Stillmeadow Friends

Dear Shelley,
It's been a while since I have posted, but for a very good reason - I now have a beautiful new computer, and have been getting used to Windows XP which was totally foreign to one who's brain cells were firmly steeped in Windows 98!

This past week my computer has been firmly switched off for most of the time because of the many big thunderstorms rolling through New Hampshire. I have also been really busy doing housework and running errands and generally trying to get planned and prepared for our three week trip to Wales.

Craig, our youngest son graduated high school last night and I can't honestly believe it...I mean, where on earth did the time go? Wasn't it just last week that he was born? My 24 hours of labor, 9lb bundle of joy who was eagerly and nervously awaited after so many miscarriages...



And the precious and fleeting days of toddlerhood, discovering all the joyful new things about life such as scooping water from your little pool and then pouring it all down yourself -wonderful on a hot July day!



And wasn't it only yesterday that every single daily walk around our neighbourhood involved peering down all the drains to see if perchance there were any Ninja Turtles hiding down there?!

It seems like it was just the other day when he started kindergarten, brightly waving goodbye to me with a big smile while I sat for a good half hour in my car in the school parking lot choking back the big lump in my throat!

And it seems just like yesterday when he was 7 years old and staying with me at his Grandparents house in Wales, and exploring Erddig Hall, a beautiful "Stately Home" in Wrexham with me and his Granddad. I can still see them together eating scones with double-devon cream and strawberry jam - a memory snapshot to cherish forever.

And so last night he graduated school and now a new chapter in his life has begun. He goes to UNH in the fall, studying business. My last baby is leaving the nest...


Sarah, Craig & Carl.

Well he's not really leaving quite just yet because he will be living at home for at least the first year, but somehow last night when he graduated I felt the same sadness of 13 years ago when he was 5 and embarking on his first day of school. A wonderfully happy new beginning, but yet another step away from the baby I once held safe in my arms.

Oh well, time for another nice replenishing cup of Chocolate Caramel Chai - You really got me addicted Shelley!!

Lots of love,
Susan,
New Boston,
New Hampshire
xxx

Dear Susan...

I wanted to share with you this picture of my Mom, Lily Elizabeth Austin. My Mom (my Grandmother) is 84 years old and she lives in Ontario.

When the world thinks of beauty today, it is the young firm bodies with bronze tans and flawless skin. Beauty however is at the other end of the spectrum. True beauty is within the very heart and soul. It's something that many times is only "seen" when you know the person. Sometimes, you see it many years later.

When I was younger Susan, I never thought of Mom as being "beautiful"...she was just Mom. She was however a very attractive woman. Each week Mom visited the "Beauty Parlor". I love that name don't you?? It evokes a picture in the mind of one walking in...trampled and trod upon by the world and then emerging a time later the picture of loveliness. Ahh...a gentler time our childhoods.

Today we rush and scramble for a "stylist" to do a quick "cut and run". Oh, not so with my Mom and her hairdresser. It was an "event", and not to be taken lightly. I will always hold a picture in my mind of my Mom coming home with her "do"...beaming. Before bedtime, she would carefully wrap her head in a net hoping that it would "hold" until the next day when she and my Papa were going here or there. Sometimes she would have me help her. The little nets came in what is best described as a loose envelope. You'd gingerly unfold the edges and inside would be one neat little net...spun so thin that you could barely see it once it was on. The thought of that makes me smile and I can almost feel the net in my hand and the scent of lotion and perfume mingle in my mind.

We lived alongside a railway tracks and I remember her seemingly always asking me to go for a walk down the tracks. "Just a short one" she would say. I would grumble and off we'd go. In the end she and I would have enjoyed our time together and she'd tell me about her day at the dress shop where she worked. I would tell her about school. She'd grumble because I hadn't peeled the potatoes. I'd give an excuse as to why I'd forgotten. When we'd arrived back at the house, all was right with the world.

She was thoughtful and kind and whenever I needed help with homework or hurt feelings, she was there. Looking back THAT is true beauty.

A few days ago, my Aunt, Ginger sent me a photo of my Mom. When I looked at it the first time tears were in my eyes. You see it wasn't just any picture of Mom. This was a special "glamour shot" photo. With a lovely black Boa around her neck and her hair looking like she'd just emerged from the beauty parlor, there was my Mom. She was so beautiful and so elegant.

Her smile is still as pretty as it was years ago...just a little tired here and there.

Oh Susan, isn't she pretty?? Whoever thought "just a Mom" could be so beautiful??

Love, Shelley
Ossining, NY