The October prompt for our memoir writing group came from my friend Coleen:
“Get a book in your hands. Anybook. Close your eyes. Open the book to any random page. Point anywhere on the page and open your eyes. See what your finger is pointing to and from that, do free association to start writing. The idea is that prompts can truly come from anywhere :)”
I tweaked Coleen’s prompt a bit by picking up four different books and pointing randomly to a line on the page. I settled on these lines from the poem, “Anna, a Prophetess,” from the book Grace Like Water: New Testament Poems by Merrijane Rice:
“Some days you see in an instant
how really blessed you are.”
I chose these lines so I could spotlight the small moments that help me recognize the blessedness that surrounds me. Living this way increases my awareness of the goodness in our world.
This time of year is an especially festive time of year for me. I had two children in October and I feel blessed by each of them and their families. Halloween has always been a favorite holiday. What’s not to like about a day for dressing up and getting candy? And then November rolls in with Thanksgiving, a holiday dedicated to being grateful, enjoying a big meal, and relishing time together with friends and families.
I am glad to live in a place with many trees and I marvel daily at the fall colors unfolding all around me. It’s fun to find spectacular color in my new hometown of Greensboro. I’m always on the lookout for it. If I’m driving, Robby snaps a memory pic for me, a tradition he started last year.
Last Sunday morning, Robby was here. We made a jack-o-lantern out of orange construction paper backed with bright yellow paper to illuminate our creative cutouts. It made me happy to see it on the wall at their house this week.
On Friday Sara and I went to Cava for a birthday lunch. Ollie was with us and I can’t believe how quickly he’s growing up. It feels bittersweet since we know he is probably their last child. I sometimes tell the grands that I want to put a brick on their heads so that they will quit growing.
We were at Sara’s on Saturday so that she and Will could celebrate her birthday with a breakfast without children. Jack was disappointed that he was not invited which gave me a great idea to take him out for breakfast on his birthday week. Jack read the third chapter in The Fly Guy to me. I love that he has become a reader in just a few short weeks. This morning he read me another book, What Do You Do? by William Wegman about dogs dressed in different clothing and having different occupations. It was fun to see his excitement when he finished the book and proudly proclaimed, “I read the whole book.”
Yesterday when Robby was here, he put small battery-operated candles all over the house and left a note for Grandpa to find the fifteen candles. But the best part of that visit was the reason he was here. Sara was heading with the boys to the Primary program practice on Saturday morning. At last week’s practice, he would not say his line into the microphone, despite knowing it perfectly.
So she inquired, “Robby, what would be a good reward if you said your line today at practice? Candy? An extra show to watch on TV?”
Robby quickly replied, “I know a good reward. It would be if I could go to Grandma and Grandpa’s house this afternoon.” Those words definitely delighted my grandmother heart.
I count the 12 canned lights that filled our home this week as an added blessing, transforming the primary bedroom, playroom, and living room into spaces filled with light. Until we got this added light, I felt like we were living in a cave. We also added a new light fixture to our kitchen eating space.
Blessed moments in my life revolve around nature, family, and home. A walk outside gladdens my heart. Absolutely nothing rivals the joy that spending time with family brings into my life. Our house in Greensboro, filled with familiar furniture, art, and family photos is rapidly becoming a home we love with the additional lights installed this past week and the beautiful colors from the maple in our front yard. Pausing to recognize moments of blessedness fills my heart with joy.
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