Kathleen McCall:
Occasional�� Muse�

2001-09-13 - 11:09 a.m.

Many Small Blessings

I went bowling last night. I know; don't even say it. I went Geek Bowling with a league from my boyfriend's employer (all computer nerds.) This is a country where even the lamest geek bowler, which would have been me, has a right to join a league and bowl right in those handy troughs they put on either side of the lane.

Also, my boyfriend tried to high-five one of our teammates who'd gotten a strike and missed and slapped me in the face, which made me laugh so hard I almost puked. Geek Bowling at its finest, people. (No, he didn't hit me hard, and he turned as red in the face as I have ever seen a person turn.)

BF brought me a compensatory can of Coke and I went and got a BLT from the alley grill. Real bacon on white bread and nobody there to tell my kids that Mama had white bread and soda pop for dinner, either.

While we were off Geek Bowling, my babysitter - BF's wonderful daughter - enlisted the kids in cleaning and vacuuming the entire living room and cleaning my entire messy kitchen. I was so touched I almost cried. All I hoped she would do was keep the kids from killing each other.

My kids did not kill each other. My oldest daughter had just been waiting for me to come home to show me the house and tell me how she had helped. She was so puffed up with pride and with having a surprise for Mom, she just shone. The little one was nearly asleep on the couch, but had waited for me to go to bed. She was asleep before I finished her one-verse nighttime song.

I didn't see my neighbor today, but I watched some of the CNN coverage yesterday with her. It felt good not to be alone. I wandered in and out of her house and she did the same with mine. I'm blessed with the best of neighbors. I did get to talk for a few minutes last night with my best friend by phone. We've been missing connections some due to schedules, but she's my mythical home - always real, always a place I can get to when I need to.

So many, many good things, brought into such sharp relief right now. I have these things. I'm lucky. Lucky. Lucky. I have problems, also, and I am equally lucky to have them.

Thank you for that can of Coca-Cola, and for my one strike. For my wonderful neighbor who understands when I walk into her house and sit down next to her and watch CNN and say nothing. For my best friend who is always always there, for letting me have her, for letting me keep her, for letting her be alive today and in my life. For babysitters who surprise me with sparkling kitchens. For my two daughters so proud and excited to surprise me with a clean living room. For all the things of stunning beauty and incredible worth in my life, and for letting me have them even when I forget to notice them day after day. Thank you. Thank you.

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