Happy Goodbye

We're slowly settling in to our new (old) house in Ann Arbor as we get ready to hopefully close on our old (new) house. A couple of months ago, we held birthday celebrations at the old house for two of our sons. A few days after my oldest son's birthday, the banner that we hang for each birthday was still in place over the seat of honor. As I cooked lunch for little G, he studied the banner. I couldn't tell if he was studying the letters, or looking at the fringe move in the breeze from the heat register. After a while he said, "You know, soon we'll have to change that sign to 'Happy Goodbye'."

So, when it's time, with a full heart, we'll wish the house and the new occupants well. And we will be able to close the door on that period of our lives. I can't begin to express how grateful I am everyday that we've started a new chapter here in Ann Arbor. So Happy Good-bye to our old house and Most Delightful Hello to our new home.

I went to Penn State

Joe Paterno:

You broke our hearts.

The Broken Pot

A couple of weeks ago, I was reminded of the story of the Broken Pot:

A water bearer in India had two large pots, each hung on the ends of a pole which he carried across his neck. One of the pots had a crack in it, while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water. At the end of the long walk from the stream to the house, the cracked pot arrived only half full. For a full two years this went on daily, with the bearer delivering only one and a half pots full of water to his house. Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments, perfect for which it was made. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it was able to accomplish only half of what it had been made to do.

After two years of what it perceived to be a bitter failure, it spoke to the water bearer one day by the stream. “I am ashamed of myself, and I want to apologize to you. I have been able to deliver only half my load because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your house. Because of my flaws, you have to do a lot of this work, and you don’t get full value from your efforts."

The bearer said to the pot, “Did you notice that there were flowers only on your side of the path, but not on the other pot’s side? That’s because I have always known about your flaw, and I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back, you’ve watered them. For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate the table. Without you being just the way you are, there would not be this beauty to grace the house.”

Moral: Each of us has our own unique flaws. We’re all cracked pots. But it’s the cracks and flaws we each have that make our lives together so very interesting and rewarding. --Author unknown

I love this story, it also reminds me that some problems can spring from the way I'm framing things. The pot was so discouraged and devalued its worth because it compared itself to a pot whose intended purpose was wholly different than its own. Of course life has real challenges; but to see that our flaws make us whole, and to notice the flowers along our path is really the whole point. I do believe that our lives shape us in different ways; in ways that make us tailor-made to be of particular service. A life lived 'perfectly' keeps us from realizing our own inherent value.

Getting Closer

I'm excited to report that we've found a house in Ann Arbor. Let's say that the house has potential. Potential I'm so excited to bring out and turn into a home for at least the next few years. We don't move in for more than a month, but I'm working on getting the kids registered for school, making sure summer camps don't interfere with our plans, and getting the kids involved right away. We wish we could move sooner, but this timeline works well regardless (Just no walks to Top of the Park or Art Fair).

Now, I'm just starting to look at our belongings with a critical eye: getting ready to have a big sale so we don't have to move all of this stuff. I'm on the lookout for a new sofa. I feel like a pull-out sofa has better firmness and a more solid feel, so we'll probably be looking for that in the next house. With three boys and a dog that sneaks on the couch every time we go out, we're looking for a couch with slipcovers too.

The plan for now is to start taking lots of pictures and document the move and our efforts at turning the new house into a home. Because the market here is pretty brutal right now, our plan is to rent until we know that we're in the right neighborhood for sure (we're pretty sure we are). We'd also like to see the market stabilize a bit before we buy anything here.

May 3

The key spiritual question is and has always been, “What do we love?” What we love we serve; what we serve we become. So we must carefully cultivate a love of what is good, in all things. To rejoice in the killing of Osama bin Laden may seem entirely innocent, but it teaches us to take delight in violence. It inclines our hearts to love what is unworthy. It puts us on a wrong path. What we love, we serve; what we serve, we become. To take pleasure in violence is to serve violence; to serve it is to become it.
-Rev. Anthony David

I've Been Away...

Just wanted to pop in for a brief moment to put a few words down while the whole house is sleeping. I feel like this is a time in my life where there is so much potential for radical change that I've been trying to figure out where our opportunities are leading us. We've been contemplating and planning for a move for the last few years. It turns out that while I grew up surrounded by farms and forests, land and trees - and while I can enjoy the solitude and beauty of nature, I am a city girl at heart . We're moving from the exurbs of SE Michigan back to Ann Arbor - not sure if I want to share all of the details before everything is settled, but I am ecstatic.

Being able to spend summers in my mother's hometown in the north of England made me fall in love with town living. I was at home taking the bus into town to fill my bag with the makings of the evenings dinner. I walked with delight among the market stalls filled with flowers, fish, fruits and vegetables. I loved the jumble sales that my mom avoided - all of the old beautiful fabric and dishes, silly toys and games; and the vendors who were so interesting or funny, cranky or sweet. We played in a vacant lot behind the row of homes where my mother grew up. An abandoned door was a desk for our school, a random piece of chalk a treasure. We stayed up late into the night, the sky not yet dark to play and laugh or spy on the teenagers outside our window. I remember trying to spy on my sister to see if she would kiss the boy who lived down the street. I remember being content without so much stuff, and at home living more simply than we did in the States.

I want to offer this lesson to my children; a gift for them to keep in their hearts. Freedom to be able to give more and help more and realize that we are all born of this earth. We all have gifts and challenges, and in order to bring out what is beautiful in others - we have to be brave enough to give from what is beautiful in us.

The Word....

I read a great deal of blogs, and thanks to Google Reader, I have way more blogs on my list than time to look at them. Mostly I'm interested in decorating, beautiful images, great writing, fitness, and raising our children to be people of integrity, compassion, and action. I'm sure that the way I'm doing it is all wrong, except in those moments where my three sons delight and inspire me to embrace these qualities in myself.

As each New Year approaches, I find that the thoughts of many turn to resolution and change; whether on our own or because we've been reminded. It's a natural time of rebirth, of shedding what's shabby or forlorn in favor of a more refined way of thinking or approaching obstacles. Last year, instead of a resolution, lots of blogs were talking about making a gift to ourselves such as I'm giving myself the gift of better health in the New Year, so I'll make sure to make daily activity a part of my routine.

This year, I've seen a few blogs talk about finding a single word to embody the New Year. For me the word is:

Delight

I plan to find something to delight in every day. Today: It was making crystal snowflakes with the kids. We cut a pipe cleaner into three pieces, twisted them into a snowflake shape, then suspended them in a container filled with 9T Borax and 3cups hot water. After a few hours we had beautiful crystal snowflakes. I'll try to post a picture in the morning.

xx
Her Own Race