In one short, but incredibly long, week...they will be here.
The planning that has been months in the dreaming stage will very soon be complete.
There is so much still to do to get ready...rooms to tidy, trinkets to set out, final plans to complete...and though it will be over seemingly before it begins...all the planning will be worth it.
Tomorrow I will make the final lists: Things to do, places to see, treasures to buy, memories to capture.
The celebration of a summer vacations yet to come has begun...this will be Blake's first summer vacation to see Grammy & Grampa...and we can hardly wait!
The celebration of waiting for something wonderful...yes, this has been one of the best kinds of days!
Friday, August 21, 2009
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Make a Wish
Don't you wish everyday could feel like this?
You only turn One once...but then again, isn't every day a gift?...Enjoy another slice of cake...after all, you are worth celebrating!
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Peggy's Pretty Peonies
Something so wonderfully sweet just happened. Peggy brought some of her pretty peonies from Windy Hill Farm in to me at the office.
And in perfect Peggy form, they were nestled in a chipped Chicken Broth Can that she had painted a lovely shade of Robin's Egg Blue. She must have painted it long ago because as it sits now, there are lovely worn spots of the silver can peaking through in a random pattern that only a well worn vase can show. She uses these cans to display the pretty blooms in her roadside stand.
The funny thing is that she apologized for the worn can, and was surprised when I asked her if it would be okay for me to keep the peonies in the can as a vase...she had been intending to freshly paint it!...oh silly Peggy, the charm is extended in the vase BECAUSE of the worn spots :)
So the flowers are now gracing my counter ledge and I am celebrating my sweet friend who would bring over flowers for no reason...and my soul is refreshed, just by gazing at them.
And in perfect Peggy form, they were nestled in a chipped Chicken Broth Can that she had painted a lovely shade of Robin's Egg Blue. She must have painted it long ago because as it sits now, there are lovely worn spots of the silver can peaking through in a random pattern that only a well worn vase can show. She uses these cans to display the pretty blooms in her roadside stand.
The funny thing is that she apologized for the worn can, and was surprised when I asked her if it would be okay for me to keep the peonies in the can as a vase...she had been intending to freshly paint it!...oh silly Peggy, the charm is extended in the vase BECAUSE of the worn spots :)
So the flowers are now gracing my counter ledge and I am celebrating my sweet friend who would bring over flowers for no reason...and my soul is refreshed, just by gazing at them.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
ice cream
Today was one of those rare days in Washington...hot and sunny with no breeze in sight!
and did we take the time to enjoy it...you bet we did!
And how did we celebrate?!...by doing nothing in particular, but enjoying it!
So when I came across this picture from way back when...I couldn't help but remember....
...just how much celebration can be in the ordinary, nothing really special, but OH! what a great idea...kind of moments that make up our day....and have made them up for years, if only we take the time to look....like this day
...it was nobody's birthday....not a banquet in sight, and no red letters on the calendar...not anything more than a quiet night at home, a bowl of ice cream with dad...and some film in the camera!
Ah, this is how memories are made...one scoop at a time!....ice cream anyone?
Friday, May 29, 2009
Granny's sampler
There's love in every stitch...I wish I knew just when mom made this, but my best guess is that it was somewhere @ 1952...when she was expecting the birth of her first born.
I know that dad made the frame, and together they created what is the only remaing piece of our handcrafted nursery art.
She couldn't have known then that she would be the mother of five heathly children, or that she would have three sons and two daughters.
She couldn't have known then how very much this lovely piece of stamped embroidery would comfort her children and create "home" wherever the army would station the young family. Long after we had need of a nursery in our home, this lovely piece of art always found it's way to the end of the "bedroom hallway"...doesn't every home have one of those?
She couldn't have known then just what a comfort it would give this daughter in those tender moments when she misses her mother the most, what a sweet comfort it is to be so near to the very same canvas that her hands once labored over...to share once again beyond the constraints of time, a moment with mom.
Perhaps she was only passing the time, but in her activitity she provided beauty...she created a timeless treasure for my soul.
I love you mom.
Friday, April 24, 2009
Thirteen Years Ago...
Some days of celebration are a little out of the ordinary..and this is one of those days.It was 13 years ago on April 24, 1996 when I got the call...but first let me step back...
This is my mother's watch...simple and unadorned. It's a working watch, not a fancy dress watch. It isn't self winding, or battery powered..it's a simple, wind it yourself watch with a clean face, a sweeping second hand, and a twisted and well worn stretch band. And I love it!
I love it because in many ways, it is so like my mother.
I love it because in many ways, it is so like my mother.
My mother's hands were always busy...baking, weeding, sewing, washing, tending, holding and fixing. My mother never spent any time in a manicure chair...and I don't ever remember my mother even having her nails polished.
Every Easter of my childhood, I can remember my sister and I having our nails polished...we would get pink nail polish on our stubby little fingers and mom would call it good until the next Easter Sunday. You might think we would have replayed the ritual for Christmas, but for some reason, it was reserved only for Easter...but this day was neither Easter nor Christmas.
The week began with a birthday celebration on April 21, 1996, when mom took Steven out for his "breakfast with Granny"...just like she had done every year since the boys were old enough to eat alone...down to Mrs. Turner's they went for their special time together. She was going to wait until she came home from her trip back East, but then thought better of it, put off her packing, and went to breakfast. I can only imagine how special that was for the two of them. Mom liked to spend some one-on-one time with her precious grandson, and for Steven to have some time away from the "little brothers" and have some quality "just for me" time with Granny...and pancakes, don't forget the pancakes and cocoa!
On Wednesday, April 24, 1996 I took mom to the airport for her annual trip back East to visit with Dan & David & Marybeth. She would spend a glorious couple of weeks with them and I would pick her up from the airport and we again would have her all to ourselves.
The day went on normal enough and soon it was 5 pm and time to be heading for mid week church, Bible Quiz for Steven and Royal Rangers for Danny & Billy and Bible Study for me. Marc was on a business trip, I think it was to San Antonio.
Our dinner was relaxed and soon we were headed out the door, running just a tiny bit later than we would like when the phone rang...and I answered...thinking it would be Marc and risking running just a little late in order to chat with him. Steven's Quiz coaches would understand our delay.
But the phone call wasn't Marc, it was my brother,Dan....all the way from Virginia. "There's been an acident", thinking Mom must have fallen and maybe broken a leg, my mind raced to figure out where I would get a wheelchair to pick her up when she returned. But it wasn't her leg, "Mom's gone".
I couldn't wrap my mind around it...gone? how could she be gone? I had just put her on the plane, she was the healthest person I knew. He must be mistaken, there had to be some other explaination. He must be confused, he must mean some other mom.
In the moments and the days, months, and years that have now followed that hollowing moment, the truth is that yes, she is gone, but she is not forgotten.
Every Easter of my childhood, I can remember my sister and I having our nails polished...we would get pink nail polish on our stubby little fingers and mom would call it good until the next Easter Sunday. You might think we would have replayed the ritual for Christmas, but for some reason, it was reserved only for Easter...but this day was neither Easter nor Christmas.
The week began with a birthday celebration on April 21, 1996, when mom took Steven out for his "breakfast with Granny"...just like she had done every year since the boys were old enough to eat alone...down to Mrs. Turner's they went for their special time together. She was going to wait until she came home from her trip back East, but then thought better of it, put off her packing, and went to breakfast. I can only imagine how special that was for the two of them. Mom liked to spend some one-on-one time with her precious grandson, and for Steven to have some time away from the "little brothers" and have some quality "just for me" time with Granny...and pancakes, don't forget the pancakes and cocoa!
On Wednesday, April 24, 1996 I took mom to the airport for her annual trip back East to visit with Dan & David & Marybeth. She would spend a glorious couple of weeks with them and I would pick her up from the airport and we again would have her all to ourselves.
The day went on normal enough and soon it was 5 pm and time to be heading for mid week church, Bible Quiz for Steven and Royal Rangers for Danny & Billy and Bible Study for me. Marc was on a business trip, I think it was to San Antonio.
Our dinner was relaxed and soon we were headed out the door, running just a tiny bit later than we would like when the phone rang...and I answered...thinking it would be Marc and risking running just a little late in order to chat with him. Steven's Quiz coaches would understand our delay.
But the phone call wasn't Marc, it was my brother,Dan....all the way from Virginia. "There's been an acident", thinking Mom must have fallen and maybe broken a leg, my mind raced to figure out where I would get a wheelchair to pick her up when she returned. But it wasn't her leg, "Mom's gone".
I couldn't wrap my mind around it...gone? how could she be gone? I had just put her on the plane, she was the healthest person I knew. He must be mistaken, there had to be some other explaination. He must be confused, he must mean some other mom.
In the moments and the days, months, and years that have now followed that hollowing moment, the truth is that yes, she is gone, but she is not forgotten.
...so, thirteen years ago, on April 24, 1996 at 5:10pm I got the call, my mother was gone. She died from a massive heart attack as she was walking off the plane in Washington, DC.
So, can today really be a day of Celebration?....of course it can!
In the midst of the sadness of a broken heart, I celebrate my mother and all that she means to me. Today is the celebration of the day when she went HOME. One moment she was walking down a jetway and in the next instant, she was standing in Eternity, worshipping her Savior with parents, and siblings, her beloved Julian, and precious Paul Michael...together again.
And one day, I will see her again and join that happy throng. There will be no more need for watches, plain, fancy or otherwise. It will be as though no time at all has past.
And that will be the greatest celebration day of them all. No more tears, no more pain, no more parting...forever!
I love you Mom...and I will see you in the morning!
So, can today really be a day of Celebration?....of course it can!
In the midst of the sadness of a broken heart, I celebrate my mother and all that she means to me. Today is the celebration of the day when she went HOME. One moment she was walking down a jetway and in the next instant, she was standing in Eternity, worshipping her Savior with parents, and siblings, her beloved Julian, and precious Paul Michael...together again.
And one day, I will see her again and join that happy throng. There will be no more need for watches, plain, fancy or otherwise. It will be as though no time at all has past.
And that will be the greatest celebration day of them all. No more tears, no more pain, no more parting...forever!
I love you Mom...and I will see you in the morning!
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