I felt led to watch a movie today that took place in Ireland. It is called "Finding You." It is a beautiful movie and has a lovely ending with tears that flowed from my eyes. I am most sentimental, and a good love story always gets me to cry, and I am perfectly fine with that. Sometimes you have busy things on a list to take care of, but you just have to take time out to relax. Today was one of those days. I was up early this morning and completed a ministry lesson via video I had on my agenda to be completed.
I had a late morning appointment at my home and before that I cleaned all the wood floors in my place. It was 3:00PM today, 4/8/2023 and I got up after the beautiful movie and I was still crying. It was a lovely, tender movie. I was walking to the kitchen and noticed movement on my patio. I walked closer and there was the hummingbird fluttering around a plant that was coming back to life after the winter. I went to the patio door to look closer and there it was. The hummingbird drinking a hearty drink from the hummingbird feeder. I just knew in my heart I had to write about this before going out to do a chore.
Tomorrow will be the 47th anniversary of the dying of my brother Ricky that was lost at sea. Earlier today I went through a few pictures I took when going through my mother's pictures that I got. Literally weeks before his fatal trip, of me and my sister, our father and my brother at our debutante ball. I saw family members in the pictures from that grand event in my life that came to celebrate this with us. Amongst the items are newspaper articles that were written when he died. In time, I will share some of them with you. I also found a few tributes my mother would place either in the Croatian newspaper on a certain anniversary of my brother's death or request a song be played during the Sunday morning Eddie Bucar Croatian radio program.
I also received a most beautiful sculpture a relative had someone create for my mother after my brother's death. I will show that to you all. It is a mother holding dear and near to her heart one of her children. The other 3 children since we were all still alive are at the hem level of her dress. I always loved this sculpture and most thankful that I received it.
Since tomorrow is Easter or I know it as Resurrection Sunday, maybe it is best to share what I was going to share tomorrow today. It will be a quiet day for me since my family does not live in the state where I reside. I plan on watching Jimmy Swaggart ministry livestream because I am not connected to a local church in town. There is a 96-year-old neighbor that walked over to my place one day this week and introduced herself to me. She told me about the Pentecostal church she attends. In the brief moments we talked, the subject of revival came up somehow. She shared with me that 100 years ago her father was in a brush arbor revival. I had no idea what that was I thought it was a tent revival. I said I have never been to one of them, just a tent revival.
In the one article I will show you it says my brother died on 4/8/1976 and that was confusing at first for our family. We were told he died on that day but somehow it was determined the day was 4/9/1976. While with my children back in Ohio I read out loud the actual Coast Guard report and it was interesting. There really was a foreign vessel and it even lists the name of the vessel trying to throw them a tow line. I think they referred to it as being in international waters. I always thought my brother did not have a life preserver but apparently according to the report he had one. How in the heck did the other 4 that had one on survive and my brother did not. I can see why my mother questioned the circumstances surrounding the death of her son. She had gumption and was not afraid to request the official written report. I tend to get that tenacity from her. I will search out an answer if I am not timid when the person is standing right in front of me to ask the question. You know I had at least 2 opportunities to ask questions I had when talking with Jeff Jansen and in those moments, I hesitated and did not ask them. So, I may never have the answers to my few questions I had.
Lesson learned, don't hesitate when the opportunity is placed before you because there may never be that 2nd, 3rd, 4th etc. chance to ask them.
Oddly enough, the lesson I viewed this morning made mention of a rainbow analogy and so with reading the one memoriam for my brother it also speaks of a rainbow. Maybe it is most fitting to share the song sung by James W. Goll, "Somewhere Over the Rainbow".
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