Beautiful Chaos!

Lesson 9 - Merging Required I live out in the country so I drive a lot. It takes fifteen minutes to get to the nearest grocery store and thirty minutes to get to any kind of shopping center. I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else, but this choice means I spend a lot of time driving. When my children were younger, the drive times were perfect for little chats to see how they were doing. I learned that they opened up in ways they didn’t when we were home and distracted. I had a captive audience! Now that my children are grown, I have quiet time in the car which gives me time to think and ponder. I have found analogies that I can use to strengthen my relationships. Here is an example:         When I started driving as a teen, I was scared to do my assigned freeway drive. I knew I would need to speed up on the on-ramp and then merge with fast-moving traffic. With my instructor’s help, I was able to accomplish the drive. After practicing, merging with onco...

Lesson 7 - Make the Sauce I recently traveled to Puyallup to spend two days with my 13-year-old niece. She is struggling a bit, needed a friend, and wanted me to teach her how to crochet. It was a wonderful time with family. While I was there, I observed components of my sister’s strong marriage. My brother-in-law is Italian, and they like to make pasta sauce from scratch. For years I have heard rave reviews about the sauce, but I hadn’t been to a meal where it had been served. Since I was there, my sister thought it would be nice for me to try Vince’s sauce. She says she knows how to make it, but everyone thinks Vince’s is more authentic. About 3:30 on the day of my arrival, we were headed out to get yarn for my niece. Before we left, my sister set out all the ingredients and equipment needed to make the sauce so that it would be easier for Vince to make when he got home from work. I could tell this was a normal routine for her; she wasn’t bothered by it at all. Microcultur...