So it looks like we’re all staying home, but we are counting our blessings and today we are grateful for… Endless costumes and colorful outfits! At least we know we won’t have many dull moments! And really we’re happy to do what we can to support the community, the safety of our neighbors and all of our precious little ones. (And the Mi-maw’s & the Paw-Paw’s too!) We are making the best of it, our eggs are sunny side up, and we ready to take the adventure that comes as best we can. Curly is always the first to find the humor in any given situation, and we all know the drill around here; you may as well follow suit, because once Curly’s on his path, there is generally no stopping him! A little fun fact that some of you may already know, Curly (a.k.a. “Shawn”) is also a great Tolkien fan. He has read everything that Tolkien ever wrote, including The Lord of the Rings, more times than he can even count (and if you know Curly, you know what I mean). So around this house we know can always count on a great tidbit to come from that direction, sooner or later.
Here’s something beautiful he read us – why is it that there is so much goodness and beauty in these old books?
“I don’t like anything here at all,’ said Frodo, ‘step or stone, breath or bone. Earth, air and water all seem accursed. But so our path is laid.”
‘Yes, that’s so,’ said Sam. ‘And we shouldn’t be here at all, if we’d known more about it before we started. But I suppose it’s often that way. The brave things in the old tales and songs, Mr. Frodo: adventures, as I used to call them. I used to think that they were things the wonderful folk of the stories went out and looked for, because they wanted them, because they were exciting and life was a bit dull, a kind of a sport, as you might say. But that’s not the way of it with the tales that really mattered, or the ones that stay in the mind. Folk seem to have been just landed in them, usually – their paths were laid that way, as you put it. But I expect they had lots of chances, like us, of turning back, only they didn’t. And if they had, we shouldn’t know, because they’d have been forgotten. We hear about those as just went on – and not all to a good end, mind you; at least not to what folk inside a story and not outside it call a good end. You know, coming home, and finding things all right, though not quite the same – like old Mr. Bilbo. But those aren’t always the best tales to hear, though they may be the best tales to get landed in! I wonder what sort of a tale we’ve fallen into?’
‘I wonder,’ said Frodo. ‘But I don’t know. And that’s the way of a real tale. Take any one that you’re fond of. You may know, or guess, what kind of a tale it is, happy-ending or sad-ending, but the people in it don’t know. And you don’t want them to.”
– JRR Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
So now you know what you’re in for, if you are stuck in a house for any prolonged period of time with Curly! (Which is not half bad, if you’re asking me!) Every time I hear something Sam says, it seems like little Sam Gamgee is a bit wiser than I might have thought – for a being “just” a little hobbit. And this little insight seemed on point for us today; this is not our “favorite” story, nor our chosen story, nor is this story the way that we would have told it. And how “like life.” But here it all is, and here we are – rather wrapped up in it, and very much a part of it, what ever “it” may be. We don’t know at this point how the story will end, or as Frodo said, whether it will come to a happy ending for us, or a sad ending. But the thing is to play our part – whatever that may be – as well as we can. That one thing is within the circle of our power and control at least. So we’re putting a brave face on it, and facing the wind hand in hand. We don’t know where the journey will take us, but we will take this journey well if we can, and try to help others along the way. we’ll start by taking our eggs sunny side up!
Our prayers are with you all – all you dear families and lovely children that we have come to know so well over the years, as well as those we have not met yet – may we be friends one day still! May you be protected, and helped in your time of need. May you find something good and beautiful to hold on to also, that gives you the strength to take each step as it comes, and smile, and face these days with hope and gentle courage.
With our love and prayers, and shining hopes for silver linings, and sun after showers, and the promise of good days still to come,
Curly & Daisy 🌸