Who I am

Assuming you have spent time reflecting on one of the deep questions of faith/life i.e. Who am I? What am I doing here? Where am I going?....you will understand how difficult it can be to articulate. I mean, at least in a manner that is honest & doesn't bore your audience to death.

For one thing, I am a choir teacher. I followed my children into their gradeschool environment, working as a volunteer...a position which developed over the years into resident choir teacher.

This is the type of "job" that gives me so much pleasure and satisfaction, I am still there though my baby has graduated long ago and is now entering university. A good friend uses this to define me:

Two years ago something amazing happened to me which radically altered my station in this life. In one unforgettable summer weekend, I suddenly became the mother of two mothers.
This event instantly and singularly changed the status of my life to Grand.
While I am eternally grateful for this gift and choose to happily dedicate the remainder of my days to wearing this mantle with humility, pizzazz and God's good grace (!) it remains a transition that requires some effort - a deliberate shift in my view of things.
It means taking a fresh look at myself and my new role.

My girls call me Marmie, in the tradition of Louisa May Alcotts' Little Women...a moniker I wear with a bit of trepidation knowing what little semblance I bear to the author's central figure.
It follows does it not, that the advent of grandchildren should augment that name to Grandmarmie? Now it is true of course that the four little lambs whom the Great Giver of Great Gifts has so lavished upon our laps, are all still too young to wrangle such a name from their mouths. But the day is coming and as we await one still in the womb and remember the two we have in heaven, yet to meet someday....gamma and baca will do.

Grandmarmie X 7 with two in heaven. Yeah. I quite like the sound of that.

Oh, and my dear friend who has thus defined me above? She's offered an update...

Clive Staples Who?

Incredulous though it be, there are some in the world who have no inkling :) of C.S. Lewis.
When I try describe to such a person, my great enthusiasm for Oxbridge 2008, I often wish to simply press play on a portable video player and have YouTube say it for me.
Impractical. I know.
So, I heave a heavy sigh and offer my "condensed" verbal definition:

Oxbridge 2008 explores the deep questions of faith in a two-week feast of nourishment for mind, body and spirit with renowned scholars from the arts and sciences, leaders in ministry and the major professions and an array of literary, visual and performing artists.

Insufficient. I know. *!?!!* So go watch the video.

The War Hero's Offspring Becomes a Hippie

My daughter and I just recently completed the agonizing task of settling our preferences within the Afternoon Electives for the upcoming conference in England. *sigh*
...or perhaps that should read *shudder* http://www.cslewis.org/programs/oxbridge/2008/index.html
A brief glance at the link above may help clarify the angst that particular activity has produced. Increasingly, I vacillate between delight and terror at the whole notion.
Delight for the chance to travel and experience this with my offspring whom I thought, was pretty much like me in many respects.
Terror at the depth and challenge of the material we'll be exposed to.

My dining room table is littered with conference paraphernalia crying to be organized and I, the overwhelmed/random shuffler of paper, found a copy of Pegasus 2008: Verse and Prose by students of Guido -- AND a contribution signed by someone with my daughters name!
Of course my attention was immediately diverted...wouldn't yours?
In the third re-reading of it, something new about my offspring began to dawn on me...something that inspires me to reflect on her uniqueness and to praise God for making each of us, special & distinctly-gifted bearers of His image.

Strange, how that reflection launches me straight back into that silly cycle of delight and terror!

THE WAR HERO'S OFFSPRING BECOMES A HIPPIE

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree,
Or so it's been said.
But what if, say
That old fruit-bearing tree is
Perched
On the edge of a
Sheer drop
Cliff
And that little apple
Just falls and falls --
Splash
Into a steady stream in which
That little Red Apple
Just bobs along, ends
Up in the hands of some
Tourist
Who takes it back to Georgia on the
Jet plane
And places it lovingly
on his fireplace mantel?

If you ask me, that apple sure
Fell
Far,
Awfully far
From the tree.
by Catherine

Now I understand why our conference choices have led us in two opposite directions.
She's mine alright, but she's also totally herself. Me thinks this is going to be an interesting ride!

You Tube Video

I'm terribly excited about this latest post which my dear friend Lilly has helped me attach.
No. Actually, she did it for me and I have no idea how she did it.
I watch this video and it makes me fairly jump out of my skin with anticipation...I can't believe what is in store for us!

Self and the Search for Meaning

A confession of sorts...

I've been a nut for all things 'C.S.Lewis' since grade 11 when I played the White Witch of Narnia in a drama production of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

Incredibly, though I had been a lifelong voracious reader, I had never come across the Chronicles of Narnia or its' prolific author.
But since that delightful experience?

Clearly, the number of hardcover (denoting highly prized) books in my library collection of the life and work of Clive Staples easily betrays one besotted!

Now, with the generosity and blessing of my beloved one, my baby girl and I are headed off to one of those C.S. Lewis Summer Institutes that I had previously only dreamed of attending...and in the prodigious cities of Oxford and Cambridge no less!

And hear this! We're to stay in the campus dorms on the grounds of the very universities he taught...to which my Catherine says "Crazy man" and her mom says "Surreal man".

Yeah, we're excited.

only 48 more sleeps... ;)