Purple Mountains' Majesty

The Olympic Peninsula stretches out before me, capped in flawless white snow. The tops of some peaks are obscured by clouds, and the light behind them casts their features into sharp relief: craggy, rugged, beautiful. The Cascades are behind me, equally majestic in their youthful splendor. The view of Mt. Rainier from my front door, pink and violet in the light of the rising sun leaves me speechless and grateful to a God who not only gave us life and salvation, but also a beautiful planet to live our earthly life upon.

They make me homesick.

We went to Colorado in December 2007, to see my sister married. We drove, and the farther East we went, the more open the scenery became. On the last day of our trip, I remember walking out of a hotel in Wyoming, heading through the frigid morning to our car. I scanned the scenery, and was amazed that I could see for miles, nothing but prairie until the line between sky and land was divided by a mountain. Unbidden, the thought, "I'm home" rang out in my mind, over and over. A litany, almost shouting the answer to the question my husband has been asking me for the last five or six years: " Where do you want to live when I retire?"

Now I know that I've been away for far too long.

My upbringing was dysfunctional and painful enough that when I failed out of college and joined the Navy, I couldn't get far enough away from home. For a while, my parents didn't even know where I was, and I liked it that way. Even after my mother became sober and made amends, I never really felt like there was anyone there at home for me. There weren't many happy memories there for me, but the few that I did have always involved nature. To this day, I have to sleep with something covering my eyes, because it was so dark, and so quiet where we lived- I finally managed to ditch the earplugs ten years after I left. Our house was at the top of a rather steep hill, carved into the side of a deep valley. We were up high enough that we could see for a very long way in either direction. The only sound at night was the wind in the conifers and aspens that surrounded our house and blanketed the sides of the hills. The deep bass undertone was almost an ominous rumble, but I never felt frightened by it. I found the sheer enormity of it comforting somehow. I could lay in my bed next to the window and see stars that were unsullied by the unnatural orange of streetlights-there were none. Sometimes I could make out features in the landscape outside by their light alone. One year, I even saw the Aurora Borealis. It was amazing.

Sometimes when I awoke in the morning, deer were eating the grass in the side yard, and in the meadow next to our property. I also loved that I could see for miles. When I left home, those things had taken a backseat to my need for escape.

It was many years before my relationship with my family was even close to what anyone would call normal, and it is only that way now by the Grace of God, and HIS power to help us learn how to forgive.

So, now I know that I want to live close to home when we can finally choose where we live. I am always at the mercy of the Lord's will, though. I pray that it is what He has in mind for us. I really want to raise my kids there.

We went back to my hometown last June, before Sparky shipped out for Afghanistan. I took photos of the kids sliding on the same slide in the park that I played on as a child. That was just about the only thing familiar left in the park.

We drove around the same streets upon which I rode my bicycle as a child. I was reminded of 1 Corinthians 14: 11&12. "When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known." The rose colored glasses of youth, the darker, face- obscuring lenses of young adulthood, the changes maturity, marriage, and childbirth bring: full circle, in a way.

Everything seemed so....overgrown. The trees were thirty years smaller back then, and shaded the sidewalks perfectly from the summer sun, making an ideal place to play dolls, hopscotch, jumprope.....all gone away. Nobody plays on the sidewalks any more. Some of them are barely even passable, the tree roots turning a leisurely stroll into an ankle injury.

A trip to the cemetary brought many memories and refreshed grief long forgotten. Friends, killed in automobile accidents on the treacherous roads, my grandmother and grandfather, my baby sister. I am so thankful to know that some of the people I lost in my youth are waiting for me in Heaven; we have so much catching up to do.

The saying, "you can never really go home" became so patently obvious after this last visit, yet the area itself, with the open prairie, the foothills, dotted with scub oak that turns the countryside into an exquisite patchwork quilt in the fall, the delicate spiderwebs of snow on the on the spindly branches of barren winter trees and of course the Huajatollas themselves.....the beautiful Spanish Peaks, and the Sangre de Cristo Range to the West....it's still home, and it always will be.

The lure of Edward Cullen

Yes, lure. In her YA (young adult) fiction series that began with "Twilight", author Stephenie Meyer weaves a sweet, sad, fast-paced tale of romance, rivalry......and vampires. Of course, the story line is far more complicated than the the three words I used to describe them, but those three themes figure heavily in the story's complicated-but-followable storyline.

For my friends who do not read secular fiction, the story involves an ordinary girl, named Bella. She moves to the cloudiest town in Washington Sate, a sleepy backwater village called Forks. There, she meets the boy who becomes her greatest love, greatest pain, and eventually, her destiny.

It is here that I will stop and write for a moment on vampires. The Bible says nothing about them. I'm positive that they are completely ficitonal, a fact that I have elaborated upon greatly with my children, especially after my 4 1/2 year old decided she was a zombie. (more on that later) The beauty of such a fictional thing is that an author may do whatever he or she pleases with the myth in order to suit a particular storyline. The irresistable draw of the vampire is so fleshly in nature, on the part of the human, and the vampire. The human is drawn by the vampire's appearance, his seemingly inescapable pull upon their senses and darker side. The vampire must lure the human close enough to drink their blood to survive, trading the human pleasure of eating, for the darker, more evil act of murdering merely to survive. With that in mind, it obviously makes for very scintillating reading, especially to young adults.

I had to think about why it appealed to me so much. (for the record, I am Team Edward) I've read pretty much everything Anne Rice has written, fascinated by her portrayal of the vampire Lestat, and his odd, violent family. Much of this reading took place before I began to really walk with the Lord, to include Him in any choices I made in my life. To me, they are all stories. I am left yearning not to become a vampire, but to feel passion and love and joy the way the characters in the novels felt them.

But Edward......what a fascinating character. Changed in 1918, at the very end of the Victorian Era, he was nearly an adult when he became what he is. The values he was raised with are so very different from those we now see in our crumbling society. A true gentleman, polite and somewhat reserved with his feelings, Edward still believes in marriage, and physical purity reserved for the marriage bed. He is socially adept and more mature than any 17-year old I've ever met. His confidence equals that of a grown man. (I assume I'd be pretty confident at 108 years of age, too) In spite of everything he has experienced, he remains insecure to a degree about Bella, because he can't read her mind.

He is a mix of many things, and they all add up to something irresistable to any girl who reads this series. What is it about Edward Cullen that has so many girls swooning? Let's list the physical charatceristics: He's tall, reddish hair, exquisite features, different eyes, that slender, elegant, graceful form that screams vampire, what's not to love? Oh, I forgot: he smells really good, too. Edward is polite, attentive, sensitive, intuitive, and adoring. He carries Bella, he saves and protects Bella, he defends her against hostile vampires who want to kill her. This combination of teenage perfection is deadly, pun intended.

Edward is everything today's teenage boy is not. Bella is not your average empty headed teenage girl. Bella reads and loves the classics: today's teenagers can't speak enough english to understand them any more. Edward listens to Debussy and composes his own piano music: today's teenage boys consider beating "Call of Duty 4" an accomplishment. What girl wouldn't want to be wooed by such a fellow? What teenage girl is mature enough to appreciate what Edward offers, beyond looking good in his designer clothes, and the fact that his family is very wealthy.

Bella is a breath of fresh air in today's teenage world. She doesn't own a cell phone, or a metric ton of clothing, CD's, makeup, or shoes. She prefers reading to TV, hates shopping, and behaves very resposibly.

Neither character has a realistic place in today's society, more's the pity.

Yet so many girls can identify with Bella, can understand her hurt when Edward leaves her "for her own good", and the friendship (for her, anyway) she subsequently develops with Jacob. That's why it makes for such good reading, and why the series has so many devoted (if you don't believe me, check out youtube) fans.

I can even see why adult women like the books. Romance isn't every women's cup of tea, but it sure is mine. And, since this is my blog, I can safely say that most women who might be reading this have some ideas about romance in her mind. We are so self-centered sometimes, that instead of considering what the object of our affection might consider romantic, we give them what we think is romantic. Unfortunately, this isn't always received the way we think it should be. To me, the key to romance, especially the kind we want from our husbands, is recognizing the difference, and acting on it. When my husband kisses my hand, I think "mmmm, nice, maybe he'll kiss my fingers, too, like Edward did when he proposed to Bella." He's probably thinking "Hey, guys in romance movies do this, maybe it will work for me, too." The disparity between thought processes is very clear, right? But how to communicate those unconscious wishes?

I think Stephenie Meyer needs to write a new book: "Edward Cullen's guide for sincere, well- meaning, romantically inept men". Oh, no self-respecting guy would be caught dead in line at Borders with that tome clutched in his beefy hands.......but he may still find himself in possession of a copy. ;)

Inaugural blogural.....

Well, here it is. The first installment of the Perils of the Navywife. I should probably tell anybody who's bored enough to read this a little bit about myself.

Obviously, I am married to a sailor. I've had this affliction for twelve years now, with two lovely children as my happy side-effect. We are currently in Oak Harbor, Washington, while Sparky (totally not his real name) is away in Afghanistan, doing his part to rebuild the country's non-existent infrastructure.

I keep busy while Sparky's gone with volunteering. I work three ministries in our church, (www.bbcoakharbor.org), one afternoon a week that the base's Retired Activities Office, and I'm a mentor for a program called COMPASS. It's kind of like Navywife 101. It's a fantastic three day course that covers most of what a new spouse, or even a "seasoned" spouse like me would need to know to survive, maybe even thriver, in the Navy.

I love The Lord, and my church family. The Lord led us to this duty station, and has blessed us with excellent discipleship and for that we are so thankful.

I don't have time for more right now, but as asoon as I can, I will begin to record some anecdotes about my life as a spouse, mother, Christian, and American. I hope you all enjoy it!