Brown and yellow leaves flutter to the ground from the trees outside my window; not because of the advent of autumn but from heat stress. This is common in Texas this time of year. However the heat has been relentless this summer. It wasn’t just triple digit heat now and then but every day every day every day every day. I would even say it was brutal. I’m content though. It’s been a great summer all the same.
My daughters traveled a lot but I didn’t. That means lots of extra child care has come my way. I would like the girls to settle down now, as much as I adore to distraction all three of my grandchildren, (ages 7, 6 and 4). However I am soon to have the boys for a few days. It should be both fun and exhausting.
A very consequential event this summer was the rescue of a box of abandoned puppies by my eldest daughter. Sadly one of them died at her house. After that my youngest daughter and I took the other two, both very ill. We did try to get them to the emergency room at the vet school here but they would not take them. They offered to euthanize them but we were unwilling. It was late at night so we took them home with us. For a couple of days I slept with both puppies cuddled up to me. The female was apparently blind, either from injury, illness or maybe she was born that way. Her eyes were a milky blue and she obviously saw nothing through them. The established dogs at my eldest daughter’s house kept attacking her. The remaining puppies clung to one another, often licking each other’s faces. They seemed much too young to have been taken from their mother. Before we could get them to a vet the female died. Her brother was so sad: lingering by the box where she had slept during the day.
At the vet we heard that the male puppy had little chance of survival. He didn’t have Parvo thank God but he was critical. Someone I know (thank you thank you) offered to pay his medical bills if we wanted to do the arduous work of bringing this mange covered, worm infested lethargic little boy back to health. We decided to try. We lived in a small already crowded upstairs apartment. We had four cats already. (Not really on purpose). We thought we would find him a home if he lived. He was a Great Pyrenees cross so we couldn’t imagine how we would manage a dog who had the potential to grow to an 150 pound animal.
He did live. In fact he just ran down the hall chasing one of the cats. We love him. He’s a joy. He is also enormous for a five month old puppy.
That’s no problem; we have room for him now however big he gets because…. I bought a HOUSE!
Now this is something I thought I would never be able to do again. I had tried to let the idea go. About a year before my brother committed suicide I had just sold my paid for house to go live in one he was to build on his land. After his death all of the money from the sale of my house had gone missing. It had been stolen out of my bank account. I’ll never know what happened to it.
Out of the blue my father and my step mom offered to give me enough money for a down payment on a house. They reasoned that since my dad and I are only 17 years apart we were nearly contemporaries. So when they left me money in their wills, when they died, I would be pretty old too. They decided the money would do me more good now. They were right about that.
After all that has happened this gift from my parents to make things right as best they could changed EVERYTHING. I cannot begin to tell you how healing it has been for them to do this for me. It feels wonderful. It’s a great experience of righteousness and mercy and love. Thanks Dad and M. Forever thanks.
This task of house shopping was daunting for me. I’m terrible at dealing with business type stuff. And I had never had to get a mortgage before or shop for houses. After the death of my first husband I was offered a settlement that provides me with a modest monthly income since his seat belt ripped out of the car when he crashed, causing his death. The settlement comprises the majority of my income and my jobs fill out the rest. I don’t know what we would have done without it. After I received that settlement I simply bought the rental house we were living in already. I raised my children there over 22 years.
The first thing I did with the down payment was try to buy my old house back. After feeling displaced for eight years, often living at other people’s houses or in apartments that didn’t feel permanent, and with my stuff still in storage, just going home sounded good. I have often wished myself back over the years. But it wasn’t to be. The current owners were willing to sell but the foundation had such severe damage that fixing it would cost more than the worth of the house. I couldn’t afford that. It nearly broke my heart. But not for long. God must be calling me to build a new life after all the losses. (We lost four family members between 2012 and 2015; all of them tragic traumatic losses and life has been upside down for us ever since).
So we started looking and dreaming. Then one day we walked into the right house. I knew it even the first moment the realtor let us in through the hot dark garage. It was the smell. It smelled like our old house. Turns out it was built almost the same year. and in a similar style. My daughter said it had “the vibe” of our old house. It did.
She said as soon as she saw the adorable kitchen and the shiplap walls she knew I was going to want this one.
If you have ever bought a house you know what a wild and stressful journey it is. But we got the house. And we’re here. And I can’t tell you how grateful I am every day. It’s been over a month and I’m still walking around smiling at everything. My granddaughter has her own room. She can play outside now because for the first time in her life she has a back yard. My grandchildren can play in the sprinkler. My dog can bark outside.
It won’t be long before I fill my little patch of earth with antique roses just as I did my old yard; tangled in the trees, hanging down in graceful strands from the branches. I plan to get a few chickens again in the spring. I don’t even eat eggs. I just like having chickens around. I can give the eggs to others. (Unfertilized don’t worry)! They will be much better than store eggs. Happy chicken eggs are the best by far. And these will be very happy chickens!
I am always finding new things to appreciate about this place. We named it for my book: Casa Maria. “Mary’s House. “
Thats another thing. I’ve been working on Spanish all summer with my youngest daughter. We have an app for it and friends we can practice with. My granddaughter finds it annoying when we talk in Spanish at home. She is a nosey Parker and wants to know everything we say. She should learn Spanish too then we tell her, if she wants to understand.
Another cool thing that happened was my book won an award from the Catholic Publishers’ Association. YAY! Third place in the category of prayer.
AND Our Sunday Visitor would like me to write another book. Yay! So I am working on a new book proposal. That means I am making a possible outline, and writing a prospective introduction as well as some samples of what it would be like. They haven’t decided yet whether they are into my topic. That takes time, lots of time. Meanwhile I mull it over constantly, always writing in my head.
And here we are. Happy Mother Mary’s Birthday! I am reading at mass for the first time today, and at our new church! My parish has built a new gorgeous gorgeous church. That’s another good thing that happened this summer.
It’s really been a good summer. So good it’s kind of freaking me out.
As I leave you all four cats; Frankie, Annie, Dia and Buttercup, Joey the Great Pyrenees mix and my older daughter’s little brown (pit bull I think) puppy named Doo-dah are all asleep in my room. The blinds are closed now because it’s hot as a pistol outside. Hotter maybe. Still I’m having some coffee and listening to jazz and I go to work in a bit.
Grace and peace to you,
Shawn
P.S. Reading at mass went fine. š So yay.
P.P.S. It’s 108 outside today.
Bethany Hang Out 