Indian Summer, Closing

Thursday, October 20, 2005

Wednesday evening was spent with OLeif and Collette talking over good things – he was always such a comfort, encouraging her in her journey, in living for Christ, and taking joy in each day, as it came. After dinner, he scooted off to youth while Collette sorted through pictures in the process of organizing an album. And she couldn’t decide which of the following bouquets to send Diana for her 21^st birthday:

#1 – 3 orange Gerbera daisies, 4 blue iris, 4 yellow spray chrysanthemums, and 4 yellow and orange lilies.

#2 – petite hocus pocus roses – gorgeous dark red, almost black roses with splashes of lemon color across each bloom

#3 – 15 stems of assorted red, yellow, and orange Gerbera daisies and yellow solidaster and salal

#4 – 10 bright yellow sunflowers and greenery

There were plants too – Canterbury bells, for instance. Decisions, decisions…

(16:37pm) The weather was perfect that Thursday morning, gray as doves, and full of misty rain. The air smelled spectacularly of freshly wet leaves and the gold trees fairly glowed. There was white tea for breakfast, however, as Collette’s throat was sore. And hot soup for lunch.

Ivy talked more about Megan, and how they would hopefully take their annual drive that weekend to look at the autumn leaves together, with a soda from Quiktrip, something salty and something chocolate. And they would do some Bible studies and pray together. It was always good to hear Ivy’s stories. Once she spent a weekend in a little town with Mo, had a delectable piece of pie at a Mom and Pop cafe and purchased a handmade quilt for their bed. And wasn’t it Megan who reorganized the church’s paper closet according to some mathematical color spectrum? Collette also discovered that gray autumn afternoon, that Ivy could “cackle” witch-like, purposely, of course. Ivy just had simple and sometimes difficult, neat experiences.

In news – Wilma raged on, premium fuel had dropped seventy cents to $2.69 over the past weeks, the Indian Summer seemed to have fallen back from the high eighties to the low sixties, and the Cardinals had lost to the White Sox. Prince William was to join the royal army at age 23. And Curly had sat on his violin and smashed it.

“Most Christians I know who think they’re being persecuted for their faith, aren’t being persecuted for their faith. They’re being persecuted for being obnoxious.”

• Scott Freeman