“Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he’s been robbed.  The fact is that most putts don’t drop, most beef is tough, most children grow up to just be people, most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration, most jobs are more often dull than otherwise.  Life is like an old time rail journey….delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders, and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling burst of speed.  The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride.”  (Gordon B. Hindkley, 15th President of the Church of Latter-day Saints)

WINTER

I don’t like winter.  I don’t like cold, I don’t like snow, other than to look at it from the inside, and I despise long nights, which I fear will be even longer if I don’t try to appreciate something about the enduring dark season.

There’s Christmas with jingle bells, silent night, and a good excuse to eat.  Saturday morning is free to do something other than mow the lawn, and weeding is only a memory.   Long sleeved tops hide old-lady arms and a serves a convenient place to tuck a tissue at the wrist. Crystals, hanging in the south-facing window, scatter a myriad of rainbows that grace the walls and flounce on the floor. There’s the moment before the sun slips behind the mountain when a long finger of sunshine reaches through the window diagonally across my room, through the door, down the hall, and shines directly into a dark room lighting it up as if by magic.  Best of all, each winter day is one day closer to summer.

Winter feels shorter already.

Reaching Across The Isle

Reaching across the isle goes both ways.  Some how it is expected that only our more conservative congresspeople compromise and do the reaching.  When the Democrats dig in and hold their ground it's heralded by the media as political sagacity.  Let the Republican side of the isle take the same action, and it's called stonewalling, divisive, do nothing.

MATTIE

Can it be? My first book, MATTIE, is going to print January 9, release date, March 12, 2013  I'm afraid I'll wake from this wonderful dream.  It's well worth the humiliation of asking authors for endorsements, scheduling book signings, attending book signings. Ugh!  I do enjoy working with the wonderful  folks at Cedar Fort who are making it all possible. Taking one small bite at a time of the elephant makes the overwhelming project achievable.  The cover is a first draft.  The little girl holding a solitary flower encapsulates all that is Mattie, just a bit lost, just a bit lonely.

 MATTIE 

Born in Colonia  Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico, nine-year-old Mattie’s faith in God is shattered when her father dies.  At age eighteen, moving to Bisbee, Arizona to live with her sister and husband, Mattie falls in love with a handsome banker from Texas.  Tragedy strikes plunging her into an abyss of dark despair.  At her lowest ebb, Mattie discovers that though she may have left God, He never left her.

Alonzo Skousen, Mattie’s childhood sweetheart, a tall, good-natured red head, wants to collect on her old promise to marry him.  Enos Wood, the handsome, dark eyed, gun-packing nemesis of her youth, leaves no doubt that he too has designs on her heart.  Mattie learns that trusting God is not without its trials and can lead to grief, especially when the Mexico Revolution threatens her fragile faith and wedded bliss.

GET REAL

Have you noticed that the heroine in any romance is the most beautiful woman he has every seen ?  Furthermore, she bounds out of bed requiring only thirty minutes to make ready before going to work or meet a date.

What? 

She doesn't eat?  

Bathe?  

Apply makeup?

Okay, maybe she needs just a swipe of mascara on her long curly lashes that touch her flawless, porcelain skin when she blinks and only a splash of lip gloss on her full, pouty lips. Maybe she has a wash and wear hairdo (a myth, by the way).  And what female doesn't try on three different outfits agonizing over the five C's of fashion; circumstance, current, color, chassis,( c-word for butt), and complain. Oh, yes, and accessories. Not to mention that ten minutes into her routine, even a beautiful woman requires more than a momentary tinkle on the commode.

Thirty minutes, you say? Unless she’s headed for the gym, garden, or she just doesn’t care,

I DON'T THINK SO.

BLESSED CHAOS

Six Children, spouses, and thirteen grandchildren; each room beyond capacity, the overflow sleeping in a truck camper; menus , daily runs to the grocery store, irregular mealtimes, and constant snacks; disposable cups assigned and labeled; ice water served from a thermos on the deck to offer relief for the overworked refrigerator that can’t keep up; constant hum of washer and drier; late nights, early mornings; swimming, volley ball, a day on the river; perpetual towels and swim suits draping the deck; smudged gliding doors, muddy handprints on the white banister, daily vacuuming.  

As my friend, Neva Scott says, “Blessed Chaos.” 

And I miss it.

Looking forward to next year.

Midnight Taco Truck Run

River Day

Baseball Night

 Family Dance

One of many swim days

HOW DID I GET HERE?

In my acne prone stage of self-conscious insecurity, I had no hope of a social life much less marriage and children.  Sometimes I have a surreal moment where I find myself hovering in the past looking at the present wondering how I got here.  It seems only yesterday I was a newlywed, yet evidence proves otherwise.  Five boys and one girl spanning twelve years, whining, helpless, and insubordinate, are now gracious, competent, thoughtful adults.  Beautiful little children call me grams reminding me that my offspring have offspring.  And of course, the mirror…! When did that happen?

Firmly in the present, life goes on as if it has always been today--the gray, the wrinkles, married with children—who are good parents in their own right, adding twelve to our number with a promise of more.  The past fades into obscurity. 

Until the next surreal moment when I hover in yesteryear and wonder how I got here.