dual personalities

Over the past two years, many of my blog posts have remarked on the way things in the world just keep getting worse. Sure, I can live my life mostly like normal because I am privileged enough to go to the grocery store or the gas station without really having to change the way I live. Like many, I can block it all out by insulating myself in a bubble. And I do most weekends. And then Monday morning gives new meaning to a classic Liz Lemon gif.

Well, in a move that the guys at Mockingbird would be jealous of, I am now going to transition from a Liz Lemon gif to talking about Jesus and the Bible. Like my mother, I have also been doing a “read the Bible in a year” plan (we are not doing the same plan and so are rarely in the same place). I’m clearly in the middle of John (and Kings).

Anyway, I highly recommend starting a plan and sticking to it. It is incredibly interesting to read the Bible page by page and it is incredibly meaningful as well. And so, in these ever darkening times, I find that I have no choice but to turn to Jesus.

“Truly, truly I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the son of man will give to you. For on him, God the Father has set his seal. [John 6:25-27]

“Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life, whoever comes to me shall not hunger and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.'” [John 6:35]

“It is the Spirit who gives life, the flesh is no help at all. The words I have spoken to you are spirt and life.” [John 6:63]

“Jesus said to them, ‘My time has not yet come, but your time is always here. The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil.'” [John 7:6-7]

“Jesus said to them, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.'” [John 8:12]

“The light shines in the darkness and the darkness shall not overcome it.” [John 1:5]

And just because this usually makes me feel better, enjoy Crowder.

When I left work today, I walked up to a nice obsidian blue pearl CRV and started to load my stuff into it only to discover that someone had parked an unlocked imposter exactly where I had left my car. Oops! This is actually the third time I have mistakenly gotten into the wrong vehicle. Does my key fob unlock other cars? Hmm…. While I was busy NOT stealing a car, my second son was dealing with some kind of mink or marten that he saw climb into his car’s engine as he walked across the parking lot at work. Why such an animal chose his car from all the others in the lot remains a mystery, but it could have been worse. Apparently, it’s fairly common for animals to build nests under car hoods. I would not like to meet an angry opossum when I lifted the hood!

Or a large rock python:

Wildlife is great as long as it stays where it belongs. After much banging of doors and repeated hood slamming, my son got the weasel to leave, but what’s to stop it from coming back?

Next time you hear funky noises from your engine check to make sure no critter has taken residence there. In the meantime, have a more exciting weekend than I will!

Well today at work we had some program partners in town from Boston for the first time since early 2020. We really rolled out the welcome mat. And by that I mean, they took us up on our offer of a tour of the Missouri State Capitol. I went along because in my job, I usually don’t venture far from our office on the second floor.

According to Wikipedia, the present capitol, completed in 1917 and occupied the following year, is the third capitol in Jefferson City and the sixth in Missouri history. The first seat of state government was housed in the Mansion House, located at Third and Vine Streets in St. Louis and the second one was in the Missouri Hotel located at Main and Morgan Streets in St. Charles. St. Charles was designated as the temporary capital of the state in 1821 and remained the seat of government until 1826.

The exterior of the Missouri State Capitol is notable for its architectural features: the Baroque dome, rising 238 feet (73 m) above ground level, topped by sculptor Sherry Fry’s bronze statue of Ceres, the Roman goddess of agriculture; the eight 48-foot (15 m) columns on the south portico; the six 40-foot (12 m) columns on the north portico; the 30-foot (9 m)-wide grand staircase; and the bronze entrance doors, each 13 by 18 feet (4.0 m × 5.5 m)—at the time, the largest cast since the Roman era.^[4]

It’s a very cool building. The Capitol Dome is the first intentionally designed “Whispering Gallery” meaning you can clearly hear a person on the other side of the rotunda if they are speaking into the wall. It is an amazing spectacle. You can read more about it here.

After we left the already way up there Whispering Gallery, we ventured another 200 steps practically straight up to the top of the rotunda. I am not kidding when I say I had no idea how out of shape I am. I think it almost killed me.

The interior of a dome is fascinating. And then we had to take a winding staircase to the door! But I’d say the view was worth it.

I hadn’t been up to the very top since high school when a club visited and our state senator took us up. It is truly wild that 20 years (20 years!) later I work in the building. Anyway, it was a fun field trip.

*the blog title is from a sea shanty I remember from my Michigan camp days and is truly how I felt being at the top of the dome.

We had a lovely, sunny and warm week. Trees are turning green and the lilacs are opening. Here’s the view out my kitchen window. I think there are four or five blooms on my little lilac.

All over the lawn (if you can call it that) the forget-me-nots run riot. I love these little flowers. Yesterday, I picked a small bunch and put them in this tiny green vase (it’s about 2″ tall).

Despite the fact that I feel quite happy and hopeful — Spring has that effect — it’s impossible to write about forget-me-nots without remembering the beloved departed. In that vein I offer this poem by Ann Plato, an educator who lived in Hartford, Connecticut in the mid 19th century and taught at the Black Zion Methodist Church:

When in the morning’s misty hour,
When the sun beams gently o’er each flower;
When thou dost cease to smile benign,
And think each heart responds with thine,
When seeking rest among divine,
                                    Forget me not.

When the last rays of twilight fall,
And thou art pacing yonder hall;
When mists are gathering on the hill,
Nor sound is heard save mountain rill,
When all around bids peace be still,
                                    Forget me not.

When the first star with brilliance bright,
Gleams lonely o’er the arch of night;
When the bright moon dispels the gloom,
And various are the stars that bloom,
And brighten as the sun at noon,
                                    Forget me not.

When solemn sighs the hollow wind,
And deepen’d thought enraps the mind;
If e’er thou doest in mournful tone,
E’er sigh because thou feel alone,
Or wrapt in melancholy prone,
                                    Forget me not. 

When bird does wait thy absence long,
Nor tend unto its morning song;
While thou art searching stoic page,
Or listening to an ancient sage,
Whose spirit curbs a mournful rage,
                                    Forget me not.

Then when in silence thou doest walk,
Nor being round with whom to talk;
When thou art on the mighty deep,
And do in quiet action sleep;
If we no more on earth do meet,
                                    Forget me not.

When brightness round thee long shall bloom,
And knelt remembering those in gloom;
And when in deep oblivion’s shade,
This breathless, mouldering form is laid,
And thy terrestrial body staid,
                                     Forget me not.

“Should sorrow cloud thy coming years,
And bathe thy happiness in tears,
Remember, though we’re doom’d to part,
There lives one fond and faithful heart,
                        That will forget thee not.”

All of this goes well with a Taylor Swift song that my son Chris included on a playlist he shared with me via Spotify for Mother’s Day.

The song is a lovely tribute to Swift’s grandmother. It’s good to remember, as long as one follows Jane Austin’s advice to “Think only of the past as its remembrance gives you pleasure” (Pride and Prejudice).

It’s going to be another quiet weekend of reading, chatting, and remembering — and that’s just fine with me. Newsflash: This just in, check it out! Truly, I am blessed.