Laughter And Tears

          WHO REMEMBERS WHEN WE HAD A WHOLE CLASS FOR TYPING?

          This came up on my Face Book page and it gave me a chance to thank our Lord, who loves us, wants only the best for us, and gives us blessings we don't even know we need or want.

          I don't know how or why I ended up in typing class in my ninth year of school, but I suspect I left a blank spot on my class schedule when I filled it out and the secretary stuck typing in there. They always gave us a week or so at the beginning of the school year to change a class if we wanted to, and I thought about it, but I didn't, and as a result, I learned to type. 

          Typing was never on my radar.

          I never wanted to learn to type and I never saw it as something I would need in my career choice for the future.

          "What did you want to be when you grew up?" you ask.

          I only ever wanted to be a stay-at-home mom. All the moms in all the old westerns that paraded across the black and white screen of the TV as I was growing up were stay-at-home moms; taking care of the home, garden, and the three c's — children, chickens, and cows — while my husband was out driving the steers to market or hunting down the bad guys. Not to mention that my own loving and devoted mother was a stay-at-home mom too.

          Now, here I sit, a hundred years and two lifetimes later, using a blessing that God had so graciously given to me, and I needed that little reminder to take a moment and thank Him. God is good, all the time. All the time, God is good.

         

          That son of ours!

          I'm tellin' ya what!

          That Kevin!

          He cracks me up!

          He sent me a picture and asked, "How about that spider?"

          I knew what it was as soon as I saw it, "Wolf spider! They do get big! He's cool!"

          "I was scared putting that ruler down," Kevin admitted.

          "He won't hurt you," I told Kevin but didn't admit I wouldn't pick him up with my bare hands either.

          "I know, but it's still a big spider!"

          You should see them when they're carrying a couple of hundred babies around on their back, I thought but didn't say. Instead, I asked, "What did you do with him?" I hate to see people kill spiders just because they're in the house where they don't belong, but not everyone is willing to catch and release like I am.

          "Left him alone and looked for a flame thrower!"

          And I laughed. It wouldn't be the first time someone burned their house down trying to kill a spider.

          Speaking of houses, my house is getting beautifuler and beautifuler.

          Everyday we add memories, fix memories, move memories, hang memories, and make new memories. It's made for a very melancholy week for me.

          "Peg, in that space between the window and cabinet... I've been thinking about it," Mike said.

          "Oh yeah?"

          "Yeah. Let's put Kat's shelves up there," he suggested.

          In my mind's eye, leaning against a wall in my shop, I see the two pieces of stair tread that I brought home from Kat's... death, dying, passing, funeral ... are all words that flood my mind. Which one to pick? Where I got them is more than a one-word explanation.

          Kat and her fiancé Jesse were renovating an old store. There was some kind of huge inside stairway leading from the first floor to the second and they took it out to make two separate apartments. Kat saved a few pieces to make shelves with and I brought these two home with me after we cleaned out her apartment, never knowing what we would do with them.

          We bought brackets, put the shelves up, and I thought, for the umpteenth time this week, Kat would love that.

          Kat.

          She is still in the RV where she's been since she died. I didn't have a place to move her to — until now.

          Mike and I went down to the garage and collected all the things of my makeshift memorial and brought them up to my forever home. We set them on the kitchen counter while we moved the radio to the top shelf.

          "Kat's going here? In the corner?" Mike asked as he wiped the windowsill.

          I thought about it for a moment. "I haven't decided yet." I'd been contemplating giving her a spot on the shelf itself.

          Then Mike carefully, lovingly, picked up each piece and arranged them on the windowsill. Her picture, taken just months before she died, the necklace she had on when she died, broken, draped over the corner, her baby that wobbles his head in the sunshine, cloth roses she made, rocks that tickled her fancy, and a small urn containing her ashes, and tears sprang unbidden to my eyes. I turned away quickly, not wanting Mike to know how deeply his tenderness touched my heart.

          And I have to remember....

                    God is good, all the time.

                          And —

                              Heaven is a billion, gazillion times better than anything on earth.

          Road pictures.

          The school kids painted the storefronts for fall.

          The Susquehanna after a rain. This is looking toward Wysox.

          I love the cows.       

Now that the leaves are off the trees, I can see things I haven't seen since last fall.

I was surprised to see these juicy, ripe pokeberries. All of ours are gone. Maybe these are still here because it's in the middle of town.

   

      Yes, there are still a few of these around. I have no idea if these are in working order or not.

          Being so busy around here plus now that the girls have a fenced in yard, has slowed me down on my picture making around the homestead. But I did make an effort to go out at least one day last week.

          Dried milkweed pods end up in all kinds of configurations.

          A buttercup. Since plants often bloom by temperature as well as sunlight strength and hours, many of the spring plants will bloom again in the fall.

          Our pond has lots of water in it now. Spitfire followed me and is sitting on the opposite bank. Can you see him?

          I thought more of the bittersweet would have burst out by now.

Dried Queen Ann's Lace.

          Mike and I were in the kitchen one morning shortly after the sun was up. "Peg, see that bird in the top of that tree?"

          "No."

          "Where's your camera!"

          I saw it so now you get to see it too!

Let's call this one done!