Parenting – Al's Painting and Poetry

Marriage, the miracle of separate beings becoming one

Forty-two years ago, this month, a miracle began in my life. A lovely, intelligent, and gifted young lady became my wife. Just prior to our wedding, I wrote the following poem called the Treasure Chamber.

The Treasure Chamber
By Al Vester

The ruddy glow of life ran from the ruby walls
Into the swirling darkness of the outer entrance hall.
A tune is singing softly, a pure and simple call,
To beckon someone worthy to come within the hall.

Come, behold the treasures earned by years of work
Of faith, integrity, honor, and courage not to shirk.
For within this ruby hall with ivory beams over-bending,
Resides a heart that’s filled with hope, a soul that needs befriending.

Come my bride, my joy and life, open doors to exaltation;
Come within and be my wife by a priesthood coronation.
God’s the one who lit this chamber, built its throne and made its treasure.
All that’s good is His and mine, and now through Him it shall be thine.

Why choose marriage?

It always seems miraculous to me that women can and do put up with men. Most women are softer, gentler, and more emotionally connected with the world around us. Continue reading “Marriage, the miracle of separate beings becoming one”

What Is Your Family Heritage?

Years ago, as we moved in to a new house and lacked furniture for all the empty spaces, we put plants in one corner. Included in the arrangement were a wood sculpture of a crane by my father and a ceramic pot created by my son. My painting linked the creations of three generations in the light of a summer morning.

The Green Corner
By Al Vester

Calmly crane and pot do sit
Revealing now our family’s wit
The crane by Dad, the pot by son
Loving gifts which they have done.
Now among the plants they fit
And to that verdant clasp submit.

Where fish remind us of the fun
Of swims beneath a tropic sun,
Those woven palms, shaped with skill,
Remind us of those travels still
Then bring us back, where we’ve begun,
To this corner set in slanting sun.

Sunrise lights the distant hills
Spilling hope through window sills,
Then and now are closely knit
As past achievements now are lit,
Our prayers ascend up that His will
Does smile upon our beings still,
And grants us power by His might
To welcome life in morning’s light.

Family Heritages

Every generation builds their accomplishments upon the works of previous generations. Countless of prior generations have left the current generation a legacy of language, art, science and a host of inventions ranging from toothbrushes to rockets capable of carrying men to the moon. Continue reading “What Is Your Family Heritage?”

How long should a parent worry about their adult child?

Most jobs require some prior training or experience, but the job of being a parent consists almost entirely of on-the-job training, and it continues for years. Then, about the time we have developed the parenting skills that we had hoped for earlier in life, we become unemployed. Our children grow up and start their own families. This poem tires to express a parent’s concern as a young one leaves the nest.

THE FLEDGLING’S FLIGHT
Al Vester
The fledgling fluttered, faltered, flapping fiercely in the air
While parent doves feared their love would easily be snared.
The fledgling feels the freedom of being on her own.
The father fears the foes of fledglings flying all alone:
The calculating cat crouching under camouflage of leaves,
The hovering hawk hunting high above the tangle of the trees,
The power line with channeled lightning singing in its core,
The hungry hunter heavy with his weaponry of war.
All these threats to wing and feather known to silence songs so fair,
All unknown by fledgling flying now in blissful unawares.

The tiny, tired, feathered father watches taut with tender care,
Knowing that his fledgling’s freedom trembles in the tepid air.
For the hope of growing children is the time when they will part.
Yet the fee for fledgling’s freedom is a parent’s broken heart.
Gone the time of sheltered nesting in the gentle summer breeze.
Now the time of bitter lessons as the leaves begin to freeze,
Teaching her that life takes scratching, digging in the weeds.
There the tedious toils train her in the filling of her needs.
Meals no longer stuff themselves down her open beak
And life is not considerate of the timid, slow, or weak.

Departing home

Throughout childhood, a child’s parents are preparing him or her for the time when they will be ready to stand on their own as adults. Continue reading “How long should a parent worry about their adult child?”