Thoughts on the Ending Decade

Thursday, December 31, 2009 Since this is the last time I'll blog during this decade I thought I'd share ten of the most important lessons I've learned in the last ten years.

1. God's love and grace are given to us with the same abandon we are to share them with others.

2. My capacity to love is greater than I ever imagined.

3. Friends are the greatest treasures of life.

4. Nothing in life is so bad that a warm puppy can't make it better

5. Life is better when lived in the company of a very old dog.

6. Trying new things is more fun when you are with the "old things" at the end of the day.

7. If you aren't giving you aren't living.

8. Find something you love and make your living at it.

9. Find something you love just as much and make a life of it.

10. The world is full of cactus but you don't have to sit on it.

Jerry Self-Some people you always remember

Then (November 20, 1999)

The letter I wrote to Jerry 3 days after the tragedy. The words in maroon are words that were later inscribed in his portal in the Bonfire Memorial at Texas A&M: http://bonfire.tamu.edu/~bonfire/jSelf

Jerry,

I have spent the better part of the last three days remembering you. In every memory you are wearing the biggest smile I have ever seen. Remember the time I asked you why you were smiling? "I told myself a joke." What a silly guy! What a loving guy. I'll never forget all the hours of talking about our A&M experiences. Or all the trips to the Athens Wal-Mart during camp. I have so many visions of you at camp with kids hanging off of you like tinsel on a Christmas tree. I'll never forget how excited you were the first time a fourth grader told you that he wanted to accept Christ. The solace that I have found these last three days has come from you. I have never known anyone who lived their life so completely focused on God. If there is anyplace you ever wanted to be it was in the arms of the One who holds you now. I will miss you. I will know in my heart that it is you who says "Here!" on April 21st.
Until we meet again,

Bridget Maloney,

TAMU '90

Now (November 14, 2009)

Sunny days seem to hurt the most

I wear the pain like a heavy coat

I feel you everywhere I go

I see your smile, I see your face

I hear you laughing in the rain

Still can't believe you're gone

It ain't fair you died too young

Like a story that had just begun

Then death tore the pages all away

God knows how I miss you

All the hell that I've been through

Just knowing no one could take your place

Sometimes I wonder who you'd be today

Would you see the world?

Would you chase your dreams?

Settle down with a family?

I wonder, what would you name your babies?

Some days the sky's so blue I feel like I can talk to you

And I know it might sound crazy

Sunny days seem to hurt the most

I wear the pain like a heavy coat

The only thing that gives me hope

Is I know I'll see you again someday someday

(Who You'd Be Today-Kenny Chesney)

Good Times

Thursday, August 20, 2009. It's been a busy, busy week. I can't count the number of times I've glanced at this picture and smiled. One of my favorite places in the world (Mo Ranch) with one of my favorite people in the world (Carroll Pickett) doing one of my favorite things in the world (ministry).

Thank God for good friends and good memories.