May 29, 2016
Sunday. Sunday. Sunday!
Hello. What a lovely sentiment, just a “Hello.” And so it is. Hello….
They came for the camper today. I had, of course, created a challenge where one needn’t be by parking the camper behind the garage, blocked by two giant piles of bricks (the remnants of the near-disaster of last summer in which the parapets at the Matthias building needed to be torn down, then rebuilt). Yes, what followed today had the slight favor of when I tried to go through the drive-through at the Stevens Point Culvers years ago. Ian and I and Gromit, on a return trip from Waupaca; exhausted and smelly from emptying the sewer tanks only hours before – I had the brainy -but what I thought was efficient – idea to “whip that baby” into the drive through. Measure, Steph, really.
But made it, I did. Made it, they did. The new owners had surprised me as I was just returning from grocery shopping. Good thing too. I had to focus on showing them how to pack it all up: folding the beds, tucking the canvas and the assortments of jacks and stabilizers. I never realized, in my slightly stunned state how happy they were. I cried until they texted me back they had forgotten the extra waste water tank. I smiled. Some things never change…
(It’s a Godsend I never named it.)
…………
I ran into a friend’s spouse at the grocery store. She is recovering from illness at home. He and I laughed at the memory of the last time she and I saw each other. I had been bell-ringing (oh my.. maybe ten years ago?) in front of that superstore during the holidays. We laughed as my concern was that I prayed I hadn’t been singing out loud at the time (my favorite? Lennon’s “So this is Christmas.” Yeah, I was that person, with a Santa Claus red hat and downy arctic gear to boot!) She is the cheeriest, most giving person on this planet. He and I traced the years which have passed while standing among the vegetables.
………..
Monday, May 30, 2016
How can it possibly be the thirtieth of May? I have the dizzying combination of my mother and ex-husband over to join my son and I for a grilled celebration of both Memorial Day and the beginning of summer. I must admit I struggle a bit, memories, much less the arrival of company. Oh, this home is no stranger to any of them, but I wonder if they will feel it too? She is Eve, my peaceful home in the woods. With every warmth of the increasingly brighter sun and warmer temperatures, the undergrowth opens a cloaking of green, interrupted only by the dappling of sunlight and shadows of the surrounding leaves. If I did not know better and could not hear the occasional gurgle of neighbors’ lawnmowers or shouts from their children, I could be miles away.
It is a home of memories upon memories and the stirring of emotions for me as I get ready. Sweeping the deck from pine needles is a curious process, beginning with the struggle of memories of one year, then three years ago, and many years ago. I literally have a slow go at it because my head is churning along with my heart. I am totally disgusted in the time it takes me to do a simple chore.
But I keep going. And then I remember my writing of opening up the park home after the winter. I enjoyed every bit of it, always marveling at how well the home weathered the blizzards, ice and then most crucial… the thawing. Today I look upon cushions stored in a deck box and chairs which gathered snowfalls. They survived. Very well, matter of fact.
Me too.
My home feels more and more like me. I don’t even know what that means exactly. It’s not the result of that golden door moment – poof! All better! Perfect! Hmm. No. It is very much half-assed, but I would like to think of it as the perfect fixer-upper. Slowly I am letting go of a camper and furniture and the items du jour – things I do not really need. I am having what I can take care of with all the love and care I can muster. Except shoes. And swimsuits! (Ok, and hats too.)
At peace – with memories and a mission…
Who could ask for more?
Love and Blessings,
Stephanie
#thebrickdandelion #stephaniespringborn #delightandwonder #my beautifuljourney #divorceandrecovery #onewomanslife #imjustme
ps. Last night? Bats AND toads….nature’s mosquito zappers.. A fairyland of my imagination? You bet.
And for my friend… I will teach myself to run and remember to jump in mud puddles every chance I get..
the brick dandelion 