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an everyday life

an everyday life

Tag Archives: Mystery

The White Orchid

11 Wednesday Jan 2012

Posted by Janell in Life at Home

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

Everyday Life, Gift Giving, Married Life, Mystery, Oklahoma Gardening

The orchid arrived without a card. Like the proverbial pair of socks, where two go in the washer and one comes out — the card came up missing when Amy gathered the plant for delivery.

So what I know is that the orchid was given to me by Amy’s mother Barbara — that it came while I was out furniture shopping with my aunt and sister —  and that my husband, who accepted the gift on my behalf, did not think it important to ask for reasons why.

No mystery here.  He never asks.  Nor does he speculate.  This man I married, who in all ways but this lives in the “real’ world rather than a fairy-tale world of make-believe, prefers to think people will tell him all he needs to know about matters of a personal nature — in spite of an entire married life of evidence to the contrary.

Ginny had a baby.
Boy or Girl?
Forgot to ask. 
.
Mike’s getting married.
Where are they registered?
Don’t know.  I’ll ask.
.

Sometimes, as it happens, the generic, ‘just-right-for-all-occasions’ gift becomes a perfect gift to give.  And sometimes, the perfect gift becomes what the recipient would never buy for herself —  a lovely white orchid, eight blooms long — that is not only beautiful, but that has inspired me to expand my gardening knowledge in a way unforeseen.  How much light?  How much water, and so on?  For days now, like a Goldilocks of indoor gardening, I’ve searched for the perfect spot for my new orchid to call home.

The den was good since it was in a highly visible space; too bad the light was weak.  It sat on the kitchen counter for an afternoon, before I worried that the cabinet doors would lop off its blooming head.  The utility room?  Too hidden.   My husband’s office — too full.  The dining room?  Too dark.  Living room?  Too hot.  After days of looking, the ‘just-right’ spot ended on top of a nightstand that offered an abundance of soft light — and as living within mystery so perfectly happens — the nightstand belongs to the person who has no need to ask for reasons why.

I’ve come to appreciate how a lack of curiosity —  that once would have bothered me  to no end — has proved to expand a single gift to become many.  Was it a Christmas gift?  Why yes, I did receive the orchid during the season of Christmas.  Was it a sympathy flower, a way of expressing sorrow at the loss of my mother-in-law — why yes, this too makes perfect sense.  Was Barbara’s gift a way of expressing thanks, for the few tasks my husband and I took on related to the wedding reception?  Well, yes — why not.  All these answers hold merit.  Yet, after days of seeking, I’ve settled on a reason less likely but more generic — one that covers Christmas to sympathy to thanks:  that of friendship – and that I received the gift of a white orchid at all — becomes answer enough.

But what of that other pair of questions tossing around in the laundry, like  — Will Amy ever find the missing card? — And will my husband ever ask why the orchid has come to live on his nightstand? — to these I offer a single answer:  I hope not.

Just Sowing Joy

01 Sunday Jan 2012

Posted by Janell in Life at Home

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Happiness, Joy, Mystery, New Year's Resolutions, OKC Thunder, Russell Westbrook, Soul Care, True Self, Writing

It’s a mystery I don’t need to understand — how the simple acts of putting 2011 to bed and waking up in 2012 — how the mere advancing of clock and calendar can create such energy.  And not just for me.

I am the same person as yesterday.  But I don’t feel the same.  Yesterday felt dark and heavy in spite of it being a beautiful clear, blue sky sort of day.  Where today —  in spite of partly cloudy skies outside my window — I feel lighter in spirit than I have in a long time.  My outlook has changed with the year —  finally, all that fumbling around in the dark night of 2011 might be paying off.  Happy new year — I’ve found the light switch.  And who cares that I can’t account for the change!

Yet, don’t similar unexplainable effects occur elsewhere in life?  In professional sports, for example, energy on the field is often created out of home-court advantage.  Here in Oklahoma City, three days ago, an NBA point guard for the Thunder was having a lousy game in a so far, lack-luster season.  But that changed in an instant, when in the  midst  of the fourth quarter, the hometown faithful began cheering Russell Westbrook on, chanting his name over and over  — RUS-SELL — RUS-SELL — RUS-SELL.

Newspapers all across the nation reported the feel-good story written by Mike Sherman, sports editor for The Oklahoman, which concluded with these words:

“That play — that chant — didn’t win the game. Durant took care of that. But it definitely accomplished something. Westbrook was Westbrook after that. He went 3-of-4 shooting in the fourth quarter, was aggressively pressuring Jason Kidd and became the force of nature the Thunder needs him to be.

His final line wasn’t anything too special: 16 points on 6 of 15 shooting, four assists and seven turnovers. But it was hard to leave the arena without feeling something had turned for Westbrook.

“I just tried to stay positive,” he said. “My teammates kept encouraging me. I know I could come in and change the game defensively. That is what I did, and it led to some offense.”

And a special moment.”

Special moments are nice.  But the a-ha line for me was that “Westbrook was Westbrook after that.”  And that’s all I want — I wish to become myself again, after all that turmoil endured in 2011. And I believe I can do it just as Russell is doing it — by taking three big positive steps:

1.  Surround myself with people who encourage me.

2.  Spend time doing those things that bring me joy.

3.  Pray more — by keeping time in a circle of prayer.  And while Westbrook didn’t mention prayer, I know enough of this place to know Westbrook and all the players — on both sides of the court — were surrounded in a circle of prayer in that arena last Thursday evening.

This short list of ‘gonnas’ sounds a lot like new year’s resolutions, doesn’t it? — those things I’ve avoided making for years.  But it’s a new year and I’m ready to try new things that will sow seeds of joy in my life.  And who knows but that maybe in the mystery of life, my good intentions may help me live into a ‘happy new year.’

Why I’m smiling, just from writing the words, ‘Happy New Year.” Can you imagine the joy I could make with a little confetti and a horn?

“Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it? — every, every minute?”

-- Thornton Wilder, "Our Town"

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