Child's Play

By Sarah (Living Between the Lines)

This Christmas, I got—um, shall we say, drafted—to assist with a children’s Christmas program. This particular church only has about 15 children and they’re all below the age of six. A single, childless lady in her twenties volunteered to direct the program and found a play that was age-appropriate for these children. And she has spent the last several weeks herding cats attempting to direct this play. She got all of the parents to agree to help direct traffic to the stage, and on the stage. And she recruited another young childless friend of hers to help with the sets and costumes. And then, because nobody else would, she began learning lines so that she could also—in addition to directing—be the narrator of the play.

This woman was quite possibly the bravest—or most naïve—woman I have ever met.

Because I don’t regularly attend this church, I missed all of this pre-program fun. I missed the practices and the costume-making and the set-building. I just knew I needed to be there at 10:00 on that Sunday morning, to assist. By 10:03, I was ready to jump ship!

When I walked into the dressing room at 10:00, there were 15 children and at least as many adults. The oldest boy—wearing his costume—was standing on one side of the room bellowing, “WEE! WEE! WEE! WEE! WEE! WEE! WEE! WEE! WEE!” When I finally left the room twenty-five minutes later, he still hadn’t stopped. Both of his parents had been in the room and neither said anything to him.

Click to read more ...

Storm Clouds and Silver Linings

By Michelle (Graceful, Faith in the Everyday)

The storm sweeps in suddenly, swaths of torrential rain reeling across the neighbor’s roof as the wind shudders fierce. Into the basement we flee, the boys all a tizzy.

“Do we get cheese? Do we get cheese?” Rowan squeals, and I am puzzled until I remember that the last time the tornado sirens blared, Brad had doled out mozzarella sticks as we piled into the closet beneath the stairs.

But then, as quickly as it gusted in, the storm fizzles to a smattering of raindrops and bolts jagged across dramatic sky, leaving a trail of tree limbs, severed branches and dangling wires in its wake.

The next morning front doors open, and neighbors stand on wet cement in bare feet, arms crossed over chest. We survey the honey locust split in two and marvel that it’s only brushed Martha and Charlie’s place, tearing the gutter from its hinges but leaving the house intact. Todd (the kids refer to him as “that muscley guy”) fires up his chainsaw, and sawdust sprays into the humid morning as Gary drags branches to the curb. We introduce ourselves to neighbors we’ve never even seen before and shake hands awkwardly. Everyone is outdoors – it’s too hot to stay inside without air conditioning.

Click to read more ...

Every Day Life: Project Eradicate Mystery Bugs

By Lara

I have mystery bugs in my apartment.

I first discovered them three weeks ago. I went to open a bag of flour, and there were three mystery bugs munching away on the glue holding the flour sack closed. I immediately exercised capitol punishment on the mystery bugs, and sifted through the bag of flour. No mystery bugs were found within the safety net provided by the thick paper sack. My flour was safe.

I cautiously looked through my cabinet and didn't see any more bugs. I didn't think too much more about the mystery bugs after that. I was hoping that it was an isolated incident of insect anomaly.

Let me describe these mystery bugs to you. They are small. Approximately the size of a long skinny baby ant. The smallest ones are black. As they get longer, they turn a reddish orange. The biggest ones are still rather small. They have a lot of little legs. I know what kinds of bugs they are NOT. I still have not identified them.

Last week I found more mystery bugs on my counter. It was time to declare war.

Friday night, armed with a can of bug spray, I opened my cabinet. I removed everything from the cabinet and inspected it for evidence of the mystery bug. Toby, my fearless gray tiger, was more than happy to assist. Once I declared my non-perishable food-stuffs bug free, I liberally sprayed all three shelves in my cabinet and shut the doors.

Click to read more ...

Every Day Life: Smells

By Lara

I was rushing around my kitchen this morning trying to pry frozen pieces of chicken apart so I could extract the wax paper that separated them. I was also feeding the cat, opening blinds, taking medicine, and fixing my breakfast. When my frozen waffles popped up from the toaster, I stopped everything I was doing.

That smell. Eggo waffles crisp and brown from the toaster. It took me back to my grandparent's kitchen. I was six or seven eating breakfast with my grandfather. Every morning for as long as I can remember he ate one waffle and one scrambled egg for breakfast. I felt the sun on my face through the window. I heard the coo coo clock in the dining room. I saw my grandfather reading the paper and eating his breakfast with the dog wagging her tail under the table expecting the "last bite" of waffle. I heard the birds chirping out the back door.

The flashback didn't take long, but I was surprised at how vivid it was and that it took such priority in my thought processes.

Smells can have such amazing emotional ties to people, places and experiences. It got me thinking on my way to work, "What other smells affect me so powerfully?"

Click to read more ...

Every Day Life: Life Goes On...

By Beth

Here we are, at the end of the road, the path we've been walking down is splitting into two. This will be my last post for MAD21 as the next few paragraphs will explain. I have thoroughly enjoyed the experience I was given and this will not be the end of my writing, I don't think I'll ever stop writing. This is not a result of an argument or difference of opinion, simply my life is heading in a much more complicated direction and I would not be able to keep up with getting my posts in, let alone getting them in on time. I wish everyone here the best and hope to actually meet some of you someday. Good luck!!

My life has taken a significant turn over the last several months. Last summer I started a new full time job, my first full time job since my son was born. He's 10. I chose to stay home and work part time while my kids were little because I thought that was best for them. I wanted to be the one raising them, not a daycare or a babysitter. My plan had always been that when Ben started middle school I would find a full time job. Things just kind of got rolling a year earlier than I had planned.

Click to read more ...