Grace and Goose Poop

So, after two weeks of being in Bucks County all alone, I am still thriving.  Though I do admit to a bit of loneliness last Friday and Saturday.  Maybe a bit of Mother’s Day musing, a bit of sadness over having to give up our good dog, Sheena (who is the only dog I have ever really bonded with), and also a number of challenges with giving up and letting go as we finalize severing the relationships with our possessions and loved ones in Champaign.  Dave has worked hard getting our house in Champaign ready to sell and our home ready to move.  We talk alot.  I miss Dave and will miss him even more next week when his cell phone coverage is limited.

Being alone takes some discipline and focus.  In a message from LifeChurch, Craig made the observation that we can either fear failure or regret.  I am intent on not regretting how I spend these five weeks of being alone.  I look forward to having Joel here and having our own place and, eventually, sharing Bucks County and the fun places I am discovering with Dave, but in the meantime, every day matters and I want to have something to show for the gift of solitude I have been given.  Focus and intention and discipline is what I am learning.

One life lesson from staying on Pidcock Creek Road and the multi-millon dollar estate….There is a long, winding lane that is lovely….past a pond and over a stone bridge, past the house to my parking spot under a blooming dogwood tree and facing the gardens.  The flowering plums and crabapples are just about past.  But the peonies and iris and clematis are just about to burst open.  I find myself slowing down whenever I enter the property.  It would be wrong, somehow, to drive fast past all the natural beauty.  Yesterday, I took a walk around the grounds and saw lots of common birds like robins and sparrows and cardinals as well as a hawk.  I also glimpsed a groundhog and watched a little mouse.  One morning, early, I watched a doe and her very small fawn explore the immaculately groomed lawn (in spite of the deer fence).  Yet, amidst all the beauty and natural wonder, there are geese–and goose poop.  Lots and lots of goose poop.  All over the lane and the lawn around the pond.  Just like with Willow Creek Community Church in Barrington, and in our Home Owners Association in Champaign, and anywhere else that there is a pond or lake–geese poop.  And no matter how you feel about geese, their poop is a nuisance.  So, the life lesson is that no matter where you are living, there will always be poop to contend with.  The goal is to contend and deal with it all (disappointment, loneliness, manure) with grace and truth.