bits of sunshine

the best day

today is the best day. the very best day. because today, 38 years ago, my very best friend was born.

he's the best person i know.  in so many ways.  no one else that i know loves more fiercely, speaks more sincerely, forgives more freely, hugs more tightly, acts with more integrity, works more wisely, problem-solves with more tenacity, or enjoys his hobbies and fun and leisure with more peace of heart. 

ben, i am blessed beyond measure to be your woman, your wife, your best friend, your co-parent (to two of the best kids there are), your sassy, your soft, your person.

and i am so grateful for you, my man, my husband, my best friend, my co-parent (the one who teaches the kids how to drive and finds ways to say things to them that i would make a mess of), my calm, my rock, my person.

happy birthday, my love!  happy, happy birthday.

 

drive and eat

maddie took me for a drive this evening.  she told me about school.  i told her about my day.  and we discussed why it is so. darn. hard. to think of a come-back when someone has put you down. ugh. (we didn’t solve this dilemma.)  we also listened to one of maddie's playlists (one she deemed "mom-friendly" - ha! -  . . . because sometimes we like different kinds of music).  the setting sun saturated the horizon with brilliant red and orange, and we watched for deer and pronghorns and cattle (partly because these animals are amazing, and partly because we really didn't want to hit one with the truck).  maddie drove us back into the driveway as the last of the sunset was fading.  all those parenting cliches about your kid talking to you in the car - true.  they are true. 

isaac asked for my help with his homework tonight.  in the last two days we have covered fidel castro (and why people might think communism is good, but why it is the opposite of being free), how photosynthesis and cellular respiration are connected, what a single-market economy is, phototropism, and now in math,  "what is 3.25% as a decimal?" he asks me.  zero point zero, three, two, five, i say.  "how do you do that again?"  zero point zero, three, two, five.  "you're smart."  thanks.  and pretty soon he is getting them on his own and telling me, "this makes sense!"  also, a homework session with isaac is scientific proof that lack of food and doing tough mental work result in a hangry situation.  feeding the boy some good, nutritious food turns that all right around and things get done with ease and almost good cheer!

moral of the story tonight? when parenting teenagers, drive and eat. 

go gently, love fiercely, and be wonderful.  love, e

so very thankful

group selfie taken by maddie on thanksgiving evening.  the six of us had enjoyed a morning wander up in the long pines, a minnesota vikings win, so much good food, and many moments of thankful reflection.  we decided to end the evening around a campfire; my dad wanted to her the crackle and smell the sweet smoke of burning ponderosa.  

i love this picture.  and i love that my mom and dad were able to spend a few days with us.  i am so grateful for every opportunity for making memories and counting gratitudes together.

11.12.17 :: gratitude week :: day seven

for this sky

for an afternoon walk with ben and chaco 

for time to talk and make some plans

for time to spend with maddie and isaac

for rest and food and loving care and all that makes the day so fair

11.11.17 :: gratitude week :: day six

My poppy pin belonged to my grandma.  She worked at the Glenn L. Martin Company during WWII.  This company is where many of our B-29 Superfortresses were manufactured, including the Enola Gay.  It is possible that my grandma wore this pin to work.  It is possible that this pin and the Enola Gay were on the same piece of ground.  Kind of an amazing thought on this Veterean's Day.

This morning, I recited In Flander's Fields to Ben and Isaac.  They both were taken aback that I knew the whole poem.  I got a little choked up by the end.

Today, I read a passage by GK Chesterton :

Courage is almost a contradiction in terms.  It means a strong desire to live taking the form of a readiness to die.  "He that will lose his life, the same shall save it" is not a piece of mysticism for saints and heroes.  It is a piece of everyday advice for sailors or mountaineers.  A soldier surrounded by enemies, if he is to cut his way out, needs to combine a storing desire for living with a strange carelessness about dying.  He must not merely cling to life, for then he will be a coward, and will not escape.  He must not merely wait for death, for then he will be a stickiness, and will not escape.  He must seek his life in a spirite of furious indifference to it; he must desire life like water and yet drink death like wine.

11.10.17 :: gratitude week :: day five

16 years, friends!!  16!!  Since we said, "I do," ad stated our wild, crazy ride of a life together.  We have had so many circumstances where the stress could have split us, but instead cemented us.  We have also had so much love and laugher and wonder.  I am so grateful, every single day, that we have never regretted marrying each other, we have been each other's best friends and best encouragement.  16 years . . . and looking forward to so many more!  

11.9.17 :: gratitude week :: day four

God gives good gifts
He is faithful
and oh-so-kind
He allows seasons of hard
and seasons of ease
He is good
always and ever
God is good

11.8.17 :: gratitude week :: day three

long talks

time to think

a good, hard cry

a pro and con list that made things oh-so-clear

thinking about who we really are

encouragement - reminding myself that .: i do believe :.   .: i do trust :.

remembering I Samuel 30:6 and Psalm 43:5

holding fiercely to the praiseworthy

praising God because he is working and saving and redeeming

the fortitude to make the phone call {to the realtor}

and the two-hours-later, i-hadn't-even-really-started-waiting-yet answer

the knowledge that, barring any unforseen appraisal or closing upsets,
we will sign for a home in early january, we will have a cozy place to live
{i will fill in some blanks for all of you in the coming days}

for these, and so very much more, i am grateful

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playing along with michelle's gratitude week.  join in if you like.  

11.7.17 :: gratitude week :: day two

for hoar frost crystallizing everything

for sun shining, sparkling, and glinting

for the blue of this sky

for the moon, still shining into the day

for crisp air

for ben and his out-of-the-blue 'you are beautiful' text last night

for good things to look forward to

for reminders to pray, pray, pray {james 5:13-18, via ben's morning words}

for time to breathe deep

for grace and peace

 

11.6.17 :: gratitude week :: day one

over the past few months, i have been given an opportunity to learn something new.  something i have been hoping to learn ever since we moved here, to western south dakota, to the west, to rangeland and ranch country.  i have wished to learn to ride a horse.  

and, along with a just-what-my-heart-needed friendship, i have been given that chance.  the chance to feed and brush and saddle and bridle and lead and ride, to walk and trot and lope, to be out under sky and over meadow, up hill and down draw, even to cross a creek.  the chance to feel like i have no rhythm at all, and to start to feel the rhythm of riding, to be sore from using muscles in new ways, and to ride again and find the length for stirrups and the spot to sit the saddle so that i feel just fine and more than just fine after the ride.  i have gone for short rides and long and longer rides.  i have ridden a variety of horses.  and i have helped move and sort cattle just a couple times now, too.  

every time i ride, i learn something new, i see something new, i find joy and a sort of freedom.  and what a long list of gratitudes has sprung from the simple question, "would you ever teach me to ride?" and the no-pause answer, "yes."  

if there is something you would like to learn, ask the question, friends.  and if you are in the position to do the teaching, do.  i am so very glad i asked.  and i am so very, very glad robyn said yes.  

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playing along with michelle's gratitude week.  join in if you like.