JulieLeung.com: a life told in tidepools

The title above is a bit exaggeration, but that’s how I’ve felt after our return from a week’s vacation. Our time spent together as a family resting in the wilderness of Sunriver, Oregon was refreshing. But it is the acceleration required to conform to our sudden September routines that has left me longing for the brake.

We stepped in the door late Monday night and Tuesday morning it was time to start the engines. The first day we were home, I had to deliver two ballots: one for a neighborhood conflict and one for the State of Washington elections. I had to get groceries. I did a number of automotive errands, including vacuuming and washing the van, and – with a tow truck driver’s instructions – removing (greenish!) corrosion from the battery terminal on our second car that wouldn’t start by itself.

Speaking of autmobiles and conflict, I noted as I caught up on my aggregator reading the amazement over the fact that Jay McCarthy owns an Acura Integra. I’m not sure why this is a surprise: who wouldn’t want to own an Integra? Months ago when I described our trip driving around San Juan Island years ago, I mentioned we had borrowed a friend’s original Acura Integra. It was a wonderful car to take the curves, and I can only imagine what it would be like to own one. In fact if I am remembering correctly, we did almost own one. An Integra was on Ted’s short list of potential purchases back when we were DINKs (Double Income No Kids) and he needed to get a car for his commute. Alas, we never owned an Acura, and right now as a SINK family (Single Income Numerous Kids) we are not about to buy any automobiles that cannot contain three car seats. But if I could buckle all those babies into the back of an Integra, I’d be happy to own and drive such a car. Then again in that case I probably wouldn’t be a SAHM (Stay At Home Mom, to add one more acronym to this post!) – I’d be too busy driving on the roads!

Never mind owning an Acura Integra: this week I have wished I could become an Acura Integra so that this acceleration would come more easily to me. But as I was washing the van yesterday and scrubbing the battery terminals of the other car, I found peace in looking at the garden. One tomato plant, as if it were a chandelier, displayed jewels of golden pear shaped fruit. The raspberries look like they are going to make a second round before the first frost. And the snapdragons the girls planted are still blooming rows of yellow.

Like Ilona, I’ve been re-evaluating my garden and what I need to do for it to be easier maintenance. The years have come for the garden to go, as I posted earlier this year. Before we went on vacation I trimmed the roses. As I carried the branches to the garbage, I noticed the perfume, and wondered: when had I stopped to smell the roses this season? The weather is now cold, the flowers dying, and the days of warmth and bloom are numbered.

While I am pulling in and out of the driveway, hitting the brake and the gas, accelerating to yet another destination, these bits of green growing along the asphalt remind me to slow down and savor life while it lasts.