Withywindle Wanderers

We've had the loveliest day, with our good friends, Beth, Charlie & Emily! Beth is just wonderful. She is someone with whom I can be honest, particularly about the struggles and challenges of motherhood, which is such a relief! Mothering is one of the most important, most difficult, and least supported and acknowledged roles in our society. Here in the USA, there's a lot of competition between mothers to look good and have everything very much under control. This creates a void of nurture and comfort for mothers, which we need. So hug a mama today and tell her she's doing a wonderful job!! Eowyn and Coco wanted me to put their pet snail on the blog. The snail's name is Sally. Everything they name is called Sally! They want me to have another baby and call it Sally!! Our friend Sally is very excellent and would be a brilliant choice of person to name a baby after... IF...!!!!!!!!!

I love mothering my dear little Eowyn and Cosette. I think I must be the most privileged person in the world to be family with dear Bens, Eowyn and Cosette!!!! I'm so enjoying getting back into our routines and rituals, spending time with each of them, teaching Coco to ride a bike and Eowyn to do really difficult jigsaw puzzles! They are adorable. I am very proud to annouce that 1) COCO IS POTTY TRAINED 2) I AM OFFICIALLY AN IRISH CITIZEN!! The sand in this picture we brought all the way from North Carolina. Would you believe, Seattle doesn't have real sand?! In sand-pits at children's playgrounds, the poor little darlings build sand-castles made of gritty gravel. And what's more, they don't even realise there exists a lovely, soft, delightful substance which feels like heaven underfoot, because the word 'sand' is already accounted for. Another word which has an entirely different meaning here than my understanding of it is 'summer'...

SAM!!!!! 'Twas a pleasure to meet such an adorable wee lad today!! I am really enjoying spending time with close friends here in Seattle. Today Katie and I had a lovely relaxing catch-up, and early in the morning, Nikki and I walked around Green Lake, talked and prayed. It was a healing, nurturing time for which I am thankful. Laurel and Melissa bounced around this evening for a bridesmaid dress fitting. Laurel is so excited about marrying Christofer in 10 days! I find Seattle's gray weather (yep, it's freezing cold here. Anywhere else in the world, this would be called WINTER!) very difficult. Every time I return from being away, my soul aches with a deep sense of not belonging, of missing 'my people', with whom I have a long history. Yet today, and the wonderful friends I spent it with, was so comforting. Even though this place isn't my 'home' in a heart sense, the people here whose stories and lives I share are superb.

...AND RELIEVED!! We drove all night long to avoid overheating the poor, tired engine, in 3rd gear as the transmission is on its way out, and thanks to Jesus' wonder, we're all at home! Eowyn and Coco love dancing on the common at the bottom of our hill. Our hill is abundant with ripe fruit trees, of which we are oft partaking. Bens has a new disguise... We love you all! Thank you so much for following our adventure with such interest and delight!! Love, Megs

Awed by the sacred presence of enormous Sequoias, each bearing the wisdom of two thousand years, I tiptoed through the forest. A loud crash alarmed me, followed by another. A wizard in the bushes? The leaves parted and a long, white nose peeped out, followed by a black, furry body. IT'S A BEAR!! Stretched out, eagerly fossicking in the undergrowth for hunny, the bear moved passed me. I froze. The bear looked at me. Our eyes engaged. Love, fear, horror, hate, delight, connection. Big black eyes, looking at me. The bear sniffed the air, paused a moment registering my unique, invisible scent, and resumed snuffling along looking for hunny!!

(Now we just have to make it all the way b ack from Imperial Beach, California, to Seattle, Washington... Ptolemy, our minivan, is making all sorts of bizarre bumping banging noises which are making Bens rather worried ... Tinkerbell, our camper trailer, is doing wonderfully. The adventure shall unfold ... what ever is going to happen???!!!!!!!!!!!!) The Pacific sparkled blue and serene, beautiful people basking on the sandy beach, chic villas lining the shore, into the hazy distance. Beyond this perfection, the high barbed-wire fence marking the Mexican border, and the silhouettes of the city of Tijuana, rambling, squashed, overflowing, other. We went to Mexico yesterday. I am still processing the experience. The contrast at this border between the USA, big, luxurious, clean, shiny, and Mexico, crammed, smelly, crowded, dusty, left me feeling as if something wasn't right. I can't pinpoint what. At a simple level, it's just not fair. We have in common our humanity - my idea...