Sunday, June 24, 2012

700 Sundays Book Review

I like to journal and, when I do, I imagine my daughter reading my words someday.  Maybe I'll pass on wisdom that she doesn't want to hear right now.  Maybe she'll see how intensely I loved her when she reads my entries 40 years from now.  I love to read the wisdom of other people, how they record their thoughts.  Sometimes I write down passages that move me.

I just completed Billy Crystal's memoir 700 Sundays.  I enjoy Billy Crystal, but, until I read this book, he was just an entertainer to me.  Now that I've read 700 Sundays, he will never be just an entertainer to me again.  He describes the love of his family as he relates the bittersweet mile markers in his life.

Here is a passage that made me cry.  While I am often moved by good writing, I almost never cry.  I cried with the wisdom and love in this passage.

From 700 Sundays...

     We're sitting at a table.  I'm sitting across from "Him," and there are five cards spread in front of me.
     I pick up the first. . ."Maybe five foot seven?"  Oh, come on.
     I turn over the second. . ."Lose your father when you're fifteen."  Can I get another card?
     My third card. . ."Have your mother her entire life."
     And the fourth. . ."Marry an incredible woman, have two beautiful daughters, and now your first granddaughter."
     The last one. . ."Get to do what you've always wanted to do since you first made them laugh in the living room."
     I hold the cards in my hand.  He stares me down.  I look at them one more time, but I don't really have to.  "I'm going to stick, and I'm going to raise you everything I have.  What do you got?"  I stare at him with confidence, waiting for God to make his move.  He stares back.   I smile.  He folds. . .He can't beat me.



Then my tears started.

Friday, June 22, 2012

Rainy Day


Today was such a relaxing day.  I have been working like a crazy woman over the past week, mainly house painting.  Serious house painting requires prep work, emptying rooms, moving furniture, sanding (furniture) removing ceiling fan blades and outlet covers, then replace everything.  Then see the small spots I missed.  I have finished painting a dresser, the hall bathroom and AT's room.  I had a self-imposed deadline.  I wore myself into a sore body.
So today, painting finished for the time being, my plan was to be unscheduled.  It rained this afternoon and I snuggled up on the couch behind AT, who was on the floor, watching childhood movies.  The room was darkened; the couch was so comfortable.  AT insisted that I was encroaching on her "alone" time.  I understand that she needs her alone time.  I enjoy mine.  Often, I try to give her the space that  a teenager craves.  But, sometime, I think I need to push in and ignore her protests.  I got oh-so-comfortable and watched The Incredibles and Sky High.   I think I snoozed.  I kept my comments to a minimum.  Did you know that Warren Peace in Sky High is VERY handsome and dangerous?  I did.  Did you know that, if I had a super power, it would be to be stretchable, like Mrs. Incredible?  I would use my arms to stop children from running in the halls at school.  
Meanwhile, AT's cell phone was going Bzzzz, Bzzzz with incoming texts.  So I decided to add my own.  I texted, "Smile at your mama if you love her."
I got my smile.

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Blessed

Last night, I just sat by the TV all evening. I wondered if I was just lazy or if I still had lack of energy from this cold I have been nursing. Was I turning into a couch blob? But tonight, it is 7:00 and I am sitting down for the first time. Now, if I still had a little person, I would not be sitting down yet at all. But I am learning to enjoy my free time with having only a teenager at home. Today I came home, cooked a real supper, cleaned up, ran a store errand, and weeded half of the backyard. That's as good as it gets these days. In my 20s, I was free to lounge on the couch, as much as I wanted. We moved to a house and there was plenty to do, although there was plenty of rest then, too. We had a garden, Unfortunately, we did not grow vegetables; for some reason, I am hampered in that arena. I did grow herbs and flowers. At one point, I had collected over 100 varieties of plants. I know that because I have it recorded somewhere. In the 90s, we moved to the house we are in now and renovated it. It was a foreclosure house and it was as bad as you can imagine. There was always much to do. The first year or two, we did a great job with our flowers. With the renovations, EM was the primary worker and I was the minimum-wage, unpaid helper. He said I talked more than any helper he had ever had, but I pointed out that his other helpers were paid. I could be silent for a price also. This new house, along with renovations, was over twice the size of the old house. That's twice the vacuuming, dusting, bathrooms, etc. So I stayed busier. The gardens fell by the wayside.

Then, an miracle happened. We adopted a little girl. Then we were even busier, snuggling, laughing, chasing. Who cared about gardening? All that could come later. This year, I am determined to increase my gardening. Right now, we have poppies, poker plants, thyme and coreopsis is blooming. Lamb's ear is emerging. Tulips have bloomed and gone. Sunflowers, zinnias, thyme, and four o'clocks are up and blooming. Basil, blanket flower and green beans don't appear to be coming up. The last two Saturdays, I've been too busy to go to the farmer's market for baby plants. I have to have at least two basil plants. I hope to go this weekend. I'm ready to start seriously collecting plants again.

 Maybe I'm not lazy. Maybe I'm just blessed.