1. laundry (of course)
2. sleeping
3. working
4. creeping on Facebook pictures
5. making excuses
the next day
I poured myself a glass of last night’s leftover wine and admired my rose garden, still blooming this far into fall.
It’s dusk. There’s still a little bit of light out, but it’s a heavy sort, like maybe rain is on the horizon. Still, it has a certain beauty, a feeling of change that’s in the air and I can’t quite figure out if it’s the weather or me.
I finally decide it’s me, and suddenly the little spotlight on the Blessed Virgin that sits in a corner of my patio turns on. A little beacon in my garden, and tonight, a little more, as I fancy the Blessed Mother nodding and winking at me from her little perch in the monkey grass.
I can’t help smiling. She knows my heart and the gazillion thoughts that were just swirling around my head, replaced now with a kind of happy calm settling the swirl. I nod back, thanking her for the little visit.
It’s been a wonderful Thanksgiving, quiet and uneventful, a contrast to other years, and I’ve appreciated every moment of it for the gift of the present, and our presence. Oddly for me, I’ve reveled in the mundane tasks of setting tables and doing dishes. No doubt the leftovers tonight, alone with my husband, will taste as rich.
A conversation with Liz Lantigua
I’m over at CatholicMom.com today with a review and interview with author Liz Lantigua and her new book, Mission Libertad.
Check it out, the review, and the book! It’s a great adventure that takes us on a wild mid-night escape from Cuba, and the adventure doesn’t stop there.
See what Liz has to say:
Imagine the risk a family like Luisito’s takes even before they decide to get on a raft and cross the Florida straights. They must find scraps to build their homemade raft in a country that lacks basic needs. They need a place to hide the raft. They need to be extremely secretive so they won’t end up in prison. They have to make sure they are not caught trying to reach the beach by the vigilant comite de barrio, the neighborhood watch committee, who informs the government on the neighbor’s whereabouts. Then the most difficult part, saying good bye to the relatives they are leaving behind if they trust them enough to divulge their secret.
Read the rest here.