I am fairly certain I was born with neither fangs nor horns. So where did they come from? It’s as if the buds have been lying dormant waiting for the time I most needed them to NOT emerge… like now… you know, since I’m a mom and all. Shouldn’t I be gentle and kind and patient and probably even a wee-bit sympathetic when my children are bleeding and bruised?
It’s not that I don’t have sympathy, but I do have a twisted sense of humor when it comes to the injury of others. Just ask Jen about the time she crashed my sister’s bike into a parked car… I’m sorry Jen, I still can’t stop laughing. I thought it would be different with my kids, but it kinda isn’t. Like the time Joel (he was 3 at the time) ran right into a glass window to enter a store… I am just so thankful his daddy was there to comfort him.
See.
The weight room at the gym has provided me several opportunities to humiliate myself… or at least just keep me in my place. I once held the nickname “Crash” (born from the time I fell off a corral wall and then face planted in the “dirt” of a horse arena all in the span of less than an hour). As a responsible adult I still wear bruises of unknown origin and stumble about in broad daylight as if I have not even one good eye.
At least I’m consistent. At least I have not yet crushed a phalange or limb… yet.
The other day I intended to disinfect one of the machines I swat upon (I know, swat is not the past-tense of sweat, but I like the way it rolls off my tongue fingers). I reached for the squirt bottle, and apparently gripped in backwardsly. I disinfected my face instead. Brilliant. Simply stellar. The man who observed my slip-up said, “Did you need to cool off?”
Something like that.
THEN cookies could grow on trees.
Here’s how it went down:
Olivia: I wish cookies could grow on trees, but you’d have to have, to have, to have, to…
Joel: Yeah, you’d have to have cookies seeds.
Olivia: Yeah…
Both: Giggle, giggle, giggle…
I pinkie swear - rides in the car bring out the best conversations…
I was deep in thought at my local market today… when from over my shoulder I hear a voice… “These are for you.” As I turn I hear the crinkle of cellophane and see a cluster of deep-reddish lilies with a hint of orange in them. I recognized the man who handed them to me, but I didn’t remember his name… I remembered quickly where I knew him from, but his name still escaped me. His daughter went to kindergarten with my son last year. I remembered his face probably because he made a point at Joel’s last day of school to mention some observations he made about Joel - that he felt Joel had a wonderful joy about him and a very sweet soul. People don’t usually take the time to say such wonderful things about other people’s kids. It was noteworthy.
So, I knew he was not hitting on me as I stood in the market’s flower shop half-talking to the clerk and half keeping my kids from toppling over buckets of flowers. He said that I walked by earlier and breathed a heavy sigh. He said he thought of he and his wife and their 4 kids… and he thought I could use some flowers. How cool is that.
This little treat has come on the heels of not a freakishly stressful time, but definitely a challenging time. I feel like I am strategically diving through intermittent waves of overwhelm before they break on me, I feel somewhat empty, not so significant, and a bit depleted on a number of different levels. I know it was the Lord filling me to continue on. The timing seemed providential, for I was at the market inquiring about flowers for others… I wasn’t even jonesin’ for flowers, but the consideration of the work and effort it takes to be a mom by this man was truly awesome. There are so many times mothers go to the store and receive other kinds of attention when their kids are just being kids. So, I left the store with a delightful bundle that not only has filled 2 vases in my home, but filled my spirit with a bit of joy and optimism. And I am so grateful that this man took a moment to act on a thought to act kindly… I wonder if he knows he allowed God to touch me today through him.
I just had to jot this one down.
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