Happy Enchilada, Sabbath People.

Tonight, I asked Henry if he would take my empty glass to the kitchen and fill it with fresh water, and then bring it back to me.
And he DID IT.

I remember one time, in my early parent training, reading Dooce and wondering why she thought it was so awesome to have kids so they could eventually make her a hotdog.
I hate hotdogs. I didn't get her point at all.
But tonight, tonight, I got it.

Henry refilled my water glass.  It was abundant kindness at the end of a long day.

We spent this week around water...trusting it, floating in it, finding refuge in it, appreciating its challenges and loving it.

Some of us are still holding our noses to its powers, and some of us have no fear of it and there are Puddle Jumpers to wear to save our lives...

We were so grateful (I just accidentally typed "greatful" which I am, indeed, for these people) to be with dear and blessed friends all week to jump in the water...



...laugh, learn, share, grow, and as always, make silly faces:

These friends make up a Sabbath Group we meet with every year. 

We live all over the country. A little more than half of us went to school together. Not me; I married up and into the group.

We have a semi-organized 8 days together to reflect and share all of our angst and joys from the past year.

Which brings me back to water.

When I asked Henry to get me a glass of water, I thought of the John Prine song when he says, "It's a half an inch of water, and you think you're gonna drown...That's the way that the world goes 'round."

I so do that.
And I lovingly passed on that trait to my son. He'll sit in a half an inch of water and think it's his imminent demise...which makes me hope for him a Sabbath group with which he can share his amazing ability to blow things out of proportion. Then recover in grace, and then make the next mountain out of a molehill.

When I was a youth, Shea Shackleford came to my youth group and sang that John Prine song. Then he went off script and told a story about when John Prine was giving a concert and the audience kept yelling out, requesting him to sing "Happy Enchilada!"
He finally told them he didn't know a song called "Happy Enchilada."
Then a lady yelled out, "YOU KNOW, it's a Happy Enchilada and you think you're gonna drown!"

Well, folks, that's the way the the world goes 'round.
And I hope that mine keeps going around and around, coming back to meet these Sabbath folks every year.
I hope that for you, too.