Won’t You Be My Neighbor?

Mar16

I really need to have a conversation with Jan. And Monique, I’ve hardly spoken to her since she had her baby–two years ago, was it? And Laura? I can’t even remember the last time I saw her. And Maureen. And Erin, And Shari. And Juanita. And Maria.

These are my neighbors. We live on a small Cul-de-sac. I know all their names. But, boy, have I been neglecting these relationships. We wave and say hi, but that’s been about it.

It’s not like the cold winter has kept us inside our houses. I think the average temperature this winter was 75, or something like that. I may be exaggerating, but you get the point. It’s not been the cold weather; it’s been my cold heart.

Most are older than I and don’t have kids the same age as mine. And they haven’t exactly made overtures to talk to me either. Why do I always have to be the one to do the initiating?

Maybe because I’m the one who supposedly walks with Jesus. I’m the one who knows the importance of community. I’m the one whose church is right across the street, for crying out loud!

My kids have sold them all coupon books in fundraisers over the years. They’ve knocked on their doors to ask them questions for a survey during their community unit in first grade. All three kids, the same questions, a few years apart. No one ever complained.

My dog has run through their yard.

The last time I spent any significant time with any neighbor was when three of us had to go to juvenile court to testify against a boy who had broken into one of the neighbor’s cars. It was me, and two of the husbands. I had to go because I took pictures of the perp, even though David saw him first.

But I spent a couple of hours talking to them while we waited for our case to come up on the docket. It was a great conversation where I learned a lot about them.

That was in August.

Seven months ago.

Who goes that long without talking to a neighbor?

I’m frustrated with myself. Things simply must change. Spring is right around the corner.

I’ve got some cleaning to do.

Thankful today for:
114. My neighbors
115. A waning fever
116. My bike, that hopefully I will get on and ride today

Thoughts on Turning 50

Mar15

I’d been thinking and dreaming about my 50th birthday for a year. I knew it was coming (of course), but I really wasn’t too thrilled about it. I hang out with a lot of younger women. Sometimes, they make me feel really old. Most of the time, though, I just like hanging out with them.

50 just sounded so . . . old.

I’m the third one of my siblings to make that step, and they seemed to survive it. So, after tossing around the idea of just having a small group of close friends join me in celebrating this momentous occasion, I decided to blow it out. You only turn 50 once, after all. And I hadn’t had a birthday party in many years. My last one was a surprise for my 30th.

 My husband, David, took my guest list and emailed them all, hired my good friend Laura, cake maker extraordinaire, to make a lovely red-velvet cake with the words “50 is the new 30” on it, and we prayed for good weather.

Then the doubts crept in: Would anyone want to come? Seeing as how my birthday is 5 days after Christmas, would anyone be in town? Would they be bored? Please, God, don’t let them be bored.

Soon, the replies started coming in: if they were in town, they wanted to come.

Two days before the big day, we scrubbed the pool deck, cleaned the house, and hit Sam’s Club for the goodies. When the day finally arrived, the weather was perfect, we floated candles in the pool, set up a chocolate fountain, laid out the fare (smoked salmon, cheese logs, pigs in a blanket, mini-quiche and more) and waited for the first guests to arrive. I had made up a “Steph-trivia” quiz, posted around the house newsworthy facts of the year I was born and found a wonderful “Hits of the 60s and 70s” Pandora station that we kept on throughout the day. The songs made me smile.

But more so, the 50 guests (yes, if my counting was right, there were exactly 50 people there) who filled our home made me smile. Only downside was that I hadn’t appointed anyone as the photographer for the evening, so I have only a couple of shots of the event. But it’s there in my memory forever. And the thought that kept running through my head as the guests kept coming was this: “You like me. You really like me!”

Maybe turning 50 isn’t so bad after all. Not when you’re surrounded by such good friends.

Thankful today for:

111. a decaf skinny black and white iced mocha from Starbucks’

112. daylight savings time

113. a fun event to look forward to

And The Sickness Goes On

Mar14

As I write this, my littlest, Morgan, is sleeping. It’s 6:42 p.m.

Sigh

Yet another illness has gotten into our house, and I’m baffled as to why. We’ve really been hit hard this season. Some have surmised that it’s the warm winter that set all our allergies aflame, opening our sinuses to other little buggies that have stuck around and made us sick. Only we don’t have the classic signs of allergies; just a little nasal congestion and some coughing. No itchy, watery eyes. No constantly running nose. There have been sore throats, but that’s about it. It’s been a silent stalker and I’m ready to be done with it.

All the kids have missed at least one day of school. My mother-in-law has had to curtail her piano teaching business for the last month, David missed a couple of days of work. I’m the only one who kept up my job(s), even though I had two days where I barely had a voice. But then, that’s typical mom-hood, isn’t it?

“For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all” (2 Corinthians 4:17).

What really do I have to complain about? My children miss a couple of days of school and have varying fevers and coughing and headaches. They don’t have cancer. They have all their limbs, and those are all in working order. They have never been in any kind of accident causing debilitating injuries. We are blessed with our health the vast majority of the time. I think I know people in all the above categories.

Though we lost three babies to early miscarriages, we have many friends who have lost a child in many different ways: a freak accident; complications from severe disabilities; trisomy 13. Disease, disfigurement, death. Not happy subjects, but a fact of life on this planet. A sad, sad part of life.

Thank God for the Resurrection! We so look forward to heaven where there will be no more death and sickness and pain.

Meanwhile, around our house, we break out the applesauce, ramp up the carrot juice, make everyone as comfortable as possible, and pray that she is the last one to fall.

Amen. Come quickly, Lord Jesus!

Thankful today for:

108. hope

109. colloidal silver

110. Tylenol

Bills, Bills, Bills!

Mar13

I’ve spent most of the day entering receipts into my finance program and catching up on my budgeting. What a fun way to spend the day.

I say that with some sarcasm, but really, when I look at all we were able to do and buy, I am thankful for the ever present provision of my loving God and Father.

–we never went hungry

–we were able to give gifts to people for special celebrations

–we got to go on an anniversary trip

–we bought new shoes for Nathan

–we sent Morgan to horseback riding lessons every other week

–we sent Nathan to archery and fencing lessons

–we sent Justin to Tae Kwon Do classes

–we had weekly date nights with our kids

–we had our annual physicals

–we bought dog food and cat food and two hermit crabs

–we fixed our sprinkler system and paid for our lawn chemical applications

–we have a roof over our heads

–we have electricity and running water in our house

–we have working vehicles that have gas in them

–we sent our kids to private school every day (albeit the best bargain on the planet–Trace Academy)

Shall I go on?

We are very rich indeed.

Thankful today for:

105. God’s provision

106. technology

107. crockpots

Would You Be Your Friend?

Mar12

Are you someone you like to hang out with? If you had a choice, would you be your own friend? Do you like who you are? Do you enjoy your own company?

Have you ever looked at yourself from someone else’s eyes? Do they see someone who displays the fruit of the Spirit?

Love: unselfish, putting others first, not jealous, keeping no record of wrong

Joy: not grouchy and discontent: radiating happiness that transcends circumstances

Peace: unflustered, unfazed by what’s going on around you, trusting in God beyond what the circumstances might seem to dictate

Patience: peacefully waiting for God to move, knowing that He’s got things under control

Kindness: caring deeply about others and expressing that to them

Goodness: displaying the character of Christ, godliness; striving to always do the right thing

Faithfulness: displaying an unwavering faith in God and not straying from your walk with Him

Gentleness: not harsh, having a soft hand and voice when it comes to dealing with others, no matter their attitude

Self-control: not reacting to or following along with other’s bad behavior; not being erratic so that people don’t know what to expect from you

Doesn’t that just seem like a person you want to hang out with? I know I’d sure like to have that friend.

Guess that means I should work on being that friend.

Thankful today for:

102. brownies baking in the oven

103. 80 degree weather with only 31 percent humidty

104. a change in plans