"A blog is to a writer what a canvas is to an artist." ~ Colleen Redman

The Birthday Porch Vacation

bdaylilacx2 It involved sun and birdsong, lilacs and a single purple iris. Joe was gone before I woke up, to a meditation retreat in town. When I saw the card and presents he left for me on the table, I thought, ‘I just might like presents wrapped more than I like them open.’ The mystery and shining possibility were qualities I wanted to savor, just like the quiet of the morning. After Mother’s Day, followed by first grandchild’s birth, and my own birthday right after that, I was ready to touch ground again and walk barefoot in my garden. I needed to land slowly and let myself be nostalgic, to look through photos albums of my sons when they were babies, let gratitude and sadness stir, and bittersweet tears rise. So many gifts. Did I have room to receive even more?

 
In The Meantime: In one of my son’s baby books, I discovered this transcribed exchange between my sons on my 40th birthday when they were ten and seven. Josh (jokingly): Mum, you’re getting old. Pretty soon we’ll have to call you Grandma. Dylan (adamantly): Oh, yeah, then why’s she still so pretty!”

 
Mara just called and asked me how old I was. “Old enough to be a grandmother,” I answered. More on that HERE. Other Sunday Scribblings written via the prompt “soar” are HERE, and a spoken word poem I wrote about turning 50 (posted on May 17th 2005) is HERE.

May 17th, 2008 Colleen Redman Posted in Porch Vacation Reflections

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