These Are The Days

Moving Day

After much consideration, testing out different designs for "these are the days" and never really being quite satisfied with the results, I have made the move to Blogger. I know, I know---I'm abandoning the Wordpress ship and choosing the Dark Side, but Blogger lets me customize the way I want my site to look like, and I really like that freedom. My blog name will still be the same, just at a different address - - - 

These Are The Days

Please come over and join the crazy adventure that is my life!

Bonus Shot

Did anyone else forget about the solar eclipse last night?

I had gone up to our local overlook for an hour of quiet thinking and to shoot the sunset, but when I got up there, there was already quite a few people, some with tripods and long lenses, others with cell phones and little point & shoots.

Everyone was in jolly moods and the feel in the air was quite a festive one.

I don't know if the feeling came from the close of a beautiful weekend, or from the local festival that our town had put on that afternoon.

There had been a beer garden.

But whatever the reason, folks were lining up on the wall that surrounded the overlook

and the parking spaces were filling up rapidly.

I have to admit, I was rather irked that the peaceful solitude I was looking for was being over run with

noisy kids and loud onlookers that seemed to know more than they really did.

And I still didn't know why there were so many people at "my" spot.

So naturally, I started to eavesdrop.

It was only then that I learned about the eclipse about to take place.

Guess that explained the welder's mask that was making the rounds amongst everyone gathered.

Truthfully, I wasn't really in the mood for an eclipse, for some reason they just don't invoke the "ooh's" and "aww's" that they do in other people.

I just wanted the sunset that I had come for.

But I guess an occasional eclipse doesn't ruin the shot, either.

How?

How do you find the right words to say, and how to say them? How do you know when it's the right time to change? How do you make it so that the both of you are happy?

Grace

  The stress of the past few days, weeks, months have taken a toll on me, leaving me with back spasms, headaches and periodic hyperventilating. It's been more than just Meghan graduating, it's been her health issues, getting her into college and so much more. Yesterday proved to be too much, and with her by my side, I broke down and sobbed on her shoulder. She patted my hair, rubbed my back and whispered, "Shh, shh, shh" in the same sing song rhythm that we used to sing to her when we comforted her baby cries in the night. I spent the day today wandering around the house, restless, bored and at loose ends, so when the sun began it's evening  journey to her bed, I did the only thing I knew to do. I picked up my camera and went in search of grace.

Joyful Dance

 I danced in the morning when the world was begun

I danced in the Moon & the Stars & the Sun I came down from Heaven & I danced on Earth At Bethlehem I had my birth:

Dance then, wherever you may be I am the Lord of the Dance, said He! And I'll lead you all, wherever you may be And I'll lead you all in the Dance, said He! (...lead you all in the Dance, said He!)

 

 I used to sing this to Meghan when I was rocking her to sleep as a baby.

I will sing it again tonight as she prepares to walk across the stage to accept her diploma.

She will lead others in her own Joyful Dance filled with laughter and merriment just as she has led

David and me her whole life

Tonight is only the second part of her dance.

Unbelievable

The thank you cards for gifts have been written.

Dresses and shoes have been bought.

Last two AP exams are being taken today.

In a little over 48 hours we will be the parents of a high school graduate.

Unbelievable.

We Interrupt This Program

Hey, everyone.  I'm Meg, Katie's daughter, and I've taken over this blog temporarily.  It was a bloodless coup, so no one should be worried. Mostly I'm writing this because I'm graduating in a few days, and my mom and I have been through a lot these past years of school.  I figured that I'd share some of my favorite memories, if that's okay with you all. This is my mom.

She had no idea that she'd one day have me and my little brother running around under foot.  

(We're quite the trio) There's a lot I could tell you about Momma.  I could mention her sweetness, her passion for life, her silliness.  But I feel if you've read even one of her posts, you already know all that. The night before I started first grade, and had a full six-hour school day to face, I was terrified.  Mom curled up with me in bed, rubbed my nose, calmed me down, and then promptly went downstairs to make my lunch and sob.  She wasn't worried about me (she's always, always had unwavering faith in what I do), but about who she was going to eat lunch with the next day.  We both survived to live another day. The night before I started sixth grade at a new school, in a new state, with a building full of strangers, I again was terrified.  And once again, Momma curled up with me, told me stories of our adventures when I was little, and calmed me down.  The next day I went on to meet my very best friend, and we both survived to live another day. The night before I started twelfth grade, I wasn't all that worried.  With eleven other "first days" under my belt, one more didn't really phase me.  But Mom still curled up with me, and told me stories, and we talked for a good long while about everything under the moon.  And yet again, we survived to live another day. This year has been ridiculously crazy-hectic-hard.  There is no way on heaven or earth that I could have done any of it without my mom. These are the things I don't think you would know about Katie. These are the things that I hold onto in my moments of worry-panic-fear. I know that, even though I'll be at college in the fall, whenever I need to be calmed down, Mom will always be there to curl up with me, rub my nose, and be my rock.

 

Morning Has Broken

Morning has broken, like the first morning

Blackbird has spoken, like the first bird

Praise for the singing, praise for the morning

Praise for the springing fresh from the word.

Sweet the rain's new fall, sunlit from heaven

Like the first dewfall, on the first grass

Praise for the sweetness of the wet garden

Sprung in completeness where his feet pass

Mine is the sunlight, mine is the morning

Born of the one light, Eden saw play

Praise with elation, praise every morning

God's recreation of the new day.

lyrics by eleanor farjeon

sung by cat stevens

Wild Iris

I treated myself to a vacation of sorts today.

I swung on the porch swing and read till my legs got rosy from the sun.

I took photos of my morning doings---

bills paid and stamped, squirrels in the sunflower garden, Langley wallowing in the sunny backyard.

The emotions have hit hard these past couple days, and I realized that I've been forcing myself to have fun,

to get out of the house and away from my head.

Things that started out being great fun, have taken on more and more of a forced sort of fun.

It doesn't help that David has been in Africa for the past couple weeks.

I needed today to re-start my noticing the simple things in life again,

the things that have always fueled me.

I needed to step away from my "have-to's" , the "should's",  the computer and all the distractions it holds

---and it holds a lot of distractions---

and just breathe in the sunlight, the blue sky, the bird song, the warmth.

The world is magical when I stop to look again.

First and Last

First day of pre-school.

She could barely see out the car window.

She had so many adventures ahead of her.

Last day as a high school senior.

She can see out the car window now.

She has so many, many adventures ahead of her.