Jiminy Cricket
Pinocchio, 1940
There is a custom among southern Protestant churches called Homecoming, when past and present members of a church gather together on a Sunday morning for the church service followed by an incredible and bounteous meal. Homecoming is a special time and takes a lot of preparation. Usually, the choir has learned a new piece of music, the church is freshly groomed and flowered, and anyone who has a favorite dish or a specialty is called upon to provide it. The closing prayer for church is often the blessing for lunch, which saves time in getting down to the serious business of doing one’s duty by the folks who brought the food. Tables are laden with every kind of southern food from squash casseroles to fried chicken, barbecue, potato salad and corn pudding, with plenty of sweet iced tea and lemonade to go around. The best part of the day is dessert, because there is always banana pudding and cakes and pies of every kind, with no limits placed on seconds. Homecoming is a celebration, a time when the old and the new come together to acknowledge what holds them together. Hugs and tears are exchanged over greeting old friends and meeting new babies as well as learning about those who are no longer among the living.
For Vince and me, coming to live in this house has been a kind of Homecoming. We have been planning this life and putting the pieces together for a long time, so there is both newness and a sense of the familiar in our surroundings. This first summer in the house has been a celebration and a recognition that something amazing has been brought to fruition. We come home to this house with that same joy in greeting an old and dear friend that is also something new and wonderful. Vince and I know this dream and its many moods quite well. We have watched over it as something dear and precious. It’s odd to think that now, the dream has done its job and has become a real house. We are thinking of getting a new dream, especially since we have plenty of room. (!)
So, here we are at the beginning of “Happily Ever After.” Daily life is unfolding as a kaleidoscope for the senses. What we see here is as much about the sky as it is the sea, and the wind is the potter that shapes each day into whatever it is going to be. For us, this will be a time for discovery. There’s no way to know what the next chapter of the story will be, but we can’t wait to turn the page.
It’s hard to think of what to say in ending this tale of building a house on the beach. There were so many lessons learned not just about construction but also about people and places and most of all…myself. There’s always more to talk about, but that will be a different story. It’s time now for this one to end.
We named the house Believe in Magic. I have such gratitude towards my husband for his belief in this particular magic. I was afraid to believe, but Vince never for one moment doubted that this big project was not just possible but would be wonderful. Not only that, he worked hard…really hard…to make sure that the house would be strong and the work would be good and all the pieces put in place as they should be. Vince is a man who will do whatever it takes to accomplish what he knows can happen. He really is the wizard who makes dreams come true, and I have learned from him not to give up.
As children, many of us we dreamed that we could fly and wore our senses of wonder wrapped around us like a snuggly sweater. Heroes and heroines were people that we, too, could be when we grew up, and there was a secret knowledge that each of us was truly magical and wonderful. I remember believing that very thing. Somehow, along the path to growing up, many of us either forget that we can fly, or become convinced that the dreams weren’t real, or that it’s just too hard to be magical. The truth is that each of us has within us the gift of promise. Even when life becomes very hard and very dark, that promise is still there…waiting to get to work on the dream.
The funny thing is that everyday life in 2009 is filled to overflowing with things that would have been thought fantastic, foolish or even crazy in another era, and much the same thing was true in our parents’ times and in the times before that. For every wonderful invention or discovery, there were probably hundreds…no, thousands…of people who never thought it possible. Wouldn’t it be great to hear, “You know, I hope that you are right. Go for it!” Want to know a secret? It doesn’t really matter what other people say. What makes the difference is what you know to be real and possible and how hard you work to make it happen. Vince tells me that as long as the physics works, anything you can think of is possible in time.
So there you go…dream your dream, and then make it come true. Better get busy, because life goes by fast!
Thank you for reading this blog. Come to see us up on the beach!
