A Tidings of Magpies

Happiness by Joyce Sutphen This was when my daughters were just children playing on the rocky shore of the lake, their hair in braids, their bright-colored jackets tied around their waists. It was afternoon, the shadows falling away, their faces glowing with light. Whatever we said then (and it must have been happy; it must have been hopeful) is lost as I am now lost from that life I lived. This was when nothing that I wanted mattered, though all I wanted was happiness, pure happiness, simple as strawberries and cream in a saucer, as curtains floating from a window sill, as small pairs of shoes arranged in a row.

T'ain't nothing better for a weary soul than to be alongside the banks of the mighty Ohio on a misty summer's evening. It's a beautiful stretch of waterway out by Old Coney where the river bends its path through the hills of southern Ohio overlooking Kentucky. We went last night to see a group of our most favorite people--Garrison Keillor and his Prairie Home Companion show. Many jokes about flying pigs, beer, and our famous "Cincinnati Chili"--make mine a 4-way, please. Billy Collins was there on stage reading from his newest book of poetry, Ballistics , we heard the latest adventures of Guy Noir, private eye, and all the happenings in Lake Wobegon. We sang The Star Spangled Banner and Amazing Grace. We heard opera and harmonica solos and a couple of singer/songwriters from the deserts of Australia while the breeze brought to us smells of newly cut grass and honeysuckle. If you have a chance to hear the program on NPR today Hubby and I are the ones whooping a...

So CollegeGrrrl calls me out of the blue and says,"I've had an epiphany." Epiphany she said, my hand to God. I said, "Yes...?" and waited and she proceeded to tell me how she had thought about things, her life mostly, and how it had come to her in a flash of light, the way truthiness generally appears, that I had been right all along "about everything" and she was going to change some things. She was going to put school first and look for some new friends. I admit I've been worried sick about her, watching her life swerve toward the side of the road where it's easy to fall through the cracks. I've been praying and I even moved the statue of the Virgin Mary closer to the Grrrrl's picture on the bookshelf. Was hoping for some insight, was not expecting an epiphany. I'm grateful, to say the least, for even a day's change of heart. Today is HoneyHaired's last day of school. She is slowly jogging over that finish line. Can't...