day ten – freshly picked sea shells

I don’t believe anything is ever an accident.  It wasn’t an accident that I met 6ft Mama  for the very first time in real live person on April 10th, 2011 when our mutual and good friend Cristin  hosted a flickr meet up, an elegant breakfast and trip to the Rose Bowl Flea.  Prior to that I had seen her stream on flickr, admired her from afar.  When I first met her she lived in another state but since has moved here, right here to California not just California but Southern California and on a good day just about 30 minutes from me.  So Every now and again we meet up, we hang out and we laugh, we laugh lots and she has the two most adorable boys, I call them the E’s and every now and again we get the E’s together with my little A and just do the stuff we like to do…..like take pictures and twirl around in tutus and you know those sorts of things.  Today I’m thankful for Sara who drove from her part of town to my part of town just to mount that crazy artichoke.  Talk about personal amazing service!  She and the boys brought me freshly picked sea shells and sand dollars that still were wet from the ocean and smelt like salty sea.  Brace yourself, I’m about to share a handful of pictures of the sort of fun we have together.

   I first met her amongst this gorgeous group of gals at Cristin’s place

I even let her drive my jeep with the top down along the coast this was the first time I met the E’s

We like to get our super hero’s together, the ones our dear East Coast friend Debbie sent us

And we do projects together

We play at the beach a little

We text each other just to say hi

Us playing in the tutu’s with some of our friends 
6ft mama with her two E’s and my two A’s 

We can relfect together

We thrift store together

She will stop by just for a quick jump

Whenever I see a VW Bus…..I think of her 

She let’s me shoot her in the white dress even….that’s a huge honor

She doesn’t even know it but the jar she brougt those shells in today…it will be a drinking cup 

Sun Daisy and Moon Rose, their story condensed

39 of my 43 years have been blessed with a one of a kind forever sort of friendship.  I moved into this little condominium complex when I was just 4.  We were unloading our furniture when a little girl with the biggest most expressive brown eyes ran up to me and said “I haven’t seen you in such a long day!”  She apparently had been waiting for me to show up.  And this is why mama Georgia believes we were friends in another life. The little girl’s name was Ronda Lee…no H in this Ronda!

I had to hold the kitty cause according to me…she didn’t know how to properly do it

Ronda and Tracie basically grew up together and basically know about everything there is to know about each other, its border line scary.  They can just look at each other and know what the other one is thinking. Really it’s true!

Oh and the stories there are so many stories about these two.  So many I can’t possibly list them all here or it would be a mini novel.  I wish I could tell you all the details of how Tracie saved Ronda’s life one day as they sat up on the trunk portion of the big convertible drinking their Icee’s and enjoying the wind on their faces when Ronda nearly fell off the back of the car, so Tracie naturally pulled her to safety…only their cherry red Icee’s ended up all over the back seat of the pretty white car and it wasn’t so much about the heroic act as it was about the mess they made in the back seat.  They were always in trouble for something, like the time they broke the glass music box and snuck it to Mama Georgia’s house so they could have her glue it back together so Mama Linda wouldn’t “know any better”  or the time they were eating those suckers they weren’t supposed to have when Tracie’s cap broke off and Ronda thought Elmer’s glue would do the trick, or the time they decided they had had enough and packed the red wagon to run away but only made it to the swimming pool at the complex before deciding to return home, or the time Ronda cleaned up the oil spot on the garage floor with mama Linda’s new designer white jeans.  Yep. Those are just a few of the things that went on in those days. In those days it was okay to send your little people off to school, to walk through the vacant field and climb under the fence to get to class, or take the alternate longer route that passed a 7-11 where the little redhead and girl with the brown eyes would peel old already chewed gum off the sidewalk and chew gravel filled gum on their way to school. Or the arguments the girls would get into with boys like Tony Baloney and Brad who insisted babies come out of their mom’s vaginas while Ronda and Tracie were insistent that girls pooped babies out.  Like what do boys know anyways!

Ronda and Tracie didn’t really like their given names so Tracie insisted that Ronda call her Rose and so Ronda decided on Daisy for herself.  These same girls had a heated argument from across the street from each other (Daisy lived on one side of the street while Rose lived on the other) Oh Rose was so mad, she had to call Miss Daisy anything but Ronda or Daisy, so she shouted something like “I hate you Pee Pee Head!”  Miss Rose started that fight but Miss Daisy won the fight when her comeback was “I hate you Poo Poo head!”  This stopped Rose in her tracks, she couldn’t think of one more word worse than that!

Later on when these two little girls grew up they still stayed friends, even when Daisy’s parents moved her all the way to San Diego where Rose had to take the train to visits during the summer months or Daisy’s Dad would pick her up on his way home from his job so the two girls could spend some time together. Ronda’s dad always referred to them as the beatnik and hippie.   And even later when Daisy moved in with her grandparents on Rose’s side of town where they were thrilled to be so close again.

And even later than that when they decided they should be roommates and live in the same complex Daisy’s Italian grandparents managed.  Where Grandma Della would sneak in and leave them homemade pizza on their kitchen counter to make sure they were being fed.  And just like when they were little and would watch Lavern and Shirley and Ronda would say, “I’m Shirley and you’re Lavern” and Tracie would say “okay, I’m alright with that” and when they lived together…Ronda was Shirley and Tracie was Lavern and Tracie was more than okay with it but Ronda had a lot of picking up to do for the both of them.

These two knew each other so well yet they were kind of different.  Ronda decided that she was the sun and Tracie was the moon because that’s how different they were from each other.  Ronda was full of sunshine while Tracie was a little more gloomy.  Ronda wrote poems about happy things while Tracie wrote poems about sad things. Ronda loved her Moody Blues, Grateful Dead and John Denver while Tracie loved Led Zeppelin,  the Cure and  John Lennon but they both agreed fully on the Doors of course. Sometimes they would sit for hours on end at the tops of parking structures reading philosophy and talking about life’s purpose making short films (lost films) Ronda loved to sing and dance, while Tracie liked to take it all in.

There is so much more to say about these two but it’s already far too long for most people to want to keep reading.  They are grown-ups now, they both are still very different and at the same time very much alike.  Somewhere along the way Ronda taught Tracie to not be so gloomy and even though she is the moon, she is a big bright full moon now!  One thing that hasn’t change that will never change is the love they have for on another.  There is nothing quite like it.

Watching the Sun move onto to it’s next day

Not sure what sort of time one might have to watch about three minutes of a  little movie.  Tuesday we felt like watching the sun travel to the other side of our earth, leaving our side to give us night to visit the other side and give it day.  We figure the beach is the best place to do this.  We brought two extra’s and we had a really peaceful and stress free Tuesday evening.  I’m thankful for how Tuesday went, I’m thankful for that big huge sun that keeps things ticking, for the creator who placed it there and knew exactly how perfect the rotation of His earth should be, and perfectly where to place the sun so the earth and all His creation could thrive. Mind blowing really.

Love, Hope and Blessings found in our week

I can barely believe it’s almost Friday.   Tuesday when I was at study Lori asked the question, “tell me about the best thing that happened this past week and the worst”  The coolest part about this question was most the gals in our group could ONLY think of the GOOD things that had happened during their week.  I do often try very hard to find the best in each day.  The best because I have noticed when I focus on what is good, what is happy, what is positive that I in turn feel grateful.  I feel grateful for this life, I feel grateful that we have so many amazing blessings each and every day.  I especially realize this when our tutor Tessa is away in Africa and often is without water or electricity, the simple things we take for granted she often lacks.  This brings me to my week.

 

Monday I was happy to see the morning light and the daffodils that had opened up wide and kept going strong since I got them last week and I also  I inherited camera’s from my mom, her first camera ever from when she was just 12 and my dad’s Canon A1. And I saw Kierston and the kids all the way from Arizona, we visited out front in the sunshine and then had a spaghetti dinner around the big table.  So much fun was had that I didn’t’ snap a single picture, just too engrossed in the visit.

Tuesday I found the special battery at Radio Shack for the Canon A1. Our friend we call Oceans Child or better yet Cindy WITH Seattle sent me some Easter Peeps and Abbie some birthday surprises.   I made it to Bible study Tuesday night and fully enjoyed the energy of our small group and the teachings of Dana. I liked what Lori had to say about positive in positive out, if we fill our minds with negative…negative out.  The short of it, she said it way more elegant.

 

 

Abbie pointed out, not only is the leaf in the shape of a heart, when upside down there are hearts on the leaf itself!!

Wednesday was conference day for Abbie and it went very well.  Ms. Shannon and I know this little girl will do just fine in life. I also got a package from our Canadian friend, Laura.  She made us a love banner and a darling suede pouch out of a jacket she was given. Little Sky left a leaf on our mailbox (in the shape of a heart)   I got to see my mom and give her a hug and kiss and spend some afternoon with her.  She brought Abbie some winter boots to wear to Science camp next week.  We also read a chapter aloud of “The Secret Garden”  we learned new words like wick in the Yorkshire slang means “alive”  Then the girls watered their lettuce and left the water on so long they created a mud pit and asked if they could play in it.  Of course!  To hear their laughter and capture their moments,  the pleasure was purely mine. Dad and son played ping pong with the longer light and little songs were sung and made up by Rich who just loves to make up little songs to make us laugh.

 California sunshine.  Vitamin D so good for health and happiness. 

Today is already Thursday and still I hear the giggles of little girls in the house, I know that we have a big t.v. tonight at our house with Mimi and Papa, Uncle Mark, Aunt Jenn and the girls as we sit together and enjoy Psych.

 Almost feels like summer, ping pong, the smell of grass…..hee hee and mud, reading aloud, making up songs and cold drinks. 

 I’m so thankful for this guitar that sister Sarah gave Rich for his birthday.  He picks it up nearly every single day, whether it’s to sing us a morning song, or his songs for Max about squirrels and kitty, kitties, or evening non sense songs about our days.  It has brought even more laughter and joy into this home.