Thursday, July 29, 2021

Birthday, Part II


 That is what my beautiful and delicious cake looked like after I'd cut it and served us all. Such a gorgeous cake. It made me feel so spoiled, as did the dinner Lis made. Well, the men grilled the snapper but Lis made the rest. 


And had set the table with such grace, hydrangeas and cotton bolls as decoration. It was all perfection, or, as I said to Jessie just now via text, "A true Williamson/Moon martini feast and fest."

Sigh...

I took the day slowly yesterday. Woke up from the funkiest dream of having a birthday in an alternate life as a woman who lived with her, uh, man and two children in a sleezy truck stop motel. In my dream I said, "This is the worst birthday ever!"
It was another one of those movie-dreams. I have no idea who the man was, did not recognize my children, and there were no other characters who were known to me. My favorite part of it was when I discovered that the man had hidden some vials of cocaine and I was angry because he had not sold them and we REALLY NEEDED THE MONEY!
My mind must be bored (out of its skull?) to have to come up with this insanity. 
It took me a little while to shake off the mood the dream movie had left me in and after I'd been up for a few hours, just doing this and that, I decided that what I wanted to do was to go lay eyes on my big kids and squeeze them tightly. 
So I did. 
I surprised May at work and we stood and chatted for awhile. God, it was just so good to see her. I gave her a jar of pickled peppers one of Moon Sauce, and then let her get back to work. Next I drove over to Hank and Rachel's house. Rachel was at work but I got to sit and visit with Hank and I gave HIM a jar of dill pickles and a jar of dilly beans. 
I'm the pickled foods fairy. 

And the rest of the afternoon I just lazed away and Mr. Moon gave me some beautiful and much appreciated presents. A new Le Creuset pot, just the right size for two people, and a new knife which is like no other knife I've ever seen. It's Asian and could double as deadly jewelry it's so pretty. He also gave me a new knife sharpener. 
The man knows me so well. He was saying later to Lon and Lis that he felt sort of bad- like the guy who gives his wife a vacuum cleaner for her birthday- but I informed him that there was no comparison because I HATE vacuuming but love to cook and the joy of having the very best tools is a glory that I can enjoy every day of my life. 
And it is. 

And then the drive out to the country where Lon and Lis are staying and martinis and porch sitting and chatting and stirring potatoes that were slowly, slowly being browned in butter and it was just the best. We watched the evening come on and the birds flying home overhead and a hawk, darting beneath the pecan trees. 
It could not have been better.

I went to bed last night sweetly buzzed, happy, and content. 

Today I did some chores and then took Lily her van which we had here because it had needed some repair work and Mr. Moon had taken it to the guy down the road who has a shop. And then Lily drove me back here where I picked up my husband and we all met up again at the Wacissa for the swim I did not get yesterday. Mr. Moon desperately needed to get his body in that cold water. He spent the entire morning and half the afternoon helping to unload a dump truck full of dirt which turned out to be red clay which is hard as hell to shovel and he was so absolutely overheated and exhausted that I was honestly worried for him. The guy he was helping was SEVENTY-NINE YEARS OLD and has recently been in the hospital for six weeks with covid and all I can tell you is that men are insane. 

When we got to the river, there were so many people and kids running about and yelling but slowly, folks started packing up and heading home and suddenly, it was almost eerily quiet. 



And once again, the river worked its magic and I could feel my entire being cooling off and relaxing, settling into a place of contentment and comfort. Glen and Lily and I gossiped and talked in-between dips in the icy water, watching the children, enjoying it all. A little boy with blonde curls came right up to Mr. Moon and I swear I thought he was going to climb up into his lap but he just wanted to make a new friend. His mother told us that he's the youngest of four boys and that he wants to make friends everywhere. Maggie met a dog which made her happy and Gibson found friends to play with. Owen had to content himself with merely swimming about. 

Now we're home and I still feel cooler, calmer. And as if my birthday has stretched for two days which is nice. I don't know what it is about swimming in that spring-fed water but it absolutely does make me feel reborn and I know I've beat the dead horse on that particular metaphor but I really have no other words to describe the feeling. 
And if there's anything a sixty-seven year old woman needs, it's to occasionally feel reborn. 
Or as often as possible, to be truthful. No preacher, pastor, priest or pope necessary. Just the cold water that bubbles forth from the aquifer in all of its pure sweetness.

Love...Ms. Moon

12 comments:

  1. My, my, my! What a birthday you are having. I hope it lasts you another week or two. I had a dream that I was at work, and I was anxious to finish and get to my daughter in laws. I felt terrible because she was not only caring for her daughter, but she was taking care of my baby as well. I woke up wondering what the heck that was all about. My baby boy is 35 and she's been taking awfully good care of him for 7 years now.

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  2. What a great narrative of a great birthday for a great woman. Go you, Mary!

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  3. Will there be a Birthday Part III tomorrow? Being sixty seven isn't so bad but why is my right elbow hurting with a dull ache? I swear I didn't do anything wrong.

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  4. Well, Ms PFF, sounds like it was a perfectly, pickled, fabulous, fairy kind of day. :)

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  5. Sounds fantastic! I can't believe a 79-year-old man is shoveling out a dumptruck full of dirt, even with help. (Don't dumptrucks dump, anyway? Why does he have to empty it with a shovel?)

    Glad the dinner with Lon and Lis went well, and glad you got to see connect once again with the family. You have the most interesting dreams. I NEVER dream anything that unusual!

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  6. Sounds like a terrific birthday! You deserve it!

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  7. It sounds like a lovely birthday. I hope your year is filled with family,food and happy times.

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  8. I can think of no better birthday than this. The river probably does have healing properties. A metaphor about being reborn in water is never overused.

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  9. As is so often the case the end of your post sets me thinking or finishes on a tangential thought... the need to feel reborn; no priest, pastor or pope necessary... I'd drink to that if I wasn't teetotal.

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  10. Sounds like a perfect day, except for the weird dream! What color Le Creuset did you get?

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  11. a lovely perfect day or two. I do wish we had the Wacissa here.

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