Just Write {34}

May 7, 2012

On Sunday morning Asher shouted, We have a leak! and I came down the stairs to see him standing barefoot, water up to his ankles, Legos floating by, plastic bobbing up and down and laughing at me in primary colors.

RYAN!!! That was me, with the shouting this time and there came my husband to stand at the bottom of the stairs with me in disbelief. It had rained and rained the night before. So much that a big empty plastic bin that was sitting outside in the storm was full halfway up by morning. And this would be the night that our sump pump up and stopped working. I could write a million whining words about the mess, I really could. The sopping wet very large area rugs, the piles of soaked laundry, etc…but unusually, this became a day that I may even call good.

There was panic at first and while Ryan struggled to fix the pump, I kept the children away from all the standing water to be sure every power cord down there was unplugged. I knew we’d need my parent’s help so I went to get them at church to stop them from driving home and having to come back in to town again. While the pastor prayed, I snuck up to my dad and pulled on his shirt and he came out to the foyer with me. I told him how I was going to write all day and now this and I tried not to cry. I have a few paid writing things and some other obligations and I’m so behind and overwhelmed and and and…

Then an usher came by to bring us communion, standing there in the back, just to be sure we were included and we awkwardly accepted and usually you wait for the pastor to pray and say the words that mean it’s time to swallow the bread and the cup but I was distracted by all the water so I absent-mindedly swigged down the grape juice and swallowed the bit of bread right that very moment. Then I realized everyone in the church was still waiting, including my dad and we started to laugh and laugh and my dad kept pretending to turn to the usher and he was saying, Thanks for the snack! Then we laughed and laughed some more. I handed him my empty cup so I could leave again, since I was standing there in a sweatshirt and jeans that were wet on the bottom and rolled up high. Do you want another snack before you go? He asked and I laughed all the way to the car.

The boys helped pick up toys and they used squeegees and brooms and it was good for them to learn to help this way. Elsie and I went to get everyone lunch and we all sat at the table and we had communion. It doesn’t really matter how you take it or where you take it or when anyway, as long as it’s about Love and being together in a moment’s respite from the hard things that bring you together.

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This is the 34th installment of Just Write, an exercise in free writing your ordinary and extraordinary moments{Please see the details here.}  I would love to read your freely written words so join me and link up below. You can add the url of your post at any time. Just be sure it’s a link to your Just Write post, not to your main pageThen please link back to this post in your post so people know where to go if they’d like to join in.) (Any links not following those two guidelines will be deleted.)

Also. Please take a moment to visit someone else who has linked up! It’s a really good way to meet new writers and get inspired by the meaning behind their moments. Word?

 
Attention writing Mamas: Did you see the writing contest yesterday? You can send me an essay for a chance to have an hour consultation with Kate Hopper, the author of Use Your Words: A Writing Guide For Mothers and a feature on Literary Mama Magazine! You can learn all about it in yesterday’s post.

{ 29 comments }

Lynda M O May 7, 2012 at 9:28 pm

Damn, girl, that’s some inspired writing. I so enjoy your blog.

Heather May 8, 2012 at 8:49 pm

Oh thank you, Lynda. I feel all fluttery about that “inspired writing” part. Thank you.

karla porter archer May 7, 2012 at 9:39 pm

wow. I want to write like you when I grow up.

Heather May 8, 2012 at 8:50 pm

really? well, I really appreciate karla porter archer’s writing myself :)
but thank you. Of course in my fuzzy fatigue I wondered if this post rambled and made very little sense, so it’s good to hear you say this, lady. Thank you.

tara pohlkotte May 7, 2012 at 9:44 pm

no, it doesn’t matter where or when. just that there is love surrounding you. amen.
tara pohlkotte recently posted..Birthing Warrioress

tracy@sellabitmum May 7, 2012 at 10:46 pm

Oh I just had quite the giggle about your snack at church. I remember when I was about 8 and I would always ask my mom if I could have ‘seconds’ after communion went by.
tracy@sellabitmum recently posted..I’m This Big

Heather May 8, 2012 at 8:51 pm

I NEED SECONDS OVER HERE!!!

they only serve grape juice at my parent’s church. Just imagine what I would have done if it were WINE. I’d probly have grabbed the whole tray and relapsed while imagining Legos splashing around in my basement. heh.

Brandee Shafer May 8, 2012 at 12:29 am

Having struggled with communion most of my life and only just arrived at this place (the place of wherever, whenever, and thank You, Lord), I found this post especially meaningful. Sorry ’bout the mess, glad for your dad’s sense of humor…and the story.
Brandee Shafer recently posted..Thought of the Day

Tiffany May 8, 2012 at 5:41 am

Whoa, a flooded basement…yikes! I giggled over “Can I have another snack?” So cute.
Tiffany recently posted..Lost

Erica @ Expatria, Baby May 8, 2012 at 5:50 am

How joyful. My day also should have been terrible but wasn’t. And that is one if life’s most wonderful gifts, isn’t it.
Erica @ Expatria, Baby recently posted..Easy

Andrea May 8, 2012 at 7:20 am

I’d be on the edge of freaking out if I came downstairs to a flood. What a mess to clean up! At least you kept a positive sense of humor.
Andrea recently posted..RTT: At least the scenery was pretty

Semi Domesticated Mama May 8, 2012 at 7:50 am

I’d have lost my marbles if we’d had such a flood. Our old house had a basement flooding issue and just remembering it gives me twitches and flashbacks! Good for you for not losing it and keeping a sense of humor.
Semi Domesticated Mama recently posted..More Than Just a Title

Amber May 8, 2012 at 9:14 am

Oh man. Talk about making lemonade… I’m glad you turned it into a positive experience. That takes some doing!
Amber recently posted..A PSA For My Freelance Writing Friends.

Elaine May 8, 2012 at 9:14 am

I love this because I just posted about my son’s First Communion yesterday. A little snack for the soul. I like that idea. :)

Sorry about all the water though…
Elaine recently posted..Matching Umbrella

Shaina May 8, 2012 at 9:40 am

I watched that rain fall. I like your dad because he reminds me of you.
Shaina recently posted..Cilantro-Lime Fish Cakes with Sriracha Lime Mayonnaise: Leftovers Redone

Heather May 8, 2012 at 8:53 pm

My dad is very very likable. LIKE YOU.

Ashley May 8, 2012 at 1:46 pm

I am struggling to link up today. It says my piece linked already, but I was unable to add an image, and I don’t see it here. Could you help me?
Ashley recently posted..What we tell ourselves in the white space

Ashley May 8, 2012 at 1:48 pm

Never mind. I see it now. :) And oh, how I love this, Heather! What a beautiful interaction between you and your dad over “snack.” I just love that!
Ashley recently posted..What we tell ourselves in the white space

Alana May 8, 2012 at 3:39 pm

I love those moments that end up being so ridiculous they put life in perspective.

Marta May 8, 2012 at 4:17 pm

Oh Heather, I am sorry for your basement trouble, but look at the beauty it brought you. Yes. Love is everywhere, no matter what.
Marta recently posted..Call Her Beautiful.

Salem Archer Anderson May 8, 2012 at 5:38 pm

I love this Just Write thing you do each week! What a great concept and excuse to read lots and lots of amazing words – yours and others who link up! I love it!
I might just have to get brave and link up next week…
Salem Archer Anderson recently posted..thinking & doing

Heather May 8, 2012 at 8:54 pm

Please do! get brave, that is. It feels great :)

anna {girlwithblog} May 8, 2012 at 7:05 pm

When I was a youth director, one time we had communion in the parking lot of the church. We used a chocolate chip bagel and mountain dew and I talked about how Jesus used what was normal, what was in the everyday. That’s what makes your writing so special – just like communion, you share the holy in the normal.

Smooches, friend =)
anna {girlwithblog} recently posted..Just Write: on loving over fear

Heather May 8, 2012 at 8:55 pm

I love that. a chocolate chip bagel and mt dew. perfect.
and then what you said about sharing the holy in the normal and what Jesus did? Well, friend. Ya got me all choked up and stuff. Thank you. xo

Addie Zierman May 8, 2012 at 9:07 pm

Gorgeous. Hope things are getting back to normal at your house.
Addie Zierman recently posted..The Truth in Love

Ann May 8, 2012 at 9:48 pm

I just love you and I miss you a lot and I heard all those laughs in my heart.
Ann recently posted..Intermarriage: Cut Crystal? Meet Dreidel. (my stand-up routine)

Gianna May 8, 2012 at 10:25 pm

I absolutely love this picture! Especially the communion laugh trying to stop it but it erupting! Oh, Jesus wants us to laugh. And at that point, you so needed it!
Gianna recently posted..Walking Isn’t Easy

campbell c. hoffman May 9, 2012 at 2:03 pm

Isn’t that what happens with so much of life? We’re too busy with whatever situation we have right in front of us, so consumed by our disaster, that we are so absent-minded with the big stuff. But here’s what I love: I love that you recognize that the big stuff -the stuff of Love – can happen anywhere, even in the midst of our disaster. Communion at the lunch table. Love it. Beautifully written.
campbell c. hoffman recently posted..how boring

Bridget May 9, 2012 at 8:49 pm

I love that you guys laughed at church in the middle of chaos…we are so those people, too.
Bridget recently posted..Stormy

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