Mushrooms: From My Lawn To My Tummy

Yesterday, I had a less than desireable day. While driving home, I decided to mow the lawn when I got home, to take my mind off things. I finished mowing and was workin’ the weed eater when along comes a lady walking by. She asked me if she could cut the mushrooms from my front lawn. Well, that intrigued me, of course. My curiosity got the best of me as per usual, and I had plenty of studying to procrastinate from, so I engaged her and asked her to tell me all about the mushrooms, and how she knew they were edible. She mentioned she was from Russia and she grew up knowing about mushrooms, and that Americans are so out of touch with nature. She said this kindly, but matter-of-factly, and I agreed with her!  So, we knelt down on the grass and I got my first mushroom lesson. She taught me how to cut them, wash them… and how to cook them. Then she looked at me and said, “now you probably want to keep them.” And she was right… now I wanted to keep them, cook them and eat them… so I offered to split them with her… She gave me her phone number and told me to call her and tell her how they were. When we got up from the grass, I realized that she had made my day and I felt so much better. I shared that with her and… turns out that she had had a rotten day too, and now felt much better. Such a beautiful thing when we stop to interact with one another. I was touched by her sharing a part of life with me, and she was touched by someone being interested. It was a mutually beautiful thing.

So… tonight, I cut, cleaned and cooked the mushrooms, exactly how she had taught me… and they were delicious!!!

Thinkin’ about posting again soon…

Talk about hiatus… a year is a bit long… so much creativity has happened, and been stifled at the same time… I feel myself emerging once again… maybe I should write about it!!!

Grad School is getting to me…

So, the last time I posted, I had just started grad school…. Well, that explains why I haven’t posted since! I will be posting soon. Thanks for visiting.

Bus Etiquette

So, I started grad school, or at least I started a preliminary class. I have been driving in to my new neighborhood, where I will be living and parking at that house, then taking the bus in to the city… (Thus, saving about 40 bucks in parking alone, not to mention gas!!) I have enjoyed taking the bus, I must say… it makes me feel more connected to life here. I have a few things to learn, however…

I got yelled at by a lady a few days ago when I tried to board the bus and she was still getting off… It was a huge opening, and we both would have fit… But, I obviously did not know the bus etiquette to allow people to fully disembark before embarking!!! Seems like common sense, but I just wasn’t thinking, I s’pose. She was fully right, however… I was in the wrong!!

To top it off, after she yelled at me and I eventually got on the bus… I went to put my buck seventy-five in the slot and the bus driver put his hand over the slot and said, “Pay when you leave.”… Yet another rule… I’ll get the hang of it, eventually!!

Good stuff. Glad I’m taking the bus. Glad the lady yelled at me, and that I had to sit in embarrassment, with no real escape… it was good for me. I am better for it… much more aware of bus etiquette, and those around me.

Fathers: Absent or Present?

Today I was standing in the back of the church where I attend and as I looked out at the group of people seated in front of me, I thought about all the fathers out there, and smiled to myself. Then I began to think of all the people I know in that group of people, and beyond, who had absent fathers growing up… in one sense or another: absent physically, emotionally, economically… yet absent, and all that they deal with each day as a result of their father’s absence.

As I stood in front of the kids that I lead on Sunday mornings… it occurred to me how the kids in front of me represented a small cross section of the kids in the world… growing up with or without fathers.

In the past year, more than ever, I have begun to realize the importance of the role of a father in a child’s life. No man is perfect, woman either for that matter… But if we bring children into the world, there comes an opportunity to respond to that child… to love and care for them in the best way we can. My prayer for fathers this year is that they choose to be present with their children, in a way that will allow the children of today to grow up with a foundation of love as opposed to a foundation of fear and pain.