Don't Let Your Halo Pinch Your Ears

It's easy this week with all that's happened, with all the kudos and praise and 'likes' for the book, with the first flurry of pre-orders, to get caught up in the whirlwind...

But as I crawl into bed with my cuppa and my book this Friday evening, a Sabbath eve for my Jewish friends and family, I too need to pause, as my mentor Bonnie suggested, and as Tim McGraw reminded me...and now, Carrie Newcomer...

Three Feet or So

When I'm weary lost or sad, Overwhelmed or just fed up, I say grace for what I have. And most the time that is enough.

We are body, skin and bones, We're all the loss we've every known, What is gone is always near, We're all the love that brought us here.

Chorus: And the things that have saved us Are still here to save us. Its not out there somewhere Its right here, its right here.

If I start by being kind, Love usually follows right behind. It nods its head and softly hums Saying "Honey that's the way it’s done."

We don't have to search for love, Wring our handsand wring our hearts, All we have to do is know The love will find us in the dark

Chorus: And the things that have saved us Are still here to save us. Its not out there somewhere Its right here, its right here. 

I can't change the whole world. But I can change the world I know, What's within three feet or so.

We are body, skin and bones, We're all the love we've every known, When I don’t know what is right, I hold it up into the Light.

I hold it up into the Light.

I hold it up into the Light.

--  Words and lyrics by Carrie Newcomer - 2016 

Or as my mother would have said, "Don't let your halo pinch your ears."  :-)

Love you, Mom!

Ten Years Gone...

"My mother was a lady."

That's how I began the eulogy for my mom, who died ten years ago today.  

Summer delights at the lake!
My mother Ruth, her brother Bill, parents Walter and Margaret Davison,
ca. 1920

Front row, second from left...

Dating my father, John Gillies Rennie
(known at that time as Gill)
Circa 1933 

Mummy and me - York Beach Maine
Summer of 1956

Mom and me - Cochrane, Alberta
Circa 1996

Margaret Ruth Davison Rennie Daniel

June 8, 1916 - January 21, 2004

AKA

Ruth

 "Cola Bottle" (she had a 17" waist -- no corset! -- in her teens)

Mrs. John Rennie

Mummy

 Mrs. Reg Daniel

Mo-o-om!

Grandma

"Don't take yourself so seriously."

"Make sure you marry a man at least as intelligent as you are,

or you'll be bored."

"Then another cow flew by."

"You have to eat a peck of dirt before you die."

"You could fall in the bathtub on a bar of soap."

"I'm a recipe cook and a pattern sewer."

"For goodness' sake, find something to DO!"

"I have eyes in the back of my head..."

"Just a minute! I only have two hands!"

"Just wait till you have children of your own!"

"Anything to keep the peace."

She variously taught us how to 

make our beds, do the dishes, set a full table, eat with the correct utensils, make a decent pie crust, cook a roast, iron a man's long-sleeved shirt, iron table linens, use a wringer washer, hang laundry on a line, fold sheets and towels correctly, dust, wrap gifts, bake and frost a cake, read, swim, knit, embroider, sew garments, polish shoes, write thank-you notes, shake hands firmly, and stand up straight.

She relished "skinny dipping"; a sun-porch or living room full of her children and their friends; scotch on the rocks; Revlon's "Love that Red!" lipstick; a full breakfast; rum hard sauce on her Christmas plumb pudding and 'fiery' tomato relish on her tortiere; fishing from a boat or through the ice with Dad (Reg); knitting for her children, grandchildren and charity; keeping in touch with her closest friends and family, reading 'good' novels; dancing with her husbands; the love of a series of mutts (dogs); sitting in the sunshine; ice cream; long camping trips, seeing the sights of North America; the mist of Niagara on her face...

A mom's hug lasts long after she lets go.  ~Author Unknown

Hug you, Mom.