Of This and That

Visiting grandkids is always an adventure. The big adventure of our current visit to Austin is a little girl named Mary Josephine, born last Saturday weighing 7lbs 1 oz. 19 and a quarter inches long. She resembles a little rosebud with plenty of soft light brown hair and big blue eyes. She has a healthy set of lungs which kept Mom and Dad up all night Sunday into Monday, but is now settling into a civilized young lady. It is sweet to see the lineup as older brothers and sisters wait their turn to hold her. Even Andrew, three, talks about "baby sister" with awe.

That's the big excitement, but there are minor adventures. One unexpected one happened in the shower. I guess I'm compulsive, but I tend to clean while I'm in the shower, wiping down all the level places. This shower has a window ledge covered with shampoo and conditioner bottles. I was moving things and wiping when I came upon a little bag of something I thought was potpourri. I picked it up and some spilled out into the shower exploding around my feet. Fortunately I have a strong heart. It was certainly a wake up call to find the little "poppers" (left over from July 4th I presume) in the shower. The humidity hadn't diminished their power and I was surprised nobody banged on the door to see what in the world I was doing in there.

So now I'm on guard. What else is in store for me on this visit? Adventures galore I'm sure. That's the joy of family, especially grandchildren and we are surely blessed with a gaggle of those. Little Mary Josephine is number nineteen. Holding her and marveling at her perfection reminds me of Mother Teresa's comments about children -- "Can there ever be too many flowers?" Certainly not in the grandchild garden. Thank you, Lord, for family.

And one last entry. My husband was rereading To Kill a Mockingbird in honor of the fiftieth anniversary of its publication. And now that he's finished I've picked it up again as well. What a lovely book! Atticus Finch is one of the hero-fathers of American literature. Not big and strong physically like the John Wayne heroes. But a character as strong as the anvil the blacksmith uses to hammer the plow head. Scout, however, is too young to realize what a great man her daddy is. In fact, his lack of accomplishments embarrasses her until she sees the town sheriff pass his rifle to Atticus when their town is threatened by a mad dog. "I can't shoot that well, and you know it," he says. Atticus calmly takes aim, shoots, and the dog drops. Scout is bemused that her father never told them about this secret talent.He should be proud of it, she believes. When she tells the neighbor, Miss Maudie,  the wise lady replies, "People in their right minds never take pride in their talents."

I think this may be my favorite quote in the book. It's food for a meditation on humility.

May you have a day filled with eye (and ear) popping adventures that celebrate life!