Her incoherent mumble of the morning draws me to my feet and I meet her lifted head as I walk into her room. Again she mumbles something, this time I can hear, "is it 10? Oh my goodness...I am so tired, I have been working all night..." I am standing at her bedside now speaking bits of words in response to hers...she goes on to say, "my heart is racing...I was working so hard...there were so many dishes...and we had to go on a trip and when I looked at the clock and saw that it was 10, I thought, 'there is NO way we will make it on time'".
This is generally the way my mornings start out with my 94 year old grandma, though the dream changes, the realness of it, for her, is always the same.
She is beautiful.
Joy throughout the day?
Adele, Neil and Dusty with Grandma in the car, driving through the rain...overwhelmed by the scene and can't help but let the joy-filled tears roll down my face in silence, though my thoughts are heard by He Who has given me eyes to see and has filled me with the joy beheld in this moment.
Encouraged by the "Joy Dare" (http://www.flickr.com/photos/21570503@N03/6639233869/)
January 24th - take joy in 3 things blue:
1) she'll be waking soon...the blue of grandma's slippers and housecoat, warming by the fire to welcome her from her dreams to breathe the breath of God for another day and I am able, for another day, to be in her company, by God's grace, by God's mercy, by God's provision, by God's love....marked by the color of blue.
2) most times I believe I can do anything as long as I am wearing gloves and/or rubber boots. Today, I take great joy in my blue superman rubber gloves... I love the smell of dawn dish soap (which also happens to be blue), it reminds me of my youth...babysitting. I always preferred washing dishes in the kitchens of others, it seemed they always had dawn...we had the the cheap lemon-scented generic stuff that had the satiation longevity equal to that of chinese food...5 minutes in and we had to add more soap. Anyway, my blue gloves protect my hands from the too-hot-for-skin-dish water that assures germ-free cleanliness. Give me rubber gloves over a dishwasher any day!
3) her blue eyes...though they don't work as they once did, they still show off so much of her...her giddiness is in her eyes...her weakness is in her eyes...her love is in her eyes...her simple beauty is in her eyes...her stories are in her eyes...her loss is in her eyes...her courage is in her eyes...
Love you!
