Right Under My Nose All the TIME

Up to the shoulder inside a cow.

Last week my daughter wrote a book review that got me thinking. She tells a story about picking up a book several times, even purchasing a few copies over a period of months, only to read it at the right time and the right place. Which, by the way, was on a cattle ranch where she had to have her wedding ring cut off to save her finger.


Later in the week, while cleaning out some stuff in her house she found a document linking her husband to a toy store we used to frequent when the girls were little. I have a faint memory of a friendly, tall, dark, and handsome boy chatting with us.  But Rachel didn't meet John then, at least not in the way that led to their marriage.  She met him while shopping for a truck at a dealership where he worked as a salesman and where he is now General Manager.
After they met, Rachel learned that he lived right around the corner, which means she probably saw him many times as a girl riding her bike or gazing out her window.  I recall driving her to work one day; when we stopped at a traffic light, we both looked up into the driver's seat of a truck, where a handsome young man smiled back at us.  It turns out it was her prince -- the chatty toy store clerk had grown up! None of us knew it then.  All three of us still remember it now.

By the way, this is the ring that needed to come off to save Rachel's finger.

Rachel's story is amazingly similar to my own story of knowing Jim since kindergarten, never imagining that he was my prince.  More about that in a previous post. (My Husband, My Prince)

And her story is a lot like the one told by my grandparents,who were born (1899 and 1900) on different levels of the same house, who met and fell in love in their teens.  My grandfather used to reminisce about watching a beautiful girl walk down the sidewalk, a huge bow in her long brown hair, her coat and hair blowing in the wind.  Many years later, he learned who the girl was -- my grandmother.

I can tell a similar story.  I remember at about 12 years old I was standing outside a 5 & 10 cents store, wondering who I was going to marry.  Many years later, when I wed my prince, I realized that this store was right at the end of his street.  I would NOT be surprised if he was in the store while I was thinking this.

Why am I writing about these events?

Because Rachel's blog got me thinking and because they happen all the time!  Because time, although it seems 1-12, is not  exactly linear -- or even cyclical -- to our Creator.  It just appears that way to us in order to facilitate our life experience.  I am coming to understand more about time, now that I am old and gray on the outside.

My post didn't start as a philosophical rant. It started with thoughts of  my garden window.   Many years ago we built a much needed addition onto our home.  While designing the addition, I received input from my parents.  Bill suggested we add a bathroom.  At the time we had four young children at home, all girls.  He had raised all girls too... thus, the inside knowledge of the need for extra bathrooms!  (He was so right!)

Mom suggested a garden window. Her love of gardens and eye for beauty perceived it as useful as well as beautiful for us to have.  Then, Jim and I went to a home show and saw a garden window for the first time. YES!  I have always loved everything "garden," so I drew it into the plan.

Our three room addition was constructed by a man we met in the same 'serendipitous' way described above.  He is married to one of my dear friends who I met through another friend, who I met when looking for a home to buy. My grandmother's neighbor knew a couple who had just built a home in Tucson; and they introduced me to a friend who then introduced me to the wife of the man who installed the garden window. Cathy ended up being my daughter's preschool teacher, and her yet-unborn child would be one of my yet-unborn children's first and dearest friends.  Some would claim that these things are accidents.  I've learned otherwise.

Did I fail to mention that my father, "Bill" is really my stepfather?  Yes, he is the natural father of one of my close friends from high school.  I knew him for years before he met my mom?  And that reminds me of when I saw his daughter for the first time, combing her flaxen hair in the junior high girls bathroom.  I was admiring her straight hair.  Mine was frizzy.  And I was thinking Wendy was the prettiest girl I had ever seen.  It was months before we "met." -- and years before we became sisters.

I know I am losing some of you................ I promise I'll tell about the garden window now.

For all of its 20 years, this window has been a home to  ornamental houseplants. Recently, I've become interested in using spaces to produce more than "beauty."  Our landscaped yard now houses egg-bearing chickens and compost-bearing bins.  Our pots are full of yummy things to eat.  I'm also planning rain barrels, and worm factories.

The garden window will now get to fulfill its purpose on Earth. There is a train traveling backward toward sustenance, and our pretty, little 4x5 garden window and I are on it!

Can you see him?  I was taking a photo of the garden window to add to this post. My prince, the landscaper, was cutting about 6 feet off the top of our Oleander shrubs.

I can't wait to find out what else is right under my nose that will become a crucial and special part of life's experience!

Love,
Becky