The 4th of July is one of our most celebrated holidays and it was no disappointment this year! Everything we wanted to do, we did. From watching the parade, eating our usual 4th of July pork burger from the Pork Producers stand, sailing the lake all afternoon, grilling, blowing up things, watching the fireworks by the lake... it was perfect. It even ended with star gazing and a couple bodies falling asleep in the front yard and sleeping out there all night.
The waves for sailing were thrilling as the wind was a bit more than we'd usually request but better than not having any. White caps that crashed over the bow and caused more than one capsize, we were delightfully exhausted by the time we sailed in and put up the boats.
Home for the weekend was magical by itself as well. Perfectly relaxing, filled with adventure, rest, joy, laughter, coffee, games and as much cuddling as the summer heat would allow. One morning my little sister and I took our coffees and painting supplies out on the front deck as she decided to give me a lesson in oil painting, as I had never done it before.
As I just said, home is wonderfully magical and as I contemplated what I should paint on my white canvas, looking up and seeing one of the most familiar scenes from my childhood, the North garden, now overgrown and just as magical as ever, I decided I should like nothing better than to have it hung in my room in Iowa City to admire forever.
I'm not a particularly skilled painter, by any means. Like I said, I'd never done it before. So, given my complete lack of experience and good talent, I was pleased with the outcome well enough to decide to keep it around.
It was here that we had bonfires and experimented with explosives. We explored the woods, climbed the trees and got way too many thistles in our feet from going around without our shoes. Yes, I love this place.
My original plan to come home Sunday was delayed when my mom and siblings requested I stay an extra day, given I didn't have work on Monday. The extra day was so delightful that I let them coax me into delaying my return to Iowa City one more day and didn't return until Tuesday, making it exactly 1 whole week that I'd been gone.
I haven't been to the grocery store in 36 days now. Of course I'm basically out of food apart from frozen berries in the freezer. Upon my return home I decided to check the fridge and see what I might have that was edible.
The first thing I noticed was a bottle of carrot juice that I had not yet finished drinking. I couldn't remember when I'd purchased it, perhaps after a work out in May, but the expiration date was for July 8th and since it was only one day passed it I decided to take a swig.
Bad idea. It was totally fermented and left my mouth buzzing. Of course I spit it right out and thought "That's disgusting!" so i emptied the bottle into the sink and threw the bottle in the recycle bin.
Next I opened the fridge and saw leftover noodles in a tupperware container. I popped the lid off of that bad boy and saw green fuzzy spots all up on the noodles and thought, "That's disgusting too" and tossed out the noodles.
Next I explored our cheese drawer and came across half a block of swiss cheese. Yay! I LOVE swiss cheese. I took it out of its plastic to see green fuzzy spots on that too... so I threw it out.
At that time I got a text from my friend asking me if I had any meat to bring to a BBQ we were going to later. I looked to see a pound of ground beef and texted her back saying, "Hamburger yes!"
I took it out of the fridge and the smell was one thing, the green color was another. Yuck.
I texted her back saying just kidding on the meat. *sigh*
Next I came across turkey meat for sandwiches. Well, given that it's been 36 days at least.. I didn't have much hope. Who knew that turkey grew bubbles when it went bad?Not me.
Lucky me, my mom sent me home with two cans of tuna and a package of hotdog buns.
I had a box of tuna helper on my shelf and so, I should be able to survive on that a couple days. My milk expired a couple days ago, but why waste it?
Given that I move in 5 days, I don't want to go grocery shopping until after that. So, I'll ration out my tuna and frozen berries and I'll do just fine. Besides, it's not good to have frozen stuff in a move since you gotta take it out of a freezer and all that stuff in the hours of moving.
Now it's time to pack. To move to my next chapter of life. Again. (I move every couple months it seems.) I love this place. I love this comfy chair in this comfy corner where I do my quiet time and read books and write in my prayer journal. But, I'm ready for the next thing the Lord will have for me.
New adventures. New relationships. New beginnings.
The nice thing about moving is that it teaches you a lot about material worth and possessions.
I usually end up throwing tons of things away because they're not worth the effort of preserving and moving to the next place. You also get to clean up and throw out the memories you don't need to keep around any more. It was a nice chapter but, heck, I'm moving on. Some times the best thing is to only let the memories exist in the far corners of your brain or your heart and wipe them away from everywhere else.
Phases. That's what life is. A collection or series of phases. Some good, some bad, all temporary.
Even people. Friendships, relationships, acquaintance-ships. Temporary.
So heres hoping the next chapter is happier than this last one. :)
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