Wednesday, May 11, 1977 It must be time for our semi-annual correspondence… or at least it seems to have dwindled down to that over the past several months! Aaron and I just came in from a morning walk to see “Daddy” off to an exam and enjoy the chilly sunshine. Last weekend we enjoyed 80° weather, and this morning it was down to 31°, which may well hurt some of the local crops.
This spring has just flown by. Our biggest news (which is old news at best) is that we’re expecting a new addition into the family, due two years to the day from Aaron’s expected arrival. Needless to say, we’re ecstatic, since there’s nothing we’d like more than to have a bunch more just as sweet as the one we’ve got.
Alan’s nearly through with school for this year, too, which we’re realizing with mixed emotions. He’s still facing comprehensives and national boards yet though, so the primary emotion right now is that of impending relief! We are very much looking forward to his three-week summer vacation (they don’t want the students to get lazy by having too long a rest) coming up at the end of June. Wile Alan’s classmates dream of what they can afford to buy someday, we dream of being able to spend a little time together “some day.”
Of course “some day” rarely ever comes, so we try diligently to protect the fleeting nows available to us! One of our chief delights since spring has come is going for walks. Alan takes off from 5-7 pm, and since we eat right at 5:00 m, we often have time for a walk around campus or a short trip to Belle Isle Park. At Belle Isle there are such special attractions as flower gardens, ducks that will,
with coaxing, eat from your hand, and a herd of tame deer, plus all the usual playground equipment children love. Aaron especially loves the ducks, and we always bring a few bits of bread or left over pancakes for him to throw to them. So far his record shot is about eighteen inches in front of his feet, and as ducks are wise enough to be leery of small boys, we sometimes have to have Alan help him lure the ducks in.
Our little 18-m0nth-old does not grow by leaps and bounds (which he comes by honestly), but he has been making great strides toward speaking a reasonable sort of English. He’s a very emphatic, expressive sort of guy and is quite taken with his new ability for communication. Not yet being two, he is still very positive about things, and is quite likely to answer any question with a hearty “Ya!” The twos are coming, though, I think, because he’s getting fiercely independent. When we go for walks he sometimes goes so far as to hold his hands across his chest at corners so I can’t help him cross the street! Nor does he appreciate being held and cuddled (except when I rock him to sleep at night), but he always makes a point of kissing Alan and saying, “I love you” after he reads the bedtime story. In fact, “I yove you” was his first sentence, which he picked up spontaneously, probably from hearing it several hundred times every day.
We had a wonderful weekend visit with my folks a couple of weeks ago—did a little sightseeing and a lot of visiting and resting. Dad had just been to a conference on “rapid learning,” speed-reading with the emphasis on understanding the structure of the material presented. Since I couldn’t adequately explain what he taught us from it, I won’t try, by the whole things seems absolutely fascinating to me. He read on article at 2,700 words per minute and still did a pretty fair job on the comprehension test (his regular speed is of course much less than that). Think of how much material—newspapers, magazines, books—we could digest if we read at that rate!
Since Alan will be in school almost all of July And August, we will be sure to be in Detroit if anyone is making summer travel plans and could possibly visit. We have lots of floor space and mattresses and are always eager to see good friends.
(The last picture is of Aaron’s wife, Carleen, and their third son, Reid)
Rise Up, My Love (33): Who is the Rose and the Lily?
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Posted in Bible Commentary, Meditations on the Song of Solomon, Rise Up My Love
Tagged lilies, Rose of Sharon; Lily of Valley, roses, Song of Solomon 2:1