Katherine Reay's Blog, page 10

My Birthday Poem

One of the most special gifts I received for my birthday last week was a poem from my thirteen-year-old daughter. I’ve asked her permission to reprint it here because it touched my heart and you might enjoy it too.

She told me she was “inspired” by a poem she found on the internet so I’m not claiming this poem to be originally her own – some stanzas and ideas are clearly not. At the age of thirteen, we have not had “millions of phone calls” and not enough years to start calling them “over the years.” I suspect the original harkens to an enduring relationship, decades old. But there are words within her version that are unique and true to me and those almost made me cry.

I often employ the fake bribe “I’ll give you all my hugs and kisses.” I am messy, but continually try to teach neatness and order – to little or no avail. I love the “I’m third” perspective and have tried to instill that in my kids. And I constantly doubt myself… (okay, maybe all moms do that.)

Anyway, no matter the original source of the poem, the below is a lovely call to thankfulness.  Enjoy.

March 12, 2014

Thank you Mom

for always trying to keep us happy, safe, and kind;

thank you for your undivided kindness and patience;

thank you for looking out for us even when we didn’t think we needed it;

and for catching us when we fall and teaching us to learn from our own mistakes.

Thank you Mom

for always being there, to show us a smile when we needed it most;

thank you for waiting up and worrying, for lectures and concerns;

thank you for giving us all your hugs & kisses, vitamins and bandages

making us laugh, even when we’re about to cry

and for the unending support we have received every single day.

Thank you Mom

for keeping us warm, and calm, and comforted;

thank you for understanding things we couldn’t explain,

even when we were too mad to say anything;

thank you for sticking up for us, for encouraging us, and believing in us

and for letting us know you are proud of who we are.

Thank you Mom

for teaching us to be honest, courteous, appreciative, polite, and loving;

thank you for doing the best you could to teach us to be neat and tidy;

thank you for teaching us to try to see the best in people, and look past stereotypes

and for teaching us to not run from fear, but to look it in the eye.

Thank you Mom

for instilling in us a love for travel, books, classic movies, and great food;

thank you for nurturing us to always try something new and to keep an open mind;

thank you for the thousands of back rubs, millions of phone calls,

and for all the things you’ve blessed us with over years.

Thank you Mom

for showing us all the beauty in life around us, and reminding us of it when the world feels dark;

thank you for the endless stories, cheers, games, games and lullabies, back then and today;

thank for making us feel better, even when you’re the one who needs cheering up;

thank you for doing so much more could possibly be done in a single day

and for getting up to do even more the next.

Thank you Mom

for showing us the wonder in the world God had given us;

thank you for teaching us that he is the father, son and holy spirit, and to put our faith in him and to live third by putting God first and others second;

thank for telling us how blessed we are to have a roof over our heads and food on the table, and for reminding us to be thankful, every day of our lives.

Thank you Mom

for being so smart, beautiful, wise and funny, and so special and unique;

thank you for going beyond in everything you do for us;

thank you for being a more than perfect role model for us as we get older;

thank you for doubting what yourself sometimes, so we can get the chance to reassure you that you are the greatest a mom could ever be.

Mom, the simple words “I love you” are not adequate enough to express how grateful we are to be your children and to have a mother like you, how much you are appreciated in this family, or how much you will always mean to us.

Thank you Mom

for being our superhero

our expert-in-everything

Life In Distractions

Looking innocent . . . and so very cute!

Today I write briefly and about distractions – because they are CLEARLY all around me. Puppy Patch is one of the greatest as we’ve made the rule that, if out and about, someone has to have eyes on him at all times. Here are a few pictures of my #1 distraction – who, by the way, seems to be emerging as Alpha Dog over 2.5 year-old Trip.

Then, of course, there is laundry, grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning… Daily life that keeps me from doing what I want to do, what I think I need to do or at the very least should do.

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Patch claims “Alpha Dog” title — for the moment

I’m coming to recognize, as I once did, but promptly forgot, that life is lived within these distractions. As I sit here, wishing they’d all go away – I admit they never will nor would I enjoy it if they did. Hmmm…. Which means that I have to change. I have to regard them differently, rest within the chaos and know (as has been true each and every busy season before) that there is a way through and out. Not a way out from distractions, but a way through the pressure they sometimes place on us

So I hope your week goes well… I hope you find rest, time to breathe, time to be thankful, time to enjoy the joy of life and the blessing of distractions.

And, as for me? Starting here and now… I chose to join you!

The Family Grows . . .

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“Ben”, the Reay Family Statesman

We seem to believe ourselves to be a two-dog family. Why? I do not know. So when our beloved “Ben” died last spring, I knew it was only a matter of time. The questions as to the when, where, what and who for the second dog kept coming up and I kept saying, “It’s a busy time. Let’s wait.”

But I am a single voice . . .

When my husband told my daughter “We can’t adopt a puppy right now. That’d be crazy,” she replied “We are crazy. That’s what makes us great.” Well how can you respond to that? How can you deny “greatness”? Talk about a conversation ender.

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“Patch”

Yesterday, “Patchington Bear from Darkest Montana” arrived. We call him “Patch.” He is a German Shorthair Pointer and is seventeen pounds of super cuteness. His older brother “Triple (“Trip”) Grande Non-fat Extra Foamy Latte” was wary at first, but as you can see, by day two, they seem to be fast friends.

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Pulling at an “Ugly Chicken”. What more could they want?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So Happy Monday! I will keep you posted on our “crazy” family!

Dear Mr. Knightley -- Daily Deal!

Dear Mr. Knightley is Nook's Daily Find! Only Today! (Feb. 22)

Yipee… only $1.99.

And Amazon matches the price on Kindle. Please enjoy and spread the word!

Thanks so much!

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/u/ebook...

http://www.amazon.com/Dear-Mr-Knightl...

Belated Happy Valentine's Day!

After celebrating all things chocolate on Friday, I spent the weekend with four generations of family -- and on my blog today I discuss other aspects of love…

http://www.katherinereay.com/blog/

And soon… It'll naturally post here. I'm reworking the website for better integration. This learning curve sure is steep!

Thanks!

Fairy Tales and Jane Austen

A few weeks ago, an article I wrote about fairy tales was published in USAToday.com. Here’s the link, if you’d like to read it.But it brought on a thought that I’d love to discuss….The Grimm brothers published their Nursery and Household Tales in 1812. At a time of massive turmoil, thanks to Napoleon, they were codifying, uniting and preserving some of the traditional stories and oral tales of German culture.

Look a bit to the west and – I think you find Jane Austen doing the same thing. Not as explicitly… but she definitely was upholding a tradition/ideal of domestic tranquility amidst a time of great change.

 And, to her credit, she deftly shows all the upheaval as a meta-theme, never losing site of the moment for her characters.

And… as a culture today we are obsessed with both: Fairy tales and Jane Austen. Look at our prime time and BBC line-up and I think I have a case.
So what are your thoughts?

No link can be made?

Interesting?

 

I need to find something more to do with my time?

 

Race Season!

I tend to run races in the spring and it’s high time I begin training! So here first are a couple sites I peruse to develop training plans. Now I should also confess… my husband is a 2:45 marathon runner, so I get a lot of advice. Usually advice I am not strong enough or fast enough to fully capitalize on – but it’s there.http://www.halhigdon.com

http://www.runnersworld.com/pdfs/trai...

And here are the three big races booked for my spring:

1.     NY Half Marathon in March. My sister (who lives in Massachusetts) and I are meeting in New York and running our first race together. I am very excited. I believe, in fact, this may be her first race. We will chat, we giggle and we will run.

2.     Then on May 25th I will run the Ojai Mountain 2 Beach Marathon. It will be my second marathon and I think the weather

will be better. If any of you run marathons, my first and last, as of this point, was the CIM 2012. It was a point-to-point with flooding rains and 30 mph headwinds. Here’s a picture. If you’ve read Dear Mr. Knightley, I gave poor Sam a touch of that experience.

3.     Paul Revere 10 Miler in Northern Michigan. My sister and I will run this one together as well while visiting our parents. I think our only goal is to run faster than a slew of much younger cousins.

People run for many different reasons and the benefits we seek are as varied as what gets us out pounding the pavement. Running, for me it has been a place where I find stillness, peace and clarity, both for life and work. I can get characters in and out of a lot jams during a good long run. So it is a solitary and productive time – but it’s been “my” time. In discussing our run together inn March, my sister broadened my thinking.

She described running as communal – a way to give, a way to join a community, near or far, and a means by which we can unite in a cause and positively change another life. Whoa… and I was just moving about characters. But she wrote a blog post expressing all this and her story changed my thinking.

Here’s an excerpt:

That night I became a runner. And I never tell myself differently. My times are slow, yet every week I am getting faster. The first mile is always the toughest, but that’s where Every Mother Counts comes in. EMC provides the inspiration to lace up my hot pink running shoes, step into the cold and just start running, regardless of my initial discomfort. EMC keeps me running for that first mile because I am not running for myself. I am running for others and I am running with others. I am running with everyone from Central Park to Seattle, beyond and in-between, who are running in solidarity for mothers — all mothers.  With each step, I am putting my heart and my breath behind my dollars. This is what keeps me going. This is what keeps me running and sticking to my training schedule every single day. With the first step, I remember this community that puts their hearts behind their miles and this carries me forward. This gives me wings. And by mile two I find myself. 

So training season begins – and while I hope it is full of character drama, big ideas and fictional mayhem – I also hope is more. I hope it is sisterhood, community, sharing, supporting and many, many powerful miles.

If you’ve got some running plans or other big ideas for the spring, let me know…

Race Season

For me… spring is race season. Now I am a slow runner, but a dedicated one. I pick a few races every spring as a reason to train and I get out there and do my best.

On the blog today, I list a few of the upcoming races and some inspiration from my sister -- who helped me think of running as more than just a solitary exercise by which I both find peace and lots of mayhem for fictional characters.

We run for a variety of different reasons and we gain benefits as individual as we are. Here are a few of my thoughts…. http://www.katherinereay.com/blog/

A Good Fight

I recently read a blog post by a young woman who believed her voice was becoming lost in her journey to Christianity – that the more bold aspects of her, by rule, needed to diminish as she fostered kindness, patience, and self-sacrifice. She questioned if “losing” herself was necessary for it didn’t feel like a good thing.

Is it?

My own journey might give her another perspective…

Years ago, I was attacked by a man with a racquetball racket. (Odd sounding, I know.) He ran up to me and started whacking me over the head and my first response was “May I help you?”

Seriously… There is something so fundamentally wrong with that. But I grew up in the South and we are polite. I’m also a Christian and we “turn the other cheek.” I think I confused Christianity and culture back then – heck I probably confused a lot back then; it was college.

 I did escape, fairly unharmed, but my question to him, and the fact that it took me several minutes of getting hit before I fled, haunted me. I wanted to know how I should have responded, what were my obligations… What was right?

Over the next years, I started to investigate this – read the Bible, read books, talked to people. I needed to find a place to stand, a place that made sense – and I felt that if Christ was Truth – the answers would be found in him.

C. S. Lewis helped a lot. In Mere Christianity, he states “Christianity is a fighting religion.” Really? Tell me more…

He contends that we live in “enemy-occupied territory” and the King calls us to stand strong. Paul talks in Ephesians about donning the full “armor of God” (Eph. 6:13) and, in 2 Timothy, he writes, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” (NIV 2 Tim 4:7)

I could go on, there are so many examples of standing strong and pushing hard right next to passages exhorting compassion, self-sacrifice, patience… They are not opposites, they are not two sides of a coin – they are aspects of a whole.

Learning this more 3D-side to God allowed him to step off the “felt and flannel” Sunday School picture board and become real, alive, holy, huge, omnipresent, omniscient and all powerful. He’s a fighting God as well as an all-loving God – willing to fight for our souls, our hearts and our lives.

So rather than deny the feisty parts of my personality, the parts that rebelled against my answer and passivity so many years ago, I learned to fight. In 2010, I earned my black belt in tae kwon do. It was an extraordinary experience. Now the oh-so genteel woman who asked at attacker “May I help you?” could flatten him if necessary. I’m not saying I would – but to even have that permission, to know that I am worthy to defend, is humbling. And, to me, it is another aspect of the spirit that “does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.” (2 Tim 1:7)

So, I guess I’d say to the young woman who wondered if she was becoming too melba toast, bland and polite – Don’t give up on your voice, every aspect of it. He made that voice. He’s a big God and he made us unique beings with thousands of quirks and parts that can all be used for his glory. He can even use my new found and unexpected love for roundhouse kicks.

 Any thoughts?

This post isn’t meant to share anything more than a personal story, one once filled with fear, that God used to teach me courage. I love to hear from you too.

 Thanks!

Introducing Lizzy and Jane

First and foremost, Happy New Year! I hope 2014 holds many blessings for you and yours.

For Team Reay, there’s a lot going on… and I’ll let you know all about those details as they unfold… But I can let you know about Lizzy and Jane, my next book, right now. In fact, I just sent edits to the publisher this morning – so it is well on its way.

Lizzy and Jane is not a sequel to Dear Mr. Knightley and there are no characters that crossover or make cameos. Someday, Sam and Alex may lurk within a new tale, but I was so happy to develop new characters and new journeys within Lizzy and Jane. Spending time with these women and the men and children in their lives has been tremendous fun.

Lizzy, our heroine, is an accomplished chef who has lost her gift for cooking. Really, Lizzy has lost a lot, but she’s unaware of how much until she surprises herself and others by offering to help cook for Jane while Jane undergoes chemotherapy. In that place, Lizzy not only learns to connect with food again, but she also connects with others as her heart softens and heals. It was a delight to watch this sharp, spunky and sophisticated young woman put love, in all its wonderful and varied forms, back into her life.

I can’t tell you all that happens, but I can tell you it’s got all the big guns: sisters, conflict, food, Jane Austen, Hemingway (threw you there, didn’t I?), love, and breast cancer. That last one is a bummer, I know, but it’s a reality that so many of us experience either personally or walking the journey with family and friends. And such situations really do refine who we are and what we believe.

Lizzy and Jane releases date is October 7, 2014 and as soon as cover art is ready, I’ll be sure to post it. And in the meantime, I’ll be working on my next book… Let the fun begin… Again!

Thanks….KBR

Hey, I would love to hear what you’ve got going on in 2014. Please leave a comment here or on Facebook. Thanks!