MOTHER

I've always prayed to Mary. It seemed like she was always more approachable than Jesus. When I was young, the MKR explained to me that she prayed to Mary because Mary was a Mother and could relate, offer guidance and advice to her because they shared a common bond: motherhood.

My prayer candles are almost always Mary or the Virgin of Guadalupe. Sometimes we get a Sacred Heart candle, but mostly they are Mary. This week, I let IV pick it out for us. He loves to look at all the colors and shapes and make his selections.

We took it home, lit it, put it in it's place on top of the piano. Wrote our prayer down and started to pack.



There's a lot going on this weekend.

New leaves are being turned all over this joint. A new home, a new feeling, a new room for certain little boys who are going from little boy bed to big boy bed with SHARK SHEETS. A new backyard for dogs. A new place for the Dixie Chicken dining room table.

I'm trying to squash the little bits of sadness for leaving the house that I brought IV home to. The only bedroom he's ever known. My carefully selected palette of Sherwin Williams colors. The last morning that we laid in bed together in my room and talked about having good sleeps, what we would feed the cat and dinosaurs on bicycles.

I sat down at the bottom of the steps this week and just stared at the moulding around the door. How many times have I heard "you know, they just don't have craftsmanship like this anymore." The crank doorbell on the front door chimes when you shut it. The shutters on the faux window slam in a summer storm. How the hallway floor bowed after the Hurricane. My house has a soul. I know this house like I know myself.

It goes on, you know? I can't really stop and be sad, lament, whatever, because time, well, it still goes on. With or without me.

Every day is not promised, Haynes reminded me yesterday. Every day is a day to be thankful for. There are shark sheets, carpet in bedrooms, screened in porches (take THAT damned mosquitos) and a new life out there, right around the corner.

We are ready! Ready for Sealy. Goodbye Ball.