Something Old, Something New

Photo credit:  Justin Wirtalla

This is the ring my daughter wore on her wedding day as her something old.  It is one of the few remaining heirlooms from my grandfather's family.  My grandfather bought this ring for his mother when he was stationed in Germany in 1914 or 1915 during World War I--The War to End All Wars.  There, he served in the U.S. Army Veterinary Corps.  Recently my brother did some digging around on the internet to see if he could find any information about my grandfather's service.  He came across this website and recognized the photo of the four horsemen (which sounds like a biblical reference but in this case isn't).  Grandpa is seated on the third horse from the left.

My brother forwarded the information he'd found, along with this comment:

I don't remember the name of the horse that Grandpa is on, but I do remember one time when he was looking at that photo that he did say "I loved that horse, I rode it all over France."

There's no real profound theological point to my sharing this old family story this week; I just love me some old family stories sometimes, especially those that focus in on a piece of a much bigger story.  And, I am grateful to those who make the effort to hold onto family heirlooms and preserve historical photos so that stories like these don't disappear into eternity.

Speaking of things that are old, please bear with me over the next couple of weeks as I'll be re-posting some of my old stories from the Stuff To Read When You Can't Sleep archive.  I've got a little bit of travel coming up (not to worry, the beloved Swede will be guarding the home front), and I've also got sort of a big new writing project I'm working on.  It's not going to pay me a single nickel, but I'm kind of jazzed about it nonetheless.  It's also TOP! TOP! SECRET! so I really can't talk about it on the internet.

In the meantime, if you get bored with reading some of my old stuff, please check out some of my fellow bloggers whose posts are listed on my right sidebar.  They all love Jesus and most of them are better writers than I am.  You'll find some good stuff there.  I may even sneak in a few new pieces of my own from time to time, so please check back.  I am ever grateful for all of you who stop by and take the time to leave a comment.  Your kind words are blessing, encouragement, and joy to me.

Continuing with this week's gratitude list:

850.  Jewelry that tells a story.
851.  Jewelry that preaches:

852.  Two words:  Pan!  Zees!

853.  Clearing away dead branches and finding new life:

854.  New life.
855.  Old friends reunited.
856.  Lunch with college student/friend (you know who you are!)
857.  Old photos and old stories and those who preserve them.
858.  Using the word jazzed as a verb.
859.  A big old brilliant moon in the sky.
860.  A bat in the early evening sky, first one I've seen this spring.
861.  Spring!