Only that which is useful or beautiful

Beloved:

            Wow, September!  I can hear the hens clucking their morning songs.  The kitchen windows are open and I'm working at home long enough to get my laundry on the line so quilts and sheets will smell like this delightfully cool air.

             Carl was glad to go to work this morning "so I don't have to work so hard," he said.  In fact he was a very good sport as we spent Labor Day weekend sorting, cleaning and organizing our basement and kitchen.  Every shelf, cabinet, bin and drawer got dumped, purged, cleaned and reorganized.

            I tried hard to keep the only that which is useful or beautiful to me rule but as usual there were problems.  To be useful, Tupperware needs lids. I have lids but no containers for several of my big pieces.  Alas, two were in Carl's shop coated in dried plaster of Paris, victim of last spring's AP Chemistry project.  But what about the others and my Tupperware cupcake carrier that is missing altogether?   I did find a $200 check I wrote for the lunch money accounts in November of 2012 - did they eat cupcakes for lunch?

            Parenting is full of little losses, kids take things for the projects and needs of their own lives, leaving holes and gaps in ours.  We either get used to it or go crazy.  We regard the things as disposable community property or hide them.  A friend told me she hides her favorite food treats in the vegetable drawer since her husband and kids never look there for anything. 

            Not just kids of course - life if full of losses small and large.  Our best efforts at staying organized bump up against the needs of others and the demands of time.  Then our spirits choose how to carry the chaos; accept it and move on or go crazy. 

            Yesterday, I was a little crazy but this morning I am missing my two older kids more than I miss my Tupperware so I've decided they are worth the trade.  (Yes Mariah - I know you didn't take the Tupperware!) Because crazy steals the day and this one is too beautiful to miss.  ~ peace & prayers, pastor annette