Merrily, Merrily

 I wax sentimental quite often about my good, happy childhood. I was reminded today of one of the bad parts of that time, when someone on Facebook was asking if anyone would pony up some money to put her and her Mama in a hotel, because their air conditioning was out, and it's really hot. I laughed, but then I remembered a couple of years ago, when our A/C went out for a week or two. We took showers right before bed, turned every fan we owned towards our semi-moist bodies, threw any covers off and laid still and quiet, praying to fall asleep before we started sweating.

And that's also the way I grew up...Mama and Daddy had a little air conditioner unit in their bedroom window, and they'd shutter themselves up at night. Us kids laid with windows wide open, sprawled like old dogs across the beds. I wasn't bitter, really. Their room seemed like a refrigerator to me. Because our room was open to the outdoors, you could hear the crickets and frogs carrying on like a symphony. That'd put us to sleep pretty quick if we let it. I still love that sound. The night of our daughter's wedding, in our backyard, I heard that and it made me so happy. Sounds of home.

My sister and I never went to sleep fast, though. We'd talk and giggle as long as possible, until Mama yelled for us to hush. I couldn't bear to be apart from her. She is two years younger and was my constant companion. We had bunkbeds, until Mama just gave up and bought us a full size, because we'd end up together anyway. We got engaged at almost the same time, and got married 6 weeks apart. We started having babies every other year, five boys in a row and then the girls started getting sprinkled in there. Ken and I stopped at four, well, the Lord stopped us at four. Melanie and her husband have 11 children. She is what they call a force of nature. People ask her if she knows what causes that. She says that she finally figured out she shouldn't wash her underwear with her husband's. There's a lot more where that comes from. We also have a brother. He and his wife have six children. We're not Mormon or Catholic, just passionate Protestants. And we're taking over.

Melanie and I have a lot of people in between us, with husbands, daughter-in-loves, son-in-loves, oodles of grandbabies (17 between us right now and a couple on the way), and a lot of things going on. So our talking times are limited to chats on the phone, text messages and the occasional half-day marathons when we get to hang out. But on warm, balmy summer nights when I walk my dog under the stars, I often am taken back to those carefree days when she and I would talk and dream about our futures. God's done filled both of our arms with a lot of good stuff, along with the challenges that threaten to undo us. My heart is still linked with hers, as distant as we may find ourselves sometimes. There's a whole lot of flurrying about on both sides, but I thank God for how He seems to always bring us to peace when we are able to bring our boats alongside each other. Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream...