I have more posts coming on
The Desk Series soon, but I want to break again from those for another series entitled, "If I Had A Remembrance Book". If you think you have heard that phrase before, you might have if you ever watched The Little House on the Prairie television show where Laura would begin with the words,
"If I had a remembrance book I'd write..." and then she goes on about a beautiful moment she would want to capture on paper. (which of course she did and they are well loved)
I have felt a bit reflective these past months as I near another birthday that seems like a milestone for me...you know the ones that end with a zero. So looking through notebooks of past writings long forgotten with bittersweet melancholy, I thought I would take you along with me.
If I Had A Remembrance Book : A Friend Like Fairlight
(taken from my notebook of written memories)
I just finished my bible study an hour ago and tucked everyone in their nest and now I sit and write. The house is quiet, my mint tea is steeping and a chocolate chip cookie tart is melting in my warmer. I look down at my day calendar and the little saying on it says, "My dear, my better half". It is sad that not everyone sees their husband in that light, but I understand. It hasn't always been easy for me either, but I keep working at it. Spirits are roaring and minds are going this way and that, fretting over this problem and wondering if things will ever change. They do, but it takes time.
Here on my mountain tonight my thoughts are calm and sorted, nothing jumbled together. Above the grand wall of the great room, at it's peak is my precious lookout, an eight sided window with little grids. My husband made sure when he and our boys built the room that he would add that little dream request of mine, to be akin to the one in Fairlight Spencer's cabin (my book character mentor). Just as Fairlight showed Christy (the beloved novel by Catherine Marshall), I look out and see the stars by night and fix my vision of home once again in the morning, renewing myself for yet another day.
Oh, I wish I could sit in her cabin and glean from her, a kindred spirit for sure. I love the plain and devoted attention she has for her family and home, nothing glitters, nothing is golden...just her sweet face shining with a smile as she chats with Christy. Women like that are sorely hard to find...you find one, but they are in passing as they move at the speed of "forget you", some are so caught up in their own lives that they have no time or room to grow a deep friendship to blooming, while others wear masks or seem to have two faces. To sit with a woman of finery such as Fairlight must have been a dream for the young Christy.
One time during a walk and rest in the woods with Fairlight, Christy thinks...
"I turned over and lay on my stomach and look at Fairlight. She was not sleeping, but she was so silent. I had learned by now that stillness was part of these mountain people. I lay there studying Fairlight's face in repose. She looked tranquil enough. Little did I realize at the time what depths there were underneath the tranquility..." Does that not soak into your mind a bit? It does for me, but I might be a little different wanting to grab onto the simple and plain sweetness of thought. Many a chilly Saturday afternoon have been spent awestruck with the simplicity of the treasures placed within
this series.
Well spoken language without correct English, full of rich sentences without watered down exchanges of thought, plain words without being full of radical terms that give no understanding. For me it just fits like a well-worn glove, the outline of my hand was there before I put it on.
