Warming up
Life is really good and I have this whole series of serious posts brewing, but I have to get this out of the way.
Ants. I will never have to buy my children an ant farm, because we live in one. The whole darn building is crawling with ants. From about April to November, we only see them occasionally, a loner exploring in the wilderness of our living room. But the other half of the year is a permanent struggle. Call me selfish, but I don't want to share our sugar bowl with any other species.
The serenity prayer. A couple of weeks ago, I was thinking in meeting for worship about a new formulation for myself. It would go something like
My youngest child is now five years old. He can buckle his own seatbelt, put on his own socks, and wipe. What will I do with all my free time?
Last night, I had a conversation with my husband about how we met fifteen years ago this month. We spent a few minutes looking at the signatures on our wedding certificate. We can still decipher them all, but I can't picture all the faces any more.
Fifteen years ago was another really exciting time of my life. I had just graduated from college, started attending Quaker meeting, joined the Fourth World Movement volunteer corps, moved to New York, and then I started dating Chris. 23 and 24 were very good years. 38-39 are shaping up to be the same.
Friday night update: We have created a monster. My eldest son, age 8 1/2, is reading The Lord of the Rings. He's up to the Council of Elrond in the first book. He said to me, "Mommy, it's not so complicated like you said." Whatever. His father first read it in fifth grade, so I guess I shouldn't be so surprised.
Ants. I will never have to buy my children an ant farm, because we live in one. The whole darn building is crawling with ants. From about April to November, we only see them occasionally, a loner exploring in the wilderness of our living room. But the other half of the year is a permanent struggle. Call me selfish, but I don't want to share our sugar bowl with any other species.
The serenity prayer. A couple of weeks ago, I was thinking in meeting for worship about a new formulation for myself. It would go something like
God, please grant me
the courage to apologize on the spot when I have just said something that goes beyond tactless into hurtful,
the serenity to let go of the times when it wasn't that big a deal, or that were more than a year ago,
and the wisdom to know the difference.
My youngest child is now five years old. He can buckle his own seatbelt, put on his own socks, and wipe. What will I do with all my free time?
Last night, I had a conversation with my husband about how we met fifteen years ago this month. We spent a few minutes looking at the signatures on our wedding certificate. We can still decipher them all, but I can't picture all the faces any more.
Fifteen years ago was another really exciting time of my life. I had just graduated from college, started attending Quaker meeting, joined the Fourth World Movement volunteer corps, moved to New York, and then I started dating Chris. 23 and 24 were very good years. 38-39 are shaping up to be the same.
Friday night update: We have created a monster. My eldest son, age 8 1/2, is reading The Lord of the Rings. He's up to the Council of Elrond in the first book. He said to me, "Mommy, it's not so complicated like you said." Whatever. His father first read it in fifth grade, so I guess I shouldn't be so surprised.
posted by Robin M. at 3:18 PM
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4 Comments:
What a cool way to talk about your wedding and memories!
May God give you many more years together, and praise God for the end of wiping!
Amen, brother!
Ahh, ants. We've had 'em in our place in Minnesota, too.
One day about three years ago, when I had nothing better to do, I got out a few spices from our spice cabinet: paprika, cumin, red pepper flakes...
I sat on the floor of the kitchen where the greatest number of those little buggers had infiltrated our sanctuary, and I started putting out little bits of each spice to see how the ants would react.
Apparently, Minnesota ants don't care for cumin in the least, and now, every October or November, when the ants come marching one by one, I sprinkle a bit of cumin along the base of certain walls... and the kitchen quickly becomes an ant-free zone once again!
So maybe putting a little spice into their little lives will non-violently help them remember where they don't belong.
Blessings,
Liz Opp, The Good Raised Up
P.S. Happy Anniversar-month!
Liz - I will try that. I think we have at least two, maybe three different nests of ants coming in - some of the big invasive Argentine ants and some of the really little native ants, and maybe more than that. A couple of years ago, the California Academy of Sciences had a really big exhibit on ants. They had a project where you could collect ants and bring them in and they would identify the species for you. They even discovered a couple of new species through that. I wonder if they're still doing it...
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