Thursday, April 12, 2007

The Busyness of Spring

Life’s gettin’ busy! It always happens that the later in the school year it gets, the more I have to do. It’s not just with all the stuff we do to wrap up the year (conferences, awards programs, fine arts productions, graduations, etc.), but there’s also all the showers and parties and weddings and things that inevitably come with the onset of spring. This year I am adding to the busyness with my upcoming showers, and in a few weeks we finally get to go on our babymoon. This weekend, I have a Body Shop spa party on Saturday and a bridal shower on Sunday. Next weekend, there’s the Baby Fair at Baptist Hospital on Saturday to which I’m going with my friend Ralanna who is also due on August 9th and having a baby girl! Then on Sunday afternoon we’re having our community group picnic. Every weekend from now until the end of the beginning of June has something extra tacked onto it, and those June weekends will not doubt be filled soon. I’m not complaining at all; I like my life to have special occasions sprinkled throughout. I’m just noting that in the spring it’s more like a steady rain than a sprinkle; I suppose that’s appropriate given the general weather patterns at this time of year.

We’re studying poetry right now in my class. I used to write quite a bit of poetry in college and for a bit thereafter. However, times being what they are, I haven’t felt the inspiration or had the time to let the muses do their work. Creatively I’ve been dry, and I miss the thrill of putting pen to paper and spinning a tale or weaving words into patterned fluidity. I wonder if a time will ever come again that I’ll be able to think of myself as a writer. I also haven’t picked up a paintbrush in months, and that too brings me a small dose of grief. Perhaps with the awakening of the world in spring, something will also awaken in me enabling me to produce something beautiful.

Speaking of things that are beautiful and inspirational… Chris and I attended the funeral of a family friend’s mom yesterday. She was 87 when she passed and had raised 7 children as a single mother when her second marriage didn’t work out. She worked very hard well past retirement, volunteered at Baptist Hospital, and followed the Lord closely. Truly she was a remarkable woman. It was a life well lived. I remember thinking while I sat there listening to her life being recounted that I hope that someday people will be able to say such honorable things about me. As I studied her face, I was struck with how brief life is and how we have such a limited time to truly make a difference. With each day I hope that I am leaving behind me traces of grace and dignity and kindness. I hope that even now when people remember me it’s with warmth, and those thoughts of me lead them to thoughts of Christ.

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