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When taking
A Vow of Silence
Does not
I Repeat
Does Not
Turn Out Well...
I talk too much. You may have noticed. On and On.
On the phone. Online. Email. Texting. In a crowded
theater. In the line at the grocery store. At the pay window at Wendy’s.
I chat. I visit. I share. I ponder and fret and as my mother taught me
to do when I am agitated and anxious...use your words please....so I do.
I talk too much.
I blog.
I tell stories. Yard Yeti stories like the one below.
Oddly the refrain of an old tune is running through
my head...the old Joe Jones tune...”You Talk Too Much”...remember the
lyrics?? I do.
You talk too much
You worry me to death
You talk too much
You even worry my pet
You just talk
Talk too much
You talk about people
That you don't know
You talk about people
Wherever you go
You just talk
Talk too much
You talk about people
That you've never seen
You talk about people
You can make me scream
Hopefully you are not screaming yet, and your pets are not cowering in fear, but then I am only getting started.
First, the basic premise.
I love one to one correspondence.
It is important to me to be understood.
And I cannot...cannot...draw a lick.
So there’s that.
Pictionary Telephone...???
Played it yet?
I did.
Last weekend. At a table with ten of my nearest and
dearest. Each holding a stack of ten blank sheets of paper. Simple
instructions.
Start with a phrase. A line. A title. Anything. Your choice.
Your-keep-it to-yourself-don’t-tell-anyone-choice.
Now pass the sheet to your right. The person next
to you must read your phrase, put it on the bottom of their stack and
now draw an illustration to convey the meaning of your phrase.
Ahhh, the first ugly wrinkle. Illustrations.
After illustrating...pass to the right...and now we have Art Appreciation 101. Interpret the drawing and write a phrase.
Caption, if you will, to match the art.
And so it goes on and on around the table, until you receive your original stack in hand.
The hilarity begins as well as the humiliation.
But I must admit with greatest glee, I have never ever laughed so hard nor cared so little about being misunderstood.
Especially when I saw artwork, illustrations,
so incredibly worse than mine.
And captions so bizarre and so far from the original message...
Well, I blew a little Diet Coke out of my nose.
But only once.
Like when I saw this.
Or this.
Or this one…
This one even scared me a little...and I cannot tell you what the caption was...really I cannot.
Then…
Creepy arms...really creepy eyes...
But the one that did everyone in…
This...this one...
I would ask you all to send me a caption for this
one, but considering what WE came up with...I am afraid to ask...truly I
am...
Because it left me speechless. For two solid hours I
did not talk too much, I had my head down writing and drawing and
picturing and passing and sharing and laughing so hard it hurt.
So the moral of this tiny tale is simple.
Gather your loved ones around the table. Pull up a chair.
Grab a pencil and be still...
For it is true...truly truly true…
Laughter...IS... the best medicine.
The Yard Yeti A Gardeners Tale continues...
Thursday, June 12, 2014
I hope for a card from you...
What you may not have expected...
But truly deserve...
Is a heartfelt letter from me...
To my child, my children, first, middle, youngest, biological, adopted, step child, near or far, young or old or in between.
First and foremost, you are loved.
Today. Tomorrow. Always.
I make you a promise. To honor and uphold.
I promise I will spend my life setting an example for you.
This...this is my...Code Of Conduct
I will protect those children who live to my right and to my left, just as I do my own.
I will greet my neighbor as friend and respect his house and home.
I will not lay my head to rest in sleep until I
have performed one simple act of kindness for someone least expecting my
comfort, and in need of it most.
I will rise at dawn with one less thought for myself, and one more for my fellow man.
I will fill my body with the food of life no more
than my need and ever mindful of those whose stomachs will go empty for
the day.
I will give a part of my good fortune in charity, without any expectation of an acknowledgment of the gift.
I will receive the love of another, as graciously as I give my own away.
I will walk softly and speak kindly regardless of
my circumstance, in the hope that others may soften in my presence and
feel safe.
I will close my eyes with my heart full of love for
my children, secure that I am wrapped in the heartstrings of parents
everywhere, who, like me, wish their children a peaceful night of
whimsical dreams.
I will carry in my pocket a charm of courage, to help heal injury where there has been harm.
I will honor, not humiliate.
I will respect, not revile.
I will look into the eyes of those I meet as though a friend forgotten.
I will treasure the innocence of children through my steadfastness.
I will give them hope.
I will give myself peace.
I will live an ordinary life by making others feel extraordinary.
I will know joy.
That joy has a face and a name.
My joy will today and forever be...
I hope for a card from you...
What you may not have expected...
But truly deserve...
Is a heartfelt letter from me...
To my child, my children, first, middle, youngest, biological, adopted, step child, near or far, young or old or in between.
First and foremost, you are loved.
Today. Tomorrow. Always.
I make you a promise. To honor and uphold.
I promise I will spend my life setting an example for you.
This...this is my...Code Of Conduct
I will protect those children who live to my right and to my left, just as I do my own.
I will greet my neighbor as friend and respect his house and home.
I will not lay my head to rest in sleep until I
have performed one simple act of kindness for someone least expecting my
comfort, and in need of it most.
I will rise at dawn with one less thought for myself, and one more for my fellow man.
I will fill my body with the food of life no more
than my need and ever mindful of those whose stomachs will go empty for
the day.
I will give a part of my good fortune in charity, without any expectation of an acknowledgment of the gift.
I will receive the love of another, as graciously as I give my own away.
I will walk softly and speak kindly regardless of
my circumstance, in the hope that others may soften in my presence and
feel safe.
I will close my eyes with my heart full of love for
my children, secure that I am wrapped in the heartstrings of parents
everywhere, who, like me, wish their children a peaceful night of
whimsical dreams.
I will carry in my pocket a charm of courage, to help heal injury where there has been harm.
I will honor, not humiliate.
I will respect, not revile.
I will look into the eyes of those I meet as though a friend forgotten.
I will treasure the innocence of children through my steadfastness.
I will give them hope.
I will give myself peace.
I will live an ordinary life by making others feel extraordinary.
I will know joy.
That joy has a face and a name.
My joy will today and forever be...
Thursday, June 5, 2014
The
Long
Looping Ride
Home...
With Father’s Day fast approaching, I sit here, lured by the memories of
my own father. My face buried in the damp wool of his overcoat, lightly
sprinkled with beads of rain still clinging to the fibers, a mix of
lingering cigarette smoke and his after shave brush my cheeks.
The memory of his face has dimmed, but here, right now, I long to be pulled back into his familiar embrace.
When I was a young girl, I rode the ‘L’ downtown to Chicago, the city,
the great big city by the lake, to visit my father at his workplace.
Riding solo, allowed to ride the train alone on a Saturday morning, was a
a badge of maturity I wore proudly on my lapel. I knew every stop by
heart. Austin... then Central and the slow but steady rise up the ramp
to the truly elevated Laramie Street station. My final destination, the
La Salle Street station. The car I rode in was well past its prime and
soon to be replaced with a newer and sleeker silver version, much more
modern. The car I rode in looked like a big wooden crate on wheels that
shimmied and shook along the track. The seats, made of leather, cracked
from years of wear and tear, cornered by solid brass...hold-on-to-me
handles.
Windows opened to let in fresh air during the summer when the heat
became oppressive. Two long bench seats sat opposite one another at the
front of each car. I remember those benches, as there were leather
straps overhead so that men could stand in the aisle and sway back and
forth to the rhythm of the train on the tracks, hovering protectively
over their wife or their children seated nearby. My father could stand
with one hand looped through the strap while reading the Chicago Daily
News, folded in his other hand. He taught me how to fold the newspaper,
so that you could turn the page and read without it falling to pieces on
the floor.
He also taught me to mind my own business and to
avoid eye contact with strangers. I did as I was told, because a trip
downtown on a Saturday morning, alone, a wide eyed young girl keeping
her own company, was a precious gift.
He would meet me at the station, clad in his
trademark overcoat, and we would walk down the metal steps to the
alleyway that ran behind the Post Office. As we strode by, we glimpsed
the postal carriers loading their trucks for deliveries throughout the
city. At the very end of the alleyway stood the seven story building
where my father worked as a printing salesman. The outside was covered
in dark sooty brick, the windows dusty and dark this Saturday morn. We
rode up in a rickety service elevator, the sound of its creaking
gradually drowned out as we neared his floor. The printing presses were
running and the smell of ink permeated the air. Frosted glass on the
door, and behind it two enormous black maws of machinery hungry for
paper and thirsty for ink, sat growling and clanking. Along the wall,
the linotype lay filed in alphabetized drawers, while the typesetter sat
on a high stool and set the copy in rows.
A husband and wife sat near the presses eating
sandwiches in silence. One hand to eat and the other to sign. Deaf.
Profoundly deaf, but definitely not oblivious to the singing of the
presses. They felt the sound through the wooden floorboards under their
feet and knew exactly when to rise and replenish the rolls of paper at
the end of the press, moments before it was depleted.
I sat in a chair at the end of a row of type, and
my father would hand me the heavy text and let me write my own story. I
only used leftover broken pieces so the letters were never even and
smooth. Upper and lower case, italic and cursive, block and flourish.
How I wish I had some of those letters now, as I doubt they were
noteworthy to anyone but me. However, I would treasure them as a memory
of composition. In the air, the moving hands of sign language, in my
hands the the moving lines of type and in the middle of the room the
pulsing print of the final product.
On our way home we retraced our steps through the alleyway, up the steps
and if the train was late, a quick peek into the station to Heineman’s
Bakery for leftover rye rolls and a slice of pistachio cake for me.
Once, we lingered long enough to walk through the station itself, and
out onto the platforms where the waiting trains sat cooling their heels
waiting for the passengers to disembark or to arrive. Steam hissed past
our ankles and we dodged the luggage carts. Just above my head I could
see people sitting in their seats, staring down at me. I wanted to climb
on board. I wanted to go where they were headed. Ohio, perhaps.
Pennsylvania. Michigan?
Instead, we climbed aboard the ‘L’ and turned
toward home. I always held my father’s hand when we crossed the Chicago
River. The train slowed down just as it reached the trestle, and it
jinked slightly to the left and then right. I was sure the train would
tumble right into the river. Though it never did.
I rode that train alone. On hot summer Saturday
mornings. When the windows were open as we pulled into a station. The
trains ran above the ground here, level with the second stories of
apartment buildings close behind the platforms. Oftentimes, the
apartment windows were open with soft billowy curtains fluttering out on
the ledge. And I could see, I could look into, someone’s home. See the sofa and the chair. Or the bassinet near the wall. A small black and white TV with Saturday cartoons blaring.
I lived in an apartment too. Close to the ‘L’ station. But not this
close. Our apartment was a block away. Too far to really notice the
sound of the trains, but close enough to recognize my father’s
inimitable stride as he stepped off the train. Then I would run and meet
him on the corner and we would walk home with my hand in his pocket,
searching for a bar of chocolate.
One Saturday morning, I rode along and as the train
slowed down, a boy about my age, leaned out of his apartment window and
rested his elbows on the sill. I knew not to make eye contact with
strangers, but in this one moment, our eyes met. I wanted to smile, but
something in his eyes made me feel like an intruder. Just because I
could see into his space, his place, did not mean I was
welcome. And I didn’t blame him. Instead I held his gaze and simply
nodded. Perhaps, I thought, one day we will both grow up, and move away.
Get on a train or a plane and move to a place, a space that is ours to
treasure. Where the breeze is cool, the air is quiet and grass and
flowers will grow. Where anyone who enters in, will have to be invited
and welcomed.
Over the years, I did ride a train, I did fly on a plane, and I moved
moved moved. From one apartment to another. But in my heart, I longed
for a space, a place to own. So the story began, as one single line of
type, then another, then paragraphs and chapters and pages of living and
scrimping and saving. Dream after dream. Room after room. Slowly
building a house in my head. Until one day, the piggy bank was full and I
signed my name on the dotted line. My husband carried me over the
threshold.
My space. My place.
I learned how to mow and to weed and to paint and wallpaper. How to rip up a carpet and sand a floor.
How to weather a storm and to shovel a driveway.
Oh and yes. Best of all. How to tend a garden.
And how to take it all for granted.
Until I saw him.
The day a new neighbor moved in and I saw him.
Walking through the back yard at dusk, slowly, meticulously, stepping
out his property line. Pausing at each tree lining his yard, and running
a hand over the bark. Reaching down into the grass and gathering up
small sticks and fallen branches. Lovingly, tenderly. Holding them close
until he had circled the perimeter, and was about to move out of sight.
Our eyes met.
We, had yet to meet, so he was to me and I to him, a stranger.
But maybe not. For there was something in his eyes, something achingly
familiar, so I did not smile. Nor did he. We simply nodded. And then I
knew. Then I remembered. The boy at the window. The girl on the train.
We were both at home. At peace in the garden.
We would welcome each other here, side by side in the garden, our hands in the soil, having grown up together....
...once upon a time in a city by the lake.
Love You Dad...
and while we're on the long ride home...
The Yard Yetis A Gardeners Tale Continues here...
The
Long
Looping Ride
Home...
With Father’s Day fast approaching, I sit here, lured by the memories of
my own father. My face buried in the damp wool of his overcoat, lightly
sprinkled with beads of rain still clinging to the fibers, a mix of
lingering cigarette smoke and his after shave brush my cheeks.
The memory of his face has dimmed, but here, right now, I long to be pulled back into his familiar embrace.
When I was a young girl, I rode the ‘L’ downtown to Chicago, the city,
the great big city by the lake, to visit my father at his workplace.
Riding solo, allowed to ride the train alone on a Saturday morning, was a
a badge of maturity I wore proudly on my lapel. I knew every stop by
heart. Austin... then Central and the slow but steady rise up the ramp
to the truly elevated Laramie Street station. My final destination, the
La Salle Street station. The car I rode in was well past its prime and
soon to be replaced with a newer and sleeker silver version, much more
modern. The car I rode in looked like a big wooden crate on wheels that
shimmied and shook along the track. The seats, made of leather, cracked
from years of wear and tear, cornered by solid brass...hold-on-to-me
handles.
Windows opened to let in fresh air during the summer when the heat
became oppressive. Two long bench seats sat opposite one another at the
front of each car. I remember those benches, as there were leather
straps overhead so that men could stand in the aisle and sway back and
forth to the rhythm of the train on the tracks, hovering protectively
over their wife or their children seated nearby. My father could stand
with one hand looped through the strap while reading the Chicago Daily
News, folded in his other hand. He taught me how to fold the newspaper,
so that you could turn the page and read without it falling to pieces on
the floor.
He also taught me to mind my own business and to
avoid eye contact with strangers. I did as I was told, because a trip
downtown on a Saturday morning, alone, a wide eyed young girl keeping
her own company, was a precious gift.
He would meet me at the station, clad in his
trademark overcoat, and we would walk down the metal steps to the
alleyway that ran behind the Post Office. As we strode by, we glimpsed
the postal carriers loading their trucks for deliveries throughout the
city. At the very end of the alleyway stood the seven story building
where my father worked as a printing salesman. The outside was covered
in dark sooty brick, the windows dusty and dark this Saturday morn. We
rode up in a rickety service elevator, the sound of its creaking
gradually drowned out as we neared his floor. The printing presses were
running and the smell of ink permeated the air. Frosted glass on the
door, and behind it two enormous black maws of machinery hungry for
paper and thirsty for ink, sat growling and clanking. Along the wall,
the linotype lay filed in alphabetized drawers, while the typesetter sat
on a high stool and set the copy in rows.
A husband and wife sat near the presses eating
sandwiches in silence. One hand to eat and the other to sign. Deaf.
Profoundly deaf, but definitely not oblivious to the singing of the
presses. They felt the sound through the wooden floorboards under their
feet and knew exactly when to rise and replenish the rolls of paper at
the end of the press, moments before it was depleted.
I sat in a chair at the end of a row of type, and
my father would hand me the heavy text and let me write my own story. I
only used leftover broken pieces so the letters were never even and
smooth. Upper and lower case, italic and cursive, block and flourish.
How I wish I had some of those letters now, as I doubt they were
noteworthy to anyone but me. However, I would treasure them as a memory
of composition. In the air, the moving hands of sign language, in my
hands the the moving lines of type and in the middle of the room the
pulsing print of the final product.
On our way home we retraced our steps through the alleyway, up the steps
and if the train was late, a quick peek into the station to Heineman’s
Bakery for leftover rye rolls and a slice of pistachio cake for me.
Once, we lingered long enough to walk through the station itself, and
out onto the platforms where the waiting trains sat cooling their heels
waiting for the passengers to disembark or to arrive. Steam hissed past
our ankles and we dodged the luggage carts. Just above my head I could
see people sitting in their seats, staring down at me. I wanted to climb
on board. I wanted to go where they were headed. Ohio, perhaps.
Pennsylvania. Michigan?
Instead, we climbed aboard the ‘L’ and turned
toward home. I always held my father’s hand when we crossed the Chicago
River. The train slowed down just as it reached the trestle, and it
jinked slightly to the left and then right. I was sure the train would
tumble right into the river. Though it never did.
I rode that train alone. On hot summer Saturday
mornings. When the windows were open as we pulled into a station. The
trains ran above the ground here, level with the second stories of
apartment buildings close behind the platforms. Oftentimes, the
apartment windows were open with soft billowy curtains fluttering out on
the ledge. And I could see, I could look into, someone’s home. See the sofa and the chair. Or the bassinet near the wall. A small black and white TV with Saturday cartoons blaring.
I lived in an apartment too. Close to the ‘L’ station. But not this
close. Our apartment was a block away. Too far to really notice the
sound of the trains, but close enough to recognize my father’s
inimitable stride as he stepped off the train. Then I would run and meet
him on the corner and we would walk home with my hand in his pocket,
searching for a bar of chocolate.
One Saturday morning, I rode along and as the train
slowed down, a boy about my age, leaned out of his apartment window and
rested his elbows on the sill. I knew not to make eye contact with
strangers, but in this one moment, our eyes met. I wanted to smile, but
something in his eyes made me feel like an intruder. Just because I
could see into his space, his place, did not mean I was
welcome. And I didn’t blame him. Instead I held his gaze and simply
nodded. Perhaps, I thought, one day we will both grow up, and move away.
Get on a train or a plane and move to a place, a space that is ours to
treasure. Where the breeze is cool, the air is quiet and grass and
flowers will grow. Where anyone who enters in, will have to be invited
and welcomed.
Over the years, I did ride a train, I did fly on a plane, and I moved
moved moved. From one apartment to another. But in my heart, I longed
for a space, a place to own. So the story began, as one single line of
type, then another, then paragraphs and chapters and pages of living and
scrimping and saving. Dream after dream. Room after room. Slowly
building a house in my head. Until one day, the piggy bank was full and I
signed my name on the dotted line. My husband carried me over the
threshold.
My space. My place.
I learned how to mow and to weed and to paint and wallpaper. How to rip up a carpet and sand a floor.
How to weather a storm and to shovel a driveway.
Oh and yes. Best of all. How to tend a garden.
And how to take it all for granted.
Until I saw him.
The day a new neighbor moved in and I saw him.
Walking through the back yard at dusk, slowly, meticulously, stepping
out his property line. Pausing at each tree lining his yard, and running
a hand over the bark. Reaching down into the grass and gathering up
small sticks and fallen branches. Lovingly, tenderly. Holding them close
until he had circled the perimeter, and was about to move out of sight.
Our eyes met.
We, had yet to meet, so he was to me and I to him, a stranger.
But maybe not. For there was something in his eyes, something achingly
familiar, so I did not smile. Nor did he. We simply nodded. And then I
knew. Then I remembered. The boy at the window. The girl on the train.
We were both at home. At peace in the garden.
We would welcome each other here, side by side in the garden, our hands in the soil, having grown up together....
...once upon a time in a city by the lake.
Love You Dad...
and while we're on the long ride home...
The Yard Yetis A Gardeners Tale Continues here...
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