Memorial Day

I'll never forget the day I realized that not everyone agreed with me. I was older than I should've been to noticed something that simple, but it makes sense that it would occur when I left the comfort of my very Mennonite hometown and moved south of the Mason Dixon Line. There was culture shock when I moved to Kentucky and, while I live in a more Liberal part of the state, it's still a very red Kentucky.

I've opened my mind to many things in the years that I have lived here and many stereotypes I used to have have been banished.

One such turning point was meeting my friend Jamie's brother, Joe. We drove to the back of their farm to get part of a giant tree that had fallen. Joe drove, Roy and I sat in the cab, and 3 or 4 people sat in the bed of the truck. Joe, bourbon in hand, drove the whole way laughing hysterically and driving very erratically, trying to get the people in the bed to fall out of the truck. They attached the log (tree) to the truck and drove back to Joe's house where the joke "how many rednecks does it take to put a log on the fire?" was literally tested. That was the first meeting and there were many subsequent ones where I found Joe to be a kind, generous soul.

Someone with a confederate flag bumpersticker on the back of his truck. Accompanying were the words, "Heritage, not hate."

I'm not a proponent of the Confederate Flag. I understand that its meaning has changed for a large segment of our population and that the hurt it causes is deep and painful. But it also showed me that issues are not always simple and clear.

Kentucky is home to a large military base, Fort Campbell. It's not uncommon to hear reports about the 101st Airborne on CNN and in the local papers are names - often - of soldiers lost in combat. This is one area where my beliefs have not been altered; where in fact they have been strengthened. In the runup to the war in Iraq, I'll never forget my Grandma saying to me, "you know... we've been fighting a long, long time. You would think that if war actually created peace, we'd be done by now."

I was looking for a piece of literature to post today, thinking about all of the antiwar literature written by the great Mark Twain, the outstanding and pointant works of Kurt Vonnegut. But I found it on a blog I read often. Thanks, Urban Mennonite.

On this Memorial Day, I honor the fallen with a prayer for peace.

counting blessings

Last week I turned to Roy and said, "I just want to write a blog!" His response was, "tell me about it." It was an expression of just how busy and stressed out we have been. Work has been very stressful for me and Roy has been working so hard - much harder then me - planning the Festival.

But I have had reason throughout the weeks to also count my blessings and I am happy to say that life has continued. We have experienced the beauty of this spring, despite the lack of blog posts. It is the doing and not the posting that I will remember in the long run.

The most significant blessing is that Riley, who currently lives an hour away, is moving with his family to Georgetown, 20 minutes away! This is huge for so many reasons I can hardly begin to type them all. A couple of weeks ago I met Riley's mom in Georgetown at the informational meeting for his swim team. She and I sat together in the back and talked, took notes, and compared calendars. I came home with such joy that there was no animosity or awkwardness between the two of us; we both know we do it for Riley. You will see many more pictures of Riley on this blog, and I had a whole series to go with this post but can't find them on the computer! This one will have to do. And oh, there will be so much more of this!

From am's picasa

Sophie will turn 3 in September and it seems like every 2 months we see a significant jump in her ability to... to everything. She talks up a storm, she has new fears (bugs - gasp!!!), and is showing more and more of her kind spirit. There are dozens of kittens down the street (don't ask) and we go visit them almost daily. She is remarkably gentle. If someone is hurt, she is doting. And she simply cannot stand to be in trouble. Time outs are like prison to this little girl.

She continues to by shy in public and in new situations. They had a spring program at school and she sat there with this look on her face the whole time. She didn't sing. Didn't count. She just stood. And looked.

From am's picasa

She also got three awards - the ABC award, the Shapes award, and the I Love to Read award, which of course made me so proud. They said she can often be found in the Library, reading books to the other kids.

From am's picasa

Most of all, her creativity and imagination is just bursting at seems. The house is a continuous mess of blankets and pillows, dolls and chairs, something is ALWAYS happening. Here she is in her train.

From am's picasa

We're forever at the park and she's always making friends.

From am's picasa

and exploring more than just the jungle gym.

From am's picasa

We've spent time exploring the arboretum.

From am's picasa

and on pretty days, we walk home from school. We have wonderful people on our street who don't mind her walking through their yards and smelling their flowers.

From am's picasa

Last night I sat down for dinner and looked around me. The posts have been sparse, and I've missed the practice of writing about this life's journey. But I took a big helping of salad, made of lettuce and onions from my neighbors garden and strawberries from Scott Co. so ripe they had to be eaten that day, and felt the warm glow deep in my spirit outshine any of the stress from these past months. When that's gone, this will continue. Blessings.

From am's picasa

This Mother's Day

So last week, Roy asked what I wanted to do for Mother's Day. Last year we went to the zoo and had a picnic. It was wonderful. But from the looks of things, the weather this year was bound and determined not to cooperate for a Saturday outing. "Help me clean the house on Saturday" was my response, "So I don't have to do it on Sunday."

Roy was good on his word and yesterday we finished cleaning the house (minus a few incidentals) and put fresh, clean sheets on the bed just in time to fall into them. We even started a movie (Charlie Wilson's War) at 10:00 and I didn't even fall asleep!! Living dangerously here, people!

Today was wonderful. I got up at 8:30 (!!!) and a tray of fruit, coffee, yogurt and juice was brought to me as I watched CBS Sunday Morning. Then I met Mallory and Aiden at Mayfest for a little mom's day outing. The weather was beautiful and Mayfest was wonderfully kind to mothers and kids alike.

From am's picasa

From am's picasa

From am's picasa

We went to a fondue restaurant for dinner. It was fun and yummy, but really expensive to make your own food. Dessert was easily the best part. We were there for over 3 hours and while the kids enjoyed it at first, they got a little wild by the end.

From am's picasa

From am's picasa

A couple of months ago I made the decision to leave my comfort zone and join the Library's slow pitch softball team. It may sound silly, but this was a major departure for me. My only sports memories are of being dropped off 4 miles out of town (track), sitting on the bench and being put in the game only when we were 20 points behind with no hope of winning (basketball), and being the only girl, whiny and pathetic, in church league fast pitch (softball).

It's ended up being one of the most fun things I have done in a long time. The team is made up of some of my favorite Library folks and they're all super laid back - but they REALLY want to win. So far we're undefeated and today we beat Fox 56 News 22-2. I play left field and have made 3 plays in the season's 4 games. The first two plays, I fell down. But tonight? Tonight I picked up the ball and threw it to the shortstop without slipping on the grass. Happy Mother's Day to me.

From am's picasa

Stress

I'm not used to being stressed out. I generally have a carefree attitude with the motto, "I'm a duck." Sometimes letting it roll is easier than others.

Here's my horoscope for this week:

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): "The Amazing Race" is a reality TV show in which two-member teams compete for money and prizes by doing odd feats in exotic locales. One especially stupid and awesome task they performed was carrying 50-pound wheels of cheese down a slippery hill in
Switzerland. Everyone started out hauling the wheels on cumbersome wooden backpacks, but hardly anyone was able to make it to the bottom without falling, breaking the backpacks, and having to manually herd the runaway cheese the rest of the way. I foresee a similar fate for you, Leo. You'll be asked to do things that are both fun and frustrating, all in a cause that in the long run will be worthwhile.

What's amazing is how many areas of my life this could refer to.

Work? Definitely.

Bluegrass Festival? Hell yes.

Family life? You know it.

I continue to feel blessed by my life but boy oh boy, shew doggie... sometimes sure are easier than others.

So why the post? I guess its an explanation as to why I have been shirking my blogging duties, as well as a reminder to myself that I need to let it roll and that this is for something bigger.