The Letter P

“In order to be able to really SEE we must train ourselves to look beyond the grey familiarity of our every-day world.”  Thank you to Susannah Conway, again, for challenging me to explore my senses.   After meandering through my house, I found things that were red, purple, and yellow.

I got a bit side-tracked in my search for my initials and heart shapes.  It’s not that I didn’t look, but I think I just didn’t look hard enough.  This is because Girl Scout cookie season and a trip to beautiful South Carolina to celebrate my granddaughter Emery Kate’s birthday have taken precedence over my exploration of my senses.

Cookie season is a two-and-a-half month season of training, pre-order sales, delivering cookies and collecting money, booth sales, and believe it or not reorders which can be huge.  This year I will have over 2,500 boxes of cookies in my garage before all the girls pick them up.  That’s about 200 boxes more than last year.  The troop makes .65 cents on a $4 box of cookies which we use to send girls to camp, go on day trips, and buy supplies including all their books, badges, patches and awards.  We always donate cookies to places such as the Ronald McDonald House, the Salvation Army Café, and the Chambliss Children’s Home, to name a few.  Cookie sales are a business, an experience unlike any other, and it teaches the girls valuable lessons in life.  But for the leaders/cookie chairmen it is all-consuming those weeks.

 

My husband and I traveled to Beaufort to visit our granddaughters and celebrate Emery Kate turning five years old.  We had planned to stay longer but cookie sales interrupted it, but we squeezed in a lot of hugs and kisses and birthday wishes while there.

 

She had her party at a local Christian based bowling alley.  The couple who bought the bowling alley a few years ago converted it, cleaned it up, and since this is the third party my daughter has held here, I can see that it is a huge success.  Classes were going on for a group of children; families were bowling together and two other party tables were set up for later that day.  Emery Kate invited seven little girls and one boy who happens to be a family friend, not a school mate.  Two of the little girls and the boy showed up.  None of the others RSVP'd; so my daughter had to assume everyone would come.  That meant buying enough pizza, cake, ice-cream and favors.  That seems to be the norm these days.  Sadly, parents don't respond to invitations anymore. The good news is the smaller group meant the parents got to enjoy the delicious pizza, Bluebell Ice cream cups,  and cupcake cake.  It was a "My Little Pony" party.  Her big sister Lexi painted a ceramic My Little Pony for her little sister and kept it a secret for a long time.  Both were very proud.

Later that day, I sat on their front porch.  The wind was brisk and I could have sworn that I could hear the waves two blocks away splashing on the beach at Port Royal.  Warm temperatures were not enough to withstand the wind, but I found a few minutes to sit in the sun and quietly think.  When I opened my eyes I saw a recent painting by my granddaughter, Lexi, a blooming artist as seen from the eyes of one with Autism.

Here was my first P:

 

 

 

 

With my first P tackled, I’m ready to find others.  Today, I will open my eyes and see with my heart and remember to sit quietly and be grateful for all my senses.