Simple Times
Monday, April 11, 2005
Oh, it was going to be a day of storms. Collette could already tell by the bluer light of the sky behind the closed blinds, even at such an early hour. She had been up before five, but she enjoyed the wee hours of the morning, before anyone else nearby was awake. And the bursts of pink blossoms and newly green-leafed trees was quite inspiring against the rushing dark clouds of the early morning sky.
In addition, there had been another email from Diana up in Wheaton, in response to OLeif’s newly announced tattoos. Collette could not help but laugh as she read:
“Whoa, that’s so cool that OLeif got tattoos! Tell him I can’t wait to see them! Ask him when he’s planning on buying his Harley…”
As Collette and OLeif went into the nursery after Sunday school, Rose dropped by before the service.
“Guess what? We went to Steak ‘n Shake and stayed till one o’clock,” she announced, her lovely golden hair still done up in the beautiful mass of curls and wrapped in gold ribbon, courtesy of Carrie of course. “It was fun,” she went on. “And I sold forty-two leeches total.”
Collette laughed. It had been a funny sight, seeing Rose dressed in such a lavish costume and looking so very beautiful, carrying about a glass jar with a Prego lid, filled with sand, water, and fishing lures.
Meanwhile, as Collette and Carrie-Bri sat on the back picnic tables that afternoon, Francis was busy with other things.
“Come on, Collette. I’m going to run around the house as fast as I can. Time me!” He called as he ran to his starting line.
And then he busied himself doing the long-jump over the sandbox, while Mom and Linnea sat reading and climbing up the tree trunk in the tree house, respectively.
“Yay!” Linnea called from her swaying perch, arms and legs wrapped around the trunk as she held on in the blustering winds. “Look at me! Look how high I am!” She called with a fabulous grin on her face.
Carrie was busy picking up things with her toes, which curled in an unusual fashion, as though they were double-jointed. It was a favorite conversation piece with Carrie, to discuss why her toes were shaped as they were.
How many times had they all heard:
“Only the grand master at Tae Kwon Do and I can curl our toes like this and spread them apart.”
And then she would consider reasons why she was so very talented.
“I think I evolved. I spent so much time climbing trees, that my toes adapted to the tree trunks.” And she would curl them out. “And my toe exercises help too,” she would giggle.
“Here,” she called to Collette, “ask me to pick up anything.”
Collette looked at the ground to find an obscure stick in the dirt for her to pick up with her apparently circus-worthy toes.
“Here, I’ll pick some grass. Look at all that I can pick with my toes,” she waved a green grassful between her piggies.
They had more than a few good laughs over it.
Then Carrie groaned, “Oh, no, Mom needs to get down from the tree house. She can’t get down without being scared.”
They laughed up at Mom who insisted she was fine, and loved being up in the tree house.
“Mom, I’m not going to help you down this time,” Carrie warned her.
And yet when Mom did come down, Carrie held the ladder, shaking it every once in awhile to make the journey for Mom a little more interesting.
Back inside, Mom was begging for Collette and Carrie-Bri to run up to the store for juice, as small group was meeting within an hour or so. Carrie, especially, was not thrilled with the idea, as she was in her pink beaver pants and her red silk Chinese robe. Besides, Collette reasoned, it was Dad’s job to get the juice. He did it every Sunday.
“Adel, don’t be asking people to go get juice for me,” Dad warned from off in the next room.
Somehow he always managed to hear from wherever he was in the house, if he wanted to.
“See, I told you it was his tradition,” Collette grinned at Mom.
They all knew it was not a good idea to mess with The Big Bad Dad.
That Monday morning, Collette saw an email from the Rick Steve’s newsletter. She enjoyed the little personal stories he sent his readers every month.
“Moments later, as I reclined in a first-class leather seat — my drink in a real glass — I looked out the window and wondered, ‘Why did I end up so fortunate?’ (And I was thinking about more than just my spot on the airplane… or the joys of travel in general.) As we gained altitude, I took in the view. A chain of lights ended at Key West, then, deep in the blackness, glittered the forbidden city of Havana. The pilot set course across the Gulf of Mexico. After 13 years, I was returning to El Salvador.”
It was always a fun thing to read on other’s adventures; there was something even more thrilling about reading and pretending to plan for such adventures, than in actually taking them oneself.
The rain began to pour most heavily, but only for a short while. Collette was happy with the rain, but there was still that terrible nagging. And yet Collette realized more and more how many important things in life there were, staring her in the face, far more important than her nagging bothersomes and silly annoyings. There was so much more she could be focused on, while living life happily and in a fulfilling way.
It was quite nice out, more so because Uncle Clarence had come through the three and a half hour surgery, very well. Good news all around. And while OLeif hunted for treasure, Collette looked over things. It was good to have a flow of thought through the mind.