friends in high places...

Hello blog... just stopping by to say hello. Yesterday was Ben & Hannah's date night. They had dinner together, watched some artsy version of Aladdin, ate ice cream, & went for a late night walk down our unlit country road. I know they saw some bats and looked at the stars, but other than that I can't say much about it, because I wasn't invited. ^_^ Daniel, Snow, Emmeli, & I all watched Shirley Temple. Daniel really likes the Shirley Temple movies, which I think is pretty cute. He did purposely look for one that had guns in it though. Kinda weird, huh, sitting down to watch Shirley Temple & reading the descriptions to find which cute little movie with the cute little girl has some sort of battle scene in it? 0_O Well, you can't have a battle scene without someone dying, and someone did die. It was Shirley's friend (a Scottish general) & he was so sweet. It was kind of sad, but I know he didn't really die, because it was just a movie. Anywho, the kids wondered why I thought the guy was Scottish. He was wearing a kilt, had a pretty thick Scottish accent & was always hanging out with this one guy who played the bagpipes. You can decide for yourself. So this reminds me... Yesterday Snow & I went out together (we had to go to WCC) and two people told us we looked like twins. We were not dressed at all alike & Snow had on a headband & I did not. The other day we went out together & the same thing happened, but the cutest of all was this little old Indian man we ran into at Whole Foods. He had such a strong Indian accent, like the guy in Terminal who says, "Do you have an appointment?" Like the others, he asked if we were twins, & after we chatted with him for a sec, he said "God Bless." I didn't think much of it, because it's kind of a generic thing to say. I thought he was just being nice & possibly talking about a god that I'm not familiar with. I just smiled and said the same. So, a few minutes later we were checking out & there he was again, & he was talking again. He asked where Snow went to school & when she said she was homeschooled, he said, "Oh, so you can learn to say things like God bless." You have to understand that his accent was such that you almost couldn't understand what he was saying, but I heard that & at this point I really started to pay attention. He went on to ask Snow if she knew about Girls on the Run & Upwards Basketball and I'm thinking How does this guy know about these things? I wasn't thinking that so much because he was Indian, but because of his age. These are fairly new organizations. Anyway, he went on to ask us where we go to church & invited us to his Baptist church & I just can't tell you how cute & smiley he was; & so full of surprises too! It totally made my day. This picture is titled Little Rider from the Way-Away Land, which I think is rather appropriate. ^_^

some people are easily amused...

So this is what I liked most about my trip to Cedar Point.. I liked listening to the announcer for our first ride who didn't speak English very well. He only knew key words like line, hands inside, seatbelt.... The rest of the announcement sounded like all one word, and it sounded to me like Rastafarian, but Ben said it was Ukrainian. Ha. ^_^ Have you ever heard Rastafarian rap? or can you imagine being at a public auction in Jamaica? It was something like that. I also loved our little chat with the young lady we bought our lunch from who was most definitely from Jamaica. I loved the look on her face when she sat back in her chair and grinned with slightly raised eyebrows & told us the 3 burgers & 2 orders of chicken tenders with water & no fries totalled $53. I liked seeing the rides all lit up as we were leaving. I loved carrying & cuddling my 9 year old daughter as if she was 3, because she felt completely out of sorts after getting off a ride that even I was terrified to get on. (Daniel would say that the fact that I was terrified to get on that ride is not saying much, but I looked it up and it's one of the tallest and fastest roller coasters in the world. It's called the Millenium Force if you want to look it up.) When I got off that ride, there were only two things on my mind, TOO MUCH & TOO SOON. But this is a blog about what I liked about the park, so what else? Hmmm. Think. Think. Think. There was a girl who stood in line behind us for about 2 hrs. who didn't say much or smile much even though she was with a friend. I got the impression that she had been through a lot for someone so young and that she was a bit "mad at the world". Then, at the very end of the line as we were getting on the ride, she gave up her spot in line so our family could ride together. She smiled and her eyes were bright & she said, "You have a very lovely family." I appreciated the compliment, but what I liked most was seeing that dramatic change in her expression. She looked like a different person & I learned something about making judgements about people. (I was still thinking about that when I went to bed last night.) It was sweet the way Snow & Hannah walked hand in hand through the park at times. I got to eat dippin' dots. It cracked me up to see Ben throw money to the wind all day, but then get really annoyed when he had to pay $2 for a locker because they wouldn't let him take his bag on a ride. That was funny to me. At one point during the day I whispered in Ben's ear, "Want to hear a secret? I don't really like amusement parks." I don't think I've ever told anyone that before. For some reason, I find that a little embarrassing. He whispered back, "I already knew that about you." ^_^ Periodically throughout the day he would lean over & say, "Everything's okay." Even though it was perfectly obvious that everything was okay, I appreciated the reminder. I have such a lovely family. I haven't mentioned Daniel yet, but I will. ^_^ At the end of the night when we divided up some cotton candy, when choosing between pink & blue, Daniel studied both bags very carefully to see which one had more, then said, definitively, not "I'll take that one" or "I'll take pink", but "I like pink cotton candy." (You can picture here a cute little boy about five years old snatching & hugging a bag of cotton candy like a pillow or a stuffed teddy.) In his defense, Daniel has informed me that blue cotton candy stains your mouth. ^_^ You're so cute, Daniel. I love you, buddy.

 

the unnamed...

"(Courage) is when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what." ~a quote from To Kill a Mockingbird. That book made me laugh. I can remember when I read it a few years ago. I'd be in a waiting room or sitting on a park bench and I would just laugh & giggle & never look up to see who was watching. I need to read it again. But I saw this quote just recently and it reminds me of Snow- especially the part where it says no matter what. Yesterday we (or I) had a good laugh about the "unnamed". Just to clarify, I wasn't really laughing at the unnamed itself, I was laughing at Snow's reaction to the fact that someone tried to mention it in reference to a song, while remaining vague on the details so as not to create an ordeal. I know you must be curious, & I would love to describe her reaction, but I don't think I can. Maybe one day I'll be a better writer & I'll come back to it. Anyway, we don't like talking about the unnamed, especially so close to Christmas, but the thing is of no conseqence, so don't worry that I'm not going to tell you what it is. It's Snow's courage that we're talking about here & it's her courage that I want you to remember. I will never forget what she did, (especially since we have it on video tape...and now on my blog). It was a daring choice, mindfully decided. It may be funny, it will always be funny, but more than that it's remarkably revealing, showing the world just what she's made of. It's like this... Einstein said, "If you judge a fish by it's ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid." Snow, you looked at that tree and you jumped, and flapped your tail, and tried to wiggle your way up into the branches. You did it, not because you wanted to be a tree creature, but to overcome the fear that would keep you from jumping out of the water; and you did it by your own choice. You've got moxie! You are nothing to laugh at. You are absolutely lovely, strong, inspiring, and brave beyond measure. You looked your worst fear in the face and refused to back down. All those who were distracted by the monkeys couldn't see it, but really there was nothing to see anyway. "What is essential is invisible to the eye." ~Le Petit Prince (1943)