Neither Strange nor Alien!!

Go figure!

My new neighbor, the friendship initiated by my mother, is neither strange nor alien, in fact, to date she appears to be normal! 

So normal, in fact, that she allows me into her house when it is covered in laundry, dishes, and discarded attempts at homework!  I think I may be in love!!

Is it just me?  I mean that? Am I the only one (well, apart from R) who believes that if you are really going to be my friend that it is normal for you to have to pick your way through towers of lego, mountains of laundry, and the half completed rocket project sitting on the counter to have a cup of tea and a chit chat?  Until last week, I thought that all suburban American homes had an automatic locking mechanism.. when they were messy or dirty or just normally untidy (to my mind - a home!) the door didn't open, except perhaps to allow the hostess to poke her head out and say that they really were on their way out, or in the middle of homework, or ... !

I  have decided to begin establishing "pop in" rights with friends... where we are both welcome to pop in whenever, where we won't be worried about the outward state of our homes because good friends could not possibly be worries about such things and where we won't be remotely offended if the other is genuinely on their way out, or in the middle of homework etc...

So, come on over, it is always chaos here but you are most welcome to add to it!

:)

Neighbors, friends and other strangers

Why does it take someone coming to stay from out of the country to connect us with our neighbors?

You see, in my neighborhood there exists a kind of Berlin Wall-esque divide at the end of my street, somehow, although I see these people daily, see them playing basketball, hauling out their rubbish bins, waiting at the bus stop for their kids, I don't cross the street to meet them.  Why?  I mean, it is not as though suddenly, along the mid-line of SB Street a new language has evolved!  I am pretty sure they are all still American, speak English or Spanish or even both, send their kids to school etc etc... although to be truthful, I have only met one of "them"... the rest could be absolutely bonkers!!

Anyway.. so my mum is here for ten days.. all the way from bonny  Scotland.. and when she decides to brave the wilds of our elementary school cafeteria at 10:30 for "lunch" with my Kindergardener (don't even get me started on 10:30 lunch - that is a whole other rant for a whole other day!), she not only meets people, she meets my neighbor; the neighbor I have been considering stalking to find out if she, in fact, doesn't speak English or Spanish or even both, doesn't somehow have horns or is in some other fundamental way, not "one of us"...  In fact, this neighbor has become my newest friend and has gone out of her way to welcome a newbie to the 'hood... but why did it take my mum ( did I mention that she doesn't even live here?!!) to connect us?

Meeting new people is one of those things that shouldn't be scary, and usually doesn't scare me at all.. as one of my friends said today, I could talk to a tree and be happy!  But there is something about suburban America which totally wigs me out... it is like some houses and streets have invisible forcefields around them.. a sort of "invisible fence" repelling neighbors, small children, dogs and other "undesirables".  I am blessed to live in a 'burb where this doesn't generally apply and have, as a consequence, made some great friendships with my neighbors... is this normal?  

Am I the only one who longs to be able to drop in whenever, and have people feel free to just pop over whenever they want and not feel as thought they are intruding, or worse, that my house is too much of a shambles to have guests... let me just say, for the record, that if that were my criteria, no-one would EVER come over... there is always at least one pile of laundry multiplying on the floor or a kitchen that has definitely seen better days having an even worse one!

So, on that note, good night dear friends, and please come over any time, for a cuppa, a coffee or just a good chin wag..... our door is always open (literally, it is broken and doesn't even shut properly!)  

:)

Drought

This past few weeks have been interesting... not so much because of the actual events, but rather because of the revelations of who I am and how I am wired that have emerged.  For example:

I am unable to focus entirely on more than one thing at a time ... I have become an either / or sort of girl, most definitely to the detriment of my walk with the Lord and, some would say, to the detriment of my ability to think and hold a conversation!  

I long for clarity, security and stability and constantly seek them where they cannot be found, much to my dismay and frustration.  I know that I need to find all those things in the arms of my Saviour so why do I look elsewhere?  

For someone who talks as much as I do, blogging is extraordinarily and surprisingly hard... not least because picking which thought to blog about is like picking a flower and finding that once  you get it home and try to draw it, that a) your skill at depiction is definitely lacking; and b) the flower is not quite as fascinating out of it's natural environment.  This leads me to a new idea, perhaps this week, I will try and give you all a little slice of our crazy life, perhaps even a daily slice.  I can't vouch for the quality or content of this little experiment... but here goes!

See you on the other side!