Labour of Love

Although, Monday is technically Labor Day, today feels like the holiday off. Lazy, hot, laid-back, did I mention HOT? This heat wave makes every task laborious. My sympathy however, goes out to the Padres as they are playing hot and heavy to keep their series lead while wearing those synthetic uniforms. Yech.

My other labor of love is getting everything ready for my mother's memorial service a week from today. I am writing the service and collecting things to take to display at the church. It was an interesting coincidence (?) that I began writing the service on Friday and something compelled me to channel surf. First, I landed on two of my mother's favorite T.V.shows. She was hooked on TNT and loved to watch "Buffy", "Charmed" and the ubiquitous "Law and Order." Not being a fan of that show, (although I was a fan of several of the cast members) I further surfed and landed on the Thanksgiving Remembrance Service for Lady Diana. For a short while, I thought I had imagined the service just to fit my task at hand. It wasn't till later that I realized it was the 10 year anniversary of her death. That still seems impossible to me. Yet, how interesting and significant it was to see her full grown sons participating so beautifully and with such strength.

I have been asked about the service and/or where to make donations in my mother's honor. Although, my tendency would to not mention it, since I have created an online virtual memorial site, I know the information is quite public. Here is the information I have listed: Mom loved her plants and flowers but if you are unable to attend the service or prefer to acknowledge her in a ongoing way, you may choose to donate to a non-profit, charitable organization:

OPEN AT THE TOP- Religious Science Study Group or... VITAS HOSPICE - The Hospice that supported Mom in her final days: http://www.vitascharityfund.org/
or.... BEST FRIENDS ANIMAL SHELTER www.bestfriends.org

If someone has an interest in viewing the virtual memorial site directly, I will provide the link. I really think this site is an example of the power and beauty of the world wide web. And I want to thank the anonymous donor who paid to support the website being online forever. (The site offers this service free for 14-21 days, but if you wish it posted in perpetuity, there is a fee). "We Are Enough" was the dedication and it is a wonderful blessing for us all and one that I know reaches my mom where ere she be.

http://DixieMom.virtual-memorials.com

This year, it was time for HenryHonda to have a smog certificate before I could send in the vehicle registration. While the smog test was being done, I walked up to the post office and on my return trip back to Adams Avenue Imports, I stopped at the Mission Outreach Thrift Store to browse. This is our very nice, neighborhood thrift store and it benefits a church, so I like to patronize them if I can. Of course, my first circle through the store was stopping at the books (as if I need more!) to see what treasures I could find. There was one really old early edition of "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" but I really didn't need to buy that just because it was an older gem. Then I picked up a book on Aromatherapy that called to me and then when I opened it to peruse it, I laughed because it was a book I had donated to them! It made me laugh that I was drawn a second time to the same book. And then another book called to me -- "Healers on Healing". I opened this dog-eared paperback and laughed out loud to see that the label inside showed that this book used to belong to Jo Blaine!!! A couple of months ago, Jo was cleaning out her bookcases and had two bags of books to release. I offered to drop off the bags for her since I was attempting to do the very same thing and was already making the trip. I doubt that this is huge on the cosmic coinky-dinkyometer, but it certainly amused me.

These little gems of coincidence always serve as a humble reminder of the synchronistic orchestration of the universe. Little miracles abound everywhere. Sometimes, it takes each of us to be still--whether by choice or by circumstance-- to be a bit more observant.

Oh, and for the domestic labor record, I offered to cook breakfast this morning for Don and he declined. Can't say I didn't try. Whew. This bodes well for married life.
As I made our espresso I happily counted my blessings.