Mary Poppins

Mary Poppins was a mysteriously appearing nanny, who transformed a stuffy British family into one bursting with love for each other. She had a magical carpetbag, a talking umbrella, colorful friends, and a knack for play. Now, I am not so mysterious. I travel by car, not by umbrella. My carpetbag is a rolling suitcase, filled with normal things like knitting and blue jeans. My friends are colorful indeed, but not necessarily prone to dancing on rooftops. What we share is a knack for play, and the ability to burst with love. That translates into hours of pushing a stroller up and down the Mall in Washington DC, or just down the street. Playing with stickers, eating Tootsie Roll pops, retying shoes over and over, quieting a restless infant, making peanut butter toast. It includes talking through life's challenges with a tired daughter, buying them dinner, a swiffer, giving them room to settle into a new house. Mary Poppins was unique, in that she always planned to leave. She was not interested in her own needs as much as she was for those she came to serve. That is the joy of love, not requiring anything in return, but being blessed all the same. A baby's smile, a call to "sleep with me Nana", a peaceful close knit family, a plane ride home.

Road Trip

In less than 24 hours, my daughter and I will be traveling East with her two little ones to rejoin her husband in Alexandria, Virginia. What was to be a 3 or 4 week visit shrank to 1, thanks to the efficiency of the internet, movers, electronic fund transfers, scanners and motivated real estate agents. We will pile into a overpacked Camry, sing songs, eat hundreds of Goldfish and cookies, talk about what happens next and stop for nursing breaks. We will unpack the boxes, measure for curtains, stock the pantry, set up the toys. We will do this together because it is important to do, and makes everything easier. When my husband and I did almost the very same move many years ago, with two little girls, we didn't have anyone to help us. Family was far away, and we were new to the community and had not yet made friends. We worked through it, took turns, bundled up the girls (without the assistance of portable DVD players, GPS or cell phones) and drove in 2 separate vehicles in the middle of January. We labored in and out of the rented truck, getting slap happy with exhaustion, moving heavy furniture up and down narrow stairs. I want to go along this time to see them through, to help, to sew, to snuggle with little ones starting anew.

Found Cat

My daughter has a better cat story than the one I posted last year. She and her little family are en route to a new adventure in Washington, D.C, and stopped here in Ohio for a brief respite before moving on. They brought their well traveled cat, Shifty, with them. The first night here he ran away, which wasn't unusual for him...he always came back. Except this time. He was gone for 5 days. That is a long time for a cat with an Arizona metabolism in frigid Ohio weather. Jane and Andy realized during this time that they did love this cat, for all his standoffishness and independence. He was part of the family, part of their uniqueness, part of their history together. He was gone, as gone as the house and the life in Arizona, as gone as the friends made, turned immediately from present to memory. There were tears. But I know from experience that God loves cats. So yesterday Shifty was found, far from where he escaped, but close enough to retrieve. Amazing how he survived 17 degrees and rain and coyotes, under the watchful eyes of his Creator, placed back in the arms of his grateful owners. He is now in a carrier on his way to Washington, safe and sound. Any doubts about God's ability to care for life's precious details? Gone.

Pulling it together

A step back into no man's land today. Sometimes the pull down is so strong, it takes all one's strength just to tread water. I wonder why that is. Is that when we step away from the arms of God and fall too far, or are we pushed from behind by an unseen evil? The day looks the same on the outside; sun is shining, the water is sparkling, people are smiling. Inside the mind is spinning out of control into the dark of night. My daughter tells of nights this summer when she would wake to a little voice in her bedroom, asking for some comfort for the 3rd or 4th time, and my daughter would tell this little girl to pull it together and go back to her own bed. It sounds outrageous that a 2 year old could be expected to understand what her mother meant, but she seemed to, as she went back to her room and back to sleep. I wonder what was dragging a little girl down, and I wonder what she thought about in her bed while she was pulling it together. Did she think about crayons and cookies, swinging on swings? Did she hum a little song to herself, or watch the outside lights play across her bedroom wall and imagine angels in her room? Maybe she didn't have to imagine them. Maybe she saw what God has promised to protect us and pull us up from the deep.

Dear Friends

I grew up as a lonely child. I was in the middle of 2 very strong and smart sisters. My brother came along later, and he might have been lonely too, but he was the longed for son so he had special status. Anyway, I never seemed to fit into the family dynamic, and as the years passed, I had trouble making more than one friend at a time. I don't know what happened since my childhood, but I have learned how to have more than one friend. Maybe it was having my one true friend in my husband that freed me to try other female relationships. Maybe it was having two children that forced me to open my heart to the needs of more than one. Maybe it was being submersed in the overwhelming love of God that helped me to understand how to be a friend, how to love and accept others' love. Whatever the reason, I have come to this place where I have more friends than I ever thought I would have. Not casual friends, either, but real true blue ones that would be at my house within ten minutes of a call for help. Friends that call me to see how we are doing, that send me inspirational cards, read my stories and aren't afraid to talk about the future. Friends are the glue that holds us together, bringing the hands of God into our lives and hold us close.

Hot Tub

My husband and I spent New Year's Eve in a hot tub at the Opryland Hotel in Nashville. Actually we spent part of the evening there...the rest of the evening, into the New Year, we spent dancing to DJ music at a nightspot call Fuse. We were probably the oldest couple there, and were hit on by a young couple who thought we were cute. Maybe it was the zumba moves I was doing, or the crazy arm motions my husband was doing that put us in the limelight. Whatever it was, it made for a memorable evening, complete with noisemakers, funny hats and champagne toast. The next day, we were back in the hot tub, and the day after that and the day after that. We put our faces to the sun, shivered in the arctic air that created fast moving mist from the rising heat of the water. The water took away our goose bumped skin, took away our anxiety, our defenses, our fears. In the warmth of the water and the light of the sun, we were able to relax and talk, laugh and plan our future. We soaked in the mist and rubbed our cold ears, and sank into the reverie of our lives far away from the craziness of the past year.We laughed about being "it on the floor". I don't know if the young couple would understand how far we had come to dance.

Putting Christmas Away

We put the last of the Christmas decor away this afternoon. We leave for Nashville in the morning to spend the long weekend at the Opryland Hotel, just us. I didn't want to come back into a new year with last year's Christmas things still here and there. All of our decor fits into 1 tote and 1 small box. My friend Donna has 20 totes of decorations, so I think I am doing well to have just one. As I wrapped the few pretty glass ornaments I have in bubble wrap, I wondered, just for a moment,  if I would touch them again next year. The moment passed, but just to be sure the ornaments would survive another trip down the scary pull down attic stairs, I wrote "Fragile" on the outside of the box in pretty curlicue letters. A reminder to whoever brought them down that the box held something precious. A few shiny glass ice cream cone ornaments, testaments of my dear friends' care for me. A gold engraved ornament from 1977, our one year anniversary. A ceramic angel, made by my daughter in elementary school years ago. All have stories, have been touched many times, now finding their way back into the attic. Today we put all that away, because tomorrow we drive into a new year, and a new adventure.