Month: August 2016

First Days of Our Journey

Bonnie Brady
Celebrating Ken’s birthday in style. In the store we found a candle for every birthday. For 45 it says “From this day forward we start going backwards.” Coach Jack taught me that a long time ago, but he said it started at 75.
This is an image from the Altar of the Church of the Holy Spirit. The natural light shines on different apostles throughout the day. Special note: This ornate church was actually built as a hospital in 1200 AD.
Saying prayers in the Church of the Holy Spirit.
The Gazebo in the fancy part of the English Garden is always a surprise. Over the last two decades I have heard a violin concert, a pan flute concert, and now a glass harmonica concert. Such a wonderful experience in a beautiful setting. I can’t wait to see what music is there next!
We are having so much fun just exploring our temporary home town. This Statue is surrounded by fast-paced streets, but the feel around this part of the park is calm and peace (except for the two people that were doing an extreme workout with their coach – not too peaceful for them!)
Many Paths

Many Paths

Bonnie Brady

Yesterday we played it safe and stuck to exploring the English Garden that runs through Munich. While on our hike we went off the path (I’m sure you’re all surprised at that) and made our way down to the river that runs through the park. As we came out of the woods and stepped onto the little bit of rocky beach the lined the water, I was amazed by the beautiful bridge above us. Beyond that bridge was another bridge that was very plain and linear. Just past that was yet another bridge that was even more ornate than the first.

As someone who loves metaphors and putting meaning to simple things, I couldn’t help but look at these bridges as reflections of our lives. When we are trying to get to somewhere, whether it be an actual place, a goal, or even a state of mind, there are many ways to get there. We could take the first bridge with its middle of the road decorations, we could go on to take the simple bridge, or go grand on the third bridge. All would get us over the river, just at different places in time. The bridges would also take us back to where we started if we decided we didn’t like where we were. Or maybe we don’t want to take a bridge at all. Maybe we decide to walk through the river (it is very shallow) or to just stick where we are. We could choose to go it alone, or with a group of friends. With supplies or without. Walking, biking, dancing, skipping or driving? It’s our choice.

After tooling around on the beach a while, we walked back along the shoreline, only to see that there were many more bridges behind us. We are always going to have bridges in our lives, and in the end we may not remember our choices, or recognize that we even made choices, but each bridge gives us more experiences that hopefully help us decide what to do whenever we come to a new one. I am so thankful that my family is not only willing, but excited about going on this bridge journey together.

May the bridges you choose keep you connected to us, and if you ever need a crossing mate, give us a call!

 

Defying Gravity

Defying Gravity

Bonnie Brady

For those of you who know our family, you know that the Broadway musical Wicked is extremely important to us. We have listened to the soundtrack thousands of times, dissecting the lyrics and talking about what the words mean to us. Not surprisingly, the songs have meant different things to us at different times. For example, we regularly examine “Popular”, the quintessential song about believing that people need to fit a certain mold in order to be valued and friend-worthy. Sometimes we are on the side of Glinda, the popular girl who thinks being different is strange and unbecoming. And other times we embrace the message of Elphaba, the green skinned witch that tries to be who she really is, in spite of how others treat her. As you can imagine, with two daughters that are both so alike and so different, the conversations can get animated, but they love it.

My favorite song in the play is Defying Gravity, sung at the point when the two friends need to choose their own paths. One friend realized that she no longer had a dream of working with the wizard, a dream she had since she was little and so desperately wanted to fit in. Instead she wanted to embrace her true, green self and do what she thought was right. The other friend decided that it was through her long-term dream that she could accomplish what she believed was right.  Their beliefs of what needed to happen were the same, but how they went about accomplishing it was different and fit with their own personalities and characters. It wasn’t until the two women became friends that they had the strength and courage to be themselves, to “defy gravity.”

As we start our travels around southern Europe, I hope that as a family we embrace every opportunity (including writing our blogs) to defy gravity. As the song says, “Everyone deserves the chance to fly,” and this is our chance. Who knows how high we will fly, or where we will land, but we’re doing it together.

To close this first blog, I want to quote another song from Wicked, “For Good.” For all of our family and friends, and for future friends we have yet to meet:

“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… Because I knew you, I have been changed for good.”

Thank you to everyone that has helped us become our true Bonnie, Ken, Cecelia and Emeline. You have all changed us for good!