Lori Mathes

Kysa’s Birthday 2007

Ain’t No Love . . . like ours

The event is my sister Kysa’s birthday, held in my 100-year-old home despite major kitchen and dining room renovations (which we completed the following month). That’s the great thing about a large, loving family; they’ll gather to celebrate a birthday or special occasion and somehow overlook the make-shift kitchen counters and yet-to-be refinished hardwood floors poking out beneath a host of mismatched area rugs.

They know what’s important.

Despite my first ever attempt at video recording (on a Digimax camera I received Christmas 2006 from my son Bill and his wife Jen), I managed to put together a short video encompassing the event.

I dedicate this video to my sister Kysa (after all, it was her birthday), and also to my late beloved stepfather, Earl Thelander, who lives on within all our hearts.

Lori’s poem seems right for Memorial Day

May 30, 2005 by Jody Ewing Leave a Comment

Back in November 1987, my sister Lori wrote a poem about our father, Don Ewing, who had died two months before in a tragic accident. My father had recently returned to Iowa, and for a while took turns staying with each of us kids. His death – less than two weeks before his 51st birthday – left us all wishing we could go back and change some things.

Lori actually wrote this poem as a song, complete with a chorus. On this Memorial Day, it just seemed appropriate to put it out there. And yes, our father also was a vet, having served with the U.S. Marine Corps.

He Touched My Life (Memory of Dad)
by Lori Mathes

He Stood tall, I seemed so small –
but I knew he’d always be there through it all.
He loved the thought of living,
and he had so much to give,
but I didn’t understand his way to live.

He touched my life, and I didn’t know it.
He touched my heart, and I didn’t show it.
And all that mattered to him,
were the things I wouldn’t give,
Oh I wish my time with him I could re-live.

He did things his way –
He took life by storm.
But he always wound up near me, tired and worn.
I never took the time, to realize you see,
I was so caught up in life — and in me.

He touched my life, and I didn’t know it.
He touched my heart, and I didn’t show it.
And all that mattered to him,
were the things I wouldn’t give,
Oh I wish my time with him I could re-live.

I didn’t ever notice, he was dying deep inside,
that he needed someone to lean on,
and still feel he had his pride.
But he would not go to someone –
No for him that wouldn’t do.
His heart ached for his family,
the only one he ever knew.

He tried to make me listen,
and to understand his pain,
but instead he got my doubts, and
I wondered what he’d gain…
So he left that day a hurt man,
and it makes me very sad –
for that was the last time I ever saw my Dad.

He touched my life, and I didn’t know it.
He touched my heart, and I didn’t show it.
And all that mattered to him,
were the things I wouldn’t give,
Oh I wish my time with him I could re-live…
And all that mattered to him,
were the things I wouldn’t give,
Oh I wish my time with him I could re-live.

I Love You, Dad

A Christmas Poem (to my Family 2004)

December 26, 2004 by Jody Ewing 2 Comments

I got an unexpected, heartfelt Christmas gift from my sister Lori this year. She gave the same gift to my brother as well as our other two sisters. Lori is the middle sister — the one we always called “tattletale” — and her gift made me realize some things I hadn’t thought about before:

1) Lori doesn’t take her family — or where she came from — for granted.

2) Lori doesn’t yet realize how talented she is.

The gift was a framed poem she had written herself. She called it “A Christmas Poem (to my Family 2004),” had it printed on parchment paper with holly in the corners, and signed it — I Love You, Lori — at the bottom beneath the date.

This isn’t the first time Lori has written poems for us. She wrote one after our father was killed and it read like a personal letter she’d written to him. She told him all the things she wished she’d said before he died. That was the first time I realized my sister’s talent as a writer.

I plan to hang her Christmas poem on my office wall, and thought I’d share it here. If you’ve got family, I’m sure you can relate.

If you’re unable to view the image above, I’ve included the words below.

A Christmas Poem (to my Family 2004)

I wish you Merry Christmas, this poem’s my “Gift” to you

I’m sure that won’t surprise you . . . cuz my poems are nothing new.

So often life goes by too fast, that no-one figures out

Why they were put together or what family’s all about.

We’re not a family by some “chance”, there’s nothing that needs fixed

We each were chosen carefully . . . each adding to the mix.

He knew we each held something — A quality we had

One we would seek, and pass along . . . some trait of Mom and Dad.

We take these traits they gave us and spread out on this earth

But never really think about the miracle of birth.

A birth is how we carry on, the traits we each possess,

The special gifts God gave us, all each different from the rest.

That’s why there IS a Christmas . . . A special day each year,

To celebrate the ONE, whose birth gave ALL that you hold dear.

I think what was intended . . . is we each would do our part,

To take time for each other, which is the families HEART.

So this is why I want to say, and know there is no test

I’m glad he placed me in this group, among the very Best!!

There’s not another Family I would choose to call my own,

I feel so very lucky and there’s just – “NO PLACE LIKE HOME.”

I’m proud to be a part of you, I’m proud to call you mine,

And with you all around me I am blessed at Christmas time.

Merry Christmas!

Thanks, Lori. Me, too.

Jody