Swinging at the Curve Ball

I know a girl.

She makes us laugh.

She has always made us laugh.

I hope this next picture makes her laugh-

One of the comedians is her dad, the other happen to be two of her favorite uncles.

Cousins are special people.

Our girl cousin has spunk. Determination. A heart of gold.

She loves my girls.

They are just a little bit older than she is and they love her back.

She's grown up around us...

and among us

even far far away from us, but then...

in a funny turn of events...

near us.

Closer than ever in fact, in a country not our own.

Now, a dilemma. My blog is a mostly light hearted happy place. A gentle and positive look at mid life, and for the most part, that's me. I'm a person content in spirit and hopeful in all things.

So what to do when a curve ball is thrown? Do you continue blogging as if nothing is wrong? Do you carry on talking about the trivial and the ordinary when life is suddenly anything but? At first that would seem an impossible task. How do you write about life's everyday nonsense when things take a turn towards the heavy? As I've thought about this some I've realized that as much as it feels like everything should come to a screeching halt when the wild pitch is thrown, it does not. Life carries on. It finds a way. There is still beauty around us, even when ugliness rears its unwelcome head. Peace may seem more elusive but its never completely out of reach. Laughter and love and family are the things that bubble to the surface and demand tending and cherishing and holding tight. We question God but rest in the knowledge that He loves us immeasurably more than we can understand or imagine. He who tells the ocean how far to crawl, who has numbered the stars in the heavens, still gently holds each one of us in the palm of His hand.

We heard some unexpected news this week about the girl we love who is so precious to us. AML Leukemia are words that feel a little bit like an iron fisted stomach punch. I know many of you who read here are people who pray. I am a believer in the power of prayer, particularly the power of a praying many. Today I am asking you to pray for a sweet sixteen year old girl with a joyous spirit and a generous and tender heart who has a road to walk that will be hard. We have no doubt she'll walk it with grace and will inspire us along the way with her strength and humor, but this road is not one any of us would choose. Prayer has the power to lessen a burden, to ease pain, to change lives and circumstances and hearts and bodies. Prayer is not the least we can do for someone in times of great challenge. In reality its the biggest and the best.

"Let us therefore come boldly before the throne of grace, that we may find mercy and grace in our time of need." Hebrews 4:16

She sells seashells in the Wednesday Hodgepodge-Vol 39

Welcome to the Wednesday Hodgepodge...a happy way to celebrate mid-week. Add a link to back here in your own post and then add your blog link at the bottom of the page. Be sure to hop around too...that's part of the fun! Here are my answers to this week's questions~

1. If you could work for any one government agency which would you choose and why?

The Library of Congress or The United States Botanic Garden. In all my many trips to D.C. I have never seen or heard of The US Botanic Garden. Hmmm...something to add to my list of must sees. I love libraries and I love beautiful gardens and in making my selection I have to think these choices would be two of the less annoying government agencies in which to work.

2. How difficult is it for you to forgive someone who refuses to apologize?

When a hurt is fresh its a little bit hard not to want and expect an apology. I think its natural when we've been wronged to want an apology. As I've gotten older I've learned to recognize though, that 'no apology' is the offenders issue, not mine, and I am more easily able to let it go.

3. What is your favorite meatless supper?

Eggplant parm-yum!

4. Wednesday, August 10th is National Lazy Day...will you be celebrating? If so tell us how so we can be lazy too.

Do we really need a day to recognize this? Celebrating bad habits? Sigh. I admire hard work carried out as part of living a balanced life. I don't think a person who works hard most days but who occasionally takes a day to read a book or hang out in their kitchen baking cookies, or sit curled up in a chair knitting, or plopped in a lounge chair in front of the ocean is lazy. In my mind laziness means having the ability to complete a task as well as the need to complete the task but not being particularly inclined to actually then do the task. Everyone needs a lazy day now and then. Nobody needs to make a habit of being lazy.

5. As a child did you have any special back to school traditions and if so, what were they? If you're a parent have you continued those traditions with your own children?

I was reminded of something as my daughter2 and I walked thru Target over the weekend. We passed the little girl dresses and my daughter said, 'Oh this would make such a cute first day of school dress for a little girl.' When I was little my mom always bought something new for me to wear on the first day of school, typically a dress and usually new shoes to go with. I continued that tradition with my own daughters too. And we always took a picture on the first day of school, sometimes on our porch and sometimes at the bus stop.

This picture was taken on the first day of grades 6 and 4. I know this because Daughter1 is no longer clutching a cute lunchbox. We've graduated to the brown paper bag for middle school.

6. Write a summer tongue twister.

Summers state of incalescence sizzles still, slipping slowly towards a soft September sky.

7. Would you be interested in observing a surgery or do you turn away when the nurse pulls out the needle?

I was able to observe a myringotomy back in grad school-a child having tubes put into their ears. Ick. More blood than I would have imagined. I am not especially squeamish but I guess I tend to turn my head when the nurse actually sticks the needle in my arm. Hubs is in a medical related business and always asks for a report as to brand and type when I get home so I do try to take note of these things before the actual stick.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

Words I want to remember today- "Faith is deliberate confidence in the character of God whose ways you may not understand at the time." Oswald Chambers

This song goes hand in hand with that thought.

Your weekly dose of HP-Volume 39

Here are the questions for this week's Wednesday Hodgepodge...come back tomorrow to link answers and see what the neighbors are saying~

1. If you could work for any one government agency which would you choose and why? (if you're in the US here's a helpful list)

2. How difficult is it for you to forgive someone who refuses to apologize?

3. What is your favorite meatless supper?

4. Wednesday August 10th is National Lazy Day...will you be celebrating? If so, tell us how so we can be lazy too.

5. As a child did you have any special back to school traditions and if so, what were they? If you're a parent did you carry on those traditions with your own children?

6. Write a summer tongue twister.

7. Would you be interested in observing a surgery or do you turn away when the nurse brings out the needle?

8. Insert your own random thought here.

If I Only had a Brain...

I wouldn't have left hubs at home for the big move this weekend. At some point on Friday Daughter2 and I had a conversation that concluded with this thought-'If I were rich I'd never move anything again. I'd just leave it all in the old place and buy new'. This may have been said as I was wringing out my shirt after we attempted to jointly lug bin number 50 down the stairs. Or possibly it was muttered after we'd been forced to rearrange the furniture for the third time. I blame the heat for the fact that we neglected to note the location of the cable and computer outlet before we wrestled the ginormous dresser containing the TV onto the wall on the opposite side of the room from said outlets. The idea of chucking everything you own and buying new may sound ridiculous but when you are carrying bins, heavy bins I might add, bins full of books and shoes and boots and 227 hair products, and its approximately 1000 degrees and there are steps (of course) and the heat index is 1010 and the humidity is 1000% well, you'd think the same. What was I thinking leaving hubs at home?

At one point I texted him to say I thought I might actually be melting. Remember what happened to the Wicked Witch in the Wizard of Oz when Dorothy threw water on her? Like that. Hubs texted me back to say he'd just had a nap. Grrrr. In his defense he had been in Brazil all week but still, we could have used his muscles and his head for geometry. Had he been there I'm pretty sure we would have gotten the furniture right on the first try. Plus, he would have been the one doing the schlepping.

Daughter2 is settled into her new apartment and her bedroom is organized, tidy, and cozy. fyi-pretty much all university housing is 'cozy'. She wraps up her summer job tomorrow and on Wednesday will be introduced to her assigned teacher at the school where she'll student teach this year. She can't wait to get started. And hey, we're done with the moving so whoohoo! Well til May anyway, but right now May is waiting happily somewhere over the rainbow.

Three times seven

My shredder and I survived Phase 1 of the great office clean out and the stage is now set for Phase 2. Hubs and I are ships passing in the night today as he is flying home from a business trip and I am heading south to spend the weekend with daughter2 so I can help her move apartments. I told him that I hoped he could see how much I'd done but honestly so much of it was getting rid of paper that I'm not sure how different the office looks. The closet on the other hand is much improved. You can actually put your whole self in there now, maybe even the whole family.

Besides being overrun by income tax returns do you know what else we're overrun by around here? Photos. Holy moly. I have been scanning and filing photos for the past year but it seems every time I open another drawer, bag or box I find more photos. Some I dated when I had the film developed (remember when you had to have film developed?) but I got lazy about 1999 so I had to wrack my brain to figure out the year on a few of them.

I also found some of the things I'd saved from my girls growing up days. School work, letters home from camp, notes to mom and dad...oh my. I tried to stay focused on the task at hand but I couldn't help but read some of the cards and notes. One thing I kept was something daughter2 wrote during the very first week of third grade-she was seven getting ready to turn 8 in a few days. The teacher had them complete a packet about themselves and it was sitting on their desk when parents arrived for Back to School night. Here is what hers said-

When I'm in sixth grade, I hope-I get a good teacher.

When I'm in high school, I would like to-get four teeth pulled.

When I'm 25 I would like to be-a waitress.

When I grow up I would really like to be-a teacher.

If I could have three wishes for my future, I would wish for-a puppy, a good husband, a little girl.

Dear sweet seven year old daughter2-

You with the bluest eyes and the hair so blonde and the smile so big...you did get a good teacher in grade 6. Two in fact. And they both had babies that year which delighted you. We still lived in Maryland and you moved into the Middle School. You sang in the show choir, took piano lessons from Dr. Haberman, played lacrosse, danced with a new studio and loved finally being old enough to join the youth group at church.

About those teeth...I think if you knew all the orthodontics waiting for you in your future you might not have wished so hard for this one. I'm pretty sure the wish was inspired by the fact that your teacher's daughter had just had her wisdom teeth pulled and this fascinated you. Or maybe it was just all that talk of ice cream but nevertheless, your wish came true and guess what? You had those four teeth pulled by a British surgeon in the UK. He came in to see you beforehand and explained in great gruesome detail precisely how he was going to remove those teeth. They served me tea and biscuits while you were in surgery and once you were out they fed you and took your blood pressure and checked on you at least 87 times before we were permitted to go home. As always, you were a trooper. Did I mention we moved to England four years after you finished the third grade? Your seven year old self had no idea what was waiting round the bend. My 37 year old self didn't either.

Your wish to be a waitress came true too, just much sooner than age 25. It was difficult for teenagers to find part time jobs in the UK but you were bound and determined and lo and behold you landed a job at the nicest little cafe in our village. The owner Deb was from South Africa and she absolutely loved your sunny disposition, your huge smile, and your sense of humor. Daddy and I loved to come for breakfast and have you wait on us. Daddy would order the equivalent of $40 worth of beverages-his freshly squeezed juice, one of their famous lattes, and a strawberry milkshake. You were an excellent waitress and only once or twice dropped something and the fact that you were an American girl was a big hit with the customers too.

Now, about that growing up bit..well, that happened too. And at this very moment you are working hard at uni to make that dream of becoming a teacher a reality. You will student teach some lucky second graders this year and you're beyond excited. I love that you and I share this slice of life and we talk often about education, classroom management, disadvantaged children, and what makes a good teacher. I have no doubt you will be one of the best.

In just a few weeks you will turn three times seven. I imagine you sitting at your desk in Mrs. O'Neill's room as you were beginning the third grade. I picture you thinking hard about the things you loved-puppies, babies, family-and wanting your own some day in the distant future. I pray everyday those gifts are waiting for you to grab hold of as you step into the world of full grown adult. Suddenly that long ago distant future is here. You have always been the girl who grabbed hold of life. You are still that girl.

A melodious Wednesday Hodgepodge Vol 38

Thanks for playing along in the Wednesday Hodgepodge...here are my answers to this week's questions-

1. Share a favorite song lyric.

I shared a dozen in yesterday's post which you must have seen since you had to go there to get today's questions. You didn't just skip to the questions did you? I thought not. Anyway, I have a million so here's one more-

"We are His portion and He is our prize, drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes, If His grace is an ocean we're all sinking. And heaven meets earth like an unforseen kiss and my heart it turns violently inside of my chest. I don't have time to maintain these regrets when I think about the way...He loves us..." from How He Loves by David Crowder Band

2. When was the last time someone yelled at you?

Hmmm...this might be easier to answer if the words were turned the other way around. I don't think anyone has yelled at me this week. So far.

3. Money, fame, happiness...are they mutually exclusive?

It might seem that way if you watch tv but no, I don't think they're mutually exclusive. I do think fame is the trickiest piece of the puzzle. People with money can be incredibly happy, and many people with money do amazing things for others which also brings happiness into their own lives. It's when fame is added to the mix that happiness becomes complicated.

4. What is your favorite dish to prepare for family/friends that doesn't involve turning on the stove, oven, or an outdoor grill?

A caprese salad-simple, delicious, and beautiful.

5. The first week of August is National Simplify Your Life Week. What is one thing you could do this week to simplify your life? Will you do it?

Clean out and better organize our office. Will I do it?

I have spent the past two days in the trenches and I'm realizing it is one of those jobs where one thing leads to another. Here's what I mean-I intended to clean out the desk drawers, to go thru every file and shred what needed shredding and organize what needed organizing. Sounds simple, right? The thing is, when you start going thru paperwork you run across some things that are not current but that cannot be thrown away. They don't need to be in the desk drawer file system so I was going to move them to a file cabinet we keep in the office closet which of course led to another clean out. And then once I was in the closet I looked around and thought, ugh, might as well tackle some of the other miscellany in here. Hubs is high fiving anyone within reach as he reads this because the office closet is a pet peeve of his. ahem.

To be honest its a pet peeve of mine too but its one of those jobs that falls into the 'things that make me whine' category. Quite a few odds and ends were stashed in that closet when we moved in (two years ago, gulp). The idea was that I'd get to them later and well, uh, yeah. I guess its later. Having this closet customized is on our to-do list but I'm not sure how far down on the to-do list it is so I decided to bring a little cheap organization into the picture for now. We also had three boxes of books in that closet that have been sitting there since we moved in. I opened those and then decided I'd bring a bookcase up from the basement and use it in the closet. Of course the bookcase was full of games which had to be moved somewhere else and on and on and on it goes. This closet is a job I've been dreading but now that I've tackled it I'm feeling better. Still a ways to go but life in the office already feels simpler. You may find that hard to believe since it took me two paragraphs to explain but trust me, it's better.

6. On a scale of 1-10 (with 10 being 100% and 1 being not at all) how tuned in are you to your country's national political scene?

About a 9. There are just some things I'll never understand. And hubs can't live with me if I accelerate up to a 10. Now, shall we rate our level of disgust with politicians in general? That is off the charts for me.

7. What are your final parting words to the month of July?

already?

8. Insert your own random thought here.

I'm having a girls weekend with daughter2 this weekend. And by girls weekend I mean she and I are going to get her moved into her new apartment. Essentially her new apartment is across the parking lot from her current apartment but nevertheless, boxes and bins and clothing must be moved. And yes, she could manage this one on her own but since she's been working in SC all summer we haven't had a lot of time together so we thought it would be fun. We told hubs to sit this one out since he's been in Brazil all week and would have to turn right around and get on yet another airplane.

This picture was taken the very first week of her very first year of uni. And then we blinked and next week she starts her senior year. The roommate in the picture was a stranger back then. The girls were matched in the university's random roommate shuffle and didn't meet in person until they moved into their dorm. They are still roommates. Sometimes random is good.

Any songwriters in the Hodgepodge?

Hubs and I love listening to music and quite often we spend our Friday evenings sipping a glass of wine while listening to our favorites, both old and new. Hubs has an ear for music and he can name most songs on the first note. I do not have an ear for music but I do have an ear for words and a well turned phrase. Our tastes are wide ranging but music from the 1970's will always top our list of most loved.

Just as some people collect spoons and some people collect tea cups I collect words. I'll often hear a line in a song that is clever or thought provoking or just plain well said and think, 'I wish I'd written that." Hubs and I were talking about this very thing last Friday night and I thought it would be fun to share a few and then use that as our launch question for this week's HP. I'm not making any sort of statement with the artists I've chosen and I realize we could debate the merit and character of each one but I'd rather not. This is really just about the words.

Sometimes I love the whole song but a lot of the time its just a line or a particular phrase that strikes a chord with me. I have linked to the actual song for copyright purposes and on that note, here's a random dozen in no particular order-

1. "She's living in LA with my best old ex friend Ray"...my best old ex-friend? I absolutely love that wording...from Operator by Jim Croce.

2. "These are not the best of times but they're the only times I've ever known..."from Summer Highland Falls by Billy Joel

3. "Did the captain of the Titanic cry?..."

from Someday We'll Know by The New Radicals

4. "She's got a smile that it seems to me, reminds me of childhood memories, where everything was as fresh as the bright blue sky..."

from Sweet Child O' Mine by Guns N' Roses

5. "I'm not crazy I'm just a little unwell..."

Unwell by Matchbox 20

6. "What are these voices outside love's open door, makes us throw off our contentment and beg for something more?..." from The Heart of the Matter by Don Henley

7. "My life has been a tapestry of rich and royal hue, An everlasting vision of the ever changing view..." from Tapestry by Carole King

8. "I'm so happy, that I can't stop crying..."

From I'm so Happy by Sting

9. "... wearing a face that she keeps in a jar by the door..."

from Eleanor Rigby by The Beatles

10. "She needs wide open spaces, room to make her big mistakes..."

from Wide Open Spaces by The Dixie Chicks

11. "Another turning point, a fork stuck in the road, time grabs you by the wrist directs you where to go..." Good Riddance by Green Day

12. "But the ending always comes at last, endings always come too fast. They come too fast but they pass too slow..." from All I know by Art Garfunkel

I'd love to know if you have a lyric or ten that make you say, "Wish I wrote that." Oh wait...it's time for the Hodgepodge. How convenient. Here are the questions for this week...come back tomorrow (Wednesday) so we can link our answers with the whole wide world.

1. Share a favorite song lyric.

I better not see 'I can't think of one' on anybody's paper. That's an automatic F in the Wednesday Hodgepodge you know.

2. When was the last time someone yelled at you?

3. Money, fame, happiness...are they mutually exclusive?

4. What is your favorite dish to prepare for family and friends that doesn't require turning on the stove, oven or an outdoor grill?

5. The first week of August is National Simplify Your Life Week. What is one thing you could do this week to simplify your life? Will you do it?

6. On a scale of 1-10 (with 10 being 100% and 1 being not at all) how tuned in are you to your country's national political scene?

7. What are your final parting words to the month of July?

8. Insert your own random thought here.