(Written Sunday, December 27, 2015) I’m on my sister’s back porch again. It is a lovely but strange experience sitting here the day after Christmas outside in shirtsleeves.
I did not go to Christmas Eve midnight service. Thunderstorms and lightning were operating at full bore. I was the only one going to the service and decided i would have a couple of more glasses of wine and not risk late-night eve driving in the storm.
My nephew’s family had Santa Claus out on his farm and then came over in the late morning for breakfast and gifts. It rained a humongous amount all day and the thunder drove Wally, the family dog under the bed in the master bedroom. It continued throughout the day and evening, finally tapering off sometime during the night.
The entire area around Chattanooga, both Tennessee and Georgia, has been hit hard. For a while, there was only one road off the mountain. Now there are two but a third had a chunk of it washed away and repairs will be a long-term affair. Christmas has been chaotic nice, but it shouldn’t be any other way if five children are involved.
The country is chaotic from the crazy weather.
But our flights have been rearranged; Christmas highs have lowered to a regular rhythm; our stay with the Duffs of Signal Mountain has been what Christmas should be everywhere.
And sitting here on the porch hanging out over the descent, i look at the hundreds of leaf-bare trees with limbs akimbo. Faded white and green moss and these vines that sprout green leaves appearing to come from the trunks and limbs rather than being a vine.
It is peaceful. i am in balance with my world.
Wonderful!