by Heather Plett | Jan 18, 2005 | Uncategorized
I’m at the computer because I’m playing the avoidance game. No, I’m not avoiding anyONE, but rather anyTHING that smacks of work, or more specifically the disaster zone formerly known as the laundry room. I have to dig through a few mountains of stuff to get at the clean laundry I KNOW is under there somewhere to find enough clean clothes that my family will be presentably dressed tomorrow. Blech. I keep hoping that laundry genie will find my house, but so far, nothing. She gets as close as the front door, spots the stray socks and Maddie’s dirty panties littering my entranceway, and woosh – she’s outta here!
It’s worse than usual right now, and thus the avoidance game. Mike has come to tear apart our house and eventually build us a new bathroom. That’s all GOOD, but in the meantime it meant that he had to trim a wall in the basement which resulted in the laundry room being turned upside down. Now, if I’d been one of those smart, organized Moms I would have anticipated his coming, would have cleared all the clean laundry from the table next to the wall I KNEW he was going to cut down, and would have made sure all of it was conveniently put away in the respective dresser drawers. But NO, not me! That would be WAY too easy for me. I prefer to do things the hard way, to challenge myself each and every day with new laundry obstacles. So just now I checked each of the dressers and found that Julie has almost a full outfit, except for a pair of socks, Maddie needs the whole she-bang, and Nikki can get by with what she has in her dresser. Sadly, before I go to bed, I’ve gotta brave Mount Everest of laundry and find something for poor Maddie to wear – or I can abandon her father in the morning with nothing but a pair of pants that haven’t fit her for a year, a t-shirt that shows more of her belly than Shania Twain usually reveals, and a pair of socks with more holes than a golf course! Let’s see, how long can I make this avoidance thing work?
I saw Debbie on the bus today – the person I used to work with 15 years ago, whom I ALWAYS run into. No, we have nothing in common, and we never INTENTIONALLY get together, but she’s one of those people who keeps popping up again and again, no matter where I go. She’s forever at the same bus stop – even when we live in different parts of the city. We worked in the same building for awhile, even though it was completely different companies. Wierd. There are some people I know in this city whom I NEVER run into, but then there are the “Debbies” who pop up everywhere.
Debbie was doing a crossword. Not that I have anything against crosswords – lots of people I like and admire do crosswords all the time – but seeing her working on it reminded me of how small Debbie’s world seems to be. She’s the person who told me that she’d reached the age of 30 without EVER seeing a COW! Now, I can understand that might be the case if you grew up in a coastal or mountain region, but on the CANADIAN PRAIRIES???? In all her life, she’d only been out of the city a few times and had never come across a cow in any of those brief forays into “the world outside her small city”. Yikes! I’m sure there are gaps in my own experience – things that would shock people if only they knew (fortunately, I’m good at keeping secrets), but I just can’t imagine having a life so small that I’d never seen one of the most common beasts this land has to offer. If she’d never seen an ELEPHANT it would be forgiveable, but a COW?
I hope, really hope, that Debbie is deliriously happy. Maybe she is. Maybe the world scares her and her only happiness is doing crosswords inside the confines of this small city. I know not everyone has to have a world as big as mine, but I have a hard time believing that a life that hardly moves outside the perimeter has as much happiness as life has to offer. But then again, it takes all kinds of people.
I bet Debbie never has to plunge into the heart of Mount Everest to find clean laundry! See, she’s got SOMETHING up on me!
by Heather Plett | Jan 17, 2005 | Uncategorized
God, I’ve realized lately that I really don’t know how to talk to you. I know that sounds funny for someone who’s been well raised in a solid Christian home, spent a few years in Bible College, said prayers almost every day of my life (at least those parts of my life when I believed in you or cared whether or not you existed), and has, on occasion, taught other people about God.
I don’t know how to talk to the version of you I believe in now. I don’t suppose you’ve changed in that time, but my understanding of you has changed and that leaves me with a bit of a gap when it comes to communication. It doesn’t seem like a new relationship should be fettered with old constricts. What was that you said about new wine in old wineskins? I never really understood that passage, but it sort of fits for this. Perhaps this relationship is like new wine, or perhaps it has finally seasoned to a sweet maturity. Either way, it doesn’t fit the old wineskin – the cracks are showing.
I need something deeper than what I had. I need something better than the formality of a courtship. I want to be able to give you the messy stuff and trust that you’ll stick around and believe I’m worth it. I don’t want to fear your judgement all the time. I want to be able to swear occasionally and not think I’ve sent you home disappointed.
I sure wish I could tell when you’re listening. That’s the part that often bugs me. Don’t get me wrong – once in awhile it’s really clear that you’re in the room with me. But more often than not, I attempt to pray the way I think I’m supposed to, and all I get from you is silence. I don’t like that kind of relationship. I don’t show up for someone who sits there stone-faced and quiet. It’s not worth it. I’ve got great relationships with people who are present when I talk to them – who respond and make me feel valued and happy. Why don’t I get that from you more often? It sucks. Really sucks.
I know, I know – it goes both ways. I suppose I don’t spend enough time listening to you either. I don’t wait for your reply. I get through my prayers quickly so I can move on to something else. I only take short moments to read the Bible, because I have so many other things to do. It’s easier to fill my time with other stuff, ‘cause maybe I’m afraid to hear what you’ll say.
Deep down, I have trouble believing that you have my best interests at heart. I keep thinking if I really listen to you, you’ll ask for too much from me. You might want me to change some of the things I really like in my life. You might ask me to sacrifice more than I want to sacrifice. So I just give you little snippets of time, because then you can’t take too much control.
But I’m trying really hard to believe in this new version of you – a God who likes me, likes hanging out with me, wants me to be happy, and thinks my passions and interests are worthwhile and not just a waste of time. So here I am, trying to get to know you better and trying to figure out a new way to talk to you. Bear with me if I don’t get it right all the time. And forgive me if I tell you to piss off now and then. I’m only human after all.
by Heather Plett | Jan 17, 2005 | Uncategorized
I’ve been thinking about Paul & Jo’s baby – due February 12. She asked me to help plan the baby dedication. I wrote this spontaneous tribute to little Thumper…
Your baby…
I hope he’s beautiful and wise
I hope he’s got a wrinkled up nose that twitches when he’s sleeping
I hope his eyes are so deep that you want to live in them
I hope he squeaks when he wants your attention (Nikki did that and I LOVED it)
I hope his hair has a twisted little cowlick that you can’t resist touching
I hope he has his daddy’s goofy sense of humour
I hope he has his mommy’s interest in knowing truth
I hope he makes you laugh
I hope he sings, even if he can’t carry a tune
I hope he dances
I hope he finds his giftedness
I hope he makes you feel alive and youthful
I hope he finds adventure
I hope he finds joy
I’m glad he’ll find you!
by Heather Plett | Jan 13, 2005 | Uncategorized
My new biblical hero is Queen Vashti. We don’t hear much about her, but she’s the predecessor of Queen Esther. While the king was busy partying with all his drunk friends, she threw her own party for the women of the kingdom. His party lasted at least 7 days! Yikes! It doesn’t say whether hers went on that long or not. On that fateful seventh day, he sends word to her that he wants her to come and parade around in front of his drunk friends. Apparently, she’s quite a looker and he wants to show her off. Who knows, given the fact that they’d all been drinking for seven days, she might have been asked to strip down and show off ALL her beauty. Queen Vashti refused. And well she SHOULD have! What self-respecting woman would want to prance around in front of a bunch of drunk, ogling, lecherous men? You go girl!
Well, it seems the men of the kingdom didn’t take well to a woman with backbone, so they advised the king to dump her like a hot potato. And, fool that he is, he listened to them. Here she is, kicked out of the kingdom on her rump, because she had to nerve to stand up to her nincompoop of a husband. He was afraid other women would learn from her example and start standing up to their husbands just like she had. (Little did he know that his next wife would have a backbone too! Ha! It served him right!)
There’s no more word of what happened to Vashti. She leaves in disgrace and the biblical recorders just forgot about her in their haste to tell Esther’s story. Now if it had been WOMEN writing the Bible, they might have said something about where she ended up and if, perhaps, she managed to find a husband who paid her a little RESPECT. I doubt it though. Disgraced like that, she probably lived out her days in obscurity and loneliness. It makes me want to make up a new story for Vashti… that she moved away and started a kingdom where WOMEN ruled!!!
by Heather Plett | Jan 12, 2005 | Uncategorized
1. the reflection of a campfire on the rippling waves
2. the “almost too hot” feeling when I climb into a bath
3. when 2 year old Maddie says “you remember?”
4. the feeling I get when something I wrote appears in a publication
5. the taste of a wild blueberry plucked from a bush
6. a cold glass of water on a hot day
7. the sound of the water flowing over Rainbow Falls
8. the first cry of a baby
9. tulips
10. the taste of my mother’s compst borsht
11. the sound of my dad’s voice when he sings at the top of his lungs in the field
12. the cozy feeling of flannel pyjamas
13. the first time I heard each of my children read a book
14. the muscular flex of Marcel’s legs
15. rosy cheeks after playing in the snow
16. the crisp pages of a new book
17. the sound of Nikki, singing her favourite Hillary Duff song
18. stepping on an airplane on the way to a new place
19. the sweet-sour-spicy-coconutty-peanutty taste of Thai food
20. the synergy of a conversation that opens up hidden pieces of me
21. the first sight of Central Park
22. sitting at an outdoor café on Corydon sipping a glass of wine
23. words of appreciation from a truthful person
24. a fridge that’s just been cleaned out
25. the feeling of a cozy blanket wrapped around me
26. walking
27. the scent of green grass after the rain
28. the sound of “I love you Mommy.”
29. floating on my back in the water, hearing the muffled voices on the shore
30. the look of pride on Julie’s face when she conquers the waterslide alone
31. a guilt-free hour in McNally Robinson
32. answered prayer
33. snow crunching under my feet
34. the smell of Old Spice
35. laughter
36. wandering around Paris with my sister
37. an e-mail from a friend
38. clean laundry
39. Sarah McLachlan’s voice
40. a compliment
41. fresh paint
42. Marcel’s arms around me
43. a project well done
44. my family gathered around the table
45. a friend welcoming me
46. the soft skin of a baby
47. s’mores
48. sitting on a boat
49. a moment when I know God is in the room with me
50. home
