Tuesday, October 3, 2017

And The Greatest Of These Is Love


It's very hard to see the world as a horrible place when you're hanging out with this little guy. I went with him and his mama to see Miss Melissa today. Jessie wanted some inches taken off her hair and as always, it was so lovely to see Melissa. Everyone in our family and extended family goes to see her now for our hair-care needs and we all agree, "She is so wonderful."
She is. She just is. She is absolutely another person who reminds me that there are some truly beautiful and amazing and funny and kind and generous and loving humans on this planet. She is a good example of how "just" doing our jobs in the most loving and attentive way possible, treating everyone from children to the elderly with respect and kindness, can truly be a positive force for good.

August sat on my lap the entire time, carefully watching what was going on.
"Melissa do?" he kept asking.
"She's cutting mama's pretty hair," I kept telling him.
"What Melissa do?"
"She's using her scissors and a comb to cut my hair," Jessie kept telling him.
He wasn't sure how much he liked that but he allowed it to happen. Melissa offered to (pretend) cut his hair or just let him sit in the chair, but he said, "No," and that was that.

We went to a nursery and bought seeds to plant and that's where I took the picture up there. He ran around the plants and trees and bushes in pots and explored the ponds and fountains and had a wonderful time. Everything is a joyous discovery for him and I love watching the way he explores and examines and thinks about things.

We went to the crazy Log Cabin buffet for lunch where his favorites were macaroni and cheese, watermelon, crackers dipped in ketchup, and then...he tried chocolate pudding.
And his life will never be the same.

Jessie's belly is getting so lovely and round and full. She is regal. She is glowing. She still moves with such grace. I can't believe how soon this baby will be here. I mean- I really can't believe it. Oh, y'all. I don't know how I'll be able to stand more love.

I just finished listening to an excellent audio version of the book Fair and Tender Ladies by Lee Smith. I highly recommend it. It is an epistolary novel, the story unfolding through the letters of one woman whom I now hold as one of my favorite characters in fiction. At the almost end, she writes something like, "I had thought I'd be a writer but instead, I became a lover. I have loved and loved and loved. I have loved so much that I am fair tired of loving."
I listened to that and I almost cried. I think that when I get near to my time, I will probably be thinking much the same.
And if I do, that will be wonderful. 

I'm working on it. Loving until I am fair tired of it. And then it will be time to die and that will be perfect.

Bless us all. Let's just try to be one of those people who remind others that this world is not all bad. Not at all.

Love...Ms. Moon

18 comments:

  1. He is such a beautiful soul. Look at those eyes! He gives me hope for the future.

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    1. I just reread a post I did about August when he was four days old and I had already fallen into those eyes.

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  2. This post, everything in it, is why I love you.

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    1. Thank you for coming by and taking time to comment. I really appreciate that.

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  4. Fair and Tender Ladies is one of my favorite books ever. I love Lee Smith, but that book is my favorite of hers, by far.

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    1. Oh, Ramona! That makes me happy. Sometimes I think my taste in fiction is just way too low-brow. But dammit- a good story with an incredible voice and sense of place and good writing is what I want. And Fair and Tender Ladies offered that to me on a crazy quilt.

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  5. Nope. The world is glorious. Perhaps filled with good and bad fools, but it's still glorious.

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  6. Chocolate pudding!

    I've never read Lee Smith. I'll watch for it. Meanwhile, I'm sure I've said this before, but I read years ago that having children is the ultimate expression of optimism about the world, and I get that sense when I read your posts about the love you shower on these kids and the love they return to you. It's restorative, an antidote to the craziness.

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    1. Well, you are right about having kids and grandkids. Nothing else on earth could be such an antidote to the crazy. Nothing.
      Not sure if you'd like Lee Smith but you could try her and see. She has a real voice.

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  7. OK, I have my marching orders for today: I'm going to try to be one of those people who remind others that the world is not all bad.

    And you, Ms. Moon, for writing such a beautiful thought in the first place, gives me hope that all is not lost. Thank you.

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    1. Thank-you, Vivian. And I am so happy to see you here. Every time I ever pull another strand of Virginia Creeper, I will think of you! And I am sure that you already are a person who makes the world a better place.

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  8. I love two year olds! and three year olds! your life is so full of love! I talked to one of the twins yesterday for a long time.

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    1. I wonder if I will live long enough to see my grands grow up. Somehow, I don't think so, but one never knows. I love hearing about how you interact with your almost-growns. I know it must be a truly amazing and beautiful thing.

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  9. Thank you for reminding us of all the good.
    Xoxo
    Barbara

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    1. The good is there. I'm not saying that we can hide our eyes from the evil which happens, but we can still see the good. At least, that's what I think.

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Tell me, sweeties. Tell me what you think.