The Answer Is Blowing In The Wind

The older I get, the more often I rely on what I learned as a child.  The way we lived when I was a child just seems to make more sense now in this fast paced, break neck speed, high technology, modern convenience world.

Over a month ago, my daughter and I stared at yet another ridiculously high electric bill.  We had made great effort to reduce our energy consumption.  We turned off lights when not needed, we only washed clothes in cold water, we ran fans instead of the air conditioner and other little modifications in hopes of bringing down this big monthly expense.  Naturally the increase in gas prices ( now at 3.72 per gallon as of this writing) spurred this need to cut corners where possible.

Despite our efforts, the electric bill was again 340 dollars.  Now I could see if this was the time of year when everyone was home and more energy was being used throughout the day but that was not the case.  The house was empty for 9 hours each day.  We could not figure out what was stealing our energy and thus our money.

Then I remembered what I had always heard, the dryer will use more energy than anything else in the house.  A family of four, that is us, required a minimum of 5 loads of laundry including towels and such. So we tried an experiment.  For one month, we would line dry our clothes.

Rainy days we hung our clothes on hangers in the laundry room or bathroom.  It took a little longer but if you don't procrastinate, you can keep up with the laundry.  When the weather turned sunny and warm, I strung a clothes line between two giving trees.  I chose a location which was not visually disturbing to neighbors and made sure that undergarments were hung up in the laundry room.  I found it odd that I should have to go to my neighbors and ask them if they minded me putting up a clothes line, but I did.  No one minded and when my sheets are out there blowing in the breeze, I know they envied the wonderful smell that filled the linens.

There really is nothing quite like the sight of a clothesline and its bounty dancing in the breeze.

I love hanging clothes.  I suppose when you get the chance to do it again, the way you did it as a child, you find yourself back long ago, hanging clothes in the yard you knew as a kid.  It brings back memories and more importantly the details of those memories.  As with the passage of time, only the best memories have clarity.

Now a month has passed and the new electric bill has arrived.  What a difference.  The prior bill was 340 dollars.  The new bill a mere 199 dollars.

I saved money, enjoyed the wonderful smell of clothing and sheets dried on the line and even get to spend a few minutes moving back in time.

If you get the chance to try turning your back on the modern convenience that is called the electric dryer, I encourage you to do so.  You will enjoy the time as well as the money that stays in your pocketbook.

Wallets and Purses

This evening, darling Pepper made his way into my bedroom.  Sasha was not amused and has determined that this intruder is a threat to her bedroom.  Now Pepper is pretty much odd man out.  Since Cayce has joined our home, he finds his food eaten by this noisey, active non-cat creature.  Pepper has become elusive.  He only really comes out now when that heathen dog has go to bed for the night.

Tonight, I saw him making his way slowly through my door, mindful that the mighty Sasha would be watching his every move.  I gave him a little food and then sat with him on the floor for awhile. By the way, I'm convinced that it is very good for the soul to sit on the floor now and again.  My purse was within arms reach and open.  I noticed my watch inside and vaguely remembered tossing it in my purse when we were packing to leave because of the fire.  I'm still walking around packed bags in various rooms in the house.  I suppose we haven't returned to normal just yet.  Not til we've had enough rain can we really let our guard down and not think about the threat of fire starting or returning.

As I sat on the floor with Pepper, I decided while I was down there, protecting him, I would clean out my purse.  I began pulling out my wallet and dollars just shoved down inside from the last trip to the grocery store.  You know the moment they hand you your receipt, the coin change and the dollars all at the same time and the person behind you is already shoving their cart into your space.  So I secured the loose bills inside my wallet and continued cleaning.

Pepper ate some and Sasha moved from the bed to near my computer chair and just sat there, wide eyed and staring at Pepper.  I could feel the love.  As I continued my journey into the abyss that is my purse, I came across a CD that a friend had made for me.  I remember sitting at work and she came by my window and handed me this CD of music.  I promised her I would listen to it but I'm sure I was busy at work and just stashed it in my purse for another day.  Another day that hasn't yet happened.  There is sat in my purse.  I pulled it out and looked at it.  She had listed the songs and the artists and then wrote "Love Mary".  She's just thoughtful that way.  When I put out a call to friends that I was looking to reuse some of their glass jars with lids, she faithfully brought me her cleaned peanut butter jars.  I was beginning to think that's all she ate as she was bringing them so often.  But I was grateful to her for remembering me.

I held the CD and thought to myself.  Mary had given the CD to me about a week before the fire.  Now Mary's home was completely gone.  How much life had changed in a week.

I continued my journey through my purse.  Pulling out receipts and crumpled grocery lists, stacking them up for later discard.  Then I pulled out these stickers.  I remembered getting those stickers last Saturday.  My Son and I had headed out to the Producers Market on the edge of town.  As we slipped down the alley behind Main street, I saw the firefighters were collecting money for charity.  I had reached down in my purse and pulled out the loose change and dropped it into the boot held by the fireman.  He was smiling and friendly and grateful.  He had handed us the stickers for our donation.

Our trip to the Producers Market took less than an hour and as we back tracked our way home, heading down the same alley, we saw the same fireman and the same boot, made another donation and received more stickers. 

I held those three stickers and thought about how none of us knew on that Saturday that 24 hours later, that fireman would be out there in those woods and in those fields fighting the fire of his life.  None of us knew how life would change for everyone.  We were just going about our daily lives. 

As I finished cleaning my purse, I wondered how long it would be before I stopped associating things with that day the fire started.  Oh I did this just before the fire started, or I went there to eat the morning the fire started.  The fire has become the mental time marker.  Maybe the moment it started was the end of one life and the beginning of another.  Maybe that's why it seems so important and noteworthy.

Mostly likely its because those four days with the fires were so traumatic, even if you lost nothing, that all we can remember is before it started and then its as if we woke up four days later when the smoke cleared.  Long days with no sleep and constant fear does odd things to our mental  perceptions.

Either way, the purse is cleaned, the stickers are tucked away in my wallet as a reminder that life can change in an instant.  A reminder that I will not take a moment for granted.  Never again.

And neither should you.

Two Mothers, One Day

Today, I celebrated the birth of my son.  Twelve years ago today, he was given to me and since that day, has done nothing but bless me and my world.  It is an  honor and a privilege to be  his mom.  He and I talked about that day twelve years ago and I did my best to share what memories I still have of that event.  He listened eagerly to the details of his entrance into this world and asked for more.  He's at that age where knowing where he came from means as much as where he is and where he might go.

I headed off to work and My Son went to school.  I thought of him often on this special day.  As busy as I was, I found time to think of him and to feel the excitement of his birthday.  I was happy and I knew he was too.

Then came word that a former student had been killed in an auto accident earlier in the morning.  My heart sank.  I felt sick inside.  I saw tears on the faces of family members as they exited the building, heading home to be with their family on this horrible day.  Their pain was palatable.  It was familiar and it was awful.  Losing someone suddenly is unimaginable and if it hasn't happened to you, well, then you can never fully understand how it feels and what it does to a person, to a family..

As I sat and thought about this day, I realized that there were two mom's today, thinking about their sons.  One was crying uncontrollably, the other smiling and handing over a birthday surprise to small waiting hands.  For very different reasons, both moms found their minds racing to recapture all the years that have gone by.  Both mom's digging deep within their memories, recalling moments of their sons learning to walk, going to Kindergarten, reaching new height marks on the door where they measured growth.  Two moms on the same day.  One mom mourning the loss of her son, the other celebrating  her son's gift of life.

While I marvelled at My Son today, at how much he had grown, how much he had changed, I thought about that other mom as well.  I held my son a little tighter and kissed him more knowing that this one day, this extra day was his gift to me.  That today, I was spared what the other mom was enduring.

May I never know her pain.

Happy 12th Birthday!!!