Out of the Basement

I left the lights on all night for you, just like I always do! I knew you would come carrying all those treasures with you. Sweeping in here carried by the strength of such resolve to please and to excite. Once again, you succeeded. It always seems to build as that moment approaches... its expected, yet seems new each time the gift is unwrapped. Every thought and deed work in perfect harmony to create yet another most perfect of moments. As I look around I see it all before me and I am again swept away to so many yesterdays filled with so much joy... so much bittersweet joy. I see her standing at the kitchen sink. I see him setting up yet another whatever it is to be set up... I miss them both especially on these today's, but you come back and share them with me. You are so thoughtful and kind to me. I see mine and Angie's first and many Christmases... the good & great ones, as well as a few we endured together that were a little harder. I see my kids and their kids... thei...

So I was supposed to be in Orlando all week... things happen... things change. The call came and  my plans did just that; they changed. Now, at midnight,  I sit in a chair in a hospital room while my world lays in her bed for the night... groggy from her meds and trying to rest before her surgery in the morning. It wasn't planned but things happen... things change. I checked out of my hotel in a whirlwind, racing to the airport to catch a flight destined for delay due to a faulty starter that hindered the right engine. I was able to keep my phone on and waited for every text message from the emergency room I was desperately trying to get to. I looked at my phone and realized that in my haste, I had forgotten to grab a charger cable... I had a phone... I had a Mophie charger... but I did not have the means to connect the two! I asked half the people on the plane. No charger.  The other half had deplaned. The flight attendant saw my distress and tried to help. Still no c...

I had to say goodbye to Dekker tonight. I would say it is was unexpected... sudden... but it wasn't. He was 13 years old and an old man... for a dog. But,  he was an old man from birth.  He didnt liked to be held,  but he didnt like to be alone. He was quiet and seemingly pensive, but could let loose and tear through the house with the best of them. Itll be different with him gone.  I wont have to wash that bath mat nearly as often that he liked to sneak off and relieve himself on... Morning coffee wont be the same, there'll be too much room on the love seat in our bedroom where he crowded me every morning for the last 13 years! My office will be quieter without that old dog snore of his as he slept on the floor waiting for Angie to get home. It's already quieter... too quiet. I will miss him. Alot. I rubbed his nose as he went to sleep... he hated that.   I loved it... I loved him. Goodbye old man.

"Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow, it empties today of its strength." Corrie Ten Boom From our devotional this morning. Reminds me of one of Angie Stewart Callahan favorite songs, Fear Is A Liar. I hope today to live in such a space that I am not drained by the future not yet known nor the anxious impending never realized. May we live joyfully and peacefully in the blessed now. Thank you Lord in advance... Good morning.

Happy Mother's Day to all those past and present who have borne the task of caring, loving, toiling and yearning for their children. It's obviously a complicated task being someone's mom! She does the sacrificing and laboring so all we see are the adventure and excitement of our youth. They do their work quietly... with little regard for recognition. They are the silent saints who bridge the gap between the ignorance of youth and the hubris of our adolescence. A week or two ago I found some old videos of me and Angie Stewart Callahan and Darren Callahan playing and singing while on one of our regular visits to see my mom and dad. My mom was holding the camera while Lisa Popchoke Callahan and my dad sat and help to create the background scene of one of those beautiful moments often forgotten in the days that would come, but previously remembered when recalled. But there she sat... holding her camera... ushering and directing her kids to share their gifts and to reward her...

I have always been intrigued by Occam's Razor. In a word it just states that if there are multiple hypothetical answers, the one with the fewest assumptions is most often correct.  It is used by philosophers, psychologists, and many other scientists to problem solve... to sort out the riddles of the universe... to know! I think it is exercised in our fatih as well.  This week has been a week for me where its use has been overtly evident.... I can see in my mind's eye as it writes out the many hypotheticals of my life on some big dry erase board, offering me assumptions to help draw down to the most obvious answer... I saw it as I read in John when Jesus asked Peter for the third time, "do you love Me?" I felt it writing on that big white board as thoughts turned to words in numerous situations throughout my week as co worker and friend alike allowed me to speak into their lives something from Him that would heal or comfort. As a few people listened to my songs... giv...

There was this moment…  David S Callahan (c) 2017 There was that moment just one moment ago, that I thought I was okay. Then I opened up that picture and I saw that incredible smile. That's when it hit me that I would not ever see it again. At least not in the same way… in a tangible way that let me reach out and touch you and say I love you. It was in that moment that I knew that I was not okay; I am just learning to be okay. It is not the same. It is a new and different kind of okay. I can't just mend or heal or work through this one. Time won't heal this wound. Time is the enemy. The longer I live, the longer we are apart. Not that I don't want to live, but living without you here is not a deal I was willing to strike. I guess we never think it through when we are negotiating this life. But we live it with its most painful consequence… loss… Don't get me wrong, I am moving on just like you would have wanted. But I can't tell you it's as easy ...

One week ago today I would go to the long term care facility and see my dad for the last time. I am sure that such a statement would seem to some a milestone laden with heavy grief, sorrow, and a modicum of melodrama. In some ways it may have been, but in other ways, not at all. One week ago today I said goodbye to my dad, but only physically. I believe with all my heart that he and I said goodbye a few days before that when I had to leave Mississippi and head back to Georgia. I told him, "I love you... you know, you have been a pretty good dad and I thank you for loving me!" He just replied, " I tried to be, and I love you more than you will ever know!"  Those were the last words we spoke other than goodbye when I was leaving, but the real message was summed up in a 51 year old son hoping that the 73 year old father knew he appreciated the life he gave him... and conversely, the older telling the younger that he hoped it was enough... I really did and It tr...

I had lunch today at a place I haven't eaten at for over forty years (yes I am that old!) I first went there with my dad at about five years of age and I still think it was to my memory the best burger I have ever eaten in my life. Memories swept over me like a cool breeze in an early fall as I soaked in every nuance and fiber of that piece of my life. It is amazing how the littlest things set your mind to churning... I always knew it as Bill's Cafe in Cabbagetown. Now its known as Little's Grocery Grill. I dont get that way much these days. I will say, it is a lot different than when I lived there. Its ironic how old and delapidated becomes historic and trendy. We were just surviving...  now they're all thriving! Years back when I told my mom what the property was going for there, she just shook her head and laughed! They always say the difference between crazy and eccentric is the size of the bank account! But today, I just soaked in the old... the nostalgic... ...

I am finally sitting down in my office at home tonight pondering everything but the solar eclipse. My dad is now in the long term rehab facility in what  can only be considered a  dire circumstance. But only God knows the outcome. We are splitting up time between us all racing down interstates and highways on the weekends while chasing doctors and caregivers to tend to his need. Everything in me tells me that this doesn't end well. But, only God knows the outcome. We have all once again made the commitment to put our lives on hold and do the right thing for another parent  (actually the third and fourth for Angie and I) who need us but is in such a state that they don't know we are on the task. I see us all aging daily and wonder how we will be when this is all done. But, only God knows the outcome. At times I feel that  I am downcast and forlorn; to some degree that is a reality I fight. The struggle is real. I question my own ability to once again hold all th...

Miracles I was reading this morning about miracles... I believe they happen. I believe also that they don't happen to everybody in every case. I feel certain that they are purposeful and demonstrative and that we should discern as we marvel. While I am not so sure that we should pray for them as much as we should pray that God's will be done; sometimes they may not be the same thing. Only God  knows. Ours is to trust and obey.  In our lives, such as now, when we would love to see a miracle, it is probably wiser to lean on a strength that is bigger than the miracle itself. If we fall hold to  him rather than to the hope of something extraordinary, we are more safely buoyed from circumstance. Whether miracles happen in our lives or not, we still need the miracle worker, even if he is not effecting those miracles in our present situation.

It is again that day. It feels like forever, then in other ways, it seems like only yesterday. I was racing to the airport from the Merchandise Mart in Chicago to catch a plane back home. I had just  left Angie and was headed back home earlier than she since my business was done. Phone on airplane mode... simple flight back to my world. By the time I had landed with phone turned back on... my world was drastically changed. I had dozens of texts... a dozen voice mails. It would seem normal after being out of town on business for a few days to have lots of messages to reply to, but they were not work numbers. It was family, friends, church members.  I listened to Angie's first and it simply said "call me when you land." It chilled me. I still am cold when I think of it. She started with... "we lost Mason." It just got worse. In the time it took me to fly from Chicago to Atlanta, I had lost my nephew. I rushed to my brother and sister in laws side. The...

For the first time in a while I stopped early in the morning with just a cup of coffee in my favorite sitting place, my dog by my side and just didn't... Didn't ponder work. Didn't work on a to do list. Didn't even turn on the morning news. I just didn't! No dids for me... not yet anyway.  They will come... I have a list... but not right now. Right now I am just gonna don't and enjoy it for just a little longer.  Then I will do again. Try it some time. Good morning fellow don't-ers!

She sneaked up on me this morning. Last night I was just going about the business of planning my weekend chores. But, somewhere in the quiet of my sleep, she crept in. When I awoke this morning, I found myself humming the first verse and chorus I had written some ten years ago. I don't often go back to it, hardly ever anymore. It was never one of my favorite songs. The ones that exact the highest price rarely are the chosen songs. They are too hard to write. But there it was; in my head and on my tongue. First I sat down with my guitar and opened up the notebook... but something felt uncomfortable. I tried several keys, trying to recall that pitch that harmonizes with the brain, helping me remember tenor and tone. But it still wasn't quite there. then it hit me. It was a piano song! My hands were telling me I was wrong, but my head wasn't listening. I spun around in my chair, looked at my keyboard, and took that long walk across the room to that place where memory ...

At some point we are going to have to return to civility and a higher sense of decorum in regards to our national politic! Children are now... and should always be off limits... "satire" included! These pseudo intellectuals with their witty retorts and insightful smugness need to be draw some generally accepted boundaries. That should be for both sides... those who make such stupid and malicious remarks and those who would exploit the comments! Civil disobedience and debate are bedrock to the personality of our republic, but our nation's persona has spiraled so far beyond that! Civics, back when it was taught, educated every young American about the greatness of America but also about the sober realities of a nation built on a system of checks and balances that serve and protect We The People. Unfortnately, living in this new and hostile  vacuum where those are no longer taught, we have devolved to an environment where rancor, derision and division turned up to the hig...

15 Things I've Learned To Do  In These 51 Years... Dont take everything so seriously... especially yourself. Dont be in such a hurry... life will find you soon enough. Give it all you've got... whatever it is. Leave nothing undone... finish strong. Believe what you believe enough to stand when no one else will stand with you. Cast your vision and blow your trumpet loud! Love completely... without hesitation. Forgive... period. Tell those who matter that they matter and make sure they know why. Be thankful. Be humble. Give everyone a chance. Leave nothing unsaid... finish telling your story. Love that someone who is your someone and cherish them as long as you have breath! Love the Lord your God with all you heart, soul, strength and mind.

I am taking my mother in law back to South Carolina this morning. She has been with us since just before Thanksgiving. Its been a great visit, but she is ready to get back home. I understand that; nothing like the land of familiar. I've seen the homesickness falling on her. It comes to us all  in small subtle nuance as we stare out a window at a different landscape causing us to acknowledge the difference from something long remembered... our normal. So she longs for home. But these have been good  days with her. Here at the holidays many are oft to think about home.  Not where they actually dwell,  but that sweetly remembered innocence of some past perfection that we can't quite seem to recapture.  I have my own Sweet Georgia Christmases I recall, but that's for another telling. The problem with the idyllic past perfected is it is unattainable... or at least misremembered. I think it was Voltaire that is credited with saying "perfect is the enemy of good." I...

It never fails. Every year about this time we are bombarded at every sensory level with Christmas cheer! We all decorate, cook, sing, and celebrate as the holidays unfold all around us! It's  like the old black & white movies that end in some town square with crowds of people singing joy, resolution and Silent Night. And that does happen... even now... but not always! Some don't have that picture perfect finale to every Christmas. Some don't even come close. Today, as many of us start unpacking decorations and chasing our favorite recipes, others within arms reach of us are packing up any hope they have as they fight the anguish of a less than celebratory circumstance. Today we see cities in ashes, lives are being taken by others, and hope... yes hope hangs by a thread for many! It would do us all well to look around and see... many who live these challenged lives are much closer than we can imagine! Also, I am certain that the first Christmas happened because so ma...

To just say the words seems somewhat cliche in my opinion.  Saying it with the full weight of a heart forcing out every emotion it can summon is more appropriate! Uttering Happy Thanksgiving alone is like any myriad salutations if not provoke by a deeper sense of gratefulness. To render the result of Thanksgiving, we need first to engage the cause of it. My priorities align my motivation to be thankful... A loving and faithful God and Savior. A caring and devoted extended family. A fruitful and exciting work life. A committed and productive service to others. ...simple rules for a simple person. In some way, these four corner posts of my world have somehow drawn you into my circle. And, in so doing, enriched and blessed my life. Now that is truly something to be thankful for! I am deeply moved, honored and grateful for my days here and to have been so favored to share them with you!  Happy Thanksgiving

Never miss the opportunity to say what needs to be said.  A very dear friend of mine shared with me a thought;  the essence of which is TO LIVE!  I wont quote them as I did not seek permission but it was truly profound and insightful, especially in the times we find ourselves living in... That thought has stayed with me. I saw something horrendous play out in front of me recently and it caused me to take stock; of life, of people, of living.  Probably doesn't make sense to you, but it doesn't require disclosure in order to understand the real message. The simplest way to put it, as my friend did so succintly, is to just live! And, as we do, remember what makes living matter! God, family, frends, purpose, duty, our vocation, our dreams and aspirations! It is the fuel that fires our hearts! Tell someone what they mean to you... listen to someone you have tuned out... share something that will bless someone... be willing to receive from someone a gift that they want t...