A Quick Aside, and the Discovery of a Theme...

First, let me apologize for my silence--my son, Max, got sick on Friday with one of those mysterious viruses that knock one flat but seem impossible to truly diagnose, and my weekend was spent nursing him. He's back to his old tricks today: watching too much TV, eating butterfly-shaped peanut butter sandwiches and asking me four million questions about everything from my prediction of what the next TV show is to why one cannot repair a balloon that has lost its air ("the batteries," he patiently points out as he holds up the bottom of the balloon to my face, "go here, mommy!").

That being said, I picked up Alexandra Stoddard's Living a Beautiful Life from the library this weekend and have been skimming through it. When I'm feeling blah or in need of a lift, I enjoying skimming through her books because they're full of delightful suggestions--some useful and reasonable, some the ridiculously "simple" suggestions that can only come from the very spoiled or very rich--about improving the quality of one's home life, and as much as I chafe against suburban living, I am a passionate believer in the home, in home-making as a beneficial and necessary part of successful family life. I may not have June Cleaver's take on the whole thing, but there's a lot to be said for creating an environment of peace, beauty and order for one's self and one's family. Right now, in my family, I'm the one with the time, passion, and ability for the job, so I try to take home-making as seriously as I take mothering, because for this moment, they are my profession and calling as much as writing is.

~End of (slightly defensive-sounding) soapbox rant~

Back to Ms. Stoddard.

While reading the first chapter, I came upon a passage she quotes from Maria Ranier Rilke's Letters to a Young Poet, which is one of my Top Ten Most Influential Books of All Time. As I read the passage, I realized it summed up exactly what I wanted to do with this blog, and so let me quote it here to give you a theme of sorts for what will come:

"...So rescue yourself from these general themes and write about what your everyday life offers you: describe your sorrows and desires, the thoughts that pass through your mind and your belief in some kind of beauty--describe all these with heartfelt, silent, humble sincerity and, when you express yourself, use the Things around you, the images from your dreams, and the objects that you remember. If your everyday life seems poor, don't blame it; blame yourself; admit to yourself that you are not enough of a poet to call forth its riches; because for the creator there is no poverty and no poor, indifferent place."

As you might have guessed, I am NOT a fan of suburban life. Not only do I feel it to be an isolating environment that too easily leads to self-absorption, but I feel it encourages a lifestyle of mass consumption and waste, is too often damaging to the natural world around us, and--at least for me--offers up a lot of difficulties when trying to live a life that I think Christ would have me lead. However, due to finances and the needs of our extended family and a host of other reasons, this is where I and my family are right now, and where it looks like we're going to be for a while. Attempts to escape over the past year or two have proved futile, so I'm led to believe that for whatever reason, this is where I am supposed to be.

To simply snarl and criticize and grouse about my surroundings would be easy, but not very useful. How much better to realize the dangers and pitfalls of suburban life, look at them honestly, but recognize too the offerings of this everyday life of mine, and honor them as well? What if I see it not as poor, but rich in its complexity?

So I take Rilke's challenge, and am determined to prove myself a poet worthy of my current theme.

Now, back to our regularly scheduled programming.