sitting in a dark corner while quiet tears slid down his cheeks. I think his mourning was of the wailing-and-rending-of-clothing variety.

This is the part that makes King Saul's story very personal to me. Samuel might have been mourning the loss of his friendship with Saul, or he might have been grieving God's decision, hoping God would give Saul a second or third chance. But I think what Samuel was wailing and rending his clothing over was that he understood the profound pity of unfulfilled potential: what could have been would never be. He knew that Saul could have been so much better, so much greater, so much more...anything...if he had only done things God's way instead of his own.

That's the tragedy and the horrible warning--that Saul could have been a far better Saul with God than he could possibly ever be on his own. We will never know the difference that fully-realized Saul might have made. The world would have been a different, and most likely a better, place if he had sacrificed his own desires instead of the Amalekite lambs.

Samuel reminded Saul that God doesn't want burnt offerings--the B-list forms and acts that we pass off as living, loving, and worshipping, while we reserve the A-list for ourselves. Instead, God wants our "broken and contrite heart"--one into which he can enter and then transform into his very best design.

If I'm going to be an example and leave a legacy to my children, and eventually to my grandchildren, I need to remember that God held nothing back for me when he sacrificed his very best on the cross. With that in mind, can I give no less in return?

© 2006 by Marilyn C. Hilton

Interview with Tricia Goyer, Part 2

Welcome to Part 2 of my interview with Tricia Goyer, author of the nonfiction books Generation NeXt Parenting: A Savvy Parent's Guide to Getting it Right (Multnomah), and Life Interrupted: The Scoop on Being a Young Mom (Zondervan/MOPS). Today, Tricia talks about her life as a "Generation X" mom and her ministry with other moms.

Marilyn: Hi again, Tricia. In addition to your interest in the World War II era, you are very involved in working with young moms and Gen X moms. Please tell us more about that.

Tricia: My work for teen moms stemmed out from my volunteer efforts at a local pregnancy center. Because I was a teen mom (I had my son at age 17), my heart went out to them. I wanted to give them hope. I started mentoring teen moms, and then I wrote a book for them, Life Interrupted.

I also wanted to write for Gen Xers because I am one. I know the struggles moms from our generation face, and I wanted to help--not as an expert but as someone going through the same struggles.

Marilyn: So, how important is it to establish family traditions? And tell us about some of your family's traditions.

Tricia: Family traditions are so important because they build family unity. Our traditions clarify who we are and what we believe. We have daily traditions, such as Bible study as a family. My husband also reads a chapter from a fiction book to the kids every night, and then we pray together. Even though our kids are ages 17, 14, and 12, they still love this.

We have traditions for holidays, too, such as acting out the Bible Story every Christmas and buying special Christmas ornaments every year for each of our kids.

Marilyn: What do you see as the greatest challenges that moms face these days?

Tricia: Moms want to do it all--follow their own dreams and goals, raise great kids, have a loving marriage, serve God. One of the biggest challenges is balancing life. Another is making time for God. There is also the struggle of serving God in a world in which “anything goes.”

Marilyn: That sounds true for just about everyone. What simple things can moms do--even when their children are very young--to improve communication with their kids? And what else can moms and dads to do keep their family bonds strong?

Tricia: One of my friends told me that it takes three hours of fun to bring out three minutes of heart-to-heart conversation. I've found that to be true. Kids need time and fun, then they allow you into the deepest recesses of their heart. For example, yesterday I took my fourteen-year-old daughter out to dinner and to a play. Then, on the drive home she opened up about some issues in her life. Real communication doesn't happen during the busyness of life.

As for family bonds, moms and dads can make family a priority by serving God together. Our family has volunteered for a children’s ministry together for over ten years. We act out skits, sing songs, teach the Bible, and so on. We work together to share God and we grow closer in the process.

Marilyn: Those are wonderful suggestions. So, what are some of the greatest differences you see between how your parents' generation parented and Gen X parents?

Tricia: My parents’ generation was a time when many kids lived a latchkey existence. Parents worked a lot and the divorce rate was rising steadily. Media became more important (MTV showed up during that time). The Gen X generation is a time when life is superbusy as we try to do too much. More moms are choosing to give up careers for kids. And according to statistics, dads are getting more involved in the home. While there are some positive changes, we struggle with “too much of a good thing” trying to give our kids everything, to their own detriment.

Marilyn: And finally, Tricia, what are the greatest dangers that threaten young families today, and what can parents do to avoid them?

Tricia: Dangers include centering on our children, instead of on God and getting so busy that we miss what is most important. I struggle with these issues myself. Yes, as we parents spend time with God daily, we settle our souls. We find peace and listen to the still, small voice instead of all the messages that the world gives.

Marilyn: This is great information, Tricia. Thanks so much for taking the time to share your experience and expertise with us!



Please check out Tricia's website (www.triciagoyer.com) for more information about Tricia, her books, and her latest news.

© 2006 by Marilyn C. Hilton

Interview with Tricia Goyer, Part 1

I am very happy to have Tricia Goyer as my guest over the next few posts. As an award-winning author of novels and nonfiction books (including a children's book) and hundreds of articles, and as a homeschooling mom and a mentor to other "Generation X" moms, Tricia is a modern-day Renaissance woman. Through her novels centered on the World War II era, including her most recent, Arms of Deliverance (Moody Press, 2006) and the website she has set up for veterans to write about their experiences, Tricia has given those heroes a voice and has provided place and a means for them to record and preserve their stories.

Marilyn: Several of your books take place in the World War II time period. What drew you to that time?

Tricia: Marilyn, I never planned on writing about World War II. When I first started writing fiction, I wanted to write contemporary romances. I had some ideas and my agent even sent proposals out to publishers. But, unfortunately, there were no bites.

Then in 2000, I was in Europe with two writer friends who were both researching for novels. We went to Mauthausen Concentration Camp and I heard the true story about twenty-three American GIs who liberated the camp at the end of WWII. I also heard about a Nazi wife who was the first one into the camp helping the prisoners. The story intrigued me, and I went home to research. During research, I met some of the veterans, and I knew I had to write a fictional story inspired by their experiences. The veterans also gave me ideas for more stories; thus my love for historical fiction was birthed.

Marilyn: I know that you interviewed many veterans of that war. How did you come in contact with them? What was their response? And what did you learn from them?

Tricia: I first contacted them through the website of the 11th Armored Division. The organization gave me the contact information of the individual men. The men responded right away by phone and mail. They invited me to their 59th reunion of their division. I first interviewed them there. I didn't know what to expect, but the men were amazing. They were so excited to share their stories and open up.

I learned from them that they were ordinary men (boys really) who became unexpected heroes. (Actually, they don't even like being called heroes.) They helped me to see that each of us has a place in history--we are here for a purpose and we can rise to the occasion and accomplish more than we think possible with God's help.

Marilyn: Have your research and your books prompted others from that generation to tell you their stories? What has been the most surprising?

Tricia: Yes, after writing about the 11th Armored Division, other veterans contacted me. One man told me his story about being in the Bataan Death March. He asked, "Would you be interested in writing our story, too?" How could I say no? That became the inspiration for Dawn of a Thousand Nights.

I have been most surprised by my love for history. The more I know, the more I want to know. I could write hundreds, thousands of stories!

Marilyn: You've created a website just for WWII veterans to write their stories. Please tell us more about this site, why you created it, and how others can use it.

Tricia: Because I don't have the time to turn each story into a novel I'm sharing some of these stories on a new website, Unforgettable Stories of World War II: www.triciagoyer/ww2stories

Marilyn: Thank you, Tricia!

While you're checking out Unforgettable Stories of World War II, visit the rest of Tricia's website: www.triciagoyer.com/

Next time: Tricia talks about being a Generation X mom and mentoring other moms.

© 2006 by Marilyn C. Hilton

Never Too Late

I heard a story a few months ago that both saddened and encouraged me. The mother of a friend of mine was dying. They had not been close in their adult years; too many angry words, too many unmnet expectations, and too much pain had created an empty gulf between them, and all that remained was regret. And now, time was growing short because her mother was dying. My friend didn't want to leave things the way they were, unspoken and unforgiven, but she didn't know how to fix the problem.

What is it about the certainty of death that brings clarity and purpose to life? When we can see that gulf looming on the horizon, we see that our relationships with other people are more important than financial portfolios, awards, publication credits, real estate, or any other material we've collected in life. We want to let go of the grudges, hurts, and angers that have complicated and paralzyed those relationships, but often we don't know how. How do we let go of the pride that prevents us from forgiving people for doing us wrong? Who should take the first steps toward forgiveness--the person dying or the one left here?--and how can those first steps be taken?

For my friend, an energetic and resourceful person who rarely needs more than a few seconds to make a decision, these questions practically answered themselves. She picked up her video camera and decided to ask her mother some questions. But there her mind went blank: she didn't know what kinds of questions to ask. Then she spotted a book that she'd recently bought for her young daughter. (It happened to be my first book, The Christian Girl's Guide to Your Mom.) Wondering if there were anything in the book she could grasp and use for her mother, she flipped through the pages and found several "interview" questions. These are conversation prompts that spark deeper communication between parent and child.

She knew this book was for tween girls and their moms, but empty of anything better, she gave it a try. So she turned on the camera and asked a question. Her mother answered. Then she asked another, and her mother answered, and soon this mother and daughter who had long ago stopped talking about the things that really mattered--their love for each other and their deep longing to heal the wounds that had paralyzed them for so many years--began a new, loving relationship while they still had time.

Is there someone in your life with whom you want to reconnect, but you don't know how? If pride is stopping you, push it aside and stretch your hand to that person. Chances are, that hand will soon be filled with another grateful one.

© 2006 by Marilyn C. Hilton

December Baby

One of the most priceless gifts parents can give to their children is the story of their birth. Because we have no memory of our earliest beginnings, the only way to know about this significant event is from someone who witnessed it.

The story of my birth has a story. I was born in late December, almost late enough to be a New Year baby, and the story of my birth had become legend by the time I learned the simple truth. The story my father liked to tell was that four days after Christmas, he and my mother--who was already two weeks overdue with me--hiked miles up snow-laden Craney Hill in New Hampshire, where at the summit my mother did jumping jacks in the snowdrifts to shake me down. This exercise did the trick, because I was born within hours, after a hair-raising, white-knuckle drive to Concord Hospital in the middle of a raging blizzard.

I loved hearing this dramatic account of my beginnings. But a few years ago when I asked my mother about it, she couldn't remember hiking up Craney Hill. All she remembered of anything that involved Craney Hill was that she and my father had taken a drive around it sometime before I was born. (My dad loved to drive the back country roads of New Engand, anywhere and anytime.)

Soon, more of the truth came out in Gramma's diaries. I was supposed to have been born a week before Christmas, but by Christmas Eve, my mother lay hopelessly huge and uncomfortable on the sofa while the rest of her family sat around the dining table feasting on their holiday dinner together. The next morning, she got up early and walked around town--eating breakfast at her cousin's house and then visiting with her aunt and uncle on the other side of town before returning home. I can see my young mother trudging in the drifts in her winter boots, after months of trying to keep me safely inside, now determined to push me out of the nest where I'd long overstayed my welcome.

I was born five days later in Concord Memorial Hospital.

As much as I loved hearing my father's version of how I came to be, I appreciated once again my grandmother's devotion to recording the facts as they happened and when they happened.

Oh, my father's story did have a nugget of truth in it--I was born during an ice storm.

Do you know the story of your birth? If you don't, try to find out. If you're a parent, have you told your children their stories? If you haven't, please tell them (better yet, write it to them) before this precious story melts away--or they make one up.

© 2006 by Marilyn C. Hilton

15 Minutes of Your Life

I love the story of Joshua leading the Israelites across the Jordan River. I love it for many reasons, and one of them is because God instructed the leaders of the twelve tribes to choose one stone each from the riverbed and build a memorial on the other side. Every time they saw the memorial, they were to remember and talk about the wonders and miracles God had done for them that day.

I believe that each person has been given the amazing opportunity to create their own memorial. That memorial is the story of their life. It pains me to think that there are people who spend whole days, whole lives, without purposely leaving something behind. The moments of our lives should be noticed, recorded, examined (when there's time), and passed on. Everyone, I think, should do something toward writing their life story.

I know, I know, I hear you grumbling. People have all kinds of reasons for not writing their life story. The first one is they don't have any time. But I counter with if you have 15 minutes, you can do something toward getting your life on paper.

The second argument is that their life is boring. Let me tell you, I'm the first one to raise her hand with that excuse. Here's an example of the events of my typical, boring day:

- Wake up
- Let the dog out
- Wake up the kids
- Take a shower
- Brush my teeth, comb my hair
- Get dressed
- Prepare breakfast and eat
- Take kids to school
- Go to work
- Work
- Eat lunch
- Pick up kids at school
- Go home
- Help kids with homework
- Make dinner and eat
- Clean up
- Get kids ready for bed
- Watch TV, read, write, do chores
- Go to bed

That looks pretty routine, pretty mundane. And sometimes this is exactly what an entry in my diary looks like on a night when I'm too tired to pick up a pen. But if I flesh out these routine events, adding some details, observations, or opinions to them, my day reads like this:

• Wake up. Leon woke me up this morning because the sprinklers woke him up. I was in the middle of a crazy dream about a human-looking alien who could fly and glide.
• Let the dog out. As soon as she rushed out the back door, she barked and chased a squirrel, which got the dog next door barking.
• Wake up the kids. No one wanted to wake up this morning. It’s Monday.
• Take a shower. Without thinking about it, I solved a problem while shampooing my hair.
• Brush my teeth, comb my hair. No comment.
• Get dressed. I dressed up a little better than my usual T-shirt and overalls because I had to talk to someone about fundraising at school.
• Prepare breakfast and eat. Emily actually made frozen waffles for everyone. She’s growing up and taking on responsibility on her own.
• Take kids to school. We almost didn’t make it because there’d been an accident on Westmont. It didn’t look like anyone was hurt, but I prayed for them anyway. What a terrible way to start your day!
• Go to work. At home, as usual. I love it and thank God everyday for it.
• Eat lunch. I decided to treat myself and with a take-out salad. Besides, I needed to stretch.
• While I was outside, our neighbor was in her yard with her new baby, so I ran in our house to get the baby gift that had been sitting in the front hall for two weeks.
• Pick up kids at school. They were all late getting out. Andrew’s face was rosy and flushed from P.E., which he had right before school ended.
• Go home. The garage door slammed down. It needs a new motor or something. I should be more handy, but I usually add something like that to Leon’s “honey-do” list.
• Help kids with homework. Amazingly, they all did theirs without my nagging them twenty times. Even Andrew. He’s really showing maturity this school year!
• Make dinner and eat. Julia told us a funny story about some boys at school today batting around a ball made of rubber bands in the quad at lunchtime.
• Clean up. Okay, here’s where the nagging came in: I did have to remind the girls a few times to clean the coffee pot and wipe the stovetop.
• Get kids ready for bed. No one wanted to go to bed on time tonight, and Andrew said he needed three bandages for some invisible scrape on his knee. Maybe I just need a stronger pair of glasses, but I didn’t see anything.
• Watch TV, read, write, do chores. As I folded the laundry that had been sitting in baskets on the floor since Friday, Leon and I watched an interesting documentary on TV about beer-making in America. Who would have guessed?
• Go to bed. Even though I’m completely exhausted, I love having some time all to myself.
  

Not exactly exciting, but it definitely sounds a lot more more interesting. It fills in the gaps and adds some sprinkles and sauce to an otherwise vanilla day.

Here's an exercise you can do in 15 minutes:

1. Take out a notebook or a piece of paper, or open a new file on your computer, or turn on a recording device (a video camera or voice recorder).
2. Skipping lines, or leaving space between items, write or record a list of everything that happened today in the order they happened. Just jot them down as they come to you.
3. Look at your list. You’ve already done a lot today, haven’t you? Look how you’ve spent your time so far.
4. Now, write or record a little detail about each item.
5. If you want to take this exercise farther, add a comment, an opinion, or a remark about each detail you wrote.

Time’s up. Do you realize that you just did one thing toward writing your life story? And all in a short 15 minutes. You 've just created the first pebble of your memorial stone!

© 2006 Marilyn C. Hilton

Keeping a Daily Diary

People know me for "making history last" by recording, preserving, and telling my family's stories--and for showing others how to do the same for theirs. Whenever I'm asked for my Number One piece of advice, I answer without hesitation: Keep a diary every day.

"Keep a diary?!" people exclaim, sometimes outraged. "I don't have time to floss my teeth."

Then I explain that keeping a daily diary can take less time than flossing your teeth, and the benefits to your family may have farther-reaching and longer-lasting effects than good oral hygiene. Traditional diary keeping is recording just the facts, writing what happened during the day. This is the next place where people often freak out, because they think I mean they must create a literary masterpiece every day. But that's just not so.

My great-grandmother, Gramma Clark, who is my model for diary keeping, wrote in a diary nearly every day of her 83+ years. Now, this working woman/widow/single mother of two for much of her life had far more to do with her time than pen profundities at the end of every day, yet she managed to faithfully record each day's events. When I decided to adopt Gramma's diary-keeping habit, I was a working mother of two babies who also didn't have an extra moment to floss. But, I wanted my children to know what they did every day, how their young lives played out, and that someone noticed what they did and said and then took the time to pin those elusive moments onto paper.

My grandmother had two secrets for successful diary-keeping, and now they're mine:

• Write no more than one page each day.
• Write only what happened.

Gramma purchased small books for her diaries (average size 5"x7") and wrote up to one page each day. Sometimes she wrote only one sentence, and sometimes she skipped lines. But she wrote something every day. She stuck to the facts and didn't get into her interpretation of events. By recording one kernel of detail in each event, however, she brought clarity and distinctiveness to the event. Some people may view this tone as cold, detached, or unemotional. That may be true, but clearly she wrote these diaries for other eyes to read--they were public diaries--and did not want her words to offend anyone or be misconstrued. Another benefit of writing "just the facts" is that readers can interpret the words, fill in the spaces, and draw their own conclusions.

If you're interested in keeping a daily diary, you might be discouraged by the high cost of many pre-dated daily diaries. Many of these books are real leather and have fancy printing and embossing--and you pay for all this finery. You can find inexpensive varieties if you look closely, however, starting around October, when the holiday shopping begins. Calendar stores, card and gift stores, and mall booth vendors are good places to look. You can find a good diary, perfect- or spiral-bound, for about US$14.

There are several alternatives to bound, pre-dated diaries. You can use any bound book with lined pages--at least 365 sides--which you can date yourself. Sometimes it's best to date the pages ahead so that you don't inadvertently skip a day. I usually write the dates one month ahead in pencil, and then pen in the date when I write the entry.

You can also buy an empty organizer and a one-year pack of daily calendar pages, which are usually pre-dated. (If they're not dated, write in the dates as above.) At the end of the year, remove the pages, bind them with string or clips, and store them in a large envelope with the year written on it. Then, refill the organizer with the current year's calendar pages.

Or, you can go to your local office-supply store and purchase a notebook that has enough pages for 365 days.

At the end of the year, place your diary in a dry, cool box that's safe from moisture, heat, and pests.

So, let's recap:

• Keep a diary every day; keep it short, and stick to the facts.
• Choose from several options for your diary.
• Write legibly in ink.
• Store filled diaries in a safe place.

In upcoming entries, I'll talk about other ways you can keep a diary.

© 2006 Marilyn C. Hilton

Shelter

My grandparents--my father's mother and father--lived in a grand, rambling house on the corner of two busy streets in Canton, Massachusetts. This house, brown-shingled and green-shuttered--a very New England house--held magic and mystery for we young grandchildren who came for holiday celebrations, Sunday dinners, and drop-in visits.

My grandparents were farmers and business people, and among their many ventures was a turkey farm which they operated for several years. Down the broad, curved driveway of their home, next to the barn (which smelled of clean hay, grain, and burlap bags) were the turkey coops, where hundreds of turkeys gobbled and clucked through their days until someone wanted to eat one, at which time my grandfather wrung its neck, plucked its feathers, and handed it over to the customer. Business boomed during Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter, and to this day there are people in Canton who remember my grandparents' turkey farm and remark, sometimes wistfully, that those were the best turkeys they'd ever tasted.

Running a turkey farm, like running a family, requires huge amounts of energy and devotion. There were seasons for turkeys: in the spring, chicks hatched and had to incubated in the farmhouse until they were old enough and strong enough to move into the coops. They had to be fed and watered daily, their coops had to be cleaned, and when night fell or the skies threatened bad weather, the turkeys had to be gathered and sheltered from the elements. Often, when my grandparents were visiting us at our home in a nearby town and dusk began to settle, my grandmother would become anxious and announce, "We got to get home and get those turkeys in." I imagined her standing in the turkey pen, shooing every last stray turkey into its coop before night--or the first raindrop--fell, unable to rest until she had sheltered her enormous brood of turkeys in warmth and safety.

Five years and two days ago, a dear friend of mine boarded a plane in Boston and flew to San Jose for a brief, routine business trip. And then the next morning, tragedy struck our nation and our lives. Knowing she was separated from her husband back East and unable to return home for who knew how long, we invited her to stay with us. So she moved from her expansive hotel room to our cramped, cluttered, often-chaotic house while the world readjusted itself. A few days later, she and I, and two other dear old (as in "long-term," not "aged") friends attended an impromptu service at our church to pray, remember, cry, and try to make sense of the events of the past days--and then went to a local coffee shop to do something normal, sharply aware that the changes to our world and our lives were permanent and irreversible.

My friend, whom I'd met in college, with whom I'd studied for a year in Japan, and with whom I later shared my first apartment, and who has remained close despite the three-thousand miles that now separate us, was in those few days a part of my brood. Like my grandmother, I needed to keep her sheltered in our warmth and safety until she could fly home to her husband.

I'm grateful we were here to do that for her. I'm grateful that she found some comfort and solace in our love. But I think there was more to it. Surrounded by all the fear, sorrow, panic, and uncertainty of those days, she and I needed to be reminded that there are greater things to focus on. That she was here during that time wasn't a coincidence: it was a reminder, a reassurance, that some things--like friendship, love, and God's sheltering grace--can never be destroyed.

© 2006 Marilyn C. Hilton