medial // caesura

Joy Dare Day 23:  3 gifts found around the table Today as D and I sat around the table at breakfast, we planned our week alone.  Knox and Ben are at Camp Mawmaw-Daddyghee's, where they will have at least one fun activity daily.  So gift #1 is D's excitement over our relatively mundane plans:   playing the guitar, giving him a daily piano lesson, painting furniture, cleaning out the attic, swimming, and shopping.  Not very exciting and certainly not expensive especially since shopping is just the regular grocery trip, but he was happy to hear what we would do together.  To be fair, I had really not considered the painting to be a "together" activity.  I had thought I would paint, and he would watch.  Well, that's not exactly how it happened.  When I was on the phone with Mawmaw to say, "No, Knox and Ben are right.  They are not allowed to have Coca-Cola yet."  D took to painting on his own. I added a little to what he had s...

Funny how yesterday morning everything seemed golden, blessings everywhere I looked.  Then the afternoon. . .nothing especially bad, nothing really good, just the quotidian, the ordinary stuff.  But it was too much.  My eyes glazed over--I lost the ability to see the joys, the God-gifts. All I could see was a house that needed cleaning, clothes that needed washing, food that needed cooking, and children that needed attention.  D was lethargic, rubbing his head like he does when he is in pain.  He didn't eat much after-school snack either.  His balance was off--several times when he did get up he nearly fell down the stairs, or in the garage, or walking in the yard.  He couldn't tell me what was wrong.  I took him to get his haircut (one of his MOST favorite things in the whole world to do) to get ready for inspection Thursday and that cheered him momentarily. After supper, I bathed him because he had had an accident.  I was heading toward...

When your eyes are opened to blessings, you see more than you can count. Today when I woke up, I was not exhausted.  For the first time in a long time, I felt rested ( one thousand gifts #28: waking at 5:50 AM rested).  D communicated that he needed a bath and then stayed on the toilet to use it (one thousand gifts #29:  D's successful toileting and communication)  As I was changing his sheets, Ben and Knox were just waking.  I overheard them playing a game of "Guess Who."  Ben guessed crab, but Knox said that it didn't swim.  To which Ben replied, "Oh yes, Knox, Mommy said one time that crabs swim, but then she said it was more like walking on the ocean bottom."  (one thousand gifts #30:  Conversation overheard) As I was backing out of the driveway to take them to school, I saw blue sky through the side rear windows. (one thousand gifts #31: crayon scribblings on the windows in the van's backseat).  As I drive, I am thinking about ...

Today I received an automated call from my pharmacy reminding me that I will need a refill soon; "a refill reminder" is what the automaton's honeyed voice called it.  As if.  That is one thing about which I do not need reminding. I may forget to pick up the dry cleaning (which in fact I have done:  D's uniform jacket is ready) or I may forget to write a thank you note [which in fact I do need to do--I have the best family in the world--seriously! (one thousand gifts :  #26:  my brother and his family, my aunts and uncles on my mother's side:  Nancy, Jimmy, Mary Helen and Ross AND my aunt who gets a category all by herself because she is just that kind of wonderful fun, Aunt Carole (Jimmy's wife) and my dad's side:  Jimmy and Frances, and Johnny's wife, Debbie.)  All are generous people--generous with their affection, means, time and energy.  I so love my family!]  (The artwork is from a childhood friend's collection.  She is...