MARCHING WHATEVERLY
March 30, 2016
Moose are on the loose in my head as I dredge some stupidity off the ledge of cupidity for the written word, possibly absurd, probably weird, and assuredly seared by the steaminess of chai and the creaminess of chocolate, flowing through the veins of my glowing brain, as I sit with a bit of blankness in the dankness of my holy soul.
In other less rhyming words, the Doodler is pooped and can barely write a sensible sentence, so I will proceed with WHATEVER (that’s my word!) comes galloping or shuffling through my head on this fine spring day in Kentucky. Here’s what pooped me out:
We enjoyed a wingding of an Easter/spring birthday celebration over the weekend with the whole family here at our house. It took a couple of weeks to prepare for it and it might take that long to get over, since I’m not the peppy little spring chicken I used to be. Even so, it was glorious for all of us to be under the same roof for two whole days! And one triple birthday blowout is much less exhausting than three separate parties in three weeks, with Easter landing somewhere nearby, as we used to do it when the girls were growing up. Spring used to feel like a month long Christmas morphing into the hectic end-of-school parade of events. I rarely had a moment to enjoy the springiness of spring. Now I do!
On the reading front, I finished *Tristram Shandy*, followed by another “great”, *Fathers and Sons* by Ivan Turgenev, then on to *Children and Other Wild Animals*, a collection of essays by one of my favorite *Guideposts* contributors, Brian Doyle. Now I’m reading a contemporary novel, *The Mathematician’s Shiva*, by Stuart Rojstaczer. I’m thinking *The Trial*, by Franz Kafka will be next. That will give me four “greats” out of my goal of at least five per year, so that would make me happy as a dog having its belly rubbed!
Speaking of dogs, I need one. The empty cavern in my heart left by Eujane needs to be filled. We’re seriously thinking of looking for another bloodhound, one of the droolingest, sheddingest, all around messiest breeds God ever created. Also the prettiest, sweetest and goofiest. Somebody smack me!! It probably won’t do any good, but if enough of you band together into one huge SMACKMONSTER, for a communal SMACK of the century, I might lapse into a coma and my golden years can be spent in peace and boredom, instead of mopping, vacuuming, ear stink, empathetic eyes and laughter.
As for my word for the year, WHATEVER, it has seen me through this month with all the anniversaries surrounding my sister’s death. When I would start going down the road of sorrow, thinking about her, I would recite my verse, although never in the right order, as I haven’t worked on that hard enough yet: “Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things.” And now I want to add the next verse as well, “Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me–put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.” Philippians 4:8-9. This scripture hasn’t kept me from weeping over the loss of my sister, but it has added joy to the weeping, because she exemplified all of those qualities to me and I know that I will see her again someday. Until then, God’s peace is with me.
Enjoy! Be Happy! Think on the lovely and noble! Be at peace!