My sister, Dana Doo, and her husband Joshee-poo came for a little visit last week and I finally got to meet the lovely and charming Ruth Anne Elizabeth. She is quite a delightful little thing who is quite laid back adopting the temperament of her mother. Audrey was thrilled to have a new friend to play with for a few day. The morning they left in the middle of the night, Audrey woke up looking for Ruth Anne (which she can say almost perfectly), walking around calling her name. Quite sad.
Dana caught a collection of photos of the two of them trying to deliberately mimic a very old photo of the two of us when we were their age. The resemblance is stunning.
* WPG2 Plugin Not Validated *
Audrey Anne and Ruth Anne (circa 2008)
* WPG2 Plugin Not Validated *
Shanel Heidi and Dana Anne (circa 1977)
Our “new car” (as Audrey calls our somewhat new minivan that was manna from heaven for our family) has a DVD player installed in it by the previous owner. What a godsend those little machines are! However, we have a limited supply of appropriate 2 year old movies that don’t scare the living daylights out of Audrey. So, it tends to be Nemo, and more Nemo, and a little more Nemo and then some more Nemo. Fortunately it is a very funny adult like cartoon. I sit in the front driving, not being able to see the picture but hear all the voices and story line, while Audrey sits in the back viewing her “show”, as she likes to call it.
There are many funny parts, in my humble opinion. And Dory steals the show for best lines. One of Audrey and my absolute favorites that we quote regularly is the whale scene towards the end. [If you are one of those people that have never viewed Finding Nemo, this is a must! Please rent it soon; you won't be disappointed.] Anywho, Dory the little blue, speaks whale. Actually, she speaks many dialects of whale. Audrey and I laugh hard every time she does this and I started a fun little tradition with Audrey Anne where we speak whale to each other. Which causes us to have fits of giggles and determine quite confidently that we are cute.
I will catch Audrey speaking whale quite regularly, actually. You may sometimes hear her speaking whale and just not know it, but she is quite fluent and articulate in whale.
This morning I asked Audrey Anne what she wanted for breakfast.
She replies in a very concise word, “Chicken.”
Of course.
Don’t you go thinking crazy thoughts like I made up some chicken dish for her at 6am. No sirree.
I just fed her some roasted chicken deli meat. That’ll do.
I sure did get a good giggle out of her response and the excitement that flooded through her little body and out her face at the idea of having chicken for breakfast.
I guess she needed a little protein, eh?
Have you ever had a piece of music pierce you in a place so deep within that it surprisingly brought a little sob into your throat? Have you ever been caught off guard by the rhythm of a song that you found yourself swaying and rocking in such a way that resembles a birthing woman? Have you felt your gut lurch with emotion in response to some crescendo in a song?
One Saturday morning, I was in the garden and realized I was running out of my wave runner petunias for my window boxes. So off to Home Depot I went. I popped in Ivan’s favorite classical CD—Beethoven’s 9th symphony. I turned it up really loud which was just slightly counter cultural since the majority in Waukegan blast their music in such way to cause other people’s cars to vibrate along with their own. But the slightly counter cultural part is that I was playing classical music instead of that tuba song the Latinos are addicted to right now at a decibel that was vibrating my very own body. As the music played and the warm wind whipped my hair around the edges of my sun hat, I felt the music tugging on me and before I knew it the soul of this piece of music had it’s hands around some braided core within me, yanking. There is a part in the 4th movement (not sure if that is the right musical terminology, but whatever) where the choir that has been standing there in anticipation of their part for a good forty five minutes is finally able to release their voices. It starts with a baritone singing in German a beautiful piece titled Ode to Joy, “Oh friends, not these tones! Let us raise our voices in more pleasing and more joyful sounds!” I, of course, don’t know the English interpretation of the German, but it still swells and tosses the water within me and I all of a sudden find myself wanting to heave with sobs. I was aware that what was being tossed around and pulled up by this powerful piece of music was wordless; but it was there. So I just let the music drag up that cord of woven emotion and wept.
I recently watched the movie, Once (I know, I am behind in the times and probably considered an old lady by most). I had an evening just to myself so I nestled into the couch and watched. What a powerful and moving movie. I had a similar response to the music found within this movie as I did to Beethoven where the music of the movie was stirring the waters and I felt all sort of emotion cresting to the top and brimming over. The music is so full of grief and loss and a tad bit of rage. It seemed applicable to where I am most days and gave language to the deeper wells of emotion that seemed locked up but raging within me. I wept through the entirety of the movie, finding it extremely cathartic.
So I find my heart cresting with powerful pieces of music and the wildflowers found within the woods. And I ride the wave, so to speak, letting my feet get picked up off the river bed floor and swept up into the current of God’s mercy moving through the inner chambers of my heart where only beauty can penetrate and speak comfort.
