Mom is Just a Nickname

Waiting for things to happen is the big news here at the moment. We’re waiting to see what Fay will do, waiting to see what Fay will bring, waiting to see what Thursday will bring.

The good news, despite my extreme dislike of waiting, is that the NHC has let the Hurricane Watch expire. Northeastern Florida is now only(?!) under a tropical storm warning.

Outside, the air is humid. It’s not all that hot, actually, but it is oppressively humid. The skies are gray and to the East, we can see the defined clouds of the storm. The winds are steady but not particularly strong at the moment. We are far enough inland that we won’t feel the full force of Fay’s winds, in any case.

I guess I’m somewhere in between the panicking people and the apathetic people as far as preparing for the storm. I’m worried about the storm, but I feel that we have most of the practical preparations made. We did pick up some more water, because we only store so much unless a threat is imminent. We did that before the Hurricane Watch was posted yesterday, though. We always keep a fairly well stocked freezer and pantry, but we also picked up some canned soups to supplement what we have. We brought in our lawn furniture and I will be pulling my patio plants before too long.

There are still some preparations I need to get done, but I’ve been tired and draggy all day so I haven’t been moving very quickly on anything. The adrenaline impetus of a hurricane watch is gone now, and I’m falling back towards the apathetic side of the waiting.

Here’s to Fay, in all her fickle and fraying glory. Hopefully, she’ll treat the First Coast kindly.

Just a day ago, I was worrying about my parents getting hit by Tropical Storm Fay. Turns out, they escaped with some windy storms. They said it wasn’t too bad.

Now, we’re the ones being targeted by Fay! We’ve got a Hurricane Watch here, schools are closed for the next two days, and we’re pulling together emergency supplies.

Oh yeah, I love living in Florida.

The Smart One by Ellen Meister

The Smart One was a fun read for me. The main character, Bev, was in the middle of a trio of sisters. She was always known as “The Smart One”, while her sister Clare was the “The Pretty One” and her sister Joey was “The Wild One”. One grew up to be a wife and mother, one a one-hit-wonder rock star, and the other has wandered through her life, always looking for what she was supposed to be doing. Being “The Smart One” didn’t make living life any easier for her.

A series of events lead the sisters to discovering a body, preserved in a barrel under their parents’ next door neighbors’ house. That discovery lead the three on a hunt to solve the mystery of how the body got there. Along the way they learned a lot more about each other and about themselves, and about their neighbors.

This book was fast paced and well written. Although the characters experienced tough (and sometimes unlikely) situations and spent time talking about a wide range of feelings, there was humor, wit and an honesty about life that kept it from ever becoming morose or gloomy. Although the situations did seem unlikely to me (innocent, naive me?), there was never a chink in the story, never a chance for me to fall out of my suspension of disbelief. And there was always a whisper of “It could happen…” there in the back of my mind too. Unlikely does not mean impossible, after all.

I was excited to get The Smart One to read and review. I had heard of Ellen Meister’s first book, The Secret Confessions of the Applewood PTA, but I still haven’t read it…I have it from the library, now, actually, but I haven’t started it yet. After reading The Smart One, I am looking forward to reading it even more!

The Smart One is available for pre-order on Amazon.com. It will be released on August 5! This review was made possible by Lynn at Blog Stop Book Tours. For more information about the book, the author or how to become a reviewer for Blog Stop Book Tours, please click through the link and check out all of the information there!

We always think, “That can’t happen to us,” but one day, it -whatever ‘it’ is- does. On Sunday, it happened in a church in the heart of our country.

I feel sadness for the people that have died, for those that were injured, and for the families and friends of this congregation who must make sense of what has happened. It’s horrifying that this man walked into a house of worship, filled with families enjoying a children’s production, and opened fire. The children who saw it happen, from their viewpoints in the front of the room…the families who teach their children about loving everyone, about helping others, about respecting differences…now have to figure out how to forgive a man who aimed such hate into their world, and tarnished the bright shine of their children’s innocence.

My heart goes out to these families, these children, this congregation. The situation strikes home especially since I’ve so fallen in love with a UU church family here in my town. The thought lingers in the back of my mind, “That could have been OUR church.” And I tremble.

I cannot stand at their sides, hold their hands, or catch their tears. I am too far away. Still, I stand with these folks in Tennessee, as they do their best to heal, to understand, and to mourn. They do not stand alone…there are many of us standing with them.

I want to write something deep and insightful here. I have been reading back through my blog and I’m deeply disappointed that my recent posts have been so brief and shallow, superficial. Then I sit down here to write and don’t know what to write about.

I could tell about the decisions I’m trying to make..oh yeah, I did that already.
I could talk about the interesting books I’m reading…but I’m still reading the book by Ariel Gore and the one by Matthew Fox. I haven’t had any further illuminations to share from either of them.
I could talk about my Sullivan…I can always talk about him. But I have the same tales to tell now that I shared last fall. Except for the ones that involve the deep bitterness and betrayal I experienced during that time. Fortunately, that betrayal was balanced by the many other people that stepped forward to help when we needed it.

No, none of that really wants to be written about today.

So, I remain unsure of what to say. Is this even worth posting?

Probably not. I’ll do it anyway, though, because I want to. This scramble of words reflects the way my brain is working these days. It’s not sitting long on any one idea, even though I have things I really do need to think about and work through. For now, I’ll go work on chores (there’s a backlog of things to do around the house right now. ugh.)….maybe something will come to me as I do a dish washing meditation.