Envelopes of Light

I recently discovered a source for Pierce Pettis CD's that have been out of print for a very long time. OK, so Amazon.com isn't really a new discovery, just that it was new to me that you could get used CD's on the site. Anyhow, I have now successfully replaced two CD's that I have had on tape (yes, cassette tape) until now. I am sharing this because it makes me happy. I'm also sharing this because Pierce Pettis is one of those singer-songwriters who teach my heart things it kinda already knows but just doesn't know how to say it as well as he does. I received my "envelopes of light" about a week apart, which has given me time to digest again the beauty they contain. In his song, Envelopes of Light, Pettis tells the story of a man who goes out in search of himself: "At the sign of the times/He hesitates to navigate his course/His rite of passage/Up the stream of consciousness to find its source". While he's "gone" a woman waits for him to return, but "when he's down so dark/She mails him little envelopes of light". These "envelopes" are reminders of God's ambiance, His presence by way of small miracles of sight and sounds that tell the man who he is.

I hope to receive more of these envelopes, and even more, to be entrusted to deliver some of them to the people God has chosen to decorate my life with. We all seem to have this need to be reminded on a daily basis of the good gifts we have been given. I hope that is the reason I started blogging. Not just because I have some narcissistic desire to share my thoughts with the world (and I'm sure I do), but to also seek to open these envelopes and share the joys and heartaches with fellow travelers.

Down, set, hut, hut, hut...

Thursday night the Evans High women faculty got their revenge on this year's senior girls. After getting whooped in an extremely scrappy faculty/student basketball game this winter, we came back with a vengeance for senior week frivolity in the Powder Puff football game. I had a whole career in a 40 minute game. In the first half, I caught a glorious Hail Mary pass which I ran into the end zone for a touchdown. I also had a pretty darn amazing (for me that is) interception which I ran for a few yards before getting "tackled" ( this is flag football) by much faster, and younger, opponents. In addition to these career highlights, I also managed to give myself a black eye by running into my own quarterback. I followed up this swift move with a fumble onto which I quickly, and may I add painfully, belly-flopped. Some other notable performances were CC Armstrong's two touchdown catches under heavy coverage, Claudia Mahaffie's center sneak into the end zone, and Teresa Davis' incredible athletic prowess as our quarterback and our best flag tackler. She single-handedly saved the game by "tackling" the same girl three plays in a row.

I have several other mysterious bruises which are making themselves known, but I am proud of our 20-14 victory and the lumps we all took for the team. The faculty women were by far the more injured of the two teams, but I feel we won because we really, really wanted it. That, and losing to perky 18 year-olds is just not something that should happen twice in one school year.

CC and me at the Powder Puff game

The Southland in the Springtime

I am reminded of the song of the same title by the Indigo Girls that proclaims that:

There is something about the southland in the springtime
Where the waters flow with confidence and reason
Though I miss her when I'm gone it won't ever be too long
Til' I'm home again to spend my favorite season
When God made me born a yankee He was teasin'
There's no place like home and none more pleasin'
Than the southland in the springtime

This is hands down the best time of year here in Augusta, Georgia. There is a reason that the Master's golf tournament is played at this time every year. So many Augustans leave town during our almost mandatory Spring Break due to the enormity of the crowds that drift into town and the traffic they create. But, I think they miss out on the height of the beauty of this place. You have to take advantage of the beauty. Unlike the striking, almost screaming beauty of the majestic Rocky mountains, the south has a loveliness that is more subtle, more like an impressionistic painting. The edges are blurred and the variety of colors move almost imperceptively from pale yellows and pinks to bright magentas and purples. I'm learning the names of the flowering trees that I took for granted all the years of my youth when I could only think about my own dramatic monologue of existence.The sumac and the wisteria vines now compete for my notice. It is pure tragedy that my schoolroom has no windows to look upon the celery greens change to the bright summer shades. It is important to stop and appreciate this time, as soon it will change to the muggy heat of deep summer. A time when I hope to once again appreciate the grandeur of the Rockies and perhaps the great Northwest. Love and blessings from the southland in the springtime.