There was no better place for me to be in all the world, than on the rabbit patch, this last Sunday.  My “valley was green” and I knew it.  The kitchen table was laden with good food and the folks sitting around it were the dearest treasures of my heart-and that sweet vase of zinnias made the perfect centerpiece for the occasion.

In the presence of love, all else fades.  The flat tire on the car this week, seemed like it never happened on this day and even the the very old farmhouse didn’t seem nearly as shabby.  It is true that “love covers a multitude of sins.”  On this day,  I was wealthy-with no fear of my assets losing value. In fact, the rabbit patch kingdom is growing, I realised.  Lyla sat beside me and spent the most of the time, learning the mechanics of how to use a spoon.  I watched her, so determined.  She would not accept help and would not resort to using her hands.  It is a joyful event when a baby is at the table.  Her dad, Will became part of the family, a few years back-now, I do not recognize when, as he is such a part of us.  It seems like he has always belonged to us.  I call him, my “son -in- heart”. . .Kelsey already feels like family. Tres and Kelsey met a few years ago and I loved her right off.   I loved her even more yesterday, when she wanted to pick grapes after dinner .  I was glad she took enjoyment in such things.  It says a lot about her, I think.  Mama and daddy were there too.  Mama told stories and said sweet things while daddy worried that I don’t have a spare tire at the moment.. . so all was well as it could be at Sunday dinner.

September itself,  lent its’ blessing by way of a cool breeze that blew through the open windows.  The sunlight was muted and cast dappled faint shade beneath the pecan trees.  Butterflies  were out and about on their mission to find the last roses of late summer.  They looked like live confetti,  I thought.

I am older now, and like everybody before me, I spent the first half of my life looking for what it took to make my life a happy one.  Nothing I ever bought-or even made payments on lasted for long.  Things have a temporary value and are liable to to break or get lost somehow.  Whether “rust corrupts them or thieves break in and steal them” is insignificant-things are just debris collected in youth, I realise now.

This past Sunday, I saw what authenticity looks like.  It was in the faces around the kitchen table-from the ones that had worried over me in the past to the one trying to use a spoon-and all those in between .  After dinner, in the yard around the farmhouse, I watched mama showing Lyla a butterfly.  The men were looking at the tire that had gone flat and deciding its’ fate.  Kelsey and Tres were walking  out to the grapevine by the time shadows fell long and low.  

This was the grand conclusion of our time well-spent.  It was as good a time as I have ever had. . . and it all happened on the rabbit patch- on Sunday.

Sometimes, there are bright and shining moments.  Today , the rabbit patch has been full of them.  One thing happened, and then another-and it was all good.  

Late last night, in the midst of the storm, I found out that Tres and Kelsey were coming for a visit.  Jenny, Will and Lyla decided they would too.  This makes it a holiday at the rabbit patch-and nothing less.  I love the eve of any holiday and went to work planning out the details.  I went to sleep knowing I would use pumpkin somehow in the Sunday dinner, as Kelsey loves it.  Mama and Jenny should have fresh baked bread and the farmhouse needed to be cleaned thoroughly.  The rain fell all night long on the rabbit patch and the wind blew steadily.  I slept as good as I ever have.

The morning dawned gray and cool, and woke me as gently -as a grandmother would.    I started washing sheets and then decided the curtains too, while I was at it.  I was able to raise the windows for the first time in a long while.  A September breeze filled the house while I had coffee at the morning table.  I read the comments on my last post.  The sentiments were lovely and kind so that I cried at their beauty.  It was like receiving a gift and the generosity washed over me, like the rain had done so,over the rabbit patch, in the hours before.

The day unfolded and tasks presented themselves, as they did- I made a firm decision  to work at a sensible pace.  I received good news today and so I found the energy to wash the windowsills, in addition to the rest of the chores.  Will and Jenny  surprised me with a quick ,early visit. Lyla was more interested in Cash and Christopher Robin but she managed some hugs and kisses for me.  She said “Honeybee” with her mom’s coaxing and that was another bright moment.  

Jenny handed me a bouquet of flowers sent by her friend that started her own business a short while back.  She named it Pansy & Ivy and has already made a fine reputation for herself. I remember the first days of her venture.  She was so full of excitement.  I saw her passion and it made me glad.  Here, I thought is one that has found her purpose-that is a lovely thing to behold.  Her arrangements feature whatever is blooming at that particular time, which I find a unique idea.  My bouquet was full of zinnias and they are just so cheerful.   They will add a beautiful touch to our Sunday Dinner. 

I still have a floor to scrub and I have not figured out what I will make with pumpkin, but I did get the porch decorated.  Tonight I will go out to say goodnight-I will  stand in the mud  and proclaim my gratitude for a day full of bright and shining moments -for a holiday that came about all on its’ own-and for the sweetest  bouquet of zinnias to ever grace a table.

September is a lovely time. It is the season of relief from the hottest time of the year.  The first of the leaves begin to fall and every day seems brighter than the last, in September.  When it becomes September, we seem to have permission to have lofty notions about the days to come.  It is an especially good time to light candles and bake bread-and to buy chrysanthemums.  

I tend to be cautious about looking forward to anything, too much.  If a person “goes through money” quickly, they are often considered to be poor stewards.  The same could be said of people who spend a fair amount of their time concerned of the future.  Time is much more valuable than money, I think-but in September, there just seems  to be so much to look forward too.  I have to use great restraint to practice living each day mindfully-though I allow myself a healthy amount of “great expectations”.

This September day is full of rain, at the rabbit patch.  A tropical storm is passing .  The rabbit patch does not flood, but I always send the old trees that grow around it, all of the confidence I can muster in a wish.  Years ago, I lived in town.  My neighbor Gayle, and I would cook on stormy days.  We got in the habit of sharing a supper on such occasions, and I think of those times whenever there is inclement weather.  I have found that it is these kinds of memories that my heart recalls more readily and more fondly too. Remembering time well spent, by far outshines any thing material I may have ever acquired.  

When my sons and I moved to the rabbit patch, a decade ago, there was so much work to be done.  We did not have a television or an air conditioner either.  We took to eating supper on the front porch as we didn’t even have a kitchen table!  We ate while the sun was setting over the field in front of the house and  we went to sleep soon after on mattresses in the living room.  One night I told the boys, that kings lived no better than we did.  I am sure the statement shocked them- but we dined well, even if it was on a porch and the view was always spectacular.  The hard work we did in the day allowed us a deep sleep at night.  When you think about it, those are the things we all hope for in a day-from farmers to skilled doctors- and teachers that live on a rabbit patch,  all of us desire those same elements in life.  The world seems a little cozier when I consider that.

The first rain of September is still falling but the wind is only slightly more than breezy.  Leaves will be scattered about the rabbit patch , by now.  I love the smell of leaves that have been fallen for a while.  There is something about September, that makes me want to build a fire any way, so on the first cool evening and many evenings to follow, I will be burning small piles of leaves.  I will make the fires where the tomatoes once grew.  In this way the tree gives to next years’ garden and I will think of that while I watch the flames cast light in the shadows.

The lights at the rabbit patch will be turned on a little earlier with each passing day, now.  We will have supper a little bit earlier . Tomorrow I plan to  make  soup .  It will be the first we have had in a long while.  I will make a loaf of bread- and if it is still rainy and the least bit cool, I will light a candle .  When it becomes September the whole world over, I do such things on any given day.

Today did not start out like any other day at the rabbit patch. My internal alarm is usually quite reliable, still I set an alarm just in case.  Neither did their job this morning.  Kyle came rushing through the house yelling “Mom!” in a bit of a tizzy and I woke up with a start!  His alarm had not worked either!  We were scrambling but, somehow I remembered to let Cash out, anyway.  The coffee is preset as I simply depend on it to wake up.  I poured a half of a cup to go and hoped for the best.  Moments later Kyle and I were getting in the car.  He, without a lunch and me with my tempest in a teacup.  The morning was as foggy as I have ever seen it and I had trouble getting my bearings straight.  Fog does away with time altogether.  It could have been any time of day, I thought. The rushing had to cease-but the state of panic did not.  Then I remembered Cash.

Cash is a boxer, the forever puppy breed.  Boxers never quit playing, even in old age, hence they are worthy of the title .  Cash is just two years old.  He is obedient and dependable.  I call him and he comes, even when rabbits are in his back yard, but this morning was not like any other and so today, in all that fog, he was playing.  He ran by me at full speed several times before he dashed in the door, happy as a lark on Sunday!

The drive to work was tense and slow. We were both about a minute late, but considering all things, we had done well on this last day of August, full of fog.  I did not have the chance to see the quiet pastures with horses grazing and if the morning glory was blooming, then I missed that too.  I did not consider beautiful words or songs on this day and I did not send best wishes out to the world-I didn’t  even know what we were having for supper!  When Solomon, in all his wisdom, said “All is  vanity”  I do think he meant rushing.

When I drove up to the rabbit patch in the late afternoon shadows,  Christopher Robin was sitting in a window as if he had all the time in the world, because he really does.  The rabbit patch is old and time moves slowly here.  It seems to defy the clocks and agendas of man.  It is a refuge of sorts. . . my saving grace.  When I went out at nightfall,  peace was covering the rabbit patch much as the fog had done earlier and all was rightly restored, within me, because of that.

You can best believe that Kyle and I have several alarms set for tomorrow morning.  This world holds  an assortment of beauty and I aim to take great note of it.  There will be a new sky in the morning with clouds I have never seen before.   I  sure hope to have more than a tempest in my teacup when the sun rises tomorrow –  for it is the first morning of September , after all.