Some walls, like people, fall down.

I first saw the crumbled stone wall from the kitchen window on Sunday night.

I was cleaning Finny's bowl.

Yesterday, I decided to take Nonie for a walk to the back stone steps leading out to the trails so she could have a look at the damage.

The retaining wall had crumbled in the far corner, and large stones were strewn below the spot where our lawn connects to the forest below.

It didn't really bother me that our wall had crumbled. It didn't really surprise me either, the rains last week wreaked far more damage on other landscapes than they did in our backyard.

Back in the yard, Nonie took a good, long look.

She crouched, rested on her knees and examined the mess below.

Then, she stood up and launched toward the back steps that lead to the kitchen.

Nonie, Nonie....where are you going?

To get my tape to fix the wall.... She shouted over her shoulder.

I retrieved her. Before she made it up the stairs I brought her back to the spot and told her that tape wouldn't work. It wasn't strong enough.

When this shocking news sunk in to her spinning little mind, she looked at me with big, sad eyes and said:

Daddy will make it all better when he comes home.

I was fine that the wall had crumbled and wouldn't be fixed any time soon.

But Nonie was determined to oversee an immediate repair job.

She wanted orderly rocks and paths clear of debris.

I didn't even try to explain that the job would require much more.

Scotch tape can fix ripped paper airplanes and torn books, but not stone walls.

Daddy has the creative answers and quick solutions, but not all of them and not all of the time.

I loved Nonie's simple solutions, but some walls, like people, fall down.

Sometimes it is hard for them to get up again.

And, it takes time and real effort to "right" them. And by them, I refer to walls, and people.

To build them to a point where they are stronger than they ever were before, that takes real effort.

Tape can't do that, sweetheart. But I wish it could.

Grace. Peace. Love. Compassion. Determination. Generosity. Leadership. Courage. Loyalty. Selflessness. Vision. Hope. Bravery. How about Prayer?

?

My prayers are with Japan.

Show me the way.

I pray for signs.
Clear ones.

So when I turned on my phone last Monday and had two messages,
one text from Erin asking for my address,
and one from the principal of St. Francis Xavier School.
I knew I had received one.

I thought...
Erin's son's name is Francis Xavier
and the principal is calling from Francis Xavier.
And my middle name is Frances and that relates to Carmel somehow (although I am too young to know how)
and I was craving a caramel which is spelled like Carmel.
... and I knew.
I just had this feeling.
Something could maybe possibly come of this if I think real hard about it.

And it did.

So on August 25th with 25 first graders walk into their classroom at SFX,
they'll find me.




MUWAHAHAHAHA.

Globey

In our house, we have a pillow named Globey. It was given to us by our dear Auntie Claire so that we would never forget her. She lived in far away places like Brazil & Mozambique and we used Globey to track her whereabouts and teach Dec about geography. In due time, he came to know the continents, New England, the place where Colorado Tim lives, and other important facts like hot equators and vast blue oceans and Auntie Una's Emerald Isle.

At story time, Globey is the designated parent pillow. A soft compressible pillow that cradles our head as we read to the children. Each night Globey is under a head (either dame's or mine) as the tiny tired eyes and bodies of Dec & Nonie give way to sleep.

Tonight, Globey was used to point out a tiny island called Haiti. We learned that Haiti is close to Dec's familiar Florida, and small in comparison to the US. After he learned where this island was, he learned of the major catastrophe that struck it and its citizens yesterday.

Dec and I held Globey as I said (and he mumbled along to) the Our Father. A prayer for the people of Haiti.

With more than three hours of sleep, I pray now that Dec's dreams are of happier things. And I pray that when he and I wake tomorrow we see that some relief has gotten to where it is needed most.

Now, I am glued to the tv unable to comprehend how a country in such despair, could possibly cope with the devastation that was delivered to them yesterday. And then I find a quote from a Red Cross worker in Haiti that makes me understand:

"...Certainly, Haiti will survive, it has, you know, it's been unfortunately labeled as the poorest country in the western hemisphere for way too long. I remember my Haitian friend telling me that Haitians are "infinitely compressible" that is saying something about their resilience and their ability to survive and they are going to have to survive...."

Infinitely compressible.

Just like globey.