Rememberment

Ahh, the Devil.  Lucifer, The Prince of Darkness. Satan. Belial. The Father of Lies. Beelzebub. You are probably familiar with the story of Lucifer, the most beautiful and powerful of all of God's angels, who became too proud for his own good and started a rebellion against God - only to end up being thrown down into Hell along with his co-conspirators.  But Satan still wields power in this world as well. As my dad put it, "life is a battle that is fought not only in this world, but between the forces of the spirit realm". The Tempter keeps luring people away from God, and woe is anyone who listens to his lies. The Fallen Angel, as depicted by Gustave Doré for John Milton's Paradise Lost. However, as it often is with biblical lore, that story isn't really found anywhere in the Good Book. Rather, it is pieced together by re-interpreting various texts long after they were written, and then putting those pieces together to form something new. But first, let's hav...

My mom was usually the voice of reason in the household, and the first to point out if someone was spouting nonsense. But she would also sometimes get up in the morning and say "I gave birth in my dreams again, wonder who's going to die this time". And then someone died soon after. Such predictions weren't always too difficult to make. Being the twilight child meant many of my relatives were already old, and old people have a habit of passing away. Of course, it was still sad, such as when Grandma died: seeing my mom cry together with her sisters felt heartbreaking and somehow surreal at the same time. But she wasn't the only one to go within a few years' time, and it wasn't always because of old age or natural causes. Mom's brother-in-law was diagnosed with cancer and passed away shortly after. He was my godfather, and although I didn't see him very often because they lived in Sweden, I have only fond memories of him. Mom blamed her sister for his...

My childhood dream was finally realized this May Day, when I was visiting the Natural History Museum in London. Enjoy the pics!