We Are Better Together

Tue, Mar 23 2010 05:04 | Permalink

This weekend I had a houseful of guests. Margaret and her three beautiful girls were here from Friday through Sunday. Rebecca and her growing family spent Friday night with us, and Linda Karen, John and his Karen came out Saturday afternoon. Tracy and Ashley were here for the duration. We had great weather Saturday, but it was very cold and even a tiny bit snowy on Sunday. We managed to have a great time anyway.

What a happy mess the house was. Clothes, computers, dishes and shoes in every nook and cranny. The girls' bikinis were strung over the guest tub to dry after they enjoyed the hot tub Friday night. The dogs and cats found little corners to stay in and avoid the hoopla. Leftovers were out on the counter, and then eaten, and then replaced by a new round of the same. Cars lined the driveway.

Saturday night we had a girls' trip to Big Cup Eatery to wolf down some burgers and then sing a little Karaoke. Margaret's girls sang "My Favorite Things" with an English accent; Ashley, Kristie and I sang songs true to our country music tastes. We practically had the room to ourselves, which may be what inspired Margaret to get up and do something I have never seen before: sing a highly entertaining and actually pretty good rendition of "Way Over Yonder". But I think it was something more that inspired her.

I think we are better together. We feel safer. We feel encouraged. We are offered a comforting haven to return to after we venture out alone. We can be exponentially betterwith our efforts joined as one. We learn more. We share more. We laugh more easily.

I realize the opposite is also true- that we can be worse in groups. We can fudge on decisions, be persuaded to laziness, be pulled into dark places. But, when you care about the people around you, what a difference good company makes.

I have been seeing this over and over lately. I see it in the easy, sisterly affection that Margaret's girls show for each other and the eagerly shared information at my art league meetings. I hear it in the combined voices of my little church choir, and in the reassuring voice Tracy has for Ashley. I actually tasted it this weekend in the soft gooiness of Linda's homemade cinnamon rolls, shared with all of us. This weekend I felt it strongly and knew I was part of something special, surrounded by so many people I love.

I look forward to many more such happy messes on the hill, filled with lots of togetherness.


Big Hill
Comments (3)

There. Feel That?

Sat, Mar 6 2010 10:55 | Permalink
Right there. In the exuberant flight of the robins. In the chirp of the finch sitting atop the highest branch of a red oak. In the upward push of the masses of bluebonnets. In the softening of the horizon and the movement of the stars. Spring is coming.
I took a "trash walk" down 2012 with Tracy yesterday evening. We carried grocery bags and filled them up with refuse we found along the sides of the road. Mostly beer cans, which is in stark contrast to the fun-filled commercials that filled the Superbowl ad spaces. I bent down to pick up yet another beer can and saw one tiny yellow flower, growing from the rocky roadside. A springtime harbinger.

The cold air is finally relenting to warmer breezes. After such a fiercely wintry winter- four "real" snows, ones that stuck- and more cold rain than I can remember, it is salve to my soul to feel warm sunlight on my face, to see a greening of the fields and buds of new growth on the trees.

This morning I ran outside to shoo away a mud swallow that has decided to make its nest in my front entryway. I scraped away (for the 20th time) the mud and moss it was using to make its nest and was sweeping away the fruits of my labors, when Tracy came out and told me to look to my left. There in the pasture were two deer. One was an albino. I had heard about it from several of the workers here, but in five years had never laid eyes on it. And I almost didn't this time, too busy in my chores. It was a sight to see, a wonder of nature, right there in my front yard.
I'll take that as a good lesson for spring.

Dear Molly: Slow down. Sit back. Look around and take it all in. It's a beautiful world.
Big Hill
Comments (2)