Saturday, March 6, 2010

Serenity and Celebration

Scott has perhaps the most finely tuned sense of celebration of anyone I have ever known. He grabs every day with gusto, and has since he was an infant. If I’m like hot sauce, Scott is like a whole heaping pot of boiled crawfish. A simple dinner of barbecue ribs and beans is a special occasion in Scott’s back yard paradise. He laid a fire in the fire pit, turned on the swimming pool lights, and began broadcasting good music before inviting Buffy out back for a beer. Buffy and I took our glasses of wine with us, and joined Scott. He regaled us with talk of his future plans to make the yard feel even more like a resort. He’s also considering building a cabana that I could use as my private quarters when I come for a visit. It’s a joy to have Scott as my boy.

Scott’s sister is his polar opposite. Rachel is so serene that I sometimes wonder if I was given the wrong baby when she was born. Since there were thirteen boys and one girl in the new born nursery on Rachel’s birthday, I think a mix-up is highly unlikely. I often tell Gayle that I think Rachel is actually her daughter, as Gayle is one of the most serene people on the planet. I tell Richard the same thing about him somehow being the actual father of my and Bub’s baby girl. Or maybe Rachel is so serene because I’m so not serene. You know how kids love to rebel by becoming our opposites. Scott didn’t have to worry that he’d become his mother.

I am loving the celebration station of Scott and Buffy’s household, even though Scott’s kids have been with their mother this week. Buffy and I have been able to hunker down on the couch with a series of “chick flicks” to wind down after Scott’s super suppers, while Scott continues to hold court at his back yard bar. With my regular contact with Gayle, and my living large at Scott’s, I really have the best of both worlds. I miss being with Richard and Rachel, but sometimes serenity just doesn’t agree with what’s going on in my mind.

Adam and Richard keep me posted on what’s happening in Coker Creek. Other than Richard helping Don with the stone work on his fireplace, it seems that the snow is keeping things moving pretty slow in the hollow. Maybe Mamie and Richard could begin planning our spring planting, even though the sun won’t be safely supplying warmth in our neck of the woods until after Easter.

With Jack housebound for so much of this winter, I’m sure I’ll come back to several of his stories ready to publish. Mountaintop Mary is in charge of getting his finished works scanned into the computer. I’ve hired an editor to help me get my blog ready for publication as a book. With the addition of recipes, that should be good-to-go before summer. My first Coker Creek cooking classes will, hopefully, be planned in time for first harvest at Barn of Plenty. I certainly live a charmed life.