Tag Archives: New Life

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Quiet Winter

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Photo by takahiro taguchi on Unsplash

I travelled to the Northeast several winter’s ago to share joy with a friend who’s sister was having a baby shower. It was in January the dead of winter and the Northeastern hamlets were covered with blankets of snow. Beautiful pristine crystallized vistas met my gaze as we drove into her village. The air was crisp, refrigerated, but pure. The icy air cooled my airways and my lungs gratefully indulged in the clean cold air. As we walked to the front of our cottage where we were staying,  the snow crunched under our feet. Otherwise, there was silence. People were tucked away in their homes, working on keeping warm and cheerful. The promise of a new life  hovered above us.

The community was old and people didn’t usually move away. My friend and I were well into our fifties and she heralded me with stories as far back as baby music school that she and her friend that had attended. Her friend still lived in the village. Their parents were still there too. She had stories that filled the trip with history of her friends and their families. Who they were and how they came to live in the village.

After a quick dinner, we settled into a room on the top floor of the cottage. The cottage was made of beautiful wood from local Ash and Fir trees. All around the cottage was forest. A forest that would not give up and continued to thicken and thrive no matter what. To live in this forest required constant cutting back to maintain your small space amongst the giants. Outside our multi-paned window, lay an evening winter wonderland scene. The snow sparkled as rays of moonlight hit it’s surface. Giant trees cast shadows across the cottage and the landscape.

Photo by jurien huggins on Unsplash

I quickly dressed for bed in warm pajamas and climbed under a huge old comforter covered with a hand stitched quilt. I sunk my head into a soft pillow filled with down. The next thing I knew, light streamed in from the small window and was hitting my eyelids, it was morning. A gentle morning ray that cut across the gray winter sky and provided just enough illumination to establish it was daytime.

 

Photo by Ozgu Ozden on Unsplash

There were no sounds. Just quiet, stillness, my breathing. A sense of peace. It had snowed again during the night.  Fresh diamonds of ice glittered brightly across the landscape, bringing the promise of fresh water in the coming spring and new life.  I felt strangely at home. We bowed down to the cold; to it’s majesty and magic.

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Unclutter Live Free

Photo by Kyle Glenn on Unsplash

When I hit middle age, I looked around and I looked at me. I’m told this happens to everyone and it’s not such a unique thing. Each person makes the journey differently and it’s perfectly tailored for them. This sudden realization is possibly one of the most important things that will ever happen in a person’s life. This is the time when we are forced to stop by life circumstances and take a look around at what’s really going on. There are a myriad of factors that causes this arrest and it’s different for everyone. It can be the natural process of aging, slowing down or something catastrophic such as illness or death. And what really is going on? What are you really doing? Are you where you wanted to be when you reached midlife? Did you achieve and is achieving what you really thought it was? These questions come and don’t go away. You have to make decisions, sort it out in you mind and pick your direction. Like a ship that is meant to sail the seas, we sail through life and it’s currents and conditions. Without navigation the ship will wander, lyst, maybe be overcome by pirates and possibly, ultimately, sink.

So, I hit that point, my ship was lysting, I looked at myself and I realized I was a cluttered person. My life was cluttered, my house was cluttered and what I thought I liked or wanted had changed. So, maybe you’re not like this, maybe you have it together and always did, maybe you are one of those that will just never even think that you could be uncluttered. But the journey never stops and how much do you really want to take with you? Do you want to expend your energy on carrying a load or do you want to fly swiftly with nothing weighing you down as you embark on adventures? I knew what I wanted and so the purge began. The timing was good, because I had to get ready for my daughter’s baby shower. I called in the neighborhood kids and we set to work. Room by room, sorting and disposing of treasures. Funny thing, a few items caused significant hesitancy, but mostly, it was such a relief. These things could now journey to new homes where they were wanted and used and fulfill their purpose. The energy became active and no longer dormant, just sitting and wasting. The air in my house became light, free and moved with energy once again.

Photo by Peter Fogden on Unsplash

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T-painting

The onsies clung to small white handled  bags and dangled from various locations throughout my home. They were on lantern hooks, the front door wreath and the bookcases in my small library.  A blue laundry line traversed the expanse of my kitchen and onesies dangled from blue clothes pins painted in fluorescent and bright colors of every hue. They waved like flags saluting the joy of parenthood and inviting spectators to the event of a new life soon to enter the world.  Messages and love notes from family and friends.  We created wishes with our own hands  for a joyful and happy babyhood.

 

 

We ended up with 50 painted onesies. They were painted by women aged from 4 years old to 79 years old. Each creation was unique. Some hilarious with clever sayings to entertain my daughter and her husband in the darkness of night and some with sweet messages conveying love and caring. Sayings  that would cut through the fatigue of new parenthood, while the new parents were immersed in an endless cycle of feedings and diaper changes for the next two years. Maybe more if they continued to expand their brood.

 

It was a big baby shower.  I wanted to gather everyone there that had been there for us over the years. And new friends too.  Some of them were my daughter’s new friends through marriage or her teaching position.  So here we were; laughing, painting, creating and hosting a party.   The women gathered in and there definitely wasn’t enough room for us all. White rental chairs lined each wall and some of my friends had to sit in the hall.  I tried to make it around to everyone for at least a small chat and was fairly successful. We reminisced and shared our favorite stories.

We had mini 7 layer bean dips with huge corn tortilla chips.  Frozen grapes dipped in vanilla meltaways and rolled in slivered almonds. There was a croissant bar with chocolate humus and honied butter along with cold-cuts and cheese. Baby blue punch in glass decanters with spigots tied with sparkling blue ribbons.  I had kept my head in Pinterest for months looking up recipes and baby shower concepts. They ate and told me they loved the food- they never knew I could cook like that. I had been planning, practicing and plotting for months. The preparation had been an event in itself and  one of my favorite parts of the party.

 

 

 

Games were played, gifts opened.  The time flew and before I knew it, we were picking up chairs and taking down decorations. Sweeping up glitter and pulling brightly colored tissue paper out from underneath the couches where we had stuffed the paper to make room .  The onesies floated back and forth in the cool December breeze.  California sunshine poured down through a cloudless and brilliant blue sky drying the new baby couture.  Smiling faces and kind words floated around me.  After the guests were gone, we had tea. As we sipped, we reviewed the day, the highlights, the catastrophes, the sighting of new and old friends, the joy and the fun.

 

Baby Shower Onesies Activity:

Needed: Dreft(to wash the Onesies, Onesies(any brand, lots of sizes), small paper bags(to be used as hangers), twine, clothespins, paint, brushes, disposable wipes or old clothes to clean up messy hands and floors, aprons(optional), disposable vinyl gloves(optional).

1.) Wash the onesies prior to painting in a baby friendly detergent so the material will shrink a bit and assume a natural shape.  This ensures that when the new Mom washes them, the entertainment will go on, because the painted sayings won’t shrink or get distorted.

2.) Utilize fabric paint.  Fabric paint is the only paint that will be sufficient if you want your works of art to last and the color to hold.  The paint is non-toxic to baby and is easy to work with for novice artists.

3.) Buy bright and fun colors.  No explanation needed for this one.

4.) Buy a multitude of inexpensive disposable brushes made of various materials; such as sponge to create unique prints.

5.) Twine and clothespins. Tie the twine and secure between two nails. Do this  in an area  where you can easily wipe up spills and you don’t mind if it gets sprinkled with paint.

6.) Hang a line with samples over the activity area, so guests can get inspired.

6.) Laugh, make jokes, get creative and have fun!