SOME THOUGHTS ON MOVING.....

I took last week off from blogging to spend quality time with family members.It wasn't all fun and games, but certainly not all work (we didn't paint the house or re-landscape the yard).

The first four or five days were devoted to (a) locating a pod for moving belongings from Indiana to my daughter's home in Arizona; (b) discovering the extent and location of said belongings (some in a storage unit; some in my attic; more in one of my closets; some stored in Ohio that came with the Ohio daughter's visit); (c) purchasing heavy-duty moving boxes, bubble wrap, heavy-duty tape for the boxes; and (d) locating important stuff like Sharpies, fresh iced tea, gluten-free pretzels, and DVDs to keep our spirits up while one of us (not I) wrapped or re-wrapped small fragile items in bubble wrap and labeled them before stowing them in one of the aforesaid heavy-duty packing boxes.

The wrapping and boxing up was the province of the Arizona daughter whose belongings were in the process of moving from here to there. Minnesota daughter came along, she told us, to provide muscle--this was greatly appreciated by her sister and me.

My main contribution was to keep the food wagon operating. But deep down, it was all about taking the physical and emotional temperature of those working--were they too tired to eat? Were they famished to the point of fainting? Was there any point in making a full meal, when a small snack was what they wanted? These discernments are within my realm, and meals/snacks of various sorts appeared at appropriate times.

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By the end of the week, Friday, the pod was not only packed to the gills, it was ready to  be picked up by the freight company. They did their part, the pod left for the great Southwest, and we all breathed a small sigh of relief.

After a few hours rest, we geared up for the next day's visit by some of the rest of the family. The current total head count is 23, plus miscellaneous cats and dogs. Saturday we had only 13 human beings, 1 friend of a family, plus 2 dogs. That filled the back yard nicely. Enough kids to keep us from feeling like old folks. Well-behaved dogs who made me start thinking about getting another canine friend. Adults who enjoy each other's company. And a beautiful (almost chilly) late summer/early autumn kind of day.

The kids played badminton, and managed to get a Frisbee up on the roof. The youngest great-granddaughter wrote love letters on the patio with chalk (and left me one on paper, taped to my kitchen cupboard).

We finished a slow cooker of homemade chili with saltines on the side, fresh garden produce from two kids' gardens, a variety of chips with or without salsa, and two kinds of brownies (regular and gluten-free). Coffee was available, bottled water, iced tea. We used paper plates and bowls and disposable napkins and spoons. My kind of party!

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The next day, Sunday, I played the service at my church, then sped home to have lunch with Arizona and Minnesota before they hit the Toll Road for a 10-hour return trip to Minneapolis.

When I got up from my afternoon nap, the house felt empty. Thanks be that we have memories!

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I haven't said much about moving, have I?--the thought of packing up a house full of belongings and memories isn't appealing right at the moment. Helping someone else works out quite well, though--we got to watch Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan movies together, and later some DVDs from a mystery series I bought in the late 1990s. I got to cook larger meals (cooking for myself isn't always a lot of fun) and sit down to talk with people I'm related to without a telephone between us. 

Everyone from out of town--which was everyone who came to the Saturday family gathering--got home safely.

And I am grateful for the many descendants who are related to me, one way or another. Not bad for an only child.

Arizona Sunset

VACATION TIME...

Did you ever notice how many people you're connected to? An awful lot of my family members have passed on to other realms, but there's still an abundance left to enjoy.

So:

Taking some time off . . . two daughters visiting (from Arizona and Minnesota), another coming (from Ohio) on Tuesday for a day visit, and son and daughter-in-law coming by on Saturday (Indiana residents) and Ohio daughter returning.

My house will ring with laughter for ten days! You should be able to hear it from where you are.

See you in a couple of weeks!

In the meantime, here's some wisdom (more or less) from a woman who knows about family matters:

My theory on housework is, if the item doesn't multiply, smell, catch fire, or block the refrigerator door, let it be. No one else cares. Why should you? Erma Bombeck

FRIENDSHIP

[One day I'm going to write something original about . . . well, about anything. But today's reposting covers a subject dear to my heart. Could you have survived all you've been through without a friend, or maybe several, to share the burden, to cry with, to laugh with, to give you a hand up or a shoulder to lean on? I couldn't have made it on my own. Friends are one of God's greatest blessings. Thanks be!]

Or a mug of really good coffee!

Yesterday, August 7, is friendship day. [There are several dates celebrated in various countries.]

The subject has been on my mind and heart lately and I want to explore some definitions and thoughts on what friendship is, and what it is to have—or to be—a friend.

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The most elemental definition I’ve ever seen is the title of Joan Walsh Anglund’s book, A Friend Is Someone Who Likes You. It was published in 1958 for children 4 to 7 years old. A friend is…someone who likes you. Simple. Direct. Easy to understand.

But as we all know, we grow older, and life takes twists and turns, our experiences cause us to make leaps and bounds. Or go backward. Or fall on our prats. Sometimes what we go through is, well, less than joyful. Here are some thoughts to keep your hearts and minds engaged in friendly paths as you find your way through the jungle.

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Charlotte's Web--read it!

Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art... It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival.   --C. S. Lewis (1898-1967)

Who among us has not had a friend who kept us sane, even for a little while? Or who held our hand in a dark time? Who talked us down from a scary place—real or metaphorical—to continue living?

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Sometimes being a friend means mastering the art of timing. There is a time for silence. A time to let go and allow people to hurl themselves into their own destiny. And a time to prepare to pick up the pieces when it's all over.   --Octavia Butler (1947-2006)

If you have a friend, then you, yourself, are a friend. It’s a reciprocal relationship, not one-sided, but a meeting of equals. So if you are a friend, you know what it means to remain silent when they “hurl themselves into their own destiny.” Sounds scary, doesn’t it? But we know we can’t live other people’s lives for them, no matter how much we care, how much more experience we have, how clearly we can see the pitfalls they will face. We can “prepare to pick up the pieces,” and I would add, resist the temptation to say I told you so. Even if you never said it in the first place.

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One more idea:

We call that person who has lost his father, an orphan; and a widower that man who has lost his wife. But that man who has known the immense unhappiness of losing a friend, by what name do we call him? Here every language is silent and holds its peace in impotence.  -- Joseph Roux (French surgeon, 1780-1854)

A hug is always a good thing....

Ignore the out-of-date pronouns and focus on the thought.

No one wants to lose a friend. Friends are more precious than silver and gold, than perfect gems, than all the possessions we can ever amass.

Yet, sometimes a friend is lost. To death, yes; but that is not the harshest loss. The loss that stabs our hearts and wrenches tears from our souls is the loss we have caused—or have been unable to prevent—for whatever reason.

John Donne (1572-1631) wrote, “Any man’s death diminishes me.” I would add, “Each friend’s loss takes a valuable part of me, and I’ll never regain it.”

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To send you off with a happier thought:

If instead of a gem, or even a flower, we should cast the gift of a loving thought into the heart of a friend, that would be giving as the angels give.  --George MacDonald (1824-1905)

Celebrate your friendships. They may not number in the hundreds or thousands, they may not be virtual friends you’ve never seen. True friends are the ones who know you, warts and all . . . .

WORDS - WORDS - WORDS

[My Internet provider and I aren't seeing eye to eye about service--my idea is that the service should be 24/7/365. The ISP likes to take time off. (What for? Nothing changes much.) Today I'm having on-again/off-again access to the 'Net so I'm repeating a post about words of wisdom that appealed to me once upon a time and, funnily enough, still do. Hope they make you smile, too.]

What is it about quotations and words of wisdom and sayings that intrigues us?

Here are some to entertain you - possibly give you a nudge - even make you smile in agreement.

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Courage is being scared to death - but saddling up anyway.

            -- John Wayne

We are all here for a spell; get all the good laughs you can.

            -- Will Rogers

Nobody can be exactly like me. Sometimes even I have trouble doing it.

            -- Tallulah Bankhead

Never miss a chance to keep your mouth shut.

            -- Robert Newton Peck

Part of the secret of success in life is to eat what you like and let the food fight it out inside.

            -- Mark Twain

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It is a mistake to regard age as a downhill grade toward dissolution. The reverse is true. As one grows older, one climbs with surprising strides.

            -- George Sand

The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook.

            -- William James

You can't do anything about the length of your life, but you can do something about its width and depth.

            -- Evan Esar

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This thing that we call 'failure' is not the falling down, but the staying down.

            -- Mary Pickford

I know God will not give me anything I can't handle. I just wish that He didn't trust me so much.

            -- Mother Teresa

We could never learn to be brave and patient, if there were only joy in the world.

            -- Helen Keller

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Have a blessed week!