Life Happens

Life happens at book club:

Sandy is tilling the garden at her new home.
  Dreaming of Spring.
Mary is unpacking at her new home.
  And expecting a new grandchild.
Kathleen is mourning her brother.
  And hosting the annual book club Christmas potluck.
Eleanor is busy, as always.
  Busy, elegant, gracious.
Lynn's energies are otherwise engaged -- park walking.
  And looking for a new home.
  She received a letter to vacate due to renovations.
Lynn and Carol both usually work on Wednesdays
Lynn was able to come to book club Christmas potluck.
Carol wasn't.
Carol was busy making her granddaughter, Stella's, birthday party favors, making Christmas gifts, making her Christmas cards, traveling to said granddaughter birthday bash, back and forth on the ferry, working, sharing time with her boyfriend, and in general puttering.
Claire is still cancer free in spite of recent worries and tests.
I made Pumpkin Butter, got fatter, and watched a few fabulous movies.

Life happens when you watch movies:

I watched two of my favorite "Christmas" movies, Millions and Love, Actually. Wonderful, feel good, make you smile, lovely little gems.
  And
Barbara; A more gritty movie, set during East/West tensions in Germany. A medical setting. This movie is for Jane I think. Beautiful, thoughtful, makes you appreciate, again, our political freedoms, but a powerful reminder that life can be good anywhere.
  And
The Angel's Share; about a young man who needs to grow up, man up and steal a bottle of whiskey.

A chain of events;
I watched the Scottish movie The Angel's Share and fell in love with one of the songs. For some reason it made me think of everyone in my family, all the people I love. Check it out on You Tube, I really don't know if the name is 500 Miles or something else. \\http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84CPo4bVkMk I know, I know, I am always way behind on current music. Current? this song came out in 80's. I think. But it was new to me, being more of a movie buff than a musical buff.
  And
One of the words in the song was "haver", also new to me, so I went to the trusty dictionary to find out what "haver" meant. It means to dither, to hem and haw. Lovely new words make me smile. I went from movie to song to word. Yep, life happens when you watch movies -- emotional, mental, and creative enrichment.  It doesn't get much better than that.

Life happens when you have children:

I remember a friend telling me that after WWII when there were so many food shortages in England once a week the government would provide a single piece of fresh fruit to the children. She was very young, six or seven years old, and her mother would make her go outside to eat her banana so she, the mother, wouldn't take it from her, her desire and hunger was so great.

Or Art's cousin who while traveling in India handed some grapes to a beggar child and the mother stole them, took them.

Or Bobby Jones mother who would lock herself in the bathroom so she wouldn't hurt Bobby when he was in the throes of hyper-activity. Remember that?

Children? Taking care of children, loving children, playing with children, we have done our share. Like the time I took Christian and some of his buddies to the deserted state fair grounds so they could experience the thrill of hanging onto a car while they rode their skateboards. Or taking a gang of boys to see the second largest truck in the North American hemisphere.

Julia making cakes, taking her nieces and nephews on special one on one adventures. Tootling all the kids around in her "little red MG." Photographing, zooing, standing on her head.

Jean sewing costumes, uniforms, wedding dresses, hemming, altering something for every child young and old in the family. And Cookies lots and lots of cookies.

Jane giving "towel hanging up lessons" to her two errant children. Cleaning, bandaging, icing, heating every wound bump and cut.

Janice opening her home and cupboard to not one, but two, Disneyland excursions. Bedding down fifteen at a time. Telling them at work that she wouldn't be back until the last family member drove away.

With Christmas comes Christmas memories. The memories creep in like snowflakes, soft and persistent. Thinking of all these children made me think of my childhood and my Christmas memories. Aunt Josephine and Uncle Beaty arriving in all their glory. The gianormous Christmas tree, or so it seemed to my young eyes, like the growing Christmas tree from The Nutcracker, all decked out at Grandpa and Granny Gilbert's farm. The tea set I received one year comes to mind.

I saw a tea set like it once at an antique store (ouch, that hurt) and it cost $150.00. I lusted after it, a physical representation of a magical moment, until I realized it was all lost to time and space. Owning a replica wouldn't make me five again. Did Uncle Foster and Aunt Hollis ever know the magic they gave me?

Will I ever know if the magic I tried to give children succeeded?

Life happens and some is lost in mystery.
The Angel's Share.