12 December 2005

Show and Tell

Hope there's no late fee (property manager jargon) for tardy posters.
I don't celebrate Christmas myself so I thought I'd publish some pictures of some decorations, RV style. Many of the RV'ers who come through our park are what the industry calls "full-timers." This means they spend the entire year in their RV, traveling, usually from place to place, following either good weather, friends and family or just inexpensive parks to stay at temporarily. My camera doesn't do well in the dark I discovered. With the flash it looks like daytime and without it, the lights are just a blur, but here's what I got.
These reindeer stand post at one end of the RV.







This snappy sleigh with rudolph bedecks the back end of the trailer and...







this is their front door and patio, complete with lit tree and snowflake lights hanging from their awning. A 24 hour recording of carols and Christmas ditties graces each passerby.

My pictures really don't do them justice but you get the idea. As you might imagine, the stories these RV'ers tell are some pretty interesting tales.

08 December 2005

What's Wrong W/ This Pic?

When I went out this morning to wait for the bus with the kids, there was an immediate windburn on our faces. The stored up warmth from the Franklin stove in the living room was briskly sapped from our bodies. The temperature was 27 degrees, trees were flailing wildly so that despite the cold air you couldn't "see" your breath because the wind stole it away. White, thick clouds so filled the sky that it appeared as if white was it's normal color, especially due to the early hour and the sky being devoid of any of the sun's influence.
Now, several hours later, not much has changed except that the clouds have perceivable texture though still covering the entire sky.
So, WHAT'S WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE?
This is sunny and warm, southern Texas where people travel to escape this stuff! Parts of TX even had snow. Meteorologists predict the temps will soar to 32 degrees by afternoon. We're actually worrying about freezing pipes. Strangely, it was in the high 80's on Sunday.
This kind of weather always excites TT. He has this longing to see real snow and the thought that it may actually occur makes him appear the gleeful child anxiously awaiting the moment when he can run outside to the white wonderland and make snowballs, hear the snow crunch under foot and throw yourself down backfirst in the stuff to make an angel imprint. The slightest drop of precipitation in winter, which usually is a cold rain drop or occaisionally an icy slush drop, sends him rushing to the phone to ask others if it's "snowing" at their house too. LC and DQ have never seen snow and TT hasn't seen it since 1985 when a freak snowstorm dropped a couple feet of the icy concoction in our fair city. That was just before my arrival here. I don't believe I've seen it since 1980 on a hike in the mountains of New Mexico in August where the snow was still stubbornly holding onto the peaks from the winter before. Anyway, it IS exciting, I guess. I just tend to get MORE excited when after a long winter I see the first buds of hyacinth pushing up the earth and long bare tree branches emitting small shoots of green, and the daily progression of more and more green appearing on the trees.
Well, I've just released my blog address to TT today. He'll need to read back several posts to find out what TT stands for. I figured at least someone besides Lori will be reading then. But that's OK. I really embarked upon the whole thing just to reflect on things. So, L and TT, forgive my rambling.

04 December 2005

An Earthcoming

First, show and tell. My car is so boring that it really doesn't need a picture. It's a harvest gold Ford explorer. Yeah, you've probably seen a million of them. As some may remember, the only difference with mine is the faint smell of dead chicken. My birth family were always chevy buyers but marriage brought me into a Ford family, hence the Ford SUV. I love BB's show and tells this just wasn't one I got excited about. I've always thought of how nice a shiny red renault (do they still make those?) or a sporty citroen mazarati would look in my driveway. My favorite car that I've ever owned was a '91 Lincoln Town Car. It always made me feel luxurious.

As I near the anniversary of the birth of my firstborn, I always recall the particulars of his earthcoming and how it changed the life of TT and I forever. LC was born at home, which, at the time was a 40' travel trailer (no trailer trash jokes, please.) I've always had this real hatred of hospitals and I didn't feel much better about doctors. Fancying myself a nature woman, I decided to find a trusted soul to be a midwife. Although many found this a frivolous pursuit it lead to one of the most fulfilling experiences in my life, both times. My first pregnancy was fairly normal but without most of the modern frills like sonograms and prebirth gender accessing. My widwife was an herbolgist and I used several herbs religiously to smooth the birthing process. Evening primrose oil and raspberry tea, blue cohosh and verbena. The nine months were some of the most remembered I'll ever live and in retrospect they passed like a freight train, a little slow in coming but once it's past you wonder how it could have gone so fast. I gained 75 pounds!! That was not a good memory! I'm still carrying most of it around I think. On the fateful night I remember laying in bed, tossing and turning, never finding a comfortable spot for my belly. All of the sudden a warmth of unbelievable proportions came over me. I soon figured out it corresponded with a watery alarm of the imminent birth. Did I say imminent? Ha! This was just a threat. Thirty-six hours of many more threats were just beginning to occur. Most of the 36 hours were spent on the pottie, facing the tank, while TT put hot compresses on my back. Many have called me weird but I think the nine months of anticipating and the several hours of wondering how THIS birth will present itself, are some of the best parts of the maternal role, even along with the excrutiating changes, stretches and pains that accompany it. I especially remember how the midwife sent TT and I outside (it was cold) to walk during the 24th hour of labor. She insisted it would speed things along. 30 hours into the ordeal she left ("Where are you going, you can't leave NOW!") and instructed us to become intimate. "This will be the clincher", she said. It always brings things along faster. Well, from that point forward things did move along. Before we knew it TT was cutting the umbilical cord and LC was laying in our arms. I worried about his head, (funny shape,) and thought he must look like TT when he was born. Tired as we were, we spent hours just staring at him, thanking God it all came out the way He purposed for a child to enter the world, wondering about tomorrow, next year and the rest of his little life. Now he's 16, driving, a HS junior and would undoubtedly be embarrased if he read this.
Every year around this time I recount the details, adding more each year I think, to my son, as he ages one more year. It's a family tradition that my mom always kept. She would hold us in her arms and lovingly tell of her trials and joys of our particular birth. At the time, as the time for each sibling came around, we would cuddle in her bosom (knowing it somehow made her feel full and satisfied) and listen as she recalled some of the details of our earthcoming. We would all be present for the "ceremony" and giggle over the poor victim of moms loving embrace, all the while wishing in our hearts that we were the victim. My eyes always fill with warm drops as I recount to my children the wonderful moments before, during and after their birth as my prayers go with them that they too will experience the many joys of life, all the while learning from times of trial and benefitting from the privilege of loving family and friends. Somehow I know that Ma would be happy if she knew I kept this vigil of memories.