Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Joy Dare: Days 9-11

Day 9 - A gift in your hand, A gift you walked by, a gift you sat with.

In my hand? My iPhone. Don’t laugh. It seems somehow irreverent to be so thankful for an iPhone, but seriously, how cool is today’s technology? I read a funny quote yesterday, something like ‘One day, I will tell my grandchildren I am older than the internet and blow their minds’. It’s TRUE! What on earth did we do before there was the Great and Mighty Google?

A gift I walked by? Every day in my new home, I walk by my laundry room. Did you catch that? A laundry ROOM! It’s not a closet off the hallway. It’s its own ROOM! Never in the history of forever has anyone been more grateful for a laundry room, I don’t think. My daughter even made me a sign for my new laundry room and I put a little M&M tin next to it to catch all the loose change.




A gift I sat with? This one is easy. My father in law. Yesterday I took lunch to my in laws. No real reason, just because. My MIL was having a hard day, so I took them some soup and some flowers to brighten up her day. And for a few minutes while my mother in law was out, I chatted with my FIL.

He is quite ill, living with the after-effects of 25 years of brain cancer and the damage the cancer itself and the treatment has caused. He can barely hear you or be heard himself, so those few minutes of quiet I spent with him were sweet. We had a rare moment of communication.

When my first son was born, 20 years ago we gave him the middle name of his grandfather, assuming that this would be the only grandchild he would ever meet. The doctors had not given him long to live. That was 20 years, 10 grandchildren and one great grandchild ago. Every day with my FIL simply being present on this earth, is a gift.



Day 10

A gift that’s sour, A gift that’s sweet, a gift that’s just right.

Sour? Humm. That’s a hard one for me. I don’t like sour. Literally or metaphorically, but I guess without the sour in juxtaposition to the sweet, we would not appreciate how wonderful the sweet really is.

Sweet? Hello? Chocolate! I cannot imagine a life without chocolate.

Just right?
This. This family God gave me. I would have chosen differently, probably. I wanted more children, but God said ‘No. This is just right.' And it is. Just right.



Day 11

Three yellow things that strike you as fresh mercy.

I LOVE yellow!

When we moved into this house I knew I wanted yellow somewhere. Yellow is happy, yellow is bright, yellow is cheery. You can’t be sad in a yellow room. Yellow will not allow sadness. I painted our dining room yellow. It was purple when we bought the house.



This room makes me happy.

We've had a few dreary days here so I picked up some yellow tulips the other day to bring a little cheer to the house. Tulips are my favorite flower and yellow tulips are like sunshine in a vase!



And, of course, the best yellow of all…



1 comment:

Unknown said...

Tricia, this is all lovely. Someday I want a whole room in my house painted yellow...probably the kitchen. I love that you have a yellow dining room! So happy!