Tale as Old as Time.....

"Handsome as my Daddy".....four little words, printed on a newborn tee - a gift, at today's Baby Shower. They were my undoing. For the shirt is intended for my as yet unborn great nephew - Charles. His Daddy? My much loved, much mourned late nephew - Chuck. I have no doubt that little Charles will be as handsome as his Daddy was - I am sure that he will also be as beautiful as his Peruvian Mother - Vanessa. I hope that he has her thick black hair and big brown eyes, I hope that he is healthy and robust, I hope that he comes gently into this hard world - but most of all, I hope that he bears the impish grin that was his Father's trademark.
   Today was a testament of love and hope....It was a coming together of good Christian women - doing what they do best.....caring for those in need of succor. The shower was hosted by friends of my Sister In Law ( I am sure that they are also my Brother's friends, but in a situation such as this - a hen party and all, we will refer to them as Her friends). The table was piled high with gifts - front and center was a portrait of Chuck and Van on their second wedding day - the one in Peru. (As usual, he was sporting that grin....). The fragrance of friendship permeated the room and enveloped those of us who were relative strangers - Food spilled over from every corner, and abundant laughter laid the soundtrack. Occasional tears were shed and gazes were covered over with fleeting sadness, but we were bound together by the glue that comes from that mystical well of the Sacred Feminine.....that special place inside women that holds instinct, compassion, empathy, nurture......and strength..... strength to open present after present for a baby that was so very wanted by the Daddy that he will never know on this side of the veil - a Daddy that only learned of the creation of that precious baby on the Heavenly side of the veil.
   I watched in awe and amazement, as I was reminded today, of the power of the Love of the Sisterhood - a tale as old as time.....Women, unconsciously calling on the special gifts of their spirits - weaving a healing, binding blanket of kindred love - the most ancient of spells - the tradition of caring for each other - a sharing of burden and sorrow....a tradition of digging deep and pulling forth a wellspring of hope for tomorrow, and gratitude for the blessings of the day. Today was a celebration of life anticipated - a remembrance of life lost.
Blessed be.......the tie that binds.

All Quigley Down Under.....

   It didn't hurt that he looked like Russel Crowe.....with a pony tail.....and a cool Celtic-y, tribal tattoo inside his Right forearm.....He was also great with kids, and an incredibly talented musician...a Total package that provided me with the best time I've had in a long time...at the Library, no less!
   We stumbled upon this flyer last week, announcing a Didgeridoo workshop, on Monday July 15th. Babiest girl has had a fixation with the Didgeridoo for years, (Remember, this is the child whose favorite animal in Kindergarten was the Echidna....)so we decided to have a girls night out, Baby Girl, Babiest Girl and Me, and  registered for the free workshop.We arrived at the appointed hour, and took our seats on the 2nd of two rows....Most of the participants were young children (a few of their parents joined us on the back row), and we were feeling a little out of place in the Children's Story Room......until "Quigley Down Under" walked into the room, strapped a bracelet made of bells around his ankle, sat on a Drum Box and blew into his instrument....you know.....the Didgeridoo. Now, let me insert right here, that I was fully prepared to be slightly bored - I mean, how interesting can a tubular instrument with no slides, no keys, no strings be? Just a long series of Johnny One Note, right?
   How wrong I was.....First the drone started - then the split tones, and finally the rhythm and percussive force of his breath.... I was done for! (Like I said.....he looked like Russel Crowe!) It was pure electricity (The music, I mean.....I am a married woman, after all - AND, I was in the company of my daughters!). It was all I could do to stay in my seat - My feet and spirit wanted to dance - to join in the primal, rich, wanton beat. It sounded like Primordial Ooze, and campfire on a starry night, and antiquity. This was music to be heard with ear, heart and soul - and it spoke to the Wild Celtic Ancestors that reside in my person. It was pure, and organic, and liberating.
   Sadly, this was not a long concert - it was a workshop, after all, and before we knew it, we were lining up to get our "student instruments" - a piece of pvc pipe, and a strip of masking tape (to ensure the sanitation of the "mouthpiece" - otherwise known as one end of the pipe). I am proud to say, that the Kennedy girls were the star pupils. I may have had an unfair advantage, because playing the Didgeridoo requires the same mouth positioning and breath as the Trumpet - which I played for most of my school years.) We laughed and laughed as we tried to coax "The. Sound." from the PVC, and giggled with pleasure and embarrassment, when we were asked to demonstrate our superior sounds to the group. The hour ended all too soon, and we were loathe to leave. We made of ourselves vocal Didgeridoos, droning the tunes and rhythms as we exited the Library, hand in hand - our high spirits leaking out, and made audible. What an amazing adventure, tucked into a little quiet corner, of our bland little town....On this out-of-the-ordinary Monday night, we Kennedy women will sleep with a smile on our lips, an aboriginal song in our hearts, and this unanswered question in our brains...."Where DOES one buy a Didgeridoo download"?!  

Faces of Adventure and Blessing...

   It has been quite a week. I sent baby AND babiest girl thousands of miles away - to a tropical paradise to do the Lords' work.... It was Vacation Bible School, I celebrated 25 years of wedded bliss, I hiked 2.7 miles on a mountain trail full of felled trees, roots, hills and boulders to scale....I hit the 45 pound lost mark, AND I crossed my legs.....did you get that last one? I crossed my legs.... for the first time in YEARS! (I will not again mention the wretched hair butchering I received at the hands of the befuddled beauty school student). That's alot of big things to pack into 8 days...Which is, at first, what I attributed "that feeling" to. For the entirety of my life, I have gotten "those feelings". My sister has them....my Mother had them too. It's a Celtic thing, I think.....that ability to "know" when something bad is going to happen...a "knowing" when bad things are happening miles away, at that very moment....sometimes knowing exactly what is going to happen, minutes, even hours before they do....it used to freak me out, as a child - take for example the Sunday afternoon when the phone rang - as it was ringing I said to my Mother - "Dad has been in a terrible wreck"....my Mom answered the phone, and the police officer on the other end of the line repeated those very words...or the time when, newly married, I woke from a dead sleep screaming "Oh no....we have to help them....the accident, the accident".....only to have a moment of silence followed by one crash, then another, then another. John and I jumped out of bed, ran outside, and saw  a scene of carnage and mangled metal. We spent the next hour putting blankets on the injured, and holding car doors, while firemen used the jaws of life to free a dead man.....All of this is to say, that I NEVER take "Those feelings" for granted.
    They started the day before we put the girls on the plane. They continued - day and night - while singing Moses songs at VBS, while hiking in the Mountains, as I cooked 55 chicken breasts for Soft Taco Night - waking or sleeping, they were never very far away. I am sure "these feelings" were responsible for my loosing 5 pounds in the same number of days - I couldn't eat. When they would hit - I would pray...calling each family member by name - praying a hedge of protection around each and every one....I prayed more this past week I think, than I have in the last year....Yesterday, as we got in the car - College Boy, John and I - to head for Raleigh to pick the girls up, I prayed once more for safety for this last leg of our time apart. At the Airport, as I searched the faces of the departing passengers, I felt the most immense relief - such a surge of love and thanksgiving as I saw one, then the other.....the faces of my beautiful daughters - exhausted faces - bug bitten and joyous....faces that bore the mark of adventure and blessing. As we embraced - all five Kennedys together and whole, I breathed a sigh of relief and a breath of a prayer....."Thank You".
   Bags were gathered, goodbyes were said, Waffle House was visited, bellies and hearts were filled. We found ourselves on the highway - pointed for home....at 2:00 in the morning. I checked my watch - should be home by 3:30. Once there, if I hugged the kids, and let the dog out, I figured I could be in bed by 3:45.....a.m. We chattered and laughed for the first 10 minutes of the drive, but one by one, each child quieted, and soon the car was filled with the soft, regular breathing of sleeping teenagers. John and I talked for a bit more, listened to music....and then, the struggle began. You know.....that fighting with your body - the one where your body says "I've been awake for almost 24 hours....I. Must. Sleep.", and you reply "No...not quite yet....we have to stay awake a little longer". Despite my best efforts, my head started to nod......for 30 miles or so, I would fall asleep, then startle myself awake - and repeat the same phrase "How are you doing honey?"....His reply? "Tired.....". We were within shooting range of home......just a few miles left on the highway before we could turn onto the exit ramp leading to our little town. And then it happened. I nodded off again.....and so did John. We awoke at the same instant - to a car speeding down the edge of the grassy median....I am amazed by our calm....by Johns steady hand at the wheel, as he slowed the car and guided the car back onto the highway.....silence.....I stated the obvious...."You ran off the road"......."I know", he replied.
    We woke in the comfort of our bed this morning at 11:15. John looked at me...."We almost died". "I know", I replied. For us, this could have been a repeat tragedy. Years ago, Johns oldest Sister died, when their Mother fell asleep at the wheel - 3 year old John was thrown onto the highway , out the back window of the VW bug - his middle sister and Mother seriously injured. I recalled my week
long petition for a hedge of protection - for a divine covering.....my Celtic Feeling of impending doom....little did I know that the danger would be on the happy side of the week, as we were all reunited. Thanks be to God, for the Guardian Angels that were with us last night, for John's calm and steady hand, for disaster averted....I am humbled and heartened by the knowledge of Prayer heard and answered. As we sit down to our supper tonight - each precious face will be that much more so.....each laugh will sound brighter, the food will taste a little better....the prayer of blessing on our lips will be that much more heartfelt.....Thanks be to God.