KM died yesterday
at 2:00pm
while I was taking a nap
knowing I would wake up
in time
to pick up Lizzie at the bus stop
and, later, Rosie
Sarah Jane would text
to tell me when I was to get her.
My taxi duties feel like heaven today
thank you, God.
L’chayim!
Sarah Jane just ran a 12:14 2-mile PR in a duel meet against “nobody.” Her splits were 6:08 and 6:06 and she ran in trainers. When I spoke to her before the race she was so casual and relaxed saying, “Coach wants me to run it as a tempo run b/c there’s no competition; what do you think?” “Yeah,” I agreed, “It’s hot. Save your hard effort for Wednesday.” But when the gun went off and she found herself in a pack of boys [mixed race], she got swept along and before we knew it she was on her way to qualify for regionals. What is so amazing about this, so epiphanous, is that she has been unable to train with the track team for a month now because she has been in play rehearsal for a musical that just ended Saturday night. Sarah Jane has been running workouts by herself at dawn and dusk, before school and after play practice, to stay in shape for her beloved track coach. She told me, “The thing I love to do most is drama, but the PEOPLE I love most are my track family.”
Me too, Saries – except for the drama part 
Normally, I hate hearing lawn mowers on a Sunday afternoon (I understand Portland, OR has a public ordinance for leaf-blowing hours per week?) … but today, when I heard the familiar drone of my next door neighbor’s riding mower I was more than happy to endure this sound pollution. Six months ago he had a brain tumor removed.
Ride, Johnny, ride.
Amen.
*
love
joy
peace
patience
kindness
goodness
faithfulness
gentleness
self-control
(self-control?
that’s an odd duck)
Thanks Jonathan, my hairdresser/pastor for reminding me of this lovely list.
Galations 5:22
I made birthday breakfast crepes for Rosie this morning. She ate one with chocolate and raspberries, one with olives and goat cheese, and saved the “classic” for last – lemon and sugar. Thanks for the recipe, Bill:
2 cups milk
3 whisked eggs
1 cup flour
6 Tbs melted butter
pinch salt
use a hot crepe pan, greased with butter or splash of oil before each crepe.
Bon Appetit!! 
* * *
The bluets are rioting in my side yard.
Humble yellow faces shout at the sun
one by one by one;
I am overcome.
I shall not mow today.
To see more of michele maynard’s amazing art, go to: www.bmichelemaynard.com
” I’m going to check out of this bourgeois motel, push myself away from the dinner table and say, “No more Jell-o for me, Mom!”
-from Peggy Sue Got Married
e·piph·a·ny (-pf-n)
n. pl. e·piph·a·nies
1. Epiphany
a. A Christian feast celebrating the manifestation of the divine nature of Jesus to the Gentiles as represented by the Magi.
b. January 6, on which this feast is traditionally observed.
2. A revelatory manifestation of a divine being.
3.
a. A sudden manifestation of the essence or meaning of something.
b. A comprehension or perception of reality by means of a sudden intuitive realization: “I experienced an epiphany, a spiritual flash that would change the way I viewed myself” Frank Maier.