Fruits....

             I love the days when I am patient....and gentle, "or at least think I am".  They are rare, but they do come occasionally, and when I least expect them.  A few weeks ago, on a typical Sunday evening....my        children were chasing each other around the living room.  They were all giggles and smiles, and I love seeing them play together in this way....up until one of them gets hurt, and it's usually Avie.  I heard the hit and then the screams, and of course ran over to see the damage....then I lost my breath for a minute when I saw what she hit....my wrought iron table leg.  Usually I can keep my sanity in these situations, but this time...I have to admit, I was a little freaked out!  She had blood running out of her mouth, and I was trying to look to see where it was coming from.  After about an hour, she finally calmed down enough for me to look in her mouth...and then I was really freaked out...no front tooth!  I mean of all the things that could have happenend....a knocked out tooth....she is a GIRL!  For five more years she will have a missing tooth....and be singing..."All I want for Christmas is my front tooth"!  Every picture she takes from now on....will look like she's a Hill Billy child!  I began checking the floors and back tracking every place that she went.....no sign of a tooth....I had to assume she swallowed it.  So fast forward to the next morning at our pediatric dentist appointment.  At first the dentist was not going to order an x-ray, because one year olds normally do not sit still enough or cooperate with putting that little "cookie" in their mouth.  Why on earth do they call it a "cookie"! Like Avie, I would have been pretty disappointed if I found out that the "cookie" wasn't really a cookie....come to find out, it's really a piece of plastic with some saran wrap around it, connected by a wire, that you cant really eat.  Anyway....she sat very still and was a very good sport about putting the fake "cookie" in her mouth, and not getting to eat it.  As the picture uploaded onto the screen, I could sense a little uneasiness in the dentist's nonverbal clues.  "What. Is it bad"?, I asked.  She responded with..."Oh My Gosh, the tooth is lodged all the way up in her gum"!  Way to freak out an already freaked out mom.  Sooooo....here we are three weeks later.  The tooth is starting to come down, but it is....dead. We are basically waiting to see if it will continue to come down, and then discuss the next step/option.   So rather than be disgruntle about the whole appointment, I decide we will take a stroll in downtown St.Francisville.
               It's a delightful, warm, breezy day and I pull the car into the parking lot of Grace Episcopal Church....unload my double jogging stroller and the two kids climb aboard...."let's go sightseeing"...I exclaim!   I first picked the cemetery of the church to tour.  Curious, I asked Jack if he knew what a graveyard was,....sure enough, he goes into detail...."yeh, you member when they dig that big hole, with that big pile of dirt, and they put Aunt Helen in there!" Oh my....does he really remember all that!  I have to admit that I was pretty impressed that he put two and two together, because after all, he was right....we were in a graveyard.  So we began our walk and looked at a few of the old tombstones.  I read a few of them explaining that they have the date they were born, the date they died, and their name.  He wanted me to read all of them.  "Just a few", I say.  We came upon three small ones, and he asked me..."momma read those....what does it say"  I started reading....as I read, I realized that there was a mommy and daddy who had lost three of their children, one child each year, for three years. "I hope that I never have to fathom that".....I must have spoken out loud because Jack's next question was...."why do kids get dead?"....."Well, sometimes Jesus decides that its time for them to come to heaven and be with Him."....."Oh", he responded.  We strolled to the back where rows and rows of Camellias are blooming.  Their smell is so sweet, and makes me close my eyes and take a deep breath...we walk under huge oak trees draped with Spanish moss.....it's beautiful....even if we are in a cemetery.   We make our way out and head down Ferdinand Street.  We make a few pit stops in some of the antique shops....looking for cake plates.....I can't seem to pass up an antique cake plate.  Lunch time is approaching, and I know just the place....Magnolia Cafe'.  Jack picks the table on the outside porch...and I am just fine with that.  We decide we want pizza, so pizza it is.  Avie asks, "where's daddy"?  "He's at work today, I wish he could be here with us though".  "Me too"!  Jack says.  My sweet tea is refreshing, and the pizza arrives and looks delish!  We eat our pizza, take a bathroom break, and then they pile back in the stroller and we head back up Ferdinand Street.  The sun is beaming at high noon, and I feel the sweat forming on my brow....it's going to be a long walk back.  We make another pit stop at the Historical Society Museum otherwise known as the information center, and soak in some AC.  They hop back in the stroller and we continue to the car.  The wind is blowing and it feels so good....we hear swarms of leaves blowing down the road, as if they are all running a marathon, and.....the Japanese Magnolias.....well.....they speak for themselves. Thank you Jesus...... for giving me days that I have patience and gentleness.....