Gone, but not forgotten. . .

Several weeks ago the retired superintendent of the school district that I grew up in. (Camas County School District 121)wrote a letter to the editor in our small town paper. (The Camas Courier)my parents called me right away, read me the letter and said, "You have to write and keep this going a while longer." (Apparently the letters to the editor in Camas County were getting entirely too serious. . (County Planning & Zoning Issues. .and, you know how THOSE discussion go!)

Mr. Stroud, if statistics are correct, feels he has got about four more years of life left. (Mind you he's healthy)and he has a few unanswered questions in life, one being, "Who stole the KING Size Snickers Candy bars?" Mr. Stroud kept candy bars in his office and handed them out to students who were doing good things "or just hungry". This particular theft of interest happened while I was a freshman in high school. (It WAS NOT ME, and I really have NO idea who did it, although I have a good guess, it has to be a senior. . I'm not about to name names, but I'd put my money of J.R. or J.D., not C.W. because I sat next to him in Spanish class forth period, when the "crime" in question happened). . you know how squirley the boys were in the class of 1990. . .) So I wrote an anonymous letter to the editor of the Camas Courier giving some clues, or "educated deductions" based on my experience in the school. I gave enough hints about my identity that pretty much anyone who knows me, or knew me back then, could figure out who was writing, but I figured it all adds to the fun.

My identity is no longer a secret, apparently a letter to the editor in the Camas County Courier (published today) began. . Dear Amy, Nice try, no Snickers for you. . ." (in essence)

It sort of cracks me up, that fifteen years after I graduated from high school, nine years after I moved away. . I can still engage in the small town banter. It's sort of comforting to have roots in a place where the Superintendent of schools writes open letters to the editor, about events that happened eighteen years ago. Time moves at a different pace in small towns, and I'm thrilled to have roots in a place where time stands still.

As for the Senior Senator from Idaho. . that's an entirely different story. I woke up this morning to Senator Craig's voice on my So. Cal radio station. . . that's a trippy feeling. . .

A Thousand Splendid Suns. .

Last night I finished "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini, the same author of The Kite Runner. I love a book that engages me, challenges me, and moves me. It was the kind of book that I found myself praying for the characters. . . I KNOW the characters are fiction, yet the story is a story that I'm sure, while the details may be different, IS the story of women throughout Afghanistan.
Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan that entire part of the world is so far removed from anything I understand or have experienced. I feel like through this one book of fiction, and my NEXT book "Kabul Beauty School" help open just a sliver of a mysterious, somewhat scary, very foreign world.
A Thousand Splendid Suns was the story of two Afghan women, one of them two years younger than I am. . it traces her life in Kabul growing up, as a teenager, through civil war, the Taliban. . While a fictional story, it's based in historical fact (She and her husband watch 9/11 happen on television, just like I did)I finished the book so THANKFUL for my life, for the country in which I live, for the freedom I have as a woman, for my education, for my husband, for safety and security. . .
If you have a chance, or want to borrow my copy, read A Thousand Splendid Suns. . . and today my prayers are with the women, the young girls, wives and mothers of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq. . .While I know NO faces, I've shared no meals or experiences, I LOVE the fact that God is answering my prayers, that he knows what women I pray for, which women need the grace of God (or Allah) to fall on them today.

Who needs Beckham. . .

. .when you've got a little guy playing soccer in your belly? Reid seems to be in CONSTANT motion, I fear my hands will be full when he's 2,3,4,5,-16. . . It's so wierd to feel him moving ALL THE TIME. . . the other night I woke up, and I'm pretty sure he was exploring his bounderies by pushing his hands and feet at the same time. A friend was asking me what it felt like, she said, "Is it like you've eaten a small animal." It's more like I've swallowed a small animal whole, and it's really letting me know it's there!

Movement is good. . . and they tell me he'll start to move less, but more forcefull as he grows and gets stronger, and his space to move gets more and more cramped.

Hobbies. . .

Forgive any typo's first of all. . . I had some friends over for dinner last night, and in my zeal of cutting green onions for my Mango, Shrimp, Avacado Salad, I did a NUMBER on my Left pointer finger. . . (IE: I SLICED my finger.) All is okay. . actually turns out it's not a bad way to get guests involved in last minute meal preparation. . . someone accused me of planning the whole thing to get out of the last minute details. . . (I could find better ways to get out of work, and besides I really don't MIND doing all that stuff. . . ) Anyway. . finger will heal, Salad turned out better for all the creative genuis and chef'ing skills of my friends. . . and Spring Rolls are always a winner with guests. . .

A couple of weeks ago I had a mini-identiy crisis. . . I realized that I don't have any "hobbies" (ie: crafts). I don't scrapbook, or stamp, or make cards, or quilt, or cross-stich, collect stamps or laundry lint. NOTHING! What kind of childhood will Reid have without a mother who scapbooks? After a bit of panic and a trip to the bookstore craft magazine section to review ALL the craft magazines to see what my "craft" could be I had an epiphany. There is so much creativity in the world, and I'm sure I could find something wonderful to do, but I have a hobby. . it's not so crafty, but it's a hobby and I'm totally going to own it.

MY Hobby. . .what I do. . . I READ. I'm a book worm. I read books. . .I collect information, quotes, thoughts and that's my "gift" to people. So Reid might not have every month of his life documented with pretty pictures and cool pages (I really appreciate people who can DO that), However, Reid will have a mommy who reads. . . In the past month I've read. .

Becoming Madam Mao (about the rise of Mao Xiadong's wife in China),

The Last Chinese Chef (about the unique culinary culture that IS China),

Peony in Love (about a 16th century 'maidien in China and a famous (real) Chinese Opera which was the first time in history that women's writings were published and women become acknowledged as having intellectual capabilities),

Walking on Water (on Faith and Art by L'engle) about the connection between "secular and sacred in the "creative relm"),

Gifts from the Sea by Ann Morrow Lindberg (about the seasons of a womens life. . so great!).

The Distant Land of My Father (a fictional story about a girl who was born in China and grew up in So. Cal-wonderful story),

Empire Falls (a Pultize Prize winning book about a small town in Maine, GREAT character development, my favorite character was the senile old catholic priest who called everyone "Pecker head").

I realized in my search for a craft that I would be 'crafting' because it was what I was suppose to do, not because it was a natural 'outflow" of WHO I am. To be true to Amy, I needed to think about WHO I am. . and i realized that I am a reader. I read quickly (more quickly than most, I admit,) I LOVE to be transported to a different culture (looks like China's on the brain these days for some reason!), I love to explore new ideas and learn and be challenged by other people's best thinking on ANYTHING. I have lots of people in my life, who HUMOR me wonderfully by listening my my lastest learning, book report or 'deep thought'. . I think that Reid will benefit from that too. . .(I hope so! I can't wait to read to Reid (what a perfect name for my little boy!!! REID. . get it! :) (add that to the fact that the birthing center we are going to use is ABOVE a Barnes & Nobel!!!! Oh my!

Currently on my reading list:
* Animal, Vegetable, Mineral: A year in food life: about a family who vows to live only on what they can grow or buy locally for one year. FACINATING. . Although I have to be careful about reading these type of books. . . I tend to get swept away by the 'social justice' under-pinnings, and my innocent belieft that what one or two people really do make a difference. . . I fear I'll soon find myself contemplating how to plant a garden in my back yard. . .

* Land of a Thousand Suns, by the same author of the Kite Runner. . . suppose to be a fabulous book.

* Secrets in the Dark, a Life in Sermons by Fredrick Buechner, a pastor who is one of the BEST writers. . I love his stuff.

In "owning" my hobby I learned how to order books from my local library. . often times the books I want to read I can't find in my local library. . . Now I have ALL of San Bernadino County at my disposal. . . I just open my library account, put my books on hold, wait for a call from the library, and all the lastest books I want to read show up at the library. . I LOVE it when my tax dollars work so well!

Any good books I should read??

I never thought of it THAT way before. . .

I'm back in my "Oswald" phase. Oswald Chambers that is. He was a Christian Preacher in the late 1800's in England. His wife recorded all of his sermons (in short-hand), and after his death they were turned into a daily reading called "My Utmost for His Highest." My "utmost" has been a faithful friend for close to ten year. Carrie introduced me to Oswald in China. . and as soon as I got back, I got my own.
June 30th. . really got me thinking. . . What do you think about the first few lines of June 30th. . "Disillusionment means having no more misconception, false impressions, and false judgements in life; it mean being free from these deceptions. However, though no longer deceived, our experience of disillusionment may actually leave us cynical and overly critical in our judgement of others. . "

We seem to talk about Disillusionment as a "bad" thing. And all of a sudden last Monday I saw it as something totally different, as a GOOD thing. Something that is difficult, and not easy, but necessary none-the-less. WOW!

Get this, he goes on to say, "Many of the things in life that inflict the greatest injury, grief, or pain stem from the fact that we suffer from illusions." (What are your illusions? That's something to think on!)
"We are not true to one another as facts, seeing each other as we really are; we are only true to our misconceived ideas of one another."
Whoa. . . think on that for a while. . . I hope it disturbs you as much as it's disturbed me (and not in a bad way, but in challenging myself to BE Disillusioned. .

(If you have a "My Utmost for His Highest Laying around. . check out the entire text on June 30th) Powerful stuff!