Hello to my family and friends from just over the hilltop where the weather has been as unstable as a broken step ladder. It flips from sunshine for about half an hour to rain for the next hour hour. Then back to sun and on to a thunderstorm. Again to sun and then wind and hail. This has been the pattern for a few days now and quite challenging and fun. I get to play the piano during a storm and Dick has been pulling weeds when the sun comes out. The temperature have been just right for me: not too hot and not too cold. I’m feeling a little like Goldilocks, very content.
The days went all too fast while Ethan was here, but we had a great eight days together. He also spent many hours with his brother Eric, nieces and nephews, and ran into old friends while out running, walking, going to Sergi’s for a pizza roll, or getting gas for his hot rod Mustang. We took him to Hometown for a “so-long” lunch on Friday then he headed to visit his sister Karen and family for that night. Saturday morning began his three-day drive back to California. Thank you for your prayers for his journey, He’s back home safe and sound.
home is where when you have to go there, they have to take you in
Robert Frost has written that “home is where when you have to go there, they have to take you in.” Sometimes each of us may need to go home for one reason or another. I did it back before opening the diner while needing direction and clarity when realizing that my children didn’t need mothering anymore but rather “just a mom.” I’m glad my parents let me come visit and rest awhile away from the forest that I couldn’t see through at the time. I’m grateful Ethan came here to stop, rest, reflect, gain perspective and is now ready to move forward again.
Brunch and Books
Last Tuesday four of my neighbor ladies came over for brunch and we had a marvelous visit. It had been too long since we all chatted and checked on one another. We got caught up on health issues, family loved ones, and the new neighborhood changes. It was a wonderful little get-together.
Writers’ Group met Thursday evening with us now taking our summer break. We may have one meeting in late July or August for a picnic and just to fellowship. Sometimes the meetings are long, though this “boss” (me) tries to keep us on schedule and moving along so everyone gets to read their new writings. It’s good there are so many willing to share.
Time
Dick’s Dad would have turned 97 last Thursday and some years his birthday would fall on Father’s Day. The teaching at church that Sunday was concerning the tools men need to be a successful father. David was talking about how the sales at this time of the year are on men’s tools and though men need tools for building projects, they also need tools for training their children. I’ve been thinking of our dads and thinking that probably the best tool they used in training us was their time. Time as in “come along with me and we’ll walk and talk together. Watch me and learn.” It could be a ride in the truck, fishing, learning to shoot at the gun club, watching them square dance, or go to Penobscot Bay each summer. Most of our young childhood days were spent with our parents following them around in whatever they were involved in.
come along with me and we’ll walk and talk together. Watch me and learn
We grew up with adults, knew the smell of grease and oil (my dad was a trucker and mechanic), learned how to change the oil and a tire, learned to be quiet and listen, and so any more relational qualities that helped us want to grow up and be like them. That tool was not expensive, available at any moment, and used whenever needed. How grateful I am that “time” was the affordable commodity in our fathers tool belts and how blessed both of us were to have access to that particular tool. Thank you to our dads. Though both are gone now, they left us with a tool of time to use on our children. We are still trying to utilize it.
Have a blessed week and enjoy this wait-a-minute, rather half hour weather pattern. Love, Sharon