WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD 09/28/00

Subj: what a wonderful world (long and a little meandering)
Date: Thu Sep 28 22:31:15 EDT 2000

To start, the following was written by a young friend yesterday and it so beautifully describes that day's weather - following a couple of mean, raw and miserable days - I had to share it...

"Today the sun is shining in brisk, clear blue-sky air, the flowers are still blooming as though winter weren't just around the corner, and we are basking in the scents of late roses and marigolds, mingled. One's woolens feel like new clothes, as they haven't been out much since the last of last year's late winter, and the world in general looks crisp and freshly made after its soaking bath of the last few days. Amazing what a difference a day makes."

The last few weeks have been shiny bright to this Gramster. I've talked to Michael and to Scott, who called the other day. Scott sounds so different, so grown up, it makes me homesick for the little boy and wistful to see the full grown man.

I have received several e-mail messages from Karen, a lovely note from Leanne Mahy (the Australian lass touring the USA), and I've had the profound happiness of hearing "Advance, Australia Fair" several times during the Olympics.

Time warp
Last Sunday was the BA Theta Alpha tea, which was so special to this Gramster. Moments I especially remember include Mira presenting a box to her daughter. Thoughts of Ruth, her mother and my dear friend, came to mind and I thought of Mira and her brothers and sisters as the children they were.

As you grow older, life becomes an interesting time warp and the past can be as vivid - sometimes more vivid - than the present. There were mothers at the tea whose mothers I knew as babies.

Of course, being in Cairnwood, where I spent so many happy times and where Gay always seems just around the corner, is always dear to me.

Our Very Own Spiderman
If I have already mentioned the following, forgive me repeating myself. Last Sunday morning, Elsa had "prep" duty for Contemporary Service. That means she helps get what she calls "nibbles and sips" ready for the social time after the church service.

I heard her head out around 8:20 a.m., then a few minutes later heard a car come up the drive, someone get out, the front door open, and Elsa's voice ring out upstairs to a sleeping John, "Get dressed as if it was an emergency, but it's not." A few seconds later, "Slippers will do." A moment later, he was headed down the stairs and she was telling him to trust her. I was intrigued - who would not be? About 5 minutes later, a car pulled up, a door opened and a door closed, and the car backed out and was gone.

When John padded his way upstairs, I could not resist asking what it was all about.

Background - John loves spiders and spider's webs. He gave Elsa Miss Spider's Wedding for an anniversary present, she gave him a stuffed Miss Spider for Christmas.

Well, it seems that as she drove down Sandpiper, Elsa saw ~ way high over the street, hanging from a telephone wire stretched across the street ~ an exquisitely executed spider's web hanging free, like a piece of fairy cloth, clearly outlined by the morning dew, and had run home to get John so he could see it, too.

There are very few things I have known John to rouse himself from his slumbers to see, but watching him describe it to me, I knew seeing it was a treasure to him. I liked that, I liked it a lot.

Treasure
I did not know that mentioning homemade cocoa and bread would strike such a deep cord in so many people. My goodness, I got some lovely notes talking about similar experiences and delight in the scent and taste of hot cocoa and toasted bread. I have them printed out to read in my quiet times.

So many of my treasures arrive via the Internet. I received a wonderful posting from Lois Furry that has me talking to myself about another trip down to visit her and Bob. I have read it at least twice. When I read it, I am down in their wonderful Florida home, having a cup of coffee and checking out the back yard to see if any 'gators meander out of the high grass. Bob and Lois are hosts without peer and she can write a truly tantalizing letter.

Remembering "The Crash"
Perhaps the most wondrous thing of all is that it was just a year ago today that I went crashing down on the bathroom tile at 3:00 a.m. I remember heading into the bathroom, facing the window, then having the sensation that I was falling and thinking, "Oh no, my goodness! What is..."

I was not aware of Elsa and John pounding down the steps from the "Tower Bower" to my bathroom, of them trying to open a door that I was bang up against. I do remember Elsa coming in and John staying behind me. I remember not knowing what the problem was, but knowing that whatever it was HURT. I remember the sensation of relief when the ambulance crew arrived and did such a great job getting me out and how courteous they were, not using the siren until after they got out of our residential area. (this was Mom's first wee small hours bathroom fall - her second was down in Alexandria, late July 2001)

Interesting story ~ Elsa, like Pete before her, is notorious for letting her gas gauge get too low. She might have paid the price that night - how many gas stations are opened at 3:45 a.m.? – had it not been for the kindness of Gretchen and Andrew Glover. Answering an intuitive voice that said, "Now you're in for it!" as she headed down Buck Road, she parked the car outside the Glovers and nipped in to see if she could borrow their car.

Imagine what thoughts went through Gretchen and Andrew's minds, hearing someone at their door in the wee small hours of the morning. But, true blue friends that they are, they handed over the keys and Elsa and John were off.

I heard the ER staff abuzz with a story they heard from the ambulance crew of a couple who started off for the hospital in one car and arrived in another. My thanks and love to Gretchen and Andrew.

It is, indeed, a wonderful world!

Recovery
There were no ill effects of my stroke. My inability to get out of bed is related to my arthritis, not the "episode" as the doctors called it. My speech is fine, I can walk about as well as most 90-year olds (with the help of "Barb"), and my appetite is back in fine fettle. I have more contact with more loved ones that I could have imagined possible a year ago.

I do not think I could have made the recovery I did if I had not started my spiritual questing the year or so before. I was spiritually and emotionally tougher and that helped get me through a lot.

Thanks & love
My thanks and love to all of you. Being somewhere out there gives me a cosmic strength.

That sounds terribly New Age, but this Gocky/Nan/Mum/Mom/ Grammie/ Kay/ Grandma L'/Cybergram/Aunt Kay/TechnoGram/Katharine Reynolds Lockhart/ Mrs. Raymond Lewis Lockhart, ADPOI really and truly does feel blessed with a new age, a new awareness, a new lightness and love of being.

You have helped make it possible, my "higher power" has made it possible, and it all starts and ends with the Lord, who makes all things possible.

Love and hugs (and, to quote a cat-loving friend, licks and purrs**) - GK

** Mom wrote this back when the house was truly Squirrel Haven, several years before kitties came to rule our roost; with the exception of Mike & Kerry's cat, down in Australia, Mom was no fan of kitty cats

reposted in sweet memory of its author, KATHARINE REYNOLDS LOCKHART, by her scribe/daughter, Elsa Lockhart Murphy aka Deev, in celebration of the 05/14 centenary of GK's (Grammie Kay) birth