Note: I’ve occasionally seen other bloggers do a stream of consciousness type post where they just start writing and don’t go back and do any editing. That’s always seemed like a really scary ideato me because I re-write more than I write. Editing is what I do.
But I figured that if they could do it, I could do it. And so what you will read below is Becky Unedited. The only thing I changed was if I spelled a word wrong. Everything else is straight from my brain. Scary, I know. I closed out with a few pictures. Also unedited.
It’s Monday. (In case you didn’t know.)
I’ve been awake since 4;30 since occasionally my brain starts whirring around busily for no reason and I can’t make it stop. So I lie there and think about stuff and pray for people and try to talk myself into going back to sleep. As a rule, Self doesn’t listen. Self sets its heels like a 2-year old refusing to eat broccoli.
But that’s okay. Because early morning hours are peaceful and quiet and can offer the opportunity to accomplish a lot of things before even getting out of bed—plans for the day, to do lists, problems to ponder, moments to mull over.
It’s funny how early morning people seem to marry late night people. My mom loves to rise early and greet the dawn with a smile My late dad was a night owl for most of his life and didn’t get his second wind till about 9 pm.
I’m much like my mom; I love the early morning hours and would get up early, even if I didn’t have to. Steve? Not so much. He does get up early but it’s not something he particularly loves. He always relies on a cup of motivation to get him tuned up to face the day. (I prefer my caffeine cold and carbonated.)
Sarah had her friend Taylor over last night, as well as Taylor’s younger sister, Logan. Since Logan had to be at school early for band class, Snowy and I made two school runs today; one with Logan and a second one with Taylor and Sarah. He was a very happy dog, getting to deliver all those ladies to various schools throughout the morning. However, he is now exhausted and is snoozing beside me. He said to tell you that he’s not accepting any phone calls or visits for the next 6 hours because napping is so vitally important.
We’re in the throes (what’s a throe, anyway?) of getting ready for our church’s Easter drama which is going to be about three times the production that it was last year. Thankfully, I am not involved in it except for doing some video, music, sound effects stuff. I say thankfully because drama overwhelms me. I’m not good at acting, I don’t have any clue how blocking works, or how to write a script or how to paint a backdrop, or how to built a set. I am amazed and impressed by people who ARE good at it though, and thankfully, we are blessed with a whole group of folks who have big plans for this years’ play.
Steve is in charge of lighting effects and is having a fun time assembling scaffolding and with the help of several other fellas, climbing up and down half a hundred times to hang new mounting hardware and lights from the rafters of our extremely, very tall, massively high church ceiling.
We are seriously planning on a trip to Wisconsin this summer, and are hoping that Nathan and Meagan can go too. Meagan hasn’t met anyone in Nathan’s family except for Steve’s parents and my sister and brother-in-law so it would be nice if she could make the rounds and meet the whole crew. We haven’t been up there since my dad’s funeral 2 1/2 years ago and I always feel sad that Sarah lives so far away from her cousins and aunts and uncles and never gets to see them.
Maybe it’s just my own perception, but in the South, it seems that families live closer to each other more than in other areas of the country. Seems like 90% of our church has at least several family members within an hour or so. (Or more often, right around the corner.) And so to raise a child with a dearth of extended family is sort of a sad thing to me especially when I hear about families who have tons of cousins who are close. But Sarah keeps in touch with a couple cousins on Facebook so that’s fun.
Part of the reason I love going to Wisconsin is that I get to take country drives through the rolling hills and farm land. I miss that. Even though living in a village by the sea is wonderful, the one thing it doesn’t offer is lots of hills and farms. And since I grew up with that, part of me doesn’t really feel like I’m at home unless there’s a silo in the distance.
One of my favorite things to do is carve out 2-3 hours and just take off in the car through the country. When I get to a stop sign I don’t even look at the highway number or street signs. I just turn whichever direction I’m in the mood to turn. And at the next intersection, I do it again. It doesn’t get much better than rural meandering. And when I have a camera in hand and can stop whenever I want? Well, that’s life at its best. So I’m hoping this summer will provide me several Rural Meandering Opportunities.
I got a letter in the mail Friday with an appointment notice for a mammogram followed by a visit to my oncologist. I still can’t quite believe that someone who has had a bilateral mastectomy needs to have a mammogram. My understanding is that there are still areas right under the layers of the skin that could get cancer. That’s hardly worth thinking about: getting breast cancer after a mastectomy. At any rate, I’m not terribly worried about that eventuality. I’m down to once a year visits with my oncologist now and am quite happy about putting that chapter behind me. (As if getting breast cancer and having surgery could ever truly be put behind someone. It will always be a huge part of my life. But at least I’m not actively dealing with it. Which is nice.)
It is a perfect Spring day. Sunny. 60 degrees. Birds twittering merrily outside my window. In my opinion, one of the nicest things God ever did for us was to make birds able to sing. I mean, when you think about it, I don’t suppose there’s any reason why He had to do that. He could have made them exactly as they are except completely silent. But no. He made music-producing flying creatures. How cool is that? Few things I love more than early morning birdsong.
I’ve been out on my bike a lot in this early spring time, which just happens to be my favorite season of the year. (Apart from the horrendous horrificness of pollen. And the South can DO some pollen! I guess we have to pay a price for the immense beauty of springtime. )
Riding bike is so much more fun than walking for exercise. I always get the fleeting sensation, whenever I get on a bike, that I am 7-years old again, and the summer has just begun. There is something very kid-esque about bike riding. And as a recently minted 50-year old, I am interested in all the kid-esque experiences I can find.
End of Meandering. Now for some Pictures.
Morning person too.
Breast cancer + bilateral mastectomy + reconstruction too.
But no mammograms for me. 🙂
Stefanie,
Isn’t that crazy how different oncologists require different things? Oh well. After all I’ve been through, a little ol’ mammogram is the least of my worries. Hope you and your shutterbug hubby are doing well!
Stream of consciousness blogs are my fav. I love the pace of them, I love the freedom to spirit across the psyche and peruse the thoughts that arise. Keep it up. I have one blog I follow that does stream of consciousness blogs once a week, every Sunday. Just a thought… I know Sunday is a busy day so that might not be a good fit for you. But consider making it a regular item. Please.
Sue,
I was actually thinking about doing that type of blog post some sort of regular basis, maybe starting with a couple times a month to see how it goes. I must say that it is very freeing to not have to stop and worry about if things tie together or transition well or make sense. Just writing to to write is a lot of fun.
Thanks for the encouragement; coming from you, it means a lot!
We have had extraordinarily warm weather here too. And to think that less than two weeks ago, I was all decked out in my down-filled hot pink parka, scarf, and puffy mitts! Today, I wore a dress, flats and a short sleeved blazer and BOILED in some of the university rooms. Our performance hall, where I had to perform in masterclass today was 26 degrees C. And it was HUMID. We just had a large thunderstorm too!
I understand completely what it is like to live away from family. My one granddad lived in the next province older, so we typically saw him once a year for a week or two in the summer. My other grandparents lived 3 provinces over, so I can probably count on my hands the number of times that I saw them. It was a big deal going out to see them, let me tell you! Now, there are very few of my family left, and I don’t have any first cousins, a few second cousins that are not even blood related (which is fine). No grandparents left, and neither of my two uncles ever married. So I have always envied my mennonite friends who have lots of family close by.
I need to pull out my bike and see if I can manage to ride…
Music Girl,
Pull out that bike and RIDE! And when you’re grinnin’ like a fool, think of me. 🙂
It’s been so interesting to read people’s comments about their own extended family situations. So many of us seem to live away from family and have missed the opportunity to spend time with them. However, as someone once said, there is biological family and there is logical family; logical family members are those we “adopt” in the place of biological family members.
Wishing you many special people in your life!
I am not a morning person by nature, but the older I get the earlier I seem to wake up. Either way, I believe that mornings are beautiful because God wants to reward the early risers with a special gift. The sunrise, the smell of the morning, the crisp coolness in the air, and those birds…those happy birds singing the wake up song! I am thankful for that and for you and a rambling post! Blessings!!
P.S. Our Sarah’s (would have been) 18th birthday is coming up in two weeks. I am still so happy for your Sarah’s health and wholeness of life…God is so Good!!
Lisa,
Remembering with you (a little early) a special girl’s would-have-been birthday. Eighteen years old. I can’t even imagine the mix of emotions you and your family have as you approach that day.
As always, I am honored and humbled that you continue to follow along with our Sarah’s story and celebrate her milestones. Your big hearted attitude is amazing. Thanks for being part of the Smithellaneous family.
Becky, your unedited blog was wonderful!!!! I didn’t look hard because I am tired, but I didn’t see any.
I grew up going to see my mother’s parents and my dad’s mother (his dad passed away the year they were married) every other Sunday afternoon. I got to see lots of cousins. There were ten children in Dad’s family (three or four were deceased), there were six children in my mother’s family (one died in an accident), so I had oodles of cousins and still do!!! I didn’t get to see most of them very much because they didn’t live close, but I have three cousins who are sisters who invite me to one of their houses for Thanksgiving and Christmas (and last year, added Easter). Everyone brings different things, so there is plenty to eat.
I have several other cousins who live about forty miles away, but I don’t get over there very often, especially with gas prices like they are. I have one cousin over there who does a lot for me and has been a tremendous blessing!!!
I really hope you and your family and Nathan and Megan get to go to Wisconsin this summer. My niece, her husband and two sons live in Middleton, Wisconsin.
Lib,
Wow, you are blessed with a whole bushel basket full of cousins. How wonderful that you still get to see some of them on a fairly frequent basis. I’m jealous!
Yes, I sure hope we can make it to Wisconsin, too. It will be a wonderful time!
Loved reading your “rambling” post 🙂 We grew up seeing our cousins quite frequently because we had the privelege-sp? of having both my grandparents living in our yard! So cool to be close to them AND see the cousins. We now have an annual first cousins reunion each June. There are 15 of us and we have just one living aunt left so she comes along too, so we can get photos of all of us and her as well. Enjoyed seeing your pictures too! Wendy
Wendy,
How wonderful to grow up with both grandparents living so close to you and to be close to your cousins, as well. I also think it’s cool that you still keep up with your cousins as adults. A lot of times extended family “grows away” from each other as they get older. Enjoy!!
Love this rambling post, very imformative. I always admire early risers. I dont get up for the day until 11 am. Because i work the 3-11 shift and dont get to bed until 1:30 AM. So every day I am kind of behind every one else.
I hope you get to Wisconsin, I certainly understand the feeling of going home to a silo. For me, it’s the foghorn. My favorite is a gray, misty, foggy day by the sea, with the foghorn in the distance. Ahhhhh. I love the rain and the salty air.Pure bliss!
I am looking forward to hearing about your Easter Drama, make sure you ramble about that!
Happy Monday
Lesley,
I will definitely do some rambling about the drama. It’s gonna be cool!
Your description of a foggy day by the sea made me want to go and grab my camera. I’m sure you love love shooting those scenes.
It’s funny how different people have different things that mean “home” to them. A silo. A fog horn. They both mean the same thing.
Becky,
I so hope you are able to go to Wisconsin this summer. I am one of those people who grew up not being very close with my cousins (something I regret), so when I had children, we always made sure that they spent time with their cousins. My husband’s family had four children with my husband being the oldest. I had one brother and was the baby of the family. I always wanted a sister and when I got married, I adopted one, my husband’s younger sister, Cathy. She has been with me through all the good times and all the hard times and is one of my dearest friends. When I lost my dad, she was the most comfort to me, because one, we are both the baby of the family and the only girls and she knew exactly how I felt. Oh my husband understood and stood by me, but she was the one I drew comfort from. I have often wondered how one would make it through a situation like that with having our Lord to lean on. We have always vacationed together and our children grew up more like brothers and sisters than cousins. (I admit, I am a little envious). Okay now I am rambling. I also wanted to let you know that I am going to buy a bike this week (eek, I hope I remember how to ride). Wish me luck. As always, I love starting my day with you.
Gail
Gail,
How exciting that you’re going to buy a bike. You will love it!
Your situation is similar to how Sarah feels getting to “adopt” Meagan as a sister. It’s nice to be able to have the privilege of doing that, as your story so beautifully pointed out.
Thanks for starting your day at Smithellaneous!
I’m with you Becky, I love listening to the birds sing. We had to quit feeding them because of the squirrels (got in our wall) but some still stop at our orange tree & sing a song or two. We had 3 pairs of cardinals & they were so much fun to watch.
We grew up in Cincinnati & were close to our cousins as kids. My nieces never lived there &’its sad that they don’t know their cousins. We go back every year but my brother doesn’t.
Marge,
You have an orange tree? How cool is that?
Glad to know you got to grow up being close with your cousins; you are blessed!
Becky, I so hope you and your family can get to Wisconsin this summer. It is so beautiful any time of year. The joy of having family close by is not something I have been able to experience either, and I must admit I feel it is a loss in my life. A friend of mine was going to her 30th “cousins” reunion, something I couldn’t even fathom.
Loved the unedited Becky, by the way, but must admit I couldn’t see any need for editing in what you wrote.
Hi Liz,
Wow. A 30th cousin’s reunion would be quite the special event; they are a blessed family! I’m sorry you grew up without close family nearby; I can certainly understand the feeling of loss.
As far as this post not needing editing, it helped that I didn’t have to have any “flow” or make sure thoughts or paragraphs connected. I could just type and not think too hard. Which was sort of fun, actually!