We said goodbye to our librarian today. Only two weeks left before we pack up the last of our belongings and say goodbye to this home. What a strange feeling, almost like we don’t belong here anymore. At the same time, we are so busy there isn’t much opportunity to dwell on the sad aspects of moving. A blessing in disguise?
The last of the woodwork for the camper is complete, we (mostly Papa) have made trips out to the property to store our belongings in the old camper, and of course there is the packing.
There have been other exciting things going on in our household too, though. I attended my 20th birth as a doula; a wonderful birth of first time parents, assisted by a Certified Nurse Midwife. It is such an honor to be a witness to the birth of a new person, protecting the parents’ space as they cry and giggle with amazement over their little creation.
It wouldn’t be a family blog if I didn’t write about the kids too! While Pa and Ma are getting ready to move, they’re busy with their own accomplishments. Pal is walking, and has decided to skip the incisors and grow molar teeth! Buddy is learning how to run YouTube and use the programs on our old Razor cell phone (how do kids learn technology so fast?!), and Girlie has been reminding me how to say “may I please” instead of plain old “please” when I want something.
“Girlie, where did you put your sippy cup?!”
Even though we are very busy and there is always so much to do, we still feel very blessed that things are going as smoothly as they are. There are so many roses among the thorny bushes, and while no one could stop the downturn in the economy (except for the global banks who got us into this mess), I wouldn’t have had all this happen any other way. I’m thankful that we are thriving, that there is so beauty around us, and despite the thorns, those roses just keep on growing.
Life is going to change drastically, but wherever we find ourselves dwelling our family will be together enjoying life. These are the things we cannot lose, and will not be forgotten.
But Laura lay awake a little while, listening to Pa’s fiddle softly playing and to the lonely sound of the wind in the Big Woods. She looked at Pa sitting on the bench by the hearth, the firelight gleaming on his brown hair and beard and glistening on the honey-brown fiddle. She looked at Ma, gently rocking and knitting.
She thought to herself, “This is now.”
She was glad that the cosy house, and Pa and Ma and the firelight and the music were now. They could not be forgotten, she thought, because now is now. It can never be a long time ago.”
(Laura Ingalls Wilder, from Little House in the Big Woods)
