And when she smiles

it's usually so great big that it spreads to my face, too.

If you haven't checked the Current Fundraiser tab under the header recently, please do.  There's a sale this weekend (in Columbus) at which the raffle and twenty percent of most sales will benefit BDSRA.

JEB

April Cried

On Monday afternoon, great black clouds spread blotchy shadows over the neighborhood like spilled grease.  And then brushed by early evening sun, a wide wash of light invited us outside.  Following the downpour, the earth sent up the rich odor of soil.  And after all the wind, the pear trees sent down swirls of foliage that paved our path with milky petals.

Outside the scent of lilac is almost sippable.  Forsythia screech their golden heads at the sky, while ferns and hosta hustle toward the sun.  Puddles of purple circle rhododendron roots and redbuds sprout bubble gum flowers from brown winter sticks. 

As a result of all the recent rain, everything is blooming in ridiculous splendor.  This spring, new life feels less like an assault and more like an invitation to follow suit, to cry a little, but to grow more.
JEB

gossamer

On Easter Day the veil between time and eternity thins to gossamer.  
~Douglas Horton

Indeed

Tucker called out, during a fairly quiet part of this morning's service, "Christ is risen!"
Although not particularly appropriate, it didn't seem to strike anyone as inappropriate either...

JEB

Let Me

“Let me,” his eyes plea.  “I can do it,” comes off him in pulses.  “Please,” his mouth repeats.
There he is, balanced precariously on the fulcrum between reliance and independence, fighting vehemently for the latter.  I try not to meddle with the course, although sometimes I'm tempted to rush what he is becoming and other times I wish the process would take a slower path. 

This week the scale tipped toward needing me.  He’s been a barnacle, clinging to my body and making me simultaneously claustrophobic and wishing for even more snuggles.  Tired and puny, his head droops like a spent daffodil on the stalk of his neck.  “Let me,” I think as I gather him up and press his warm cheek against my own.
JEB

In Town

Last night we took Celia to a dinner party downtown.  There's a Serbian neurologist visiting this country for a month, trying to learn as much as she can about Batten Disease.  We were glad to introduce Celie to Dr. Kravljanac while she was in Columbus.
Celia spent part of the evening in Lance's arms, and I heard him whisper to her -more than once- that she's the prettiest girl in town.

He's right.

Revelation

Life doesn’t always feel like smooth sailing along heaven's highways, but more like daily grinding through a maze of back alleys elsewhere.  If I read them, the street signs might point to bad news.  

It's a conscious choice, the one I make to follow the lead of the neighborhood tulips and hold my head high.  Strength is there, and gratitude is there, even when sufferance rams through the center of it all.  I circle back and -with eyes wide and perspective unzoomed- upon second glance, see it. 

There is gospel in those flowers, and in pretty much everything with which I surround myself.
And I see it.

JEB