The Little Moments That Define Life

Photo by Masahiro Miyasaka

I went to my brothers place just after dark tonight to take him a plate of food from the 'way too big' supper I'd made. (His comment this afternoon when I asked him to do yoga with me ((he responded "Huh? Oh, I like blueberry yoga")) let me know he probably wouldnt object to a home cooked meal! lol) His lights were off so I knew he must be napping, but I decided to leave the plate anyway.

As soon as I turned the jeep off & stepped out, I noticed in the back field of my grannies old place the black silhouettes of people laughing & having fun in the shadow of a magnificent orange bonfire. High in the sky above them were almost constantly pulsating bright streaks of silent, distant lightning creating a magical fireworks show.

As my eyes adjusted more to the darkness I paused to take in even more of my surroundings. I saw that closer to my brothers place, around the outskirts of the fields & on the dark mountainsides beyond, the trees were so full of dancing lightning bugs that it looked like Christmastime.

Playing in my loose hair was a cool, refreshing breeze that begged more attention, so I closed my eyes & took a deep breath. I was rewarded with the fresh sweet scent of the new hay that had been mowed in the heat of the day and was now beginning to dry.

The silent gaps between the far away laughter at the bonfire were being filled with the melodic love songs of the crickets & frogs & I thought to myself, this is bliss.

Out of nowhere at the end of my day came this unexpected, unfathomably perfect moment & it felt like I was being allowed to observe a little piece of what heaven might be like. God really knows how to pick a great gift.

5-28-2010

True Love

(right click here to listen to the song 'Buckets of Rain' in new tab.)

The photo above pictures a young couple in love. Not just any young couple though; this is my granny & her fiance, Frank, back in the early part of the 1930's. They lived in Tennessee & since times were hard, Frank often had to leave town in search of work. He did his best to save up enough money for he & my granny to get married & start their new life together, but on one of Franks long out-of-town trips, something happened.

My pawpaw came along.

I'll never forget my granny telling me the story of how she & my pawpaw met. He was working for the forest service & came to her town for a job while Frank was away (ironic huh?). He was good looking & charming & all the girls were after him, she said. But he was only interested in one. He swept her off her feet & they fell head over heels in love in just the couple of short weeks he'd been there, but because he lived here in North Carolina & his job in Tennessee was ending soon, the only way they could keep seeing each other was if they got married. So that's just what they did.

My grandparents lived a long & happy life together. They built a house & had a farm & raised four children together. And after they'd spent all those long years together, when they were in their 80's, my pawpaw passed away.

That might seem like the end of the story, but it's not.

A few weeks later the phone rang, it was Frank. He'd been married too (his wife had also recently passed) & they had a family, but he just never quite got over my granny. He'd kept up with her for all of those years and had seen my pawpaws obituary in the paper. He offered his condolences & asked if he could keep in touch. He called once or twice a week for a couple of months before asking my granny if he could court her again. (for those of you who may not know, 'courting' was the term for dating, back in the day.) She accepted his offer & the next day he came all the way from Tennessee to see her. He made the trip home that night & came back again the very next day, and over the next few weeks, that became the routine, even though this man was in his 80's! I guess love lent him the energy :)

They only 'courted' for a few weeks before he asked her, once again, to marry him. She said yes & they were married shortly thereafter & spent the last 2 years of his life together, loving each other like the teenagers they were the last time they'd known each other. Talk about undying love! Ive always thought that was one of the most romantic stories that I've ever heard.

It says alot about the power of love.

Concerning Boys.

(right click here to listen to 'Bad Little Boy' in a new tab.)

When I was growing up, my parents liked to use the boogeyman as a kind of scare tactic babysitter. They'd say things like, "If you go out of the yard the boogeyman'll getcha!" and that usually worked pretty well to keep us where we were supposed to be. Yep, usually.

When my brother was 3, he was like most young boys are; insatiably curious. That makes for alot of excitement in a mother's life. One day after he'd gone out of the yard for what seemed like the hundreth time, my mom decided it was time he learned his lesson once and for all, so she went inside & got an old fur coat. She snuck out into the woods close to where she spotted him hiding out, got down on all fours & covered herself with the coat. She then began crawling toward him making horrible, frightening sounds. He ran away, so she thought she (and the boogeyman) had won. She was wrong.

A few moments later (before she even had time to pull her make-do disguise off) my brother came running back as fast as his little feet would carry him, pitchfork in hand, screaming "IM GONNA GET THE BOOGEYMAN!!!"

All I can say is, its a good thing mom was so agile.

One day, not too much later, mom looked up from washing dishes & didnt see my brother in the yard so she made what she thought would be a quick trip outside to check on him. He was nowhere to be seen. She began calling his name, but got no answer. She yelled louder, still nothing. At that point she frantically began screaming for him & ran over to the neighbors house to ask if they'd seen him, but no one had so they began searching for him as well. More people in our neighborhood soon came out as they heard the commotion & joined in the hunt for my brother, but just as my frightened & distraught mother had given up finding him quickly & headed back to the house to call the police, my brother crawled out from under the house where he'd been hiding, and laughing hysterically, pointed & said, "Mama went that way, and that way, and that way!"

Boys.

(Ok, maybe I wasnt an angel myself, but us girls, we do things a little differently- but thats a story for another day)