Tweets for 2009-05-30
- Is dearly missing her kitchen. #
- reuben casserole and fresh made wheat bread for dinner, strawberry rhubarb pie for dessert, rhubarb coffee cake for tomorrow am. yummy! #
- @jebsweetpea it was amazing!! in reply to jebsweetpea #
- congratulates my sis-in-law Shayna, Lima’s newest nurse!!! #
Tweets for 2009-05-29
- living in the country = 2 (should be) simple errands take all morning = disaster with toddler & preschooler. #
- is glad we get to start over tomorrow. Good night!! #
Tweets for 2009-05-28
- @kedrhodes new ink, wha??? in reply to kedrhodes #
- @MagicianSteve meant to call you when we got home but was sooo tired! I need more Wii workouts too!! THanks for a great weekend! in reply to MagicianSteve #
- is thanking God for the encouragement on our house in FL – 2 showings in the last 2 days. Praying for one to buy it! #
Tweets for 2009-05-27
- is zapped but will attempt to catch up on laundry from the weekend away anyway. #
Tweets for 2009-05-25
- @jnascott Do you have more info on the mini van for sale? model, year, miles? in reply to jnascott #
- @timpsonwoods & @topher1kenobe if you think MI has been too hot too early, you should have been at the zoo in Columbus OH yesterday. YIKES! in reply to timpsonwoods #
- is enjoying a relaxing Sunday with the family. Said bye to bro and his kids this a.m. #
- hearts Spock. #
Silencio es dorado
I’ve found myself rather reflective the past two months since our trek north. Unfortunately, the reflections haven’t translated into words, and especially not words typed on the screen. I’m being patient with myself and our transition process, and in a way I’m honoring the deep changes with silence. A golden silence. And the permission to just think and not translate those thoughts into stories or funny quotes. I’m just enjoying life in the real world, soaking in the sunshine and watching in wonder as life changes from dormant to alive, and letting that same process happen in the depths of my soul without having to define it or explain it. It was unsettling at first to just let thoughts float in and out of my head and roll around in the back of my brain and then just let them pass. Maybe I’ve let a lot of good moments go that should be remembered. Maybe the memory will be caught in the change that happens in me. Or maybe none of it matters, it just is.
This weekend we’ll be taking a 5-hour road trip to my parents home. So many of these new adventures are bringing up old, familiar memories and feelings. This is the life we used to live, before kids. Now, they get to share it with us. We’ll be hanging out with my parents and my brother and his family. Four kids aged 4 and under = fun, fun, fun. This is why we came back. The last time we saw my brother and his family was in October, for one brief day. I’m looking forward to 5 hours in the car of knitting and chatting with The Narrator, well that is if the kids sleep, which I’ve timed the trip so that they should, and then a weekend full of Mom’s cooking and SUNSHINE!!
I also wanted to let you know that I received an honorable mention for the May Write Away contest over at Scribbit. Be sure to check out the winning entry and the other honorable mentions. Many thanks to Michelle for hosting this contest.
Have a very Happy Memorial Day weekend. Remember it’s about more than just grilling out and opening the pool. Take a moment to remember those who have given their lives so we can gather freely. Here’s my Memorial Day Tribute.
Filed under Uncategorized | Comment (1)May flowers
Well, apparently April snow showers do bring May flowers. It’s been exciting to look out the picture window every morning and see the change in scenery. I’ve been most intrigued by the trees. The grass was so green, sprinkled with yellow dandelions and in need of a fresh cutting, but the trees were still so bare. Then miraculously, overnight I looked out the window and the crab apple tree was loaded with bright pink flowers. They were so pretty that Nana and the kids cut a few branches and filled a vase for the table. Next came the lilac bush, and slowly the remaining trees are moving from barren to blossoming. It seems like it happens in an instant. One evening you can see out to the highway; the next day all you see is a forest of green. But I know the process of re-birth has been happening unseen for awhile. The trees soak the sunshine and rain and deep down in the roots the transition begins. It’s the same with me. I barely think about our house or living situation until someone reminds me and asks about it. Oh yeah. A house to sell in Florida. I find myself winding down and soaking up the rain and the sunshine knowing that both are necessary for my growth into this new life. It’s not an easy process, but it is beautiful.
Filed under faith in action, moving | Comment (0)Spring Reawakening
It’s been six years since I’ve seen spring. After living in Florida for 5 ½ years, we returned home to Michigan at the end of March – just in time for spring. (And just in time for one last whopping snowfall of five inches!!)
After such a long absence, it’s as if I’m seeing spring for the first time. I’d forgotten how soft and bright the first grass of the season is, how brilliant the daffodils and tulips are as they peek out of the ground, and how stark the contrast is of the still barren trees across a clear blue skyline and rolling green hills. Nature’s palette is dazzling and vibrant.
I’d also forgotten how frustrating and unpredictable this season can be. One day it’s eighty degrees and the world is right as we run around in shorts and t-shirts. The next day it’s cold and rainy and the skies are as gray as winter, and we’re digging out the sweaters we prematurely threw into the depths of the closet. Spring is a season that tests our patience, teasing us with signs of summer and then smashing us with reminders of winter, sometimes within hours of each other. Were it not for the radiant reminders poking their little heads out of the ground, we might lose hope for the predictable comfort of summer.
I find it rather appropriate that we made our 1,200-mile life transition in the spring; the season is befitting to my life right now. It’s a transition period as we see signs of new life, yet wait for many things to come to fruition. One moment I’m delighted in the comfortable familiarity of coming home to family and old friends. The next moment I’m gloomy and teary as I ache for my friends in Florida and the space of our own home. One day I’m confident that we’ve made the right decision, and that our house will indeed sell. The next day I’m certain that our Florida home will never sell and my in-laws will be stuck with the four of us living with them forever. Were it not for the sunny glimpses of hope peeking out now and then – lovely notes from faraway friends, running into old acquaintances at church, re-connecting with old friends, the comfort of having family nearby, and the occasional showing of our home – I might lose hope. It’s sunny yet muddy, beautiful and drab all at the same time. And just as I know the trees will eventually leave their dormant stage and come fully back to life, our new life in Michigan will do the same. It takes time for new relationships to grow, for old ones to re-solidify, to develop a routine with newly distant friends, and for a home to sell.
So we nurture the signs of new life we do see and cling to our glimpses of hope, knowing that spring is not just necessary, but a beautiful, muddy process of reawakening.
Hello spring, It’s nice to see you again.
“If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant; if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.” ~Anne Bradstreet
*This post is also an entry for this month’s Write Away Contest hosted by Scribbit.
Filed under moving, writing | Comments (8)