Friday, May 4, 2012

The Ringing Bells

This is a page that has been on my list of things to remember about living in Cyprus.


This is our neighborhood church, Ayios Panteleimonas.  It sits on hill less than half mile from our house.  Every morning at 6:30am I hear the first church bell ring, just a simple bong. One bong and then it is finished.   At 7:30am, every morning, I hear bong, babong, bong, babongbong, babong, bong for about 3 minutes.  It sounds like a celebration. Each morning is a new celebration.  In the distance I can hear the church bells being echoed throughout Nicosia as each local church is also ringing the bells.  After my mom’s visit she sent me note asking for a recording of the morning bells.  She said she missed the sound.  I know what she means.  For me, I think it is an affirmation to rejoice at each sunrise for it is another day that will be filled with new adventures, some big and some small.    


In researching the significance of the bell ringing I found at e.how.com the following:
For centuries, church bells have summoned, celebrated, reminded and commemorated. Originally, they served communities as a tool of mass communication for both spiritual and secular matters. Today, though the onset of modern mass communication like radio, television and the Internet has decreased the breadth of church bells' communicative role, they nevertheless retain much of their original meaning.

For me it is a reminder that each day should be celebrated and commemorated.  The everyday, ordinary and even mundane things are what make up our lives.  These are the things, like the church bells ringing every morning, that I want my children to remember, that I want to remember, after we have moved on to our next assignment.  Each of these little memories become a thread that is woven into the tapestry of our life.  The more of these little bits you grab onto the more rich your life tapestry will be.  I want mine to be thick and glorious. 


Layout in progress.  

Decisions, decisions.  What to use. 


The finished LO.  Simple.  Basic.  But the most important part - documented. 


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