inhale...exhale...relax your shoulders...repeat as often as needed

Thursday, August 28, 2014

oh, how the days are tumbling into one another!

This weekend we went to a gathering of the clans.
There were beautiful tartans everywhere...
and handmade things from a proud heritage...
and sheepdog trials that had us under the spell of
BORDER COLLIES 
for hours under the blazing August sun.
(We may have been to the Border Collie rescue site once or twice since then).
Manicured gardens, highway medians and open fields are
filled with this sweetest of wildflowers,
the humble black-eyed-Susan.
The gardens are rushing at the end of the season, 
ripening and showing off and 
keeping us busy with the harvest basket.

Our four grown children all work at jobs that 
are anchored by the academic calendar.

I do not miss the epic back to school shopping we
used to undertake, each child with their long and lanky limbs
that would challenge us in the fitting rooms. 
I do not miss packing four lunches every morning.
I do not miss the scramble to find misplaced sheet music, 
an umbrella or occasional project related empty shoebox.

I do miss the tumble in the back door at the end of the day,
filled with news from the playground, the newly discovered
author or groans about homework.
And the perennial question, "What's for a snack?"

So I will listen for the rumble of the school bus
 here on our dirt road in Vermont and send out 
some hope and good cheer to the neighbor kids...

...and to our own four,
Stewart, teaching high school sophomores in the Pacific Northwest.
Lindsey, in Boston, mentoring
 "young people short on opportunity and long on potential".
Hannah, taking on an Upper School deanship, 
teaching and coaching in CT. 
Gretta, teaching science and helping in a school office in Brooklyn...
I send all of you strength and courage to shape the future.
xo


And to you, dear readers, I am deeply grateful for the love and support you gifted me with on my last post. As Ram Dass has said, "We're all just walking each other home." I am so glad to be in your good company. 

2 comments:

  1. You'll need some sheepies for that doggie
    ....so you
    I loved the quote about wlking each other home.
    I have had you on my mind lately, sending good energy your way for all your concerns
    knowing how much I truly appreciated your prayers and good wishes for me when my Amelia lost her baby
    yes...I really did love you walking me home
    love and blessings to you and yours
    .....and I don't miss the lunchbox stuff either, except for the notes I placed in them.....now I have to find more clever ways of letting them know I love them

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  2. Such a beautiful post, Karen.

    And, oh, border collies!!! Yes, yes, yes.

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