I have come to fall in love with teaching in Catholic schools. What are YOU in love with?...

"Nothing is more practical than finding God, that is, than falling in love in a quite absolute, final way. What you are in love with, what seizes your imagination, will affect everything. It will decide what will get you out of bed in the morning, what you will do with your evenings, how you will spend your weekends, what you read, who you know, what breaks your heart, and what amazes you with joy and gratitude. Fall in love, stay in love, and it will decide everything." - Pedro Arrupe

Friday, July 13, 2012

What matters most...

"To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die." 
~Thomas Campbell

Well, at this rate, my grandpa will continue to live for awhile. So many great stories...memories...pictures...

Speaking of pictures, actually, my family and I nearly died laughing a few times at the ridiculousness captured on film. (Some negatives must be burned...) Oh the things that get buried away in boxes...

With his memorial and burial this weekend, it won't be easy to make it through without shedding a few tears - not that I will even try to stop them, by any means. But there's bound to be plenty of laughter too because, apparently, my grandpa did (and said) some pretty crazy things...in his own quiet way.

I realize how blessed I was to know him for over 25 years of my life (although, I guess my early childhood years don't really count - too early), but time never seems long enough when it comes to being with people you love. It makes me think of a song (most recently performed (to my knowledge) by Barbra Streisand - one of my grandpa's favorite artists) about love and how love supersedes time. 

It's meant to be a love song, I know, but it fits for all relationships, I believe. (See for yourself - here are a few lines of the lyrics below.)

It's not how long I held you in my arms 
What matters is how sweet the years together
It's not how many summertimes we had to give to fall 
The early morning smiles we tearfully recall 
What matters most is that we loved at all...

*In loving memory: July 11, 1924 - December 2, 2011*

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