I never thought of tomorrow till my baby hit the floor

For my beloved Dirt bags...on any given Sunday...you make us proud...and we love you...


More than likely, my car was totaled Friday and I knew it was going to happen.  Or at least I had this really weird premonition Friday morning.  I was driving to visit a friend and thought to myself, "if I was to be hit by another car right now, I would not survive the crash."  I have no idea where that thought came from.  But I quickly prayed for angels to guard me the rest of the day.  Funny when things like that happen.  We are always grateful for being spared and credit the angels, but we rarely bless God for each and every breath we take or at least give thanks in the morning for seeing a new day.  I am like most people who never think much  of what tomorrow could look like till my baby hit the floor or pray ardently till somebody is about to die.  Sad but true.  I also don't think it is healthy to live in fear of the unknown but life really does begin when you live grateful.

 This very, lovely man who had just come from his chemo treatments T-boned me in the Lowe's parking lot with a diesel truck.  He said he had never hit another car before and he blamed it on his mind being kind of foggy from chemo.  I am guessing he had a point.  I was delighted to see, however,  the band aid over his port a cath.  Had I been traveling above 10 miles an hour, I would have been seriously injured.  As it worked out my car was only moved about 10 feet.  I kind of felt like I was being run over by a bulldozer.  It was a tremendously huge truck.  Land yacht comes to mind or a small rolling aircraft.  I think besides both of us being unharmed, the beauty of the moment was quite simply this, I was not the slightest bit irritated or angry when I got out of my car.  There was a time in my life when this would have ruined my day and probably my week and I would not have responded kindly and found out all the details of my new friend Edwin's life, who clearly has bigger dragons to fight.  And to be honest, that kind of illness really makes my crushed car look insignificant.  Pretty much and it humbles me to think and say thanks.  Cars can be replaced and are relatively easy to fix.  Cancer not so much.

I went on to enjoy the most delicious dinner with a friend while watching a storm roll in over the Virginia mountains.   Champagne Chicken.  It melts in your mouth.  Butter, champagne, tarragon, capers  and cream.  It really does not get any better.   And I don't know why but fresh pasta is the bomb.  And I can really taste the difference.  And food always tastes better when someone else cooked it.

And I would love to say it was all uphill from there but not exactly.  I went to Morganton to watch summer's favorite past time - baseball.  I forgot: my deodorant, a clean change of underwear, my shampoo, lotion AND TERVIS CUP.  I did however remember to pack my Kindle, MP3 player, peanuts and sunscreen.  Fortunately, I am never above borrowing Vance's, his deodorant not underwear.  And the detergent that is called shampoo by hotels, well let's just say Justin is going to kill me.  I spent enough time one summer in the rain forest of Costa Rica to know how to wash out underwear and get to semi dry over night.  BUT forgetting my TERVIS cup (purchased for just this purpose-watching baseball), about was my undoing.  I was whining about it, when Davis reminded as only an about to be freshman in high school can, "Really!?! Mom?!?  I forgot my cleats.  Exactly how I am suppose to play baseball?"  Fortunately for Davis his coach keeps a spare size 10 cleats in his car at all times.   Unfortunately for Davis, he wears a size 8.5.  However, he is my son and he made the best of it.  Not once did he round third and lose his shoes. 

I also sort got a little food poisoning.  I spent the night hugging the porcelain god.  Felt better by noon, so all is really well.  My intestines feel as if they have been turned inside out.   But I'm good.

And our second game on Sunday did not go so well.  But what those boys do better than anyone is keep playing, knowing that all the fixing only comes in moving forward.  I think most are only about 13 years old, a few 14.  And I can get all teary eyed when I think about what they looked liked yesterday when they were small.  And it is a God thing how you come to love a bunch of middle school boys.  And because they have hair on their face and deeper voices and most wear size 11s, we forget they are not quite grown yet.  But they kept working.  They have learned and I don't know many adults who ever  quite get this...even when we are broken...battle onward.   Standing still never works.
 And they rarely make excuses because they know your excuses will accuse you. 

And they know this too...life is a  lot like a piano...whole songs can be played only on the black notes...to name one...Amazing Grace...but the thing is and I pray they know this and never forget...sad songs can choose joy too. 

Your days never fail to betray your priorities.   Make them good, make joyful, make them count,  and always remember as to begin again...

Counting a thousand tiny and big graces,

cars that can be fixed
healthy bodies
bodies that heal
summer winds
trees that bend their leaves in humility
bright moonshine
champagne chicken
fresh as in just made from scratch pasta
boys that never give up and always believe that nine runs is not all that many
Old Spice deodorant
the Edwins of this world
smiles
butterflies that remind us their is life always
the black notes
safe travels
breath
moving forward
disjointed thoughts
conjunctions