Phases

A new phase of life began for Jim and I today as we watched Jubal being sworn in as a Recruit in the Marine Corp.








Jubal's training on Parris Island will consist of three Phases over the course of 13 very tough weeks. The most brutal weeks are the first ones.
He will be arriving very soon as I write this, and at some point in the middle of the night, I will receive the " I am here" call, read from a script on a 3x5 card above the phone. His head recruiter, who did an extremely thorough job of briefing us on the 13 weeks yesterday, told me to talk right over Jubal as he reads the script or there will be no time for him to hear what I say. So, Jubal has his script and I have mine ready to go.

There were no tears from me today. I'm actually doing very well and excited for what he will accomplish in the next 3 months. My general crying schedule is an annual one and I suspect the tears will arrive in time for the Graduation on December 19 when Jubal earns the title of Marine.

I have always said that because of my easy-going, go with the flow nature, I would have made a good military wife. I'll just apply those qualities to being a great Marine Mom.


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Mansfield Park

I finished reading Jane Austen's Mansfield Park recently and wrote a couple of my favorite quotes from the book on the chalkboard in the kitchen. One was a humorous observation from a character about a less than adequate suitor. "What a difference a vowel makes! If his rents were but equal to his rants!"
The other was simply what I thought to be a bit of wisdom and ended up being quite relevant this week as our Pastor buried one of his sons on Sunday and our Woolwich-Wiscasset church family participated in a service for Pat Dighton on Friday. "There is nothing like employment, active indispensable employment, for relieving sorrow."


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Sand Painting

School has begun and our first art project of the year was sand painting. Atira and I are always up for any art and we enjoyed taking the basic rose in two different directions. We are still not quite sure what Tell's painting actually IS...(maybe people driving in a car with the sun shining and a clouds in the sky?)...but he enjoyed creating it and that was the main purpose.










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Missing a Friend

Jim and I watched a couple episodes of the '70's British sitcom, "Some Mothers Do Ave Em" last night and it made me miss my friend, Cindy. My introduction to the show took place at her home in Yerrinbool, Australia during a school holiday. Cindy had the most generous hearted parents, Peter and Maureen Kruss, who offered to host a whole crew of temporarily homeless students for nearly a week. Chris, Amy, Alison, Cindy, Russ, myself. College kids sprawled all over and laughter echoing into every corner of the small Kruss home. I can't even remember everyone that was there...what a crazy, fun crew we were. That week remains one of my all-time favorite memories. Why, 20 years later, can I still vividly recall Cindy and the rest of us crowded into her living room, watching Michael Crawford's antics on TV? I don't know why some seemingly insignificant events stick in our memories, but I'm thankful for the reminders of a kind friend who lived her short life well. Cindy passed away a few years ago but I remember her often....Sometimes when I see a sheep....when I hear a certain song or watch a particular British comedy....sometimes when I see a bowling ball and ALWAYS when I have some Twining's Earl Grey. I'm glad God gave me such a friend and I look forward to our reunion some day, when I will once again see her roll her eyes at me and say, "oh, Chelle."




(1993-Me, Cindy Kruss and Amy Shields)
Amy's Bridal shower, Australia
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Location:Bath,United States

Happy Birthday, Mom

I waited until this evening to pop in on Mom and wish her a happy birthday and I was not the only procrastinator. In the 20 minutes I was at the house she had five phone calls. One of them was from my little niece, Ally, who lovingly sang a sweet rendition of "Happy Birthday" to her Mimi. At the other end of the "love my Mimi" spectrum is 8 year old Tell Gilbert, who called my phone while Ally was finishing her birthday wishes. Our conversation concluded with this:

Me: I'm at Mimi's house visiting because it's her birthday.

Tell: It is? You didn't tell me that.

Me: No, I'm sorry. I should have told you but she's coming to the house tomorrow so you'll be able to see her. She's talking to Ally right now. Ally sang "Happy Birthday" to her.

Tell: Well, I was just wondering if you were going to the store because we don't have any juice.

Me: I'm not going tonight but the next time I am at the store, I will get some. Mimi just got off the phone. Do you want to say "Happy Birthday?"

Tell: Well....I will think about that.
(Click. The phone goes dead.)

Mom laughed and made note of how very different her grandchildren were from each other. I'm glad she has a sense of humor about these things.




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Burnt Brownie Points

According to an after-church conversation today, I apparently would be much better off singing for my supper, rather than making it myself.

Jim shared with Dwane Sukeforth that he thought my song this morning was one of the nicest that I have ever sung. Dwane, of course, implied that such high praise was an effort on Jim's part to gain some brownie points with me. Jubal neither agreed or disagreed but simply told me, "Well, Mom, whatever you do, don't make the brownies. Just buy them."

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In Port(land) For the Day

Meghan Gillespie and I brought a young but hearty crew aboard the Niña and Pinta this afternoon on their last day docked in South Portland













The ships are replicas of Columbus' two smaller ships that made the voyage to the New World in 1492. I always knew they were fairly small but actually walking around on deck, I couldn't imagine spending 5 weeks confined on the deck, surrounded by the sea and headed to an unknown destination.

The size of the ships meant that the self-guided tour was not a long one but Meghan made the trip stretch a bit by suggesting we find the splash pool in Deering Oaks Park that a friend had told her about. I couldn't count how many times my car has passed that park with its fountain-centered pond. I never realized that nestled near the pond is a small grassy gulley with a large, natural-looking, shallow pool area for wading and splashing.












There are several places in the pool where random small geysers will shoot into the air accompanied by the delightful squeals of any child nearby.





It really is a hidden gem in the middle of Portland and we will definitely be back.

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