Food & The Journey to Orthodoxy 02 Apr 2007 01:36 pm
…and so my little mushy mind can only compose vignettes…
from wiki: “short, impressionistic scenes that focus on one moment or give a particular insight into a character, idea, or setting.”
- life changed Saturday, a process was completed, a process was officially begun. On Lazarus Saturday, that tiny taste of the pashca to come, we stood with others and were chrismated. And while my baby has miraculously slept through the night for three nights and while I’ve gone to bed early each day and napped as well, I find I am exhausted and in a way, spent, tired, full. They said, “welcome home” when we were done and that’s exactly what it feels like: profound belonging.
- and Sunday was palm Sunday; we held palm frond crosses and said the words, “accept me as communicant” and prayed for others as catachumens, and with the weekend, walked into our first Holy Week experience. The feelings, the end of lent, the quiet watching and listening we are finding ourselves doing, are close to virginal in their newness; they are multifarious and light and as restless as the cloud shadows on the greening of the mountains. It is strange as we both long for the end and want to hold onto each day in near silence; it sometimes seems nearly everything is too loud.
- which makes life rather interesting with little people about…little loud people who are running barefoot and talk constantly and are excited about every change, from the cat’s belly as it undulates from the kittens within to the apple tree that sprouted and the tulips that bloomed.
- we travel this week which means there is much to do. Food is simple: lentils, rice, granola, fruit, water. I’m disinterested in anything more, I suppose at least in part because the baby is now a boy fully weaned. There is soap to make, clothes to wash, grass to cut, bags to pack, words to write.
- Andrew said today, “Mom? Why is that police car going through the Discount Tobacco drive thru? Isn’t that inconsistent?” Kids pick up on stuff…. then later he asked why anyone would want to drink milk from cloned cows because, “doesn’t what we eat become part of us?” I thought I heard about some show that asks whether or not adults are smarter than 5th graders and wondered if it’s maybe not about intelligence or learning but about having that honest insight intact and not yet being so jaded that they can still see right through the excuses we make.
on 02 Apr 2007 at 2:56 pm 1.Mimi said …
Congratulations! Many Years to you and your family!
on 02 Apr 2007 at 5:35 pm 2.Kyra said …
I am sure Don joins me in wishing you many years also.
This past weekend marked our 7th year in Orthodoxy…I noted your words on Clara. Three weeks before we were Christmated, Father John, in Pittsburgh and I had a heart to heart talk, I talked with him about Seth and told him that I felt that Seth had been waiting for us here within the Orthodox Church. Father John said that he surely must have been our appointed forerunner.
He had no way of knowing Seth means “appointed.”
I simply smiled at him, of course he was right.
on 03 Apr 2007 at 9:02 am 3.Amber said …
Yay! Welcome home! I remember feeling light after my chrismation, as though I were floating on a whole ocean of believers. This Church is an amazing thing.
on 04 Apr 2007 at 9:24 am 4.gina said …
“Are you smarter than a 5th grader” is a favorite among our two older ones. It’s a good jog to the old memory for the parents as well and always brings up good discussions.
A note on your newer blog- most appliances can be fixed and AREN’T disposable like so many americans tend to want to treat them. Our washer broke recently and Paul was able to take it apart, clean out the pump and it’s running better than ever. Sometimes just cleaning out all the fuzz under the dryer that the lint trap doesn’t catch can make a huge difference. An electrician friend told us that both the dryer should be cleaned out-turned on its side that is- and that the vent hose should be cleaned once a year to prevent a fire. Remembering to do that is the trick:-) The oven in our old house was hit by lightning and simply needed to be recalibrated and it worked fine! I think I remember you saying that you have gas though. The Lord will bless you for being so responsible with all these Murphy’s on your plate!
on 04 Apr 2007 at 9:32 am 5.Tia said …
LOL…every appliance in this house has got to be at the very least 20 years old so fixing them is definitely the modus opperendus rather than replacement. I do, however, suffer from appliance-envy….Thermadair professional gas ranges, energy efficient front loading washers and dryers, spacious refridges with ample room for produce, freezer space, and jugs of milk. It’s a good thing I never get glossy sale ads or commercials in this house! We’ll fix all these things in time. What I’m finding though is that it’s been good, even critical to our money makeover, to continually confront the culture of “need”; to examine and determine what is really necessary and what is not, and to choose to go against the flow…that flow that hits a home depot sale and buys something new with a special on financing.
on 05 Apr 2007 at 7:15 pm 6.gina said …
I hear ya! I’ve always had old appliances too- our fridge too is on it’s last leg. There is sure something empowering about fixing them too! I often thank God for such a handy husband that can fix just about anything. Get this, our old washer was literally 30 years old and was the best- I could fit way more laundry in it than anything on the market now- it was supposedly commercial and came with our house downstate. Unfortunately we had to buy a new one cause the motor burned up and replacing it was more $ than buying a new one! The thought of all the appliances sitting in landfills makes me sick!