Everyday Stories

When I was in High School, I was blessed to be in a fabulous choir called the Socastee Singers. We specialized in a cappella Madrigals and teaching one another life lessons.  We cried and we sang and we laughed and we had family traditions. One of the our silliest traditions being our talent for changing from street clothes to formals in less than 5 minutes on a bus without showing any inappropriate skin 😉  But our favorite tradition was circle time: it was where we met to talk about serious issues including 9/11 after shocks, grades, disagreements, and to sing our school Alma Mater written to the tune of “Oh, Christmas Tree” at the end of each class.

My first year in this singing family, we were privileged to sing in Carnegie hall. We joined other choirs to form the “National Youth Choir.”  It was my first plane ride and my first visit to a large city. It was magical.

Yesterday, a friend uploaded recordings of the Socastee Singers. Scroll down to enjoy our Carnegie performance.  Track 5 “The Jabberwocky” is my personal favorite.  It’s a Lewis Carroll Poem with tons of made up words.  We had so much fun!

This is my year of Trusting Him, so instead of tears and why’s as I mourn the loss of my 3rd cat I’m writing a memorial to celebrate 4 1/2 blessed years with sweet Moonbeam kitty.

I met Moonbeam cat on 27 June 2005 when my roommate Virginia cried out, “Hey, Missy! You’ve got to come see this!”  She was sitting on the porch with a tiny orange and white kitten on her shoulders. Off next to her was another grey and white kitten. He had jumped up on there all by himself and was the most affectionate cat.  Virginia, who is allergic to cats, insisted that I call my fiance Derek right that instant so that he could keep them.

We begged and pleaded and whined to get Derek to agree to take the cats. He agreed on one condition: only if they were at the condo on their own the next evening and only if we did not feed them.  Virginia later confessed that she fed them soymilk.  The following morning I let them nibble some of my pancakes as I ate breakfast with them on the porch.  When I came home that evening, Virge had the little babies pinned up in the bathroom.  Derek was getting sweet kittens whether he liked it or not (and he loved it!). I grabbed food, a litter box, and a kennel and drove them 3 hours to live with Derek in Clinton, SC.  We named them Moonbeam and Shadow.

Moonbeam and Shadow kept Derek company in that lonely year before we married.  They snuggled up next to his feet in bed, climbed his curtains, pooped in his bath tub, and wrestled on every surface in that house!  Derek and I married the following May and we loved to watch those sweet kittens run at each other head on and meet in a bundle of fur midair. Moonbeam and Shadow also loved taking evening walks with us around the block.

In September we moved to Travelers Rest.  Moonbeam was terrified of the three horses that lived across the street. For over a week our city cat lived in this giant oak tree.

He out grew his fear of the horses and soon was sitting in the horse pasture teasing the dogs every morning at 6 am sharp 😉 

Moonbeam had a rough adjustment to his country kitty life.  Moonbeam lost his buddy Shadow, made a new friend in Dipstick kitty, and lost Dipstick kitty too 🙁  Finally, we got Olive cat.  They were friends on a limited basis:  as long as Olive cat got to eat out of the food dish first. He had many trips to the vet for abscesses and such, but the best trip was for stitches.  Stitches for what?  Why that crazy cat got pecked by an evil mocking bird!

Eventually he loved his country life.  He spent his days hunting, teasing dogs, watching the horses, and, of course, going on walks with me and Derek like he was a dog on a leash.

Finally we moved to this house last Novemeber.  I attempted to make him an inside kitty for fear that the suburbs would kill him.  My first trimester with the girls passed during that inside time.  He laid on my stomach as if he were keeping the eggs warm every day when I napped.  Finally, I could keep him in the house no longer (due to his destructive stir craziness) and I let him out.

Moonbeam kitty hasn’t been home now for over 2 weeks and we miss him like crazy.  Every flash of orange looks like it might be him.   But most of all we miss seeing him greet us when we came home rolling in the driveway in his excited plea for attention.

As my life moves forward into the unknown blessings of raising these two girls, I feel as if I’m losing and finding myself. Change is inevitable and change in circumstances is what grows us. Yet for a moment, let me remind myself who I am and introduce that person to you.

When I was fifteen my sister and I spontaneous raced to the van from a restaurant. I’m an endurance runner and my sister a sprinter. I had no chance at success, but I sure tried hard! At the end of the race, which she won, I fell and landed under the van. I had broken my wrist, and had done so by tripping over a speed bump.

I tell you that short story because it ultimately describes who I am.  I love spontaneity; the joy of doing something unexpected.

I’m more than just an endurance runner: I’m an endurance person.  I like slowness, perseverance, the working toward something good at a steady pace.  My character is to plod on slowly and intentionally.  And yet, my biggest temptation is to sprint.  To sprint against myself, but also to sprint against others and to compare myself to them. When I sprint, I am miserable.  I breath heavy in horrible puffs of self-doubt or worse: complaining.  When I sprint, I am broken like my wrist was broken; if I am soft-hearted that brokenness brings me back to my Creator.

And yet above all that, I am quirky.  Honestly, how many people are quirky enough to break their wrist on a speed bump, to host barbarian night with children where they eat with their hands, to turn cartwheels five months pregnant, or to enjoy romantic walks with her husband outside in summer thunderstorms?

When my sister and I were younger, my dad brought home the most amazing watermelon ever! Perfect in every way, this watermelon was sweet, juicy, and perfectly ripe. The three of us gobbled this watermelon up, but Mom wouldn’t touch it. This perfect watermelon had “abnormal” yellow-flesh.
I never forgot that watermelon and so when I was married and planning my own garden, I looked for yellow-fleshed watermelon seeds. A whole colorful world of heirloom seeds was opened to me in one google search. Tomatoes in red, yellow, pink, purple, white, and even striped ones! Watermelons with red, orange, yellow, and white flesh. Eggplants came in orange. And there were millions of vegetable varieties only available to those who would grow them at home. My garden has been “abnormal” ever since and there is little hope that it will ever be again!

Here’s a little sampler of what’s maturing in my tiny plot this year:

Purple Queen Green Beans (these turn green when cooked!)

California Wonder Pepper

Lilac Pepper

Radiator Charlie’s Mortgage Lifter Tomato

And a volunteer sunflower that makes me smile (even if most of my tomatoes are rivaling it’s four foot height!)