Happy Resurrection Day 2013!

We entered this big bird on Good Friday at LAX.

... which was also Shabbat. Fruit of the vine and bread from the earth at 30,000 feet this week.

 We crossed the Equator and then the International Date Line in one night.

Kathy loves sunrise services,. This year, her sunrise service was aboard a 747, just outside of Brisbane, Australia.

 Her view. We emerged from the flying silver bird on Easter morning, Resurrection Sunday, in the land of Australia.

 This was a surprise visit for two of our daughters. Here we are after arriving at church just as the service ended.

And here is the most important message of the day...and the year...and a lifetime.

He is risen, indeed. 

Because I Met You...

I love this song. I love its play on words—for good (for the better) and for good (forever).

I love this song and the emotion between two people thrust together by fate, so different and yet...

I love this song, and I was pondering its lyrics the other day and thinking about all the people in my life, all the people I have met over the years who have had such an influence, such a profound effect on my life. I thought, of course, of parents and relatives, family and friends, neighbors, schoolmates, co-workers, teachers, dentists, doctors, librarians, shop owners, employers, shipmates, bosses. So many have changed me for good—and for good?

But on this day, my mind turns inexorably to that day, so many years ago, that I joined with the one I had met the year before, the one who truly changed my life for good...and for good...

Because I met her...

Here are the lyrics along with a recording of the song.

Happy anniversary, my love.

 

I've heard it said
That people come into our lives for a reason
Bringing something we must learn
And we are led
To those who help us most to grow
If we let them
And we help them in return
Well, I don't know if I believe that's true
But I know I'm who I am today
Because I knew you:

 

Like a comet pulled from orbit
As it passes a sun
Like a stream that meets a boulder
Halfway through the wood
Who can say if I've been changed for the better?
But because I knew you
I have been changed for good

 

It well may be
That we will never meet again
In this lifetime
So let me say before we part
So much of me
Is made of what I learned from you
You'll be with me
Like a handprint on my heart
And now whatever way our stories end
I know you have re-written mine
By being my friend:
Like a ship blown from its mooring
By a wind off the sea
Like a seed dropped by a skybird
In a distant wood
Who can say if I've been changed for the better?
But because I knew you

Because I knew you:
I have been changed for good
And just to clear the air
I ask forgiveness
For the things I've done you blame me for
But then, I guess we know
There's blame to share
And none of it seems to matter anymore

Like a comet pulled from orbit
As it passes a sun
Like a stream that meets a boulder
Halfway through the wood

Like a ship blown from its mooring
By a wind off the sea
Like a seed dropped by a bird in the wood

Who can say if I've been changed for the better?
I do believe I have been changed for the better?
And because I knew you:
Because I knew you:
Because I knew you:
I have been changed for good.