What You Learn on A Road Trip

Well, you must account for the huge Hudson Bay if you want to REALLY drive to the North Pole. We didn't, so we didn't. But not speaking French and travelling 4 days into Quebec to Lac Saint Jeanne was enough of an adventure for us, and the one among us who wanted to take this road trip in the first place was ready to return to the American side of the Saint Lawrence Seaway and into New England by midweek. (By the way, I never knew there were so many saints! Practically every little town and river in Quebec held the name of an honored saint...whew!)

It's challenging being cooped up in a single vehicle in a country where neither of you speak the languange and you handle stressful situations very differently. How would you handle having to drive back 1 and a half hours in the rain upon arriving at the Canada border because your wife just realized (when she went to take a pic of the border crossing) that she forgot the camera in that cute Adarondack Pizza shop where you ate dinner?

How might you handle beign stuck in the middle of nowhere sandwiched between a raging river and a mountainside where they are doing road construction with nothing to eat and having to pee among a long line of truckers (oh and did I say we couldn't speak the language?)

How about your wife choosing a French phrase book that is absolutely no help because it's written for people who speak FRENCH trying to learn English and not the other way around?

How about having your favorite credit card frozen for the rest of the trip because you couldn't read what it was asking you to do THREE TIMES at the Canadian gas station self-serve pump?

To say that it tests one's best relationships to take this kind of trip together is the worst of it.

The best of it was the new love we have for our own New England (where we can understand signs and directions and it IS VERY BEAUTIFUL!) It was also awesome sharing snacks we never eat, trying to navigate through a city in the middle of night, seeing a mother moose and her twins, holding hands in Cooperstown after really enjoying the Baseball Hall of Fame....and hiking to waterfalls on a weekday when most of the rest of the world was at work.

I failed miserably at keeping a calm head and being a sweet spirit through every tense moment...but I came back knowing this man I love better and realizing I made a really good choice 28 years ago next month when we exchanged vows and promised that we'd be there through all these better or worsts. He loves me warts and all, moods and all, things I forget and all (did I mention I left my favorite beanie pillow I love for my neck at a hotel in Montreal the very next morning? We didn't go back for that :( ..... I guess he's hoping I learn something from all this forgetting.)

Well, that's about all I can tell you about driving to the North Pole. We didn't. But it was still fun.

"Can you drive to the North Pole?"

This question started the little road trip I'm on today.

I write this from a hotel room in upstate New York on our way from the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown (a very quaint and worthwhile trip, even for ladies!) to points north unknown!

When I got back from a recent trip to Alaska I found out my husband finally had happen to him what he had been anticipating for awhile. In an effort to prune the extra departments from the bank to make it more marketable on the selling block, the bank where he had kept his leasing/lending department profitable for 23 years decided he was done. And so he is. He banters the word "retirement" around, just for fun.

I love this man. He has stretched me and made me laugh for nearly 30 years now...and in this little summer season he needs me to understand, to travel, to listen, and to just be. Hard things for me, all of them. But because I ABSOLUTELY believe that not one thing happens to me that hasn't been okayed by my heavenly Father, I know this is for my growing. I am being made into the image of His dear Son.

So much work for God to do while I walk this earth. So much sanding, pruning, polishing. So I receive this with a smile, and consider it an adventure. It is.

I don't think you can quite drive to the North Pole. But I'm pretty sure Canada is within reach. I'll let you know what we see and learn. Did I mention we had to drive back 2 hours to get one of our passports? All kinds of opportunities for growing on this trip!

Organizing and Parting With

Today's the day. I'd promised myself THIS summer I'd go
through every cupboard in my kitchen, well all through the house is my true goal,and organize and purge. But you have to start somewhere. Today I've been in the kitchen.

Sorting out Tupperware lids and matching and purging those wasn't such a chore. But then came the dishes. See, I'm kind of a sucker for a one-of-a-kind, on-the-clearance-rack-at-Pottery-Barn-or-an-estate-sale dish or bowl that has a personality that smiles at me. And right now there are a lot of mismatched smiles trying to win me over to avoid the Yard Sale box.

I get side-tracked easily, too. Especially when I have to find another box or wash up old glassware or (yuk!) de-grease the microwave hood. I've steeled myself toward this task of saying goodbye to old dish friends and the memories of other days when lounging over lunch with friends justified having such cute little couples of this dish and that little bowl. Sigh. I'm in a sadly different season and though I always intend to pick up the phone and get some girls together for lunch, I find myself doing summer chores instead....like this purging and parting.

Oh well, maybe when I have my yard sale some younger version of me will be delighted to find a little treasure. She'll never have my memories. Those stay here--they were too good and went away too soon. I know I'll be thinking as I pack these away about the little Bible study times with our toddlers around our feet, the sweet luncheons trying new recipes, the special women who have graced my table over the years and enjoyed those dishes with me. Such blessings!

Oh bother, I see the box I came up here for...so it's back to packing. I'm thinking of friends like you as I organize. Shouldn't we have lunch soon?

Mailing a Rock, you say?

I got my long-awaited Alaskan river rock in the mail today. The mail lady didn't ask any questions, just handed over the heavy package. How could she know?

I had stared longingly at those round marbles for miles and days as I toured the Yukon territory and Skagway, Alaska. I had envisioned just picking a special one and bringing it home!

What kind of friend won't look at you with squinty eyes that convey, "Are you serious?" when you make a request first to search for a very specific heavy rock out along a flowing river, let alone agree to pack and mail it to you? (Well, since you know me and haven't removed yourselves from association with me knowing this isn't that odd for me, probably a couple of you sweet friends.) But when I got my box today, tucked in alongside it was the monogrammed towel this friend had prepared for my Alaskan visit...and a few special treats (Vanilla Chai teabags and Rolos!) I hope you get to be as blessed as I have been by this friendship by someone in your life who just does things you might like because they've taken the time to know you.

My rock is going in a special place by my pond. Right near a rock other friends brought me from Wyoming (and they carried theirs on the plane--probably smiling at their wacky friend who'd love it!) I'll be reminded by both rocks of special times, special people...and my own need to just smile at the wacky ideas that make other people happy...and jump in.

Thank you, Lucrecia!

Slowing Down

Sometimes you just need to go with the flow. I'm learning that this summer...or at least it's on the plate and I'm tasting it. My sweet husband of 28 years whose been my companion through many summers after 6 pm has this summer become my full-time companion. His job was cut. Severance, unemployment. Summer off. Not fearsome or worrysome so don't worry for us...it's always all good when you know you have a King who allows what comes.

SO... I am enjoying a very different kind of summer for a teacher. I now know exactly how many seconds the refridgerator should be open, and how annoying it is when I leave a stack of things on the steps to be taken up later.
But I also have a walking companion, someone to take me out to lunch, swim with and another person who does the laundry. And even as I type there's the buzzing of a saw where a lovely potting shed bench is being constructed for me. Such blessings.

Back to slowing down...today--a Tuesday--we decided to go tubing on the Delaware. How delicious in the middle of a work week (even for a summer off teacher I'd be doing projects and tasks) to drop everything and flop on an inner tube and sit in the quiet, nature-filled breeze of a sunny day on the Delaware. The payoff? Floating silently past turtles basking, little ducklings learning to swim, and my husband's delighted smile as he relaxes deeply in such a glorious day.

Sometimes you just need to go with the flow.

What the Morning Gives Me

I'm not as much of a morning person as I used to be. Oh, I still prefer the early sun filtering through the trees sparkling the dew on the grass to any other site of the day. It's just that since my bout with stress and anxiety last year, the daily med I take with my vitamins and my premenapausal self have conspired against my first daily joy. I'm working on that.

When I do get the treasure of an early morning rise, before the commuter cars swish down The Pike below my house, I always find some new discovery awaits me. I love the notion that I'm seeing things in a day that would be missed (and will be missed) by sleeping others. The frog sitting quietly on the edge of the pond rocks--I imagine him deep in morning gratefulness (or perhaps attracting breakfast with his statue-like stillness). The happy chirping of those baby wrens as mama or papa swoops in the birdhouse with breakfast. The irridescence of slug paths (my newest archrival as they nightly FEAST on my hostas, petunias and other shady plants) sparkling their victory over the sidewalk. WAIT til they get those long-promised beer traps (haaa!) The newest blossoms at just the right moment in their growing that promises THIS will be their day to open!

I love to be home in the summer from my teaching gig. On mornings like these I forget the call of my King is what prompted me into the city and into teaching. I sort of hunger again to be a stay-at- home mom (ok, I'll have to get a new title because she's 21 and clearly is hardly home herself!) I guess what I'm really getting at is...I feel you here, Lord. It's quiet, gentle and so very rich in these morning moments. Do teach me how to walk here early like this in my busy school year. Your creatures remind me how diligently You have given your attention to all You have created. No wonder I love the morning!