I need an Oasis

Life is complicated.  That's just the way it is.


Lately I have been contemplating simplicity.  I have no doubt that working on restoring our Vintage trailer 'The Pink Pearl' has been the cause of my waxing nostalgic on many occasions of late.   In fact the other day I did this journal page



because I awoke with this song in my head    

I sang the song all day and remembered what that song meant to me as a kid.  I must have had this song on vinyl because I remember playing it in my room and singing it with all of my heart.  I loved the ideas it expressed  peace, love, honestly I love Coke.  I loved people then.  It was before I learned some very difficult lessons.  It's exhausting feeling hurt, angry and disappointed all the time.  It's not me.  So I have changed that.   I have found that it's never too late to be who you were meant to be.   It's difficult at times getting back there, but it can be done.

re-learning Granny squares

Back to nostalgia.  Maybe it's all the dreams I have been having for the last year and a half of my family of origin;   My sister's constant presence, my Gramsy and her kitchen, my cousins, aunts, uncles, friends I met in elementary school.  Or maybe it's handling the yarn and remembering a much simpler time when my Gramsy taught me how to crochet.

It could be any of so many things I've been up to lately.  And then there's faith.  My family and I have found somewhere we belong and dear friends in an ancient faith.  This too takes me back to my youth, when I learned to pray the rosary, had my first communion, completed catechism.  It's all so familiar.  Orthodoxy is not Catholicism, though there are many similarities being from the same roots.  I feel my life has truly come full circle now.  It has been rounding that bend for the last few years, but now I feel like this circle is complete.  

 

Gramsys button jar

I miss simpler times.  This weekend  is our second 'inaugural' voyage in The Pearl.  For a good laugh, and info on the first voyage click here.  One thing I am looking forward to this time, besides actually camping, is the simplicity of it all.  I wonder will it feel as if time has slowed when there is nothing to do.  No modern distractions?  I hope so.

 I am so looking forward to spending time with my family.  These kids are growing and aging at an amazing pace and I fear life is moving so fast I wont feel as if I really know who they are if I don't take some time to slow down and just be with them.  It's too easy to get caught up in labels, and activities- the college student, new driver, ballerina, derby girl and the twins.  But I know they are oh so much more than that. 

 They need time to get to know the real me as well. The spontaneous, fun, silly me.  The me who loves to sit around a campfire and roast marshmallows, or play a board game with no distractions, who loves to go for a walk and watch the dog explore new and amazing scents.  There is so much more to me than the chauffer, the cook, the homeschool mom, the checkbook.  This camping trip will offer all of us the opportunity to experience that.  No time constraints, no agendas. 

You know there was a a time I thought all things vintage were a silly thing to spend one's time on.  And I thought crocheted items were dated and ugly.  Especially the 'granny square', now I'm crocheting a blanket for The Pearl.   Funny how things change.  Our Oasis Trailer being from the late '50's has changed that.  My quest for vintage items began with her.  My quest for simplicity began with a hectic schedule and a harried life as a mom to 6 very active kids.  Time to slow down and enjoy my roses.  I hope you soon get a chance to enjoy yours too.