Hello, and welcome to another blessing Sunday. Traveling with me on this path are
Lynda Lambert who shared the idea with me, and

Abbie Johnson Taylor

I had family come to visit this week. My brother and sister-in-law from Boise and my sister from Mundelein descended upon AZ. My brother likes the wide open spaces & decided to stay in Wickenburg, a small town a little less than an hour’s drive from where I live. Friday morning, Apr. 10, my sister, Hubby, and I took our jeep and made the trip up. We all piled into Phil and Nancy’s Expedition and headed off to Vulture Mine Ghost Town. I personally did not encounter any disembodied visitors, and, so far as I know, neither did anyone else in our group.

At the ghost town, there was a blacksmith, working in period constume with the same tools that would’ve been used in the 1800’s, and likely are still used, albeit perhaps in slightly altered form, to this day.

He was making crosses. He wanted $40 for the larger 1, but the smaller versions were $25. That was rather expensive, especially given mounting medical bills, but they were hand-crafted, and the guy was working hard. I bought 1 for myself and 1 for the hubby, who did not accompany us on the tour of the shops because of physical impairment.

He loved it. He said it was the nicest thing I ever gave him. We’ve been married almost 40 years, and I’ve given him plenty of gifts during that time. This cross was definitively not the most expensive thing I’d ever gifted him. Nonetheless, I was glad he liked it.

The easter bunny, AKA my daughter, forgot to give him his jelly beans for Easter, so I ordered some. They came today, Apr. 11. He was equally glad to get those.

As I get older, I increasingly come to realize it’s not the expensive gifts that matter. It’s making memories. That person you love won’t be around forever, and there may come a time when all you’ll have is memories to sustain you. Of course there’ll be momentous occasions. But there will be smaller things to remember as well, like a small steel cross on a hot Arizona day, or a belated Easter gift of favorite old-fashioned jellybeans. Big occasions are just that–occasional. But small memories can be fashioned every single day. I’m making it my mission to do exactly that.