Quote of the Weekend

Context: I was brushing 3-year-old L's hair, which was sticking out in a zillion different directions.

Me: You are a wild child!

L: I'm not a child, I'm a sibling!

Family love is the best kind of love there is.

The Race

The sun's reflection is blinding in my rearview mirror as I drive east down the hill near my home.  I wonder if it was worth the five minute detour to return the almost overdue library book on the way home, and decide that there is still enough daylight left to at least start.  Upon arrival, I quickly drop my things on the dining room table and head back outside - the race begins.  Pick up litter in the yard, get out the ancient mower, plug it in (yes, it's electric) (Doesn't that phrase make you want to dance?), and start cutting the lawn.  The grass is six inches high in some places.  This definitely needed doing.  Shadows lengthen as I work my way down the side yard.  Oh, look, I didn't change my shoes.  Wearing heels for this isn't too bad, I suppose, since they're comfy.

In a Boston spring, you just pick a day when you have time and do yardwork, rain or shine, since it rains as often as it shines, and usually on weekends to boot.  Except mowing.  That would be sorta difficult... electricity, water, and clumpy, wet grass is a BAD combination.

As the front grasses go from tall to short, the sunlight fades... and just as it becomes dark enough to make a normal person reconsider doing anything work related, I finish.  Wind up the extension cord, put everything away.  There is some advantage to the weeks passing by so fast - now it doesn't get really dark until about 8:00.  Good news for me and my lawn.

Grass - zero.  Me - one. (Just don't look at the edges.)

The End.

I Believe in Miracles

This morning I finally felt rested when I woke up. Probably because it was nearly afternoon. But whatever. I determined to work in my yard no matter the weather... and was only slightly deterred when I saw the forecast for rain and temps in the 40s. But, not to be dissuaded, I put on an extra layer and went outside, determined to get rid of the little maple seedlings that were taking over my lawn. Most of the way through, I thought about quitting - there is something about bending, stooping, and squatting that makes the muscles in your legs start complaining after a while - but I pressed on, and finally finished.  I was impressed by how my eye quickly became accustomed to spotting the red-stemmed greenish yellow (sometimes) leaves in the green grass; I'm sure more than one of the people walking by were wondering exactly what I was trying to find. But whatever. I felt good knowing it was done.

This afternoon I picked up my friend and we did a session at the temple. We ran into another friend - my AZ buddy - while we were there, and determined that it was a little miracle that we had both thought to do the same things in the same order today - 4pm session, dinner in the cafeteria downstairs, and on to the evening session of Stake Conference.  I was grateful to be there, and to feel like I was an answer to prayer.

The talks tonight were excellent. I was struck by the realization that I knew everyone who spoke. This is Stake Conference, people. There are thousands of people in our stake, any of whom could have been asked to speak. But I knew all five speakers and at least one person in both musical numbers. Weird. It's like I'm a local or something.  We heard awesome talks about the influence we can have on the children & the youth ... the power of one influence, or how we can be like electrons in a chemical reaction to effect change (I liked that analogy - get lots of energy, start bumping into people, and make a real difference in the world!) ... how God is a God of miracles and we should both expect them and ask for them ... and how we are judged on the desires of our hearts (the temple president gave that talk, and it was pretty much amazing).

So now, after a gang of us went to get ice cream and basically took over the little shop (but then realized there were other customers so we squished all 20 or so of us into the corner so they could all sit down to enjoy their ice cream too) and a trip to Target, my blissful Saturday of no plans and ultimate freedom must needs come to an end.  And I just want to say before it does: I believe that prayers are answered, I believe that sometimes I am the answer to someone else's prayer, and I believe in miracles.

Inspiration

First things first. I have a new computer. And I'm still getting used to it... but it's cool. It will be cooler once I figure out how everything works in Windows 7.

Second. For about two weeks I have felt an unusual urgency to get things going in my garden. It's been a concept for a year, and I planted some sweet pepper seeds inside to get things going about a month ago, and now that it's really and truly Spring, it's time to till the ground and really plant stuff. Of course, now that it's Spring, I also have a million things to do, so I haven't been able to make as much time as I would like to get things into the ground.  And oh, by the way, did anyone mention that if you basically ignore your yard for a year, it's kind of a lot of work to get things functional for planting?

Last night, my mind was busy thinking about it and trying to figure out how I was going to get everything planted in time (and where) (and whether it would get enough sun) (and how would I know what worked until I tried) (and what containers could I use to plant on my back porch) (and what about the space at the end of the driveway) (and ... and ... and).  It kept me up for long enough that I was just the right combination of tired and ready to just DO something today - so I came home early from work and got going.  I worked on the yard, and then planted something in a pot and put it on my back porch.

Then tonight I sat in institute (for the last half hour, anyway... after pulling maple seedlings - 'cuz who needs 80 maple trees in their yard - and tilling soil - and planting!) and we were talking about how the Spirit whispers to us and the lifelong process of learning to recognize its promptings.  And then I thought to myself, that's what all that urgency is - a prompting of the Spirit. And now I feel OK with cancelling anything else that comes up this week so I can finish planting my garden.  Whatever it takes.  I won't regret it.  Not when it comes of inspiration.

The End.

A Day of Summer

It was 90 degrees yesterday.

I loved it.

It was the kind of heat that warms you down to the bones and makes you feel like you're baking.

(Instead of being steamed.)

At lunchtime, I sat outside.

I watched two frenetic ants crawl all over the wooden chair next to me.

And I let the sun soak into my skin.

My seeds are growing.

With luck I'll have sweet peppers all summer long.

And cucumbers, squash, and zucchini, if I ever get around to planting.

I started work on my yard tonight.

We will have a perpetual battle against the maple seeds.

I pulled up twenty or so baby trees tonight, rooted into the ground already.

If you don't get 'em when they're little, they will take over.

Don't believe me?

Check out the one under the back porch with a trunk bigger than your thumb.

Can you imagine if I let it go for another year...?

Twenty maple trees in my tiny front yard.

Preposterous.

Why I Love General Conference

"I ask a question to you mothers: would you ever do something that would cause pain and bring tears to your children when they have done nothing wrong? Of course you would.  When mothers take young children to the doctor to receive immunizations, almost every child leaves the doctor's office in tears.  Why do you do that?  Because you know that a small amount of pain now will protect them from possible pain and suffering in the future.  Our Father in Heaven knows the end from the beginning.  We need to follow the example of the Savior and trust in Him."

- Elder James B. Martino

Thoughts... Some Easter Related

Saturday morning I headed to the grocery store to purchase strawberries. Yep, that's all. I had been craving them for a few days, and now they're on sale enough that I could justify buying them. As I pulled out of my parking spot with my precious cargo, I looked to my left and saw a gentleman, bent over with age, carefully take the cellophane-wrapped flowers out of his carriage (or "basket," if you're from the West) and place them in the back seat of his car. The rest of the groceries most likely went into the open trunk, but the flowers deserved special care. I imagined that he was taking them to his wife, probably a white-haired lady also bent over with age, to place in a vase for their Easter dinner centerpiece. And then that small act of putting his flowers in the back seat of his car suddenly represented all the love he had for the one for whom the flowers had been bought, and I thought, he is a great man; he buys flowers.

Then I saw a group of men at a nearby park playing basketball.  And I thought, there is a group of LDS men. Even if they weren't, they could have been. They were all in T-shirts and knee length shorts.

Strawberry pie makes an excellent dessert after Easter dinner.

I was excited to see when I came home tonight from my Conference weekend excursion that my sweet pepper seeds have started to sprout. Apparently, 69 degrees is too cold, even inside, but 72 is not... a few degrees of warmth makes a big difference, apparently.  It seems only fitting that they should sprout on Easter. The sun gives life just as the Son gives life. I love finding symbolism in the everyday events of mortality that points me to God and Jesus Christ.

Eight hours of TV is a lot in one weekend. But it was worth it. I really appreciated that many of the talks were centered around what we can do to strengthen the youth of the Church and to strengthen our families. And I really felt the Spirit when the member of the Seventy talked about how sometimes our Father causes us pain for brief moments (relative to eternity) because He knows it will spare us greater pain (or even spiritual death) later. He likened it to when a mother takes her child in for an immunization. A little crying now is better than a lot of suffering later. That resonated with me.

The Conference excursion also involved a wonderful sunshine-filled weekend, time outside, and lots of good food, by the way. It was a wonderful escape from the routine of usual life.

HAPPY Friday!

Today is a day I have been looking forward to with eager anticipation for a long time.  Like, 72 hours. The sense of freedom and joy I felt as I drove out of the parking lot after work has been unsurpassed in a month of Fridays.  As in, if you had Friday every day for a whole month, none of them would have felt as wonderful as today's Friday did when it ended.  The sun was shining, the leaves are starting to bud, the air was warm and springy, a whole weekend full of General Conference is coming up, and Easter is coming. The reality of spring reinforces the reality of the resurrection. I'm glad it was planned this way.  Nothing could be better!

Thirsty?

We have had over 12.75 inches of rain since March 1.  Seven (and then some) inches came in the course of a three day storm two weeks ago. It started raining again on Monday morning... and hasn't stopped. 

As a child, I learned the little ditty: "Rain, rain, go away, come again another day." It never made sense then... it only rained about 10 days out of every year.  We celebrated thunderclouds, danced down the driveway in monsoons, waited ten minutes, and then everything was dry again - sometimes for another 100 days.

Now (on the other side of the country and 20 years later), roads are closed, there's a giant erosion-induced pothole in front of my driveway (which is "fun" to try to avoid every time I come home), we live in a state of emergency (in addition to the state of MA), sandbagging volunteers will stay up all night tonight to keep the rivers and dams from flooding and breaking, and there is a new river outside the building where I work (diverted into the sewer system this time instead of our first floor offices, thankfully).

It's the last days, folks. Keep an eye out for the signs of the times, and listen hard in General Conference this weekend.

Palm Sunday

Thus beginneth the Easter season. It is one of my favorite times of year.  This morning as we sang the closing song in Sacrament Meeting, the words resonated with me like never before:

That Easter morn, a grave that burst

Proclaimed to man that "Last and First"

Had risen again

And conquered pain.

This morn renews for us that day

When Jesus cast the bonds away,

Took living breath

And conquered death.

Thus we in gratitude recall

And give our love and pledge our all,

Shed grateful tear

And conquer fear.

It is not just the music that touched me - the haunting melody and the beautiful transformation from a minor to major key - it is the stunning reality that the Savior of mankind exercised His power over pain and death so that I could conquer fear. Fear of failure. Fear of death. Fear of not being loved (or loveable) enough. Fear of being alone. Fear of ... you name it. It's on the list.

Through the infinite power of His Atonement, I have conquered fear. And on the other side of the fear came an immeasurable happiness and joy.

The atonement and resurrection of our Lord deserve at least a week of our attention (if not more), beginning this joyous Palm Sunday through Easter Morning. May it be a spiritual feast for you as well.

Random Saturday Thoughts

This morning I figured out that if your kitchen sink stinks, you can take out the black rubber thingy at the top of the drain and clean off the underside where all the scum grows. It makes it smell much nicer, and is much more effective than spraying Clorox on the already clean parts.

Around lunchtime I decided that I still don't much like cleaning the bathroom.

When the sun started shining in through the windows on the west, I went to Target and bought my own router to replace the one I've been renting along with my internet for the last two years (and have paid for once over and then some, by the way).  Now comes the hard part: figuring out how to hook it up, convincing the internet people to flip the switch on their end that makes it work (maybe?), and returning the rental (which is so old, by the way, that they don't sell them anymore).

Then I had an adventure and discovered what a lovely little beach town Gloucester is. There is something wild and romantic about watching the waves break over a rocky shore. It is a place wherein a wander along the beach would be most desirable... but the weather was so cold that one was better off enjoying the view from inside. Which I did. And I would love to go back - in the summertime.

Things That Make Me Happy

Friendly banter among colleagues.

Thirty minutes on the phone with a totally awesome ten-year-old.

Peace among friends in a sacred place.

Knowing - not just believing.

Growing.

Motherhood.

On Learning

Last night I decided that if my 8 year old niece can do a poster presentation on the Great Barrier Reef, I can learn something useful during all the time I spend on the internet.

So I read Wikipedia's article on the Great Pyramid of Giza. And I thought about the children of Israel when they were in bondage in Egypt (see Exodus, first 8-10 chapters) and how they had to make bricks every day as their job, and then thought about how maybe they would have built the pyramids, too, but that doesn't seem super likely considering they made bricks using straw (not quarried stone) and it doesn't ever reference building anything but granaries ("treasure cities"), so maybe not.  It was interesting to learn about how mathematically beautiful the pyramid is, though, and other things.

And when I finished reading about pyramids last night, I knew more than I did when I woke up yesterday morning.  Thanks, M, for inspiring me to learn (even though you don't know you did it... it was the gchat with your mom!). It was fun. What else should I read about?

Perhaps next I'll learn about how to make bricks, and why it required straw.

Family

My friend was married today. As I watched her interact with her new husband and with her father and with her mother, I felt some of what they all must be feeling. Father hoping the best for his treasured daughter as they danced and conversed together. Mother expressing her love in a sweet surprise gift for the bride and groom. The bride looking into the eyes of the groom, love communicated between them without words, and anxious to start their new life together. A match, and a sweet celebration to commemorate it.

I don't have much of the someday wedding planned, but I know now that there will be a dance with dad before that night is over. Like in the olden days, when he taught me swing to Scott Joplin ragtime playing on a record player.

On Order

There is something very satisfying about taking a mess and turning it into a beautifully organized arrangement. It turns out that I'm not the only one who thinks this way, either. That is also satisfying. I work with some friends who are almost as good, if not better, at this than I am. How fantastic!

We have had some interesting times this week trying to consolidate people and stuff and fit into a much smaller space than we are all generally used to. Today, I organized our kitchen space. You can fit a lot of stuff into a small space if you just put in a little effort. It took a few hours, but I was able to gather up and put away everything that had been boxed up, moved up, and strewn around our kitchen, so it hardly looks like anything happened. On Monday, we had a disaster. This morning, we had a mess. This evening, we had moved much of the mess into another space, organized it into neat piles, and put the rest of it away.

Order is wonderful.