An Eternal Companion

Today on my way to work, I was listening the the little spot on the radio called "Life Matters" from one of the churches here in town. This morning, the Pastor was talking about his parents' anniversary and how when his father passed, his mother almost grieved herself to death. When he reminded her of the 60+ years that they had together, his mother reprimanded him and informed him that 60+ years was not enough to spend with the one you love.

I thought at that point how lucky I am to have my "eternal companion". I can't imagine being with anyone else for eternity, and I can't imagine the heartache of not having him with me. Sure, we might bicker (not very often) and argue (hardly ever) and even make fun of each other (only in a loving way), but we have fun and love each other to distraction. He is always running about with work or church or something else, and I'm more of a homebody. One day, he was telling me that he would be home late or something, and I said-as always- I'll be here when you get home, and he told me just how much he appreciated that, the simple act of me being home. Now don't get me wrong, he tells me-go out, go do something with your friends! Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't, but it's nice to know that he wants me to be happy, whether I'm with my friends or at home reading a book. He makes time for me to go to book club, to spend a Saturday at the museum, to go to the beach with friends, to watch a Pride and Prejudice marathon if I want to.

I'm picturing him last evening going through his emails and coming across one from his dad that made him laugh so hard he was crying and couldn't breathe. He has such a wonderful sense of humor and is so funny. He teaches our son all of the stuff that his dad taught him and sets an example for our daughter of what a great husband and father should be. We've only been married a relatively short time in the eternal scheme of things (11 years), and sometimes it feels like it's already been forever. But other times, it seems like just yesterday that we were getting married and going through that whole "living together" phase. You know what I mean, that first year of getting to know the person you marry, their little quirks that you didn't see when you were dating. Some of Mike's quirks: he talks in his sleep, he has an unnatural obsession with making sure that the colander is clean after I make macaroni or pasta, thinks Christmas Vacation is the funniest move EVER, has a very short list of wants (truck, boat, motorcycle), and thinks that he did something incredibly right to be married to me and have our kids.

Because this is my blog, I don't have to share with you my little quirks, but in the interest of fair play, I'll give you a few. I have a tendency to get mean when I'm asleep and you fan or move the covers, I have an obsession with making sure the cabinet doors are closed and the toothpaste lid is on (I'm getting a little looser about that), I have a rather oddball sense of humor. He thinks that I'm an interesting person because very few people know the real me and he says I've got just about everybody fooled.

I'll probably get hounded from him about airing his quirks on the internet, but I only did to show everyone how wonderful he is. Even his quirks are easy to deal with! One thing that I definitely know is that I did something miraculous and wonderful when I married him. It's been one heck of a ride and I can't wait to see where we go next.

Peace and love y'all!

Turner to Cezanne

On Saturday, DF Connie and I went to the Turner to Cezanne exhibit at the Columbia Museum of Art. There were a bunch of people there (this was the last weekend) and we went fairly early. As we were touring through the galleries, we marveled at the beautiful paintings by some of the more famous names dealing with Impressionist art like Renoir, Monet, Corot, etc. I'm not the type of artsy fartsy person to discuss line, the use of shadow, what the deeper meaning of a painting is, I'm the type that will stare at a painting that captures my attention or speaks to me in some way. On our first tour through, we came across the painting call La Parisienne by Renoir.

In front of this HUGE painting is a little girl sitting on the floor. She looked to be about 4-5 years old and she had her paper and markers out and was drawing the painting. Connie and I stood and watched her for a few minutes and then moved on. I thought to myself, how wonderful that this little girl is being exposed to work by the masters at such an early age, and that she loves this painting so much that she feels the need to reproduce it. What a cool thing it would be if she grew up to be an artist and her first memory was of sitting on the floor at the museum, looking up at this woman in a brilliant blue dress.



A painting that really spoke to me was Eugene Carriere's Maternity (Suffering). This picture doesn't really do the actual painting justice. I don't know what it is about this picture, but I love it. Maybe because I'm a mom. The Monets that were there were, of course, beautiful. They had one waterlilies painting and then Connie's favorite Palazzo Dario. What a beautiful painting. I am amazed that people can paint these beautiful pictures that say so much without speaking a word. What they can convey with just a brushstroke or tilt of the head is something that I think is fascinating.

So, if you saw the exhibit, tell me what your favorite painting was. If you get to see it, take some and go, it's well worth it. I wish that I had been able to take Kiersten and Jared, just to get some culture, but didn't happen. I am glad however, that I was able to see it and spend some time with a good friend.

Peace and love y'all!

Summer's here!!!!

Hello all,
Summer is officially here! It's time for running through sprinklers, the smell of sunblock, fresh veggies from the garden, humidity that wilts even the sturdiest of hair and oppressive heat. Added to that, the smell of jasmine, the feel of grass under your feet(watch out for those fire ants-tiny spawns of Satan), and flip flops. Man, I love living in the South!

The kiddos were released from prison (aka school-I'm starting to sound like Jared) last week and there was much rejoicing in the Chesley household. No more "mommy, I think I'm sick" at night from Jared- who has yet to learn that unless you're running a fever, puking or bleeding out of your eye sockets, you're going to school. No more "mom, I have NOTHING to wear and my world as I know it is disintegrating!" from Kiersten-this is a tremendous blessing, as any of you who have lived through 13 year old girlhood can attest.

This week, Kiersten is at the beach with her other family and Jared is an only child until she gets back on Sunday. He's loving it. Before she left, I said to my sweet baby girl "please dearheart, call me every once in a while to let me know how you're doing." I got a call yesterday after talking to her on Tuesday to tell her about her grades. I wasn't expecting a call, but she asked me if she could call me every day. Of course! I tell her, I love to hear from you, I love you. She told me all about the goings on (she's already sunburned and they just got there). I made her pinky promise that she would not come home with a boyfriend-which probably entertained her dad immensely. She got contacts for her birthday and is doing really well but she looks older without her glasses and I'm not sure how I feel about that. She's beautiful no matter what. She's still writing but we don't talk about it much, it's just something she does. She's gotten into English I next year and that's exciting. She was very excited when I told her, her words were "that makes me feel like I'm smart!".

Jared is excited to be going to the drag strip on Friday with Mike-that's definitely a boy thing, and then fishing on Saturday. He's also gearing up for Cub Scout daycamp towards the end of the month. He LOVES day camp! He can run around like a crazy person, shoot BB guns and hang out with some of his friends. I love it because he comes home absolutely exhausted. He's been after me lately to let his friends come over to spend the night. I'm not sure about two or three 9 year old boys in my tiny house, the thought just makes me shudder. The house and dog might never be the same. He's reading Harry Potter and loving it. He would still rather be outside riding his bike or playing with his hatchet (don't worry, it's dull and he can't really hurt himself), but I still try to get him to sit down for a few minutes and read. He spent a good bit of time last weekend helping out with nana's 80th birthday celebration. He's a great helper and I'm so glad he's a friendly, outgoing kind of kid.

Mike and I are rolling along as usual. Mike has a busy summer with Scout camp in June and the Youth Conference in July. Work has picked up and that's a blessing. I've been released from nursery :-( and I know that I'm going to miss all my little children. It will be nice to go to Relief Society on a regular basis and maybe even slip into Sunday School.

That's what's going on with us, I'll write more than an update later.

Peace and love y'all!