Duct Tape & The Big Picture

Life is a mixture of the practical, what's in front of us, and the bigger picture. 

The here and now and big issues such as the meaning of life.

Dad and his mother, Celia Cathcart Holton, demonstrated this in their approach to life. 

December 1942 Celia wrote to her son Bill who was a student at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. Celia was at Mercy Hospital in Columbus, Ohio receiving treatment for a reoccurrence of breast cancer. She describes her pain as "terrific." She talks about not fearing death and her appreciation for the life she has lived. She mentions prayer and what happens after death. She expresses worry about three boys and her husband. Then, in closing she acknowledges that this is a "depressing letter" and reminds her son to get his summer suits dry cleaned, wash his blankets and wrap them in "several newspaper thicknesses." She died just a few weeks after writing this letter. 

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Celia was very well read. Her books, including her Bible, are well marked with references and questions. Dad and his brother Richard, gave this Bible to their mother Christmas 1931. At some point the spine needed attention. Dad repaired it with the book binder's equivalent of duct tape. It's not elegant, but it's functional.  

This recently struck me as very symbolic of our lives - the practical and the spiritual 

images Celia about 1938, Bill Holton 2003