I'm Normal!

 At the opening of the musical The Fantastiks, The Girl has a lovely monologue that ends "Please, God, don't let me be normal". Often I have quoted that to myself until this morning when I was so grateful to discover I'm very normal. 

I was listening to a discussion about the new CDC guidelines for fully vaccinated people being able to go without masks in most situations and the opening of restaurants, churches, schools, society in general. I have said over the last several weeks, "I found it easier to shut down than I am finding it to open up again". An epidemiologist asked her blog listenings how they were feeling about getting back to pre-pandemic life and 79% of them said they were anxious. Thank You!! 

One woman even said she had been looking forward to going out, setting up play dates for her children, and now that she could, she wasn't sure she really wanted to. Last week friends were in town and asked to meet us for lunch. Whoa! I wasn't sure about that at all. We went. We ate outside. Everyone around us arrived masked until our food arrived. I made it through that first baby step. 

The doctors in this discussion all said we had to listen to our own emotional well-being and so I felt fine about what I was doing which is exactly that. Normal for me means listening to my body and not feeling pushed to do or be something I am uncomfortable doing. Please, God, let me be normal!!

The Workout Advantage

 Most of you know I now have a personal trainer for about 18 months with a long break because of the pandemic restrictions. I have slowly been regaining my strength and have known over the last couple of months that I was getting stronger - confirmed both by my trainer and by my massage therapist and just by the things I am able to do with more ease. So - working out two days a week has been helpful. 

Thursday night three of us (Dean, me and our friend Jessica) had had dinner on the front deck. I was carrying two plates with some steak fat and gristle on them back inside when I tripped over the door jamb. The plates flew out of my hands, my arms went out to protect me, and I landed slam on my already sore knee. OUCH!

So there I was, laid out on the floor, surrounded by broken plates, steak fat and juice, holding my knee and crying and practically screaming "Oh God, my knee! Oh God, my knee!!" Dean and Jessica were right beside me of course and together we eventually got me up at which point we realized my knee was very sore, probably bruised but in no way broken or damaged even. They got me in a chair, elevated my leg, put an ice pack on the knee, gave me Ibuprofen,  and brought me my dessert (Akira's chocolate pudding!). 

I am fine. Just sore. And the reason for the subject of this blog is that I have fallen before, I know what it is like for several days afterwards and I just have not had that this time! Even the day after I was able to walk around my deck, do some mild arm exercises with my 3 pound weights, and rest comfortably. There is no way I could have done that without the benefit of my workouts and getting stronger. I never thought that surviving a face plant would be one of the benefits of working out. 

And so you know - the initials used by massage therapists (RICE - Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation) for me now stands for Rest, Ice, Chocolate pudding, Elevation. 

A Universal Pattern

 Astarte, Ostara ~ Goddesses of fertility, spring, new life. The Church adopted Asherah worship and named it Easter, a variation on the name of the Scandinavian goddess Ostara, in about 155 of the Common Era. Many years before the resurrection of Christ, humans were aware of and celebrating the return of life into the world and into their lives. 

Christians around the world are celebrating Christ’s resurrection. All human being, no matter what their faith belief, recognize the pattern of death and resurrection in their lives. 

Probably the most obvious example right now is how many of us feel after that second COVID vaccination. Many of my friends have had really severe reactions sometimes for up to a week ~ and then suddenly they are ok again. Dean and I keep large pots of mint and rosemary on the back deck and for months now those pots have been full of dead stems. Just yesterday we commented that we hoped both herbs would return soon. Moms have looked into the eyes of a sick child and known it was not yet time for them to be up and about until the next day when the eyes are bright and mom knows recovery is complete. These are universal patterns of death and resurrection and they are happening over and over in our lives. 

This is a Divine pattern played out over the cosmic ages that Easter reminds us to recognize and celebrate. It’s an old universal pattern that continues to breathe new Life into our souls. A Blessed Easter to you all in the many names of God. 

Well, Of Course It Is!

 I have always been interested in words and where they came from and how we started using them. I rather amazed myself today when I was reading along and came upon the history of a word that I had never thought of before. 

The book is A Visitor's Guide to Jane Austen's England by Sue Wilkes. She is writing about travel in the late 1700s and early 1800s. 

        "Foreign visitors have some troublesome formalities to undergo at the customs house when they disembark because of England's war with France. You must show your passport to the customs officer, or give a written statement of your name, rank, former residence, and servants' names. The officer will issue you with a certificate of arrival. You must not leave the port without first getting a passport from the local magistrate or mayor." (pages 26, 27)

And there it was, the origin of the name of that little booklet we need to pass the port of a foreign country and enter the country itself. 

Not sure why I never thought if it before. You may be thinking, "Come on, Susan. You know that." Well, no, my friends, I had never put it together before or thought about where the name might have originated. Now I know ~ and I'm just a little excited about it. Hope you can find pleasure in little things as well. 

Well, Shit!

When her father died, my daughter Meredith and a friend "designed" a sympathy card expressing how they felt. The front would be all white and lovely and traditional. When you opened it, there were only two words: Well, Shit!

My best friend died today. I was born in January of 1943. She was born in July of that same year. For 77 1/2 years, she has been a part of my life. She shared all the heavy stuff: weddings, parental deaths, Rex's death, pregnancies, and the sharing of maternity clothes. We shared lighter, fun stuff: playing together as children, dating together as teens, road trips as adults. We were the kind of friends who could go for months without speaking and then start a conversation with right where we were in the moment. 

Several years ago she called and said, "I have a book I want you to read with me." That started us on another part of our journey together. We read theology and Biblical studies. We would talk once a week and sometimes we talked only of the book and sometimes we never mentioned the book because life was too important in the moment. And that got us back in the habit of calling just because we needed to talk.

And then one day she told me she wasn't feeling well. They think it was a viral infection that attacked her heart. I hurt. I will miss her more than I can say. I have written a long document detailing our story and I will read it again and again. It is very hard for me to be in the world without her. Well, Shit!

Hope

 This blog was supposed to written around Christmas and here it is almost the end of January. However, given what happens in this country tomorrow (January 20th) maybe it is a good time to write about Hope.

Back during Advent a FB friend asked what brings us hope. I immediately responded "babies". There is something so pure and delightful about a new born. Potential surrounds them. Joy greets them. In wide- eyed wonder they face a world they may just have the ability to change for the better. Is it any wonder that the writers of Jesus' life decided to start with his birth? 

We all started from that wonderful place. Unlike other mammals, we don't rise and walk within minutes. We must be nurtured, loved, educated, cared for. And just like a baby, a dream of a better world needs to be nurtured, loved, and helped to grow. This evolution may take a long time ~ too long perhaps ~ and there is always the possibility just in front of us that a child will step into the dream and bring it to fruition.  

                                                                                          (image is copyrighted)

Christmas Day

 

I have shared this poem with you before and do so again. It's by Madeleine L'Engle.

In such a time a this, Merry Christmas, dear friends. 

God did not wait till the world was ready,

till . . . nations were at peace.

God came when the Heavens were unsteady,

and prisoners cried out for release.

God did not wait for the perfect time

God came when the need was deep and great.

God dined with sinners in all their grime,

turned water into wine.

God did not wait till hearts were pure.

In joy God came to a tarnished world of sin and doubt.

To a world like ours, of anguished shame God came,

and God's Light would not go out.

God came to a world which did not mesh 

to heal its tangles, shield its scorn.

In the mystery of the Word made Flesh

the Maker of the stars was born.

We cannot wait till the world is sane

to raise our songs with joyful voice,

for to share our grief, to touch our pain, 

God came with Love: Rejoice! Rejoice!