Lucky

I stopped by the house yesterday to pick up our mail and drop off the compost filling my freezer (yes, we have compost in the freezer. Doesn't everyone?). It had been a cloudy drizzly day, but when I pulled up the sky was blue and the late afternoon sun cast a faintly glimmery glow over our property. A slight scent of wood smoke drifted over. Lovely.

There is still a lot to do inside the house, despite a move-in date of under six weeks. The kitchen consists of unfinished cabinet carcasses. Cardboard and plastic hide the floors. The bathtubs sit lonely in the empty bathrooms. There are no lights, no heat, no water, no power of any sort. A fine film of wood dust coats the windows.

Yet.

The house is so peaceful. I imagine future moments when I will recapture this peace: mornings, post-kid-school rush. Late afternoons, pre-school-bus and kid chaos. Weekends when everyone else sleeps in. I am looking forward to years of these moments.

When I catch a moment like this - when the house and place where we soon will live casts its spell - I wonder what I've done to deserve this luck. Do others feel this way? I read the news. There are earthquakes in Haiti. A centerfold model who thinks waterboarding is ok and cap and trade is not is taking over Ted Kennedy's seat. In some parts of the world, women are being murdered -- "honor killings" -- for the simple act of going online. Little girls are being sold to the highest bidder, the lucky ones to be married, the unlucky into a life of prostitution. It's rape in either case, in my book. Families here, closer to home, have lost jobs, homes, dreams. It's a disconnect I can't resolve.

So I savor the moment. And am thankful. And vow to not be part of the silent majority (at least I'm hopeful there is a silent majority) that stands by while the angry, discontented, hate-filled minority out-act, out-maneuver, and out-vote us all.

Post script: the photo at the top. Doesn't go with this post Which is ok, because this post didn't go where I thought it would. I thought I was posting about how the myriad details (countertops, sinks, light fixtures, light switches, faucets) are consuming my time but how really, they don't matter. Oh well. I do like this picture of our little office in the woods, wearing what Bella termed it's "snow hat". I couldn't resist. One last little reminder of our very white Christmas.