Celebrating Surprises

I had made plans with some single gals at work for Valentine's Day night. We would get together and then eat a quick dinner,laugh and have fun and see a movie, forgetting completely(hey!not even caring!!) we didn't have a real date or someone making us lobster tails or lavishing flowers on us. I was stoked. The date was marked, plans confirmed, time ticking forward and at last the BIG WEEK was here. I told my kids I couldn't babysit because, of course, I had plans.

Two of these newly discovered friends, soon to be plain co-workers, said they were not really feeling up to a night out. That's OK , I valiantly told them, there are three others of us to be together. Two more told me a bar could be fun, even dancing on the tabletops was all right by them. I knew I was in trouble, so casually mentioned I don't drink nor do I dance well on a floor, let alone a tabletop. We parted plans there.

But, not to be discouraged, I had one more friend who said that no matter what happened, she and I were going out. I could still claim to have a life!! I would not even think about romance and ridiculous sentiments, I was ready.

Friday morning I was informed that this friend of mine, potential soul mate, budding buddy, would be too tired from helping out her yet closer friend move houses, so she decided to back out. Wham. The woman who loves love and Valentine's Day was to be alone, scratching out the datebook plans, not babysitting for her children's children, having nothing to do but sit. I suppose there are television shows to watch and facebook people to stalk, but really, I had been in the mood to live a little.

Saturday morning brought sunshine in my hallway window, so immediately, if I was an omen believer in-er , I would say this was a good sign. I read my Through the Bible in a year chapter book, enjoying that the laws of Moses were not to be troubled by anymore, but that I could just be thankful we are freed from them by grace.

I totally savored to the fullest my first cup of coffee, hot from the percolator and doctored exactly right with my fat free vanilla International creamer. I think the creamer was made and distributed in Colorado, so why do they insist on making it sound so exotic? For losers like me who don't have Valentine's dates and whose husbands left them and who haven't travelled internationally in several decades? Hmmm?? I ask you, why not call it , Cow's Creamer? America's Moo Milk with flavoring?? Well, I digress, so back to my point.

The phone rang around 10:00 am and as I picked it up I wondered what could be better than the feeling I had of peacefully sipping my coffee and having a 4 day weekend ahead? Daughter Becca, asking me to go shopping with baby grandson and granddaughter, that's what! I was delighted to meet them, laugh at the latest antics and then lunch together. How could Valentine's Day be any better?







The phone rang again almost as soon as I placed the receiver on the hook. (Or, does anyone use that saying with cell phones and portable phones anymore?) I am so old.

A tiny little voice, barely audible, was saying something that started with "Grammy, hi it's me, Simon." He then politely asked me to please come to dinner and share the 'red meal' with them !! Oh my, things were looking up and the day had barely begun. Of course, I calmly said "yes, Simon, I can come over, what time?", all the while my insides shouting "Yay!!!!! I have plans and they don't involve work and they are with people who I know love me!!"



The afternoon fairly flew by as I shopped and chased two little people around stores, looking for red gifts to carry along to my supper engagement. Red is the color of choice, you understand. I found pajama pants for the boys, under $3.00 each and pink heart sweatshirts for the little girls. When I arrived at their house I made a trade-they sit for a picture, I give them a bag of goodies. It worked.








When I arrived back home, my mail was in my box, and as if life could not get any better, there was a pink envelope and a squishy package!! I am so not kidding, isn't God wonderfully kind to me??!! I had a Valentine gift from my special west coast friend Becky, who, although half my age and who has never really had a relationship that involved face to face talking with me, continues to lavish me with love that is a sweet reflection of God's love for me.

[OK, that was a run-on sentence, ask Rachel my English teacher daughter who also called me and said those precious words "Happy Valentine's Day, mom, I love you", earlier in this glorious day I am relaying]

I feel as though it is a direct gift from God each time Becky reaches out to me in love. My pink card was from a church friend who is starting to know who I really am, and not the person who co-workers think they have figured out.

Well, lest I bore the 2 people that might be reading this blog, my evening was hilariously perfect, concluding with dinner and children who not only can balance a spoon on their noses, but who listen intently whenever I tell a story, then when asked who their favorite person to love is , say Grammy with NO bribing involved whatsoever!!



Have I mentioned I love that thing called Love??

That thing called Love

Every season that could possibly be celebrated with decorations or mini garden flags or cards or parties, is sure to be in my basement storage bin labeled appropriately. The next time of celebration approaches and I am scurrying down to the cellar and yanking out boxes, replacing the new with the old.Out go the snowmen, in come the hearts.

My favorite, however, is the February 14Th holiday referred to as Valentine's Day. I LOVE this holiday! I love everything about it- the cheesy, the romantic, the stupid, the fun, the red and white, the hearts and flowers, the gushy commercials on TV and the sweet valentines received from children and grandchildren. This year I am sure to also receive silly painted hearts or folded heart snowflakes from a classroom of first and second graders. I will love them each one with proper oohing and aahing.



When my kids were little it always amused me to figure out how to squeeze the most from Valentine's Day. I always made a completely red meal, of course, varying year to year as the creative mommy mind went crazy. Raspberry jello, spaghetti with meatballs or heart shaped pizza. Perhaps we'd have beef stroganoff(my mom's recipe has a red sauce), strawberry shortcake or Hawaiian punch to drink.What fun it was showing my children how much I loved them and the fun things of life!!


We always began saving our shoe boxes around the end of the previous year in order to ensure that there would be enough boxes to make our card collectors for each child. Then I would call or ask family,friends and church people to send them all(7! please,each separate) a card for the box they labored so eagerly over. It cost nothing, it rewarded them with the feeling of being loved and cared for. How can we not like that tradition? It was so strongly embedded in my heart that last week I saved 2 big old Folger's containers and painted them for the twins A and E to put Valentines in. There are 8 other grandchildren, but I didn't quite drink enough coffee this year and I sure have no shoe boxes lying around! Now, of course, my mailbox will be buzzing as I send Valentine cards to each one.

I love making people feel loved and cared about. I love the feeling of someone having a brighter day by opening their email inbox or outdoor mailbox and discovering an unexpected envelope.

" Hmmm, I wasn't expecting anything from them, I didn't give them anything to need a thank you. I'll bet it's an invitation to some stupid party...hmmm, nope, it's just a note. Wow, They must like me. How cool, I can smile at them and know I've been thought about by someone" Isn't that a good feeling?

Love is such a warm feeling, such a blanket of protection against the chill of winter and the coldness of the rat race we live in. Love reminds me that I am valuable , I am worth something, I am OK. Love is like the bunch of bushes against the side of my house and there, amongst the greenish brown is a bright red berry. It just jumps out with it's vibrancy and color. I love that berry!!I love walking in a winter wood and finding a spot of color popping out to brighten the path! I want friends to feel that way when they think of me, when they get a silly card or note or email.



Love is also very melodious, like my wind chimes tinkling in the wind today, letting me know they are hanging there guarding the entryway, but not really bothering me with their insistent clanging. I just like the feeling of hearing them occasionally banging against each other gently.

Love is also really fragrant when it is expressed well. The smell of a newborn baby in the first moments of life, the smell of someone just after a shower, the fragrance of your mother's favorite Muguet des Bois perfume, or your dad's Old Spice.
When I am loved by someone, whether a friend or son or daughter or neighbor, it smells good when they approach. There is way too much stench in this world, I like celebrating the smells of love. Think Chocolate.

My kitchen table currently has on it 10 white bags, fruit snacks to one side, heart candies piled high, waiting to be placed lovingly into those white bags. What else can I place in them to show my little baby grandchildren how much I love them? Words spoken each time I see them is never enough. I can leave no legacy more valuable to them then the certainty that this Grammy adored them!

Eliot, Simon, Jesse, Nora, Bianca, Isabel, Ava, Ethan, Aidan and Evelyn are my treasures of love, my gift of love from my Heavenly Father. He told me that He loved me , For God so loved the world(me) that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever(me) believes in Him shall have eternal life! Wow.

He proves that He loves me daily by giving me so many good gifts. I can never count them all, but I do count the many children and grandchildren as the most important, felt by me as the strongest proof gift.

His fragrance washes over me when I am so chilled and weary of the life struggles and circumstances that threaten to sink my ship. Some mornings when I first wake up, I sit and just smell the outside air, then come inside and smell my coffee brewing in the kitchen, and I think "God must love me alot to allow me these fragrances". No kidding.

God's Love involves all of my senses, He misses nothing, He expects nothing, He gives everything. I love Him because He first loved me- unbelievably true and wonderful!

Well, Valentine's Hearts and cards,flowers, candies and parties cannot really come close to God's love, but it certainly can be an easy way for me to express my love to my loved ones! Have I mentioned I love that thing called love?

Love is in the Air

Yesterday we had a mini-ice storm and everyone had their dose of reality that winter does indeed contain cold and miserable weather from time to time. Our little state of Delaware has had an unusually pathetic winter thus far, especially since the MidWest has been clobbered! It was fun sliding home in the slow crawling traffic, sipping tea while the ice hit my windows and playing "do you want to go outside or stay in?" with the cat. You remember Apryl, of course, and her tendancy to drive me nuts.

As I sat and thought of the upcoming Spring weather, I wondered if we would see any Snowdrops?!If you don't have snow , you may not have Snowdrops peeking out of the piles of snow, reminding you Spring is on the way. Then I thought, well if we don't have winter any worse than this, will we even appreciate Spring? From there my mind went totally crazy and I realized there are alot of things that appear to be dark negatives when in acuality they are not at all as they appear....thus began my list:

*Without the nasty rainstorms I have never seen a rainbow..

*Just as snowdrops are an indicator of Spring, what about those vividly colored Fall leaves harboring a potentially frigid winter? and has any botanist correlated the intensity of vivid colors in the Autumn with the lack of harsh weather in the Winter?? Am I the only one who thinks of these things? Is this a sign of the level of excitement my life contains?

*How does the sea spit out beautiful seashells on the shore? Well, after a storm has roughed up the waves is when we beachcombers discover them!

*The cocoon certainly is ugly and dry looking and not something we would analyze on a walk through the woods, unless we knew , of course, that inside contained a beautiful butterfly ready to emerge and fly away to freedom soon.

*Those sharp,nasty thorns on a bush in my garden are sure signs that in the near months I will experience lovely pink roses, bright and plentiful as promised on the tag that accompanied my bush when I planted it.

* I tried to decide if in my list of metaphors with ugly/beautiful I could fit a bandaid and a cut, but somehow it just wasn't working...unless I think that without the ugly cut I can't use that new fancy bandaid I bought for when the grandkids come and get hurt while visiting...they are such cute animals.

My mind is particularly active as Valentine's Day approaches, I admit. What does my list, starting with Snowdrops and ending with bandaids, have to do with the Day of Love as hailed by Valentine's Day in America?

I had an ugly nasty thing happen in my world approximately 7 years ago. It was unexpected and unwanted and I fought it tooth and nail.(now where does that saying come from, for crying out loud?) Some might think that people who have such events occur in their lives would hate Valentine's Day! People can be wrong. I LOVE VALENTINE'S DAY!! I love that mere man does not define LOVE, I love that God defines love. I love showing people I love them, remembering that my world is full of myriads of differing friends and family members who are individually and corporately the reason I love life!

The other day I arrived home to discover a package on my doorstep. It was from a beautiful, young friend who lives across the country. She sent me not only a card for this silly, delightful holiday of American tradition, but she sent me a single plate and bowl all decorated with the words sweetie pie on it! How cool is that? I immediately wanted to shout to the world- "I am loved , just me, all alone, by a friend far away!" Furthermore, she sent me ONE plate and bowl and that was so perfect.To me it indicated that there was a person who was celebrating me, alone and single, total acceptance.

Well, my box is ready and waiting. What box? Oh, my Valentine's Box. It sits by my door just in case someone sends me a Valentine and I put it in the box to open Valentine's Day. I used to help the children make Valentine boxes every single year, we never opened the cards till the day,and we ate red-colored foods and gave sweet little love presents.

There was something ugly in my life, but the beautiful is emerging,God makes sure of that.
I think I will go make red jello and decorate cupcakes. I might see some of my 10 grandchildren tomorrow, and I certainly need to be ready if they pop over!

I LOVE Valentine's Day!!

Tuesday, together with twins

Her eyes darted quickly from the light on the end table to the lights on the ceiling and back. She grinned ever so slightly and then as quickly averted her eyes from mine. At first I thought I must be mistaken. Surely this elf creature, so sweet and small, innocent and gentle in all ways, could not possibly be undermining her twin brother's level of understanding and acknowledging her own superiority!! at this young age of 15 months? MONTHS, I am saying, not years!

I had just arrived for an overnight mini-holiday for me, to enjoy not only the company of daughter Becca and her dear young babies, but also to help her take them on Wednesday to the doctor's for a check up and shots. Not her favorite thing to do, especially with daddy Steve out of town on business, and her own personally painful memory of daily injections from mommy as a child. Ironically, this week is the 30th year anniversary of those growth hormone shots beginning, back in the day when they were experimental and used only for neccessity rather than bolstering muscles and causing scandals by misuse.

So not having seen these baby grandchildren in well over a week, I needed to access and evaluate all of the new happenings in their young lives, as any loving Grammy is wont to do. My innocent question to Aidan, firstborn twin and a bit bigger,[ by nearly 2 pounds as we discovered the following day] was " Aidan do you know what a light is?". He looked a little hesitant and began walking away from the couch where we were seated,trying to SHOW me where the lamp was on the table.He was a bit sluggish, as he has just begun walking upright rather than his months of knee-walking movement.

Evie, to be sure, has been walking like a pro for some time. A split second more quickly however than he could walk, Miss "I will show you I am smarter and faster " Evelyn glanced around the room hitting every single light in the area with her darting eye movements- and her father put in recessed lighting so we are talking LOTS of Lights here! Thankfully, Aidan was oblivious of her subtleties and ambled calmly toward the end table, proudly pointing out for his Grammy the light there, all the while smiling sweetly, unaware of his sister's previous discoveries. But SHE knew, and she knew I knew, that his discovery was second to hers, the knowledge a bit more slowly acquired, and the sharing behind by just a wee bit. But a sister knows and a sister needs to know, a wee bit behind is after all, a wee bit-behind.

The scene that followed was a staged photo shoot by mommy and grammy of the Christmas outfits made lovingly by Nan[the other grandmother]. One must have photos of every occasion and every cute outfit on every occasion for one's Baby Books. I had eight children and there are to this day eight Baby Books, fully recorded and memorialized, so I did my part! We dressed them both quickly and placed them in the white rocking chair with the matching white background and the plan to "hug each other" as they were properly taught by Mother.

First, Aidan looked at the wall, then we turned him around and Evie tried to jump into our arms, then Evie faced the wall, sitting while we tried to get them to stand, then Aidan refused shoes, while Evie wanted to sit, and did not care for hugging Aidan, but Aidan decided he'd had enough of the entire procedure and began stripping off articles of clothing, while Evie decided she was going to prove that she did learn HOW to HUG her Brother, so she began hugging while he began leaving...get the picture?

We put them to bed. We went to bed.

The next time Terrific Tuesday comes along, I am going to vote, stay at work, and leave the mini vacation to the younger generation. They can handle the likes of Miss Evelyn and Mr Aidan, ready and willing to awaken the next day, and the next, and however many next days there are ordained by God and love these babies as the true and wonderful gifts they are.

Amen and amen .
I am going to bed,because this Grammy got tired writing about it.And I didn't even tell you about the doctor's visit!