{"id":716,"date":"2007-05-27T16:17:25","date_gmt":"2007-05-27T20:17:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.xorph.com\/uj\/2007\/05\/27\/5th-mombonian-update\/"},"modified":"2007-05-27T22:11:09","modified_gmt":"2007-05-28T02:11:09","slug":"5th-mombonian-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.xorph.com\/uj\/archives\/716","title":{"rendered":"5th Mombonian Update"},"content":{"rendered":"

I rode my mountain bike out to the cabin this morning for Shared Silence<\/a> again. Dan W and I put in some saddle time afterwards, and it was a good workout. So now I\u2019ve ridden almost 90 miles on knobby tires this spring in preparation for the road-bike season. I know, way behind schedule, but I\u2019ve been convinced it was prudent this year to make sure my conditioning and balance were in better shape before I clipped into the pedals on \u201cTeeka-Hindoh,\u201d my Peugeot racer.<\/p>\n

We had our Mother\u2019s Day follow-up After Silence<\/a>. I forgot to bring a picture of Mombo, probably because I was getting ready to leave on my bicycle. Obviously, when this idea of talking about our mothers came up, it never occurred to me that she might be in the hospital. When it was my turn, it was a bit difficult to get started, and I was nervous, but I didn\u2019t choke up. It seemed like everyone else has extraordinary mothers, too\u2014not perfect\u2014but special. Not surprising, since these are some of the best people I\u2019ve met in my life. Exceptional people usually have exceptional mothers.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not in the business of comparing my siblings to each other, but more than once in recent years I\u2019ve had the realization that the one person who reminds me most of my mom is my sister Jeanne. That, in combination with a recent conversation (about how much Jeanne has taken the lead in being there for Mombo over the past ten days), got me to thinking more about my kid sister\u2014our \u201cPinkie.\u201d <\/p>\n

Growing up, \u201cLittle Jinny\u201d was a kid sister, too. Both have keen perceptions and a deep faith. Jeanne almost matched her mom\u2019s family of seven children. Like our mother, Jeanne is shy about her feelings when among others, reluctant to be critical, but quick with laughter, and nobody\u2019s fool. She has devoted her life to her husband and family. <\/p>\n

But Jeanne reminds me of our father, too. She carries many aspects of Dadbo\u2019s temperament. Like him\u2014and I\u2019ll be brutally honest\u2014she hasn\u2019t always chosen the best way to manage her stress. She\u2019s not alone in that. With Mombo\u2019s heart condition, the evidence is now abundantly clear. Cardiovascular disease runs on both sides of our immediate heritage. Dadbo gave away so much of his magnanimous heart that, in the end, there weren\u2019t enough beats left for himself. \u201cGenerous to a fault\u201d is the expression. My little sis is similarly self-sacrificing, and it makes me love her so\u2014but it worries me. <\/p>\n

I\u2019m also like that man I was named after. I worry about things.<\/p>\n

Start riding a bike, too, Pinkie. I promise I\u2019ll be there.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I rode my mountain bike out to the cabin this morning for Shared Silence again. Dan W and I put in some saddle time afterwards, and it was a good workout. So now I\u2019ve ridden almost 90 miles on knobby tires this spring in preparation for the road-bike season. I know, way behind schedule, but […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,7,21,8,61,37],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xorph.com\/uj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/716"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xorph.com\/uj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xorph.com\/uj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xorph.com\/uj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xorph.com\/uj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=716"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.xorph.com\/uj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/716\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xorph.com\/uj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=716"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xorph.com\/uj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=716"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xorph.com\/uj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=716"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}