So today was Alyssa's first day of Magic Camp and I think she really liked it. She could not wait to get home and show me the tricks she had learned, she would not stop practicing them, I had to beg her to get ready to go swimming with The Boys. It's good to see her smile and laugh and be pleased with her accomplishments. She's funny, she wants me to try and figure out how the tricks work and I don't want to. I love surprises and still believe in MAGIC and I don't want to know. I love the amazement and mystery, especially when she's the magician. She impressed me with the sophistication of the ones she learned today. She is getting prepared for a Major Performance at the Beach and she knows that Poppy and Uncle Brad will figure them out, if she's not careful. We're working on her costume for a Magic Show on Friday when all the children at the Camp will perform their new tricks for an audience of Moms & Dads - "Ladies and Gentlemen!"
Today I am also, strangely enough, thankful for LAUNDRY - yes, it has finally happened! : ) Today, I am thankful for you, AW, and the many, many discussions we have had about the most mundane, never ending, chore of all chores, LAUNDRY. So, AW, next time I see you, I am gonna hug your neck and thank you for praying for me, because I know (by the fact that I am finally thankful for laundry) that your prayers are working! : ) Thank you friend, we do know about laundry!
So the next time you have to do your laundry, here are few things you can be thankful for. I am thankful that I am doing our laundry inside an air conditioned home. It is currently 94.7 degrees outside, here in the Holy City, with a forecast of highs in the upper 90's. HOT! I am thankful that I can wash our clothes inside my home and I do not have to drive or walk to a creek or laundry mat or a dungeon basement where someone might take my clothes if I do not maintain a constant vigilance over them. At a minimum, they might take them out of the washer and/or dryer and throw them on the dirty floor. It's hard to believe that people in our blessed nation will actually steal half dry underwear! Wow - the things you learn in college! : ) I am thankful doing laundry does not depend on how many quarters I have or whether or not the Change Machine is working. I am thankful that our once abandoned kitty, Hunter, loves to help me do laundry - he is definitely my best laundry assistant, he's the playful, silent type! : ) I am thankful that my child is still small and that folding her clothes tells her that I love her, even though she does not know that yet. She will one day - she told me today, driving home from magic camp, that she wants 4 children, just like Mrs. Susan. But she has it all figured out, she is going to have 2 girls first, that way they will help her raise the 2 boys, she will have next. Alyssa with 4 kids, that will be a sight to behold! : )
And sweet, sweet, Mrs. Susan, I am so thankful for you today. You have been down this long, strange road as well and you truly know how to be so incredibly helpful to me. You call and you come get her. She loves you and all those Boys and we miss you! Especially since we do not see you as often as we did when our back yards connected. Thank you for giving me a few minutes of sanity today, so I could do this Blog and get this out. We will play cards and come to your parties again soon. Some of the best times of our last few years have been at your home. How you do it, I'll never know, but I am so thankful that we are friends : )
I am also thankful that today I have been able to stop and think and feel and breathe. There really is an order and sequence and structure to this universe and when you have, even just a few minutes, and know how to see, it becomes so clear. When no one tells you when to stop, or what to think, or how to feel, or when to breathe. You really can do all these things on your own and not only that, it's better that way : ) Maybe, I have just not been alone enough in the past ten years. What a long, strange trip, this journey has been and continues to be! : )
I also rarely do laundry when I don't think about my brother Brad's dear friend, Nelson. It's hard to think about Nelson without smiling because he is just that funny! He was trying to inspire me about laundry when Brad and I were living on Tradd Street, could that have been 13 years ago? Jeez! He would come over to use our washer & dryer. He would talk about how great it was that the machines did all the work, and you didn't even have to think about it. Just put your dirty clothes in, push a button and out they come - clean! Same for the dryer, clothes in - push button - out - all done! I was perplexed that someone as smart as Nelson could be so enthusiastic about a washer & dryer, a pretty old one at best.
Sorry - but I have to regress again - Bread & Butter - so, 13 years ago, I guess, Brad is driving like a maniac, as usual, in Downtown Charleston and is about to take out a few Tourists. Nelson exclaims, with one hand on the roof: "Brad, be careful! Don't run over the Tourists! They're our Bread & Butter!" I forgot to mention that Nelson is from Hemmingway, SC - there is just no way to express how poetic it is to hear someone from Hemmingway say: "Bread & Butter!" (Laugh)! I never go Downtown without thinking about our "Bread & Butter" and how fortunate we are to live in this beautiful city. A city people from other places, all over the world, spend their hard-earned money to visit, for such a brief amount of time.
And, I also can not regress about Nelson without stopping to laugh a little about "Cirrhosis of the River" - Brad and Nelson's "boat" - was it a John boat - on a good day? Or a dark night? : ) I will never forget Brad's Rehearsal Dinner in Chapel Hill and Nelson reading his soliloquy to "Ole Cirrhosis." It almost brings tears to my eyes now, the good kind, I promise! We really need to see if we can get a copy of that literary tribute from somewhere. Except, I think it was impromptu on a dinner napkin in about 5 minutes - he is just that smart and funny. I guess you would expect that from a Davidson Valedictorian. Thank you, Nelson, for all the many laughs through the years, your wonderful Hemmingway accent and for your recent help - I hope we see you and your precious family soon! : )
So, thanks, God, for the tons of laundry I am doing today. I am loving it - Ha! It is a glorious distraction and way to stay busy, while You work in my life. Thank You for funny, loving, prayerful, supportive friends and family. I give You the Glory! : )
So, if you are still reading this, sorry-ugh! And if you are still not inspired enough to get up and do some laundry, here's one more - You can be thankful that you are not experiencing things in your life that will lead you to do a SUPER LONG Blog Post on LAUNDRY! : ) Gotta go, I think my clothes are done! : )
