Accordionic Love

I held my true love in my arms, pulled snug against my chest, and sighed out my frustration, my anger, my loss.  I gave my true love the gentlest of hugs and he sighed back, deep, breathy and so chordant.

Joe had walked out the door three days before. My husband Joe. Enough was Enough he had said as he folded his overcoat over his arm, compressed the brown, beaver fur felt Homburg over his deep, furrowed brow and thinning dome, took up his leather satchel and, only for spite, my grandmother's floral overnight case. He turned on his polished cordovan brogue heel and exited with a giant nasally expellation of finality.

I'd instinctively wiped my nose on my sleeve, pushed my curls out of place, smoothed down my non-existent apron, padded in my slippered feet across the path of strewn rag rugs that led to my wooden chair by the fire, now diminished to a low glow. My true love perched atop my chair, holding his breath tight as a treasure.

I hefted the weight of my true love, weaving my arms around and thru the bulk of him and sat him sturdy and sure on my lap on my chair near my fire in my home. A tiny toe tap. A deep breath in. My true love relaxed into the pull of my arms, pouring out a sigh in G minor, lavishing me with melodies as my heart broke out of my fingers on to his keys - a song of loss and hope.

Drinking, Dreaming and Storytellling

Drinking coffee.
It's an overcast, drizzly Saturday morning - a chill of a breeze is dancing thru the back door carrying the crisp taste of fall on it's tongue.  I hug my mug a little closer.  (It's decaf, but it's Stumptown, so it ain't yucky.)  Everything tastes so alive this morning. I feel sparkly.

Dreaming.
I just exchanged Instagram notes with my friend Kate whom I haven't seen in too many years - since we both still had toddle bugs running around our ankles.  I told her I still didn't know what I want to be when I grow up.  Mind you, I'm nigh on to fiddy--okay, super high 40's--and I haven't figured it out.  She asked, "Do we ever really need to know?"  Do we? I know I'll never be a career woman.  I hate pantsuits.  It seems that the domestic life is my destiny.  But that doesn't mean I have to give up my dreams!  It means I have more time to pursue them.  So I'm dreaming.  I'm writing down the dreams in my (too-haphazard-to-be-called-a-) bullet journal.  They shift and morph and grow and sometimes shatter, but new ones sprout in their place every day.  One of my dreams is to be a writer.  (Not a published book writer - that's not a current dream, anyway.  I reserve the right to change that thought.)  I like writing pithy or excessively goofy comments on my friends' posts on FB and IG.  I like writing letters. I sometimes like to journal.
Last spring I took a great writing class from my friend Sarah and wrote some little ditties.  Starts. Tries.  Valiant efforts.  Some of them could be nurtured into short stories.  Maybe.  Some of them were straight up therapy on paper.  Some were drivel.  But one thing they all were was storytelling.

Storytelling.
Telling our stories is something that every earth-born person has a right and quite possibly a NEED to do.  Every individual has their own very unique story.  Even if two siblings grow up in the same home, go to the same school and share the same friends, their stories will be so different. They will each have their personal skew on every event and conversation.  And when we read or hear other people's stories, we experience them thru our life filter.  So even the exact written story will exude a different sparkle to each individual reader, like facets on a diamond.  (Faulty analogy, but you get my point, I'm sure.)  Which is why I want you to read a very special book.

I have had the privilege of pre-reading one of the most beautiful stories of love and redemption in Edie Wadsworth's memoir All the Pretty Things, due out September 20th (it's available for early orders on Amazon!!).  Such a beautiful, raw story of a girl growing up in the Appalachian hills with trouble and hope running parallel lines through her childhood.  It wasn't for lack of love, rather brokenness and circumstance that created hardship in her life.  Any of what Edie went through could have overwhelmed the average person.  "I was probably only seven or eight, but I could feel the weight of that moment.  All the things they couldn't say.  All the tears unnoticed.  His fears.  Her heartache.  The whole of it was almost too much to see."  But through it all she had a miraculous amount of hope and strength, and love for her family and friends, and a faith that wouldn't let go of her.

I want to share more with you!  So I will.  But not today.  More soon.

The Thing About Reventuring...

The thing about Reventuring, is there is no limit on the "Re..." part.  Which means, I can begin again and again and again.  And since it's just me (and you?) out here, there's no judgement.  There's no expectation.  There is just a series of adventures - tiny, perhaps grand, and everywhere in between.  Every day brings what it brings.  Some days are certainly more exciting than others, but it's the evening out - the settling level - that makes it all a great life.  Two days ago, I was kayaking with my family in Puget Sound.  Today, I'm doing laundry.  Shake it down - level it out - that's life.

I'll be checking back in here more often in the next few weeks/months, sharing new ventures, ruminating on the mundane.  I'm posting today to let you know I'm still alive! Keep the faith! Strive on! Hold the course! or just do some laundry.

Today a new Bible study starts on SheReadsTruth.com and it's coming at me again - Justice.  

About a year ago, I was stuck in a place of apathy, mommy-brain, inertia. I was keeping my children alive, my home fairly clean, a smile on my face. But I wasn't IN it. I wasn't paying attention to life. Then we started a women's Bible study at church.  My very first grown-up lady study!  Whaaaat?! I started reading the Bible almost every day.  Around the same time, (maybe earlier) one of my best friends started an anti-sex-trafficking ministry here in Portland. "Good for you," I thought. "I could never do something like that." My favorite bloggers started posting things that were more than pretty, they were pretty and powerful. "That's great!" I thought, "I can post your pretty words on my wall." And somehow, slowly, my eyes and heart began to open. I felt like I was being tackled by truth! "This is real." My apathy transformed to curiosity, then from curiosity to desire, then from desire to movement. I wanted to do something! Even if I can't go someplace exotic or work in the trenches, I can do SOMEthing.

Then I started hearing about Noonday.  From their website:  "Noonday Collection's mission is to create economic opportunity for the vulnerable. We partner with artisans in the developing world, empowering them to grow sustainable businesses. By creating a marketplace for their goods, we create dignified jobs at living wages. This allows our artisans to earn more in order to support their families. We also offer no interest loans and make advance payments on orders. This way we are able to shoulder the costs of materials and build a lasting relationship based on trust. We offer scholarship programs and emergency assistance. Noonday Collection also donates a portion of sales to place orphans in forever families.

Noonday Collection is not a charity and we do not believe that providing a hand out is a sustainable long-term solution to poverty. We aim to be a sustainable business that gives women across the United States a way to make a lasting difference in the fight against poverty and injustice." 

I'm still a stay-at-home mom of two little ones. But this, I can do this. Shopping? Jewelry? Accessories?  Pretty, shiny things?  That I can handle. I can - WE can - join with Noonday artisans. WE can walk along side these amazing people and make a difference in their lives in a fun, beautiful, deeply meaningful way. YOU can improve someone's life and look smashing while you do it! These artisans put their hearts and souls into their designs and it shows. So I dove in and am going thru the training to be an "ambassador."  (Them's fancy words for "sharing about their mission and their jewelry"!)

Honestly, early this year, social justice sneaked up and slapped me in the face. I've been tackled from every angle with truths.  And now comes SheReadsTruth, digging in to Biblical Justice... Okay!  Alright already!  I'm listening!

This study, Justice:  Let's Begin at the Cross, is exactly what I want to read and study right now.  It's exactly where my heart is right now.  How do things like this happen? Stars align?  Good fortune?  maybe.  I think it's God's leading.  I think I have a new path to follow, and I think it is starting NOW.

Summer Reading List:

Hi!  I'm back!  And I'm starving for story!  So I've been reading like a FIEND!  The pile of books on my nightstand is starting to teeter, so I've GOT to dive in and conquer a bunch this summer.  I've decided to try to go fiction/non-fiction/fiction/non-fiction and see how that comes out.
First up was:   for bookclub.  Didn't hate it.  (I know - rave review.)
Then yesterday I read:     which was such a great story!

and started:   which just feels very relevant to my life right now

Then am looking forward to:   just for fun.

Also on the docket:   
OH!  And we just finished reading:

and all the while, I'm enjoying a slow and steady stroll through:  

What are you reading?