September
3rd seems almost as much a time of reflection as January 1st. This
past eventful summer, full of heat, fires and drought, travel, out of
town guests and weddings, has worn me out. Could I actually be
anticipating fall and winter with joy? I have never looked forward to
winter in Colorado before, even though I'm a native. I'm not a skier,
though I've tried. Cold chills me to the bone and I don't warm up
until June. And I'd rather do anything than drive in the snow. Because
this summer was one of the hottest on record and we have no air
conditioning, I feel I've accomplished nothing. I can't think when
it's hot! I can't quilt or paint or knit. Or even write, which is what
I love most. No ideas cross my mind, no clever phrases brush my brain,
not a single light bulb moment.
So
today my desire was to at least clean up the files on my iPad, I came
across this picture from our trip to Moab in May. It's The Three
Gossips in Arches National Park. They look like I've felt...unmoving,
unknowing, turned at last to stone. Then I looked down at the first
entry at the bottom of the message column and the date is 12/31/69.
What? We didn't have a computer in '69, let alone an iPad that hadn't
been invented. My son would have been 7 days old and now he's 42.
After the date, it reads: No Sender, No Subject, No Content. Ahhhh.
Just as I've felt this summer, but where did that message come from? I
wanted to show it to my husband when he came upstairs, and it was gone!
Where did it go? I don't make these things up, I'm not smart enough
for that. A total mystery.
Well,
Julie, the point of my 'skittery' message is that I'm still scattered.
And possibly losing my mind, since the message from no one, that had no
subject or content is gone. I can only pray that the cooler weather
that surely will come soon will once more melt my mind of stone, and
words will flow as once they did. (At least, I have more hope than The
Gossips!) Judy
Wow! What good examples of skitterish scribbles! Are all we bloggers expected to be so masterful, so adept, so perfect? Not I. Forgive me, I am merely a commoner.
ReplyDeleteJudy, I appreciate your summer feelings. I too have felt distracted by our miserable weather. In May, we fled up to our cabin at 8600 feet to escape the suffocating heat and dryness. Yet even there the smoldering skies, smoke and main road closure drove us back down to the city, where in two days we were told to prepare for evacuation! That fire was quickly contained though, and we didn't have to leave.
Summer continued without disaster, just discomfort. Guests arrived to enjoy our perfectly cleaned up house in Boulder, were squired around the campus, left, and we returned to our mountain refuge. There, along with twenty others, we helped repaint a family cabin including re-roofing its woodshed.
Now September arrives: clean skies; golden aspen; cotton clouds; reviving breezes. The fog clears, and I remember God's gifts to me. Yes Julie, all good and perfect gifts do come from God. And I am happy to accept!
Sarah
A commoner? You have to be kidding. Lovely writing. And your summer seemed full of both the unexpected and the expected. I hope you had time for walks and naps and books. Your last paragraph deserves a heartfelt Amen. Well said. Julie
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