Drink it up

Aug. 15, 2014

Today's smiles: 

• Taking Grandson #1 to The Greatest Show on Earth, a one-week-belated birthday gift. He has trouble paying attention and sitting without bouncing and making noise, but after all was said and done, he said he "had so much fun!" At least you can talk out loud and make silly sounds at the circus and no one will hear, much less care ;-)

• Getting a text from a young mother I met at the grocery store last week (in the restroom of all places). She and her hubby and 2-year-old daughter had moved to Fort Worth the day before and she needed advice about places to live and eat. She asked where we go to church, and when I told her I'm LDS, her countenance changed, so I didn't press it - although I should have asked her what she knows (or doesn't) about Latter-day Saints, because most people who turn up their noses are mostly un- or misinformed. I felt somehow connected to her immediately, though, and we exchanged phone numbers. I have thought about her all week and planned to call her today after we got home from the circus to see how they were doing. She texted this afternoon to say that they just moved into a house and they were looking for a restaurant with organic options tonight. I sent her a list of restaurants, and she wrote back that she was struggling with an overwrought toddler at the moment and couldn't call, but she thanked me for the suggestions and asked if we could connect sometime soon. I look forward to that!

Today I'm thankful for WATER. Our daughter was awakened at 6:30 a.m. by neighbors knocking on the door to tell them that water was pouring from their front yard. The water main had broken, and although plumbers came right away, they were without water all day. We don't think much about water when we wash our hands, flush the toilet, rinse off dishes, shower, wash hair and so much more! On this brutally hot day, I'm very grateful for water, especially that which runs from taps in my home and that which fills a plastered hole in my back yard. 

Every day from June to October, it's my retreat. In the water my body and mind relax and the weightlessness erases pain. Floating on my back, I see birds soaring high against a panorama of deep blue sky with white clouds morphing from one shape to another. Sometimes the sun goes behind the clouds, brightly illuminating the edges and making those shooting rays that artists use in depictions of something divine. The gentle splashing of the fountains drowns out most neighborhood noise, and surrounded by bushes, trees, my herb garden and the birds, butterflies, lizards and other small critters that inhabit them (squirrels and snakes very much excluded) - I feel closer to God than almost anywhere else. I'm grateful every single day for this pool, but especially today when I was reminded of how much we depend on water and what a blessing it is in soothing Freddie's rage.