Expect nothing

Alice Walker is quoted as having said, "Expect nothing; live frugally on surprise."

I love that.

I fail at that daily! I think it is part of my make-up to expect happiness and for an embarrassingly large part of my life, that's just what I have been given. But in this current political state, I think I have to start parsing out those meager surprises with Scrooge-like containment to get me through this presidency!

a storied life

At the end of my book club's lively discussion of The Storied Life of A,J, Fikry, I asked them a question that the author was asked in an interview: What three books have shaped your life? I broadened the question to influence rather than shaped and from different times in your life. That's a toughie for any reader! If you read a lot, it's a harrowing question - but intriguing.

One of the group offered almost immediately, Margaret Wise Brown's Color Kittens, citing that she thinks she was about three and the idea of mixing colors sparked to mixing all kinds of materials and coming up new -leading to a lifetime of creativity. I responded from her answer citing a book of poetry my mother first quoted to me and I later read for myself. I don't even know the title of the book because that's long gone from the raggedy book! Ginger something, I think. But that spawned my memories of Robert Louis Stevenson's A Child's Garden of Verses the contents of which are permanently in my heart forever. And I would add Anne of Green Gables and Understood Betsy to that honored list. These books assured me that at its heart, the world is shining despite struggles along the way. 

It gets harder as I contemplate young adult years but thanks to my childhood context of limited resources the gems really stood out as I wandered into high school reading. And those books were classics - I knew nothing of young adult literature, nothing about dragons, vampires, dystopia, aliens, etc. My loves were built on the solid soil of reality - with a dash of romance thrown in always! Jane Eyre found her way into my heart early - as did Rebecca (Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again....) These are books I read over and over again, suffused with pleasure at each reading. But I can't say they influenced my life, exactly. 

So I'm still thinking and picking up samples to nibble on....and oh what a banquet from which to choose!

we all scream for....

My patron was an older man ( I learned later as we were on the computer that his birthday was 1935), and he was searching for an old book which we of course didn't have in our public library collection. I explained the Interlibrary Loan system to him and he listened carefully and then attempted to do it on his own at one of our Internet stations. 82, frail, hesitant, but determined as rock. His cane dropped out of his hand en route to my desk and another patron asked if she could pick it up for him and he uttered a decisive "No!" and proceeded to bend over bit by patient bit to retrieve it. It took a long while but my internal hands were clapping when the mission was accomplished!

Later he stopped in at my desk on his way out, saying he thinks that he successfully completed the ILL form and would see what happens. He said he knew it was at the Library of Congress - and I said, " Let's wait until we see if ILL can find it for you before you make that trip." To which he replied with a great deal of force, "Oh my yes, I'm not going all the way down there even if they got ice cream."  !!!

One day, that may have been a draw; these days that's a pretty funny pot of gold!

camphor ointment

In all my childhood days, resting in the drawer of a little side table beside my mother's bed was a round tin, decorated in blue, white and gold flowers, with the inscribed words, "Rawleigh Medicated Ointment, Famous Old Fashioned Formula. For Cold Discomfort, Congestion, and Nasal Irritation.'' And everything else that ailed you! There was scarcely a bodily scrape that didn't improve with a dab of "Camphor Ointment" as we used to call it. There has never been a time that I haven't had a tin tucked into my belongings somewhere - 70+ years later!

Number one - it is soothing - to all kinds of inflammations. But more importantly, its application always feels like a little bit of Mother. It was her go-to solutions for so many of life's rough spots.

So,now in the midst of  21st Century woes, I rub on a bit of Rawleigh's magic and still feel the cool comfort of her love.

vive la difference!

Family reunions are a quirky business.

Even if you like your relatives, there is always a Squibs mixture of excitement, dread, guilt, pleasure threading through the planned visit. And no matter how successful they are, for people of an age or socially reluctant disposition, constant conversation and relating to people is hard work! And, yes, one can go off on one's own to read, hike, meditate - but then there is the nagging thought that one can do that at home without the cost and effort of a gathering. Thus the conundrum!

Nevertheless, though I was grateful to get back to the relative quiet of our personal space, I look back on our conjoined family time as golden. New shoots of communication will green and nourish the coming months and years until we gather again.

And somehow the divergent Facebook postings are now viewed with different eyes, because you remember the night under the stars with that cousin that were magical - despite the fact that he probably voted for Trump!

Retrieval

On my morning lake walk, in a park by the path, a young woman was throwing a ball to her dog. The green was splashed with early August sunlight and the dog was ecstasy in motion! As the ball left her hand he shot across the sunlit park into the bushes to retrieve it, completely oblivious to any hazard in his path and streaked back again for round two, three, four as I strode by.

I smiled and gave thanks for color, energy, pets and people, and health. Life is meant to enjoyed and pursued like a tennis ball flying through the green on an early morning.

tucked among the books

Little boy (holding stuffed toy): “I want to take this penguin home with me because I like him.”

Mother: “But this penguin lives here.”

Little boy: “why?”

Mother: “Because he lives on books.”

Wow, do I love that mother! So, do I Mom, so do I!