To My Future Vintage Camper

Thank you, Shabby Blogs, for the lovely camper freebie.

Happy Birthday, James Whitcomb Riley

The Prayer Perfect

Dear Lord! kind Lord!

Gracious Lord! I pray

Thou wilt look on all I love

Tenderly to-day!

Weed their hearts of weariness;

Scatter every care

Down a wake of angel-wings

Winnowing the air.

Bring unto the sorrowing

All release from pain;

Let the lips of laughter

Overflow again;

And with all the needy

O divide, I pray

This vast treasure of contest

That is mine to-day!

Peace.

I’m but a stranger here, Heaven is my home. 

There at my Savior’s side, Heaven is my home; 

I shall be glorified, Heaven is my home. 

There are the good and blest, 

those I loved most and best;

 There, too, I soon shall rest,

 Heaven is my home. 

Thinking about Marriage . . .

This summer, my sister got married.  The long-anticipated wedding was sweet, the reception was sassy and I loved every minute of Sharon and Dave's celebration.

This summer, I participated in a Catholic Worker wedding.  Regina and John's ceremony itself was just a part of a large prayerful retreat, during which all who attended were challenged to examine their lives, how they lived on the Earth and what they could do for others.  I left a more thoughtful person, I know, and came home to re-read Dorothy Day.

This summer -- six weeks ago to be exact-- I was privileged to sing at the 50th Anniversary celebration for RV and Sarah, my dear friend Kelly's in-laws.  It didn't take me too long to fall in love with them, as they made all of Kelly's friends feel like family.  They did it up right, from the kick-off at French Lick to the IU string quartet at the renewal ceremony to fabulous meals to the fantastic band that played late into the night (yes, I did drink  too much and danced myself right out of my Spanx.  That's how much fun it was.)

Last Saturday, Sarah died.

In spite of our shock and sadness, we are supposed to celebrate, as Sarah was the queen of celebration; even her obituary touts her as a professional social chairman -- she was Queen of Mardi Gras, for pete's sake!

And so I'll celebrate.

I am pretty good at celebrating, having served as Social Director of Meredith Hall, 1979-80, and having thrown some outstanding parties over the years (if I do say so myself).  Planning events for my family brings me a lot of joy (and stress, true) and I love to have special times with my friends.

So, in Sarah's honor, I am going to make an effort to plan more parties and have more friends over.  Coca-Cola and french fries for everyone!

And as for celebrating marriage, in November, Clay and I will mark 29 years.  But in cheesey honesty, I think we celebrate every day.   We'll probably never be rich, or have famous friends or travel to 102 countries like Sarah and RV, but like them, we've learned to find a lot of joy in the everyday stuff ---  we read to each other, fold clothes together, bring each other coffee, sit on the couch together, talk and laugh and laugh and laugh.  Sort of like what  Dorothy Day wrote in The Long Loneliness: "Most of our life is unimportant, filled with trivial things from morning till night.  But when it is transformed by love it is of interest even to the angels." 

And when we reach 50 years, we probably won't renew our vows; I think it's sweet when couples renew their vows each year at Mass, but we never participate, as we hardly ever sit next to each other, much less attend the same Mass.  Furthermore, I've come to like Clay's philosophy on renewal:  "Why do we need to renew our vows?  I meant it when I said it the first time."

Pragmatic, yet romantic, no?  And definitely worth celebrating.

God bless Sarah, and all the Stephens family.

Peace.

Breast Cancer - A People Thing

So, if you read Saturday's post, you know that I'm a little wary of the Pinkification of October, and am re-focusing my efforts in the battle against breast cancer.

I've walked in the Race for the Cure many times.  I've organized events to fund mammogram machines at our local hospital.  I've given away baskets of pink stuff on my blog.  I've written a lot of checks.  But by far, the easiest things I've ever done in the war against cancer is to sign up for the Army of Women.  They can explain it better than I can, so here you go:

  A program of the Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation, the Army of Women initiative is dedicated to recruiting one million women of all ages, ethnicities, with or without breast cancer, to sign up and participate in innovative breast cancer research studies.  After signing up at www.armyofwomen.org, members are then contacted via email blast about new studies seeking volunteers. They can either sign-up for the studies online, or if they do not qualify, they are encouraged to forward the information to a friend or family member. Every woman over 18 is welcome to participate, whether a breast cancer survivor or someone never affected.   There are currently more than 20 breast cancer studies seeking volunteers through the Army of Women.   The full list of open studies seeking volunteers like you are listed at: www.armyofwomen.org/current. 


Go sign up.  It's an easy thing we can do for each other.  And that's what it's all about.  
Peace.

Cakes, Fall Edition

Last Sunday, we had the BIG BIRTHDAY BASH at our house -- Tommy's 7th, Griffin's 5th and Paul's 3rd birthdays, celebrated on the same day.  We made Super Hero Capes for all the kids, broke a pinata and had a lot of fun (despite the fact that the rainy weather put the kabosh on the Bouncy House!)  I made one big cake, and three little cakes, so they would all have candles to blow out.  Note to self -- that was WAY too much cake!

This summer, I donated a decorated cake to a fund raiser for our friend, Brandon.  That donation came due today, and I made a cake for a baby shower, based on the new babe's nursery wallpaper.  

I don't love to cover cakes with fondant (because I stink at it!) but I do like to model little figures from tinted blobs of it; I guess it harkens back to my Play-doh days.

Peace.

October - Month of Pink, Month of Sorrow

If you've read this blog for long, you know how I feel about pink.  I love it.

You know how I feel about breast cancer.  I hate it.

OK, so these are not exactly astute observations, or singularly unique stands, especially during October.

But I really think I'm over all the pink=breast cancer stuff.  It just makes me sad that so many people/corporations/groups have taken the sweet pink ribbon and have turned it into a cash cow for themselves.  I wrote about that here two years ago; Marie Claire magazine published a great but sad article on the same thing just last month.  If you've had breast cancer, loved someone who had breast cancer, have breasts or know someone who does, read it at your own risk -- it will probably ruin your day.

So this October, I'm taking a new stand.

Instead of buying pink things, I'm going to try to do people things.
Instead of spending the month writing letters to corporations like Yoplait, KFC and Campbell's, I'm going to do a different kind of writing.
Instead of participating in the Race for the Cure (mainly because we have two other events that day), I'm going to do my own personal race.
I'll let you know how it goes; I promise to write an update here in November.

But I'm still going to wear a pink ribbon all month.  For mom.

As I've said before, I don't have breast cancer, but breast cancer changed my life forever.

Peace.