Raining Orchids

At times, my heart becomes black and blue from the concerns that come my way. I find myself overly concerned about my children, about home things, about him.

I say “overly” because I believe worry to be a futile waste of energy. I want to be concerned enough to pray for them, to spend time helping them, to tell them I love them, to gently guide or present another view. But, to be so concerned that I become fretful is not a good thing. It shows lack of faith.

I confess I have been overly concerned about my son and his wife during their recent travels and their island move in progress. They are managing just fine. He is just more relaxed about everything than I am. I like having a detailed plan and definite commitments for big things like they are doing at the moment. He seems to fly by the seat of his pants, like his father. They are both successful men and have each other for conferring and helping when needed. I need not worry a bit.

I encouraged my daughter to try to refrain from becoming distressed about situations in her life. In fact, I have been doing that a lot recently with her. She is getting married, moving, changing jobs, all this summer. Just one thing at a time. Patience. His timing is perfect. Regarding a loved one’s illness, I simply said, find out what you can and pray. Not much else to do for the situation right now.

I am not so very worried about him today. Things are going well for him. I am always trying to feed him healthier foods. He is trying to like it. I told him I don’t want to be a widow for my last 30 years, since I intend to live to 102!

As for myself and home, I got a few things done. But, I was too late to salvage one project. It will have to redevelop. I am set up to do it now, though. Our yard is looking so good. The grass is green from all the rain. Even in the flower beds! The rain has been steady recently limiting the opportunity to work on some things.

I started a special project the first of June. When I get more done on it, I will talk about it. I don’t want to diffuse my energy and focus by discussing it yet. Suffice it to say, things are going. Not as quickly as I would hope, but I am not losing confidence of the final result coming sooner rather than later.

Yes, my heart gets black and blue. But, then I recall what I have survived and to what I have to look forward. And my heart feels better. Great thing about it, I don’t have to wait for the bruises to fade. Just a moment and the miracle of Mercy can make it rosy red again.

There is one black and blue I love to look at over and over. On a special day, in the middle of the ocean, where molten rock once met salty sea, I found a perfect black and blue:

A weather system is moving in from the Gulf. It may be a tropical storm by landfall.

Thankfully, I had some time in my schedule today to get the yard readied. I moved my potted palms against the house along with the other pots of plants. I picked up some odds and ends and put them away in the shed. I put my yard tools in the shed from the carport. I took his flag down and put it in the house.

I know it is only forecast to be at most a tropical storm. Having seen the likes of Rita and Ike, I try to not get nervously excited over it. Still, the wind and rain can make a mess of things and I wanted to do a little prevention.

I have plenty of food in the house. Our water company is set up to provide continuous water. I filled up my car with gas. I hope the children and he did the same.

I am sitting out here on the porch now sipping coffee and listening to the rain coming down. Just a regular rain at the moment. No wind. The windows are fully open.

This is one of my favorite kinds of moments. The porch, the rain, the coffee. My memories hold many moments of enjoying this kind of thing. I love the sound of rain. Thunderstorms are awesome to me as well. No fear, just respect.

My son and his bride are home from the islands for a short visit. We have had a little time with them. This storm has disrupted some plans we had made. But, just the brief moments allowed are appreciated. So many people love them so much and miss them being here in Texas, we have had to share them more than we would like. What parent doesn’t want to hold tight to their child after having felt their absence so intensely?

My daughter and I had a wonderful visit cooking gumbo and potato salad and all yesterday. She, her father and I rode up to see the overfull lake and rivers. She is full of plans and has an agenda to meet her goals. Prayerfully, I hope for continued progress and blessings on her path.

I had not realized how quiet my home life had become until they came to see us. Something about my two children is so intense and vibrant, it tumbles my heart around and I feel unbalanced. They are not afraid. We worked so very hard to make sure they were not afraid. Their courage and boldness is awe-inspiring. I don’t mind the unbalanced feelings. It means they are dancing. Just the way I always hoped.