Are you all aware of how awesome leather boots are?
They wear leather boots in all the cool stories: The Lord of the Rings, The Princess Bride, The Princess and the Kiss, The Squire and the Scroll, etc., etc. . . .
Trust me, you have not lived until you have done archery in leather boots!
Happy March, y’all! Lucy figured out about St. Patrick’s Day, and was just sure that we needed shamrocks now that it was March. 🙂
She saw them at someone else’s house–they do Christmas in China, but not St. Patrick’s Day.
I thought I should do another “Blessings and Stories” post; so, keeping the Valentine’s Day theme (because March is not May), I did one I wrote about love.
When I was little I came to the conclusion that we would be happier if we didn’t lose our hearts to stuff. I realized that if there wasn’t anything I didn’t want broken or lost, and I knew I would go to heaven, I would have no problems. No worries. Zero.
But there was a hitch: people. If there were people in you life that you loved, you would worry about them. Even if you knew they were going to heaven, you would worry about them–and you don’t. Sometimes you just don’t know.
And try as I might I couldn’t get past that. I knew it was important to love people–I wasn’t giving up on that. But loving is problematic. It’s dangerous, and it’s inconvenient.
I remember a time when two of my friends weren’t getting along, and I felt stuck in the middle of it; and when I told my mom about it she explained that if you lived all alone on an island you would be lonely, but life would be easier. ‘Cause relationships are messy. Very messy.
Recently we re-watched The Princess Bride. It’s a good movie; entertaining and funny, but it’s morals are “off”. And there’s this theme in it that if you love someone hard enough then neither of you can die. Which is absurd.
It makes love practical. And love is not.
Oh, and love is not a feeling. Whatever anyone says. It’s not a wishy-woshy sensation that makes you go light-headed whenever someone walks into the room. It’s a choice. And a hard one sometimes.
Love is not practical. It doesn’t make things perfect. It will wreck your life. And resurrect it again. Because God is love, and Jesus will wreck you life, and then bring it back together again–exactly what happened to HIM when HE loved us.
I love the quote from the movie Frozen: “Love is putting someone else’s needs before you own.” Because that’s a choice. And you rarely feel like putting someone else first.
I wrote on my blog recently: “I’m in love. And that’s dangerous, because when you truly love someone you are willing to do anything for them.”
I liked the quote from the Rend Collective song The Cost: “Real love is not afraid to bleed.”
Love is patient. Love is kind.
But love is courageous.
“…It’s so much more friendly with two.”
-Piglet, Winnie the Pooh, by A. A. Milne, page 132
People weren’t made to be by themselves. They need each other. Sometimes Life gives you lemons, and we weren’t made to carry so much fruit alone.
Kristoff tried to get out of helping Anna–but she never would have made it without him.
Elsa tried to shut Anna out–but if Anna hadn’t pursued, Elsa would have been killed.
Inigo couldn’t have gotten through the Zoo of Death without Fezzik, and Fezzik couldn’t have made it without Inigo.
And neither of them would have made it into the castle without Westley–but Westley would not have gotten into the castle without them.
The dwarves didn’t want to bring Bilbo at first–but they never would have succeeded without him.
Thorin didn’t want to give Bard gold to help the people of Esgaroth–but Thorin would not have gotten the treasure back without Bard anyway.
Frodo tried to leave Sam–but he never would have made it without him.
Sam almost convinced Frodo not to trust Strider–but they never would have gotten there without him.
First Frodo, then Elrond almost succeeded in sending Merry and Pippin home–but if they hadn’t come Denethor would have killed Faramir and the Witchking would have killed Eowyn.
“Thorin and Co.” would never have gotten inside the Lonely Mountain without Elrond, and the hobbits wouldn’t even have gotten to Bree without Tom Bombadil.
Naomi tried to leave Ruth–but I don’t know how she would have managed without her, and I don’t think Ruth would have gotten so far without Boaz.
Joseph tried to leave Mary–and I don’t think she would have made it alone.
God created Eve the same day he created Adam. People need people. We can’t do this alone. We just can’t.
I need you guys!
We’ve been in China for a little over twenty-four hours now, and it’s been great! The jet-lag was pretty bad on the plane. I was expecting it, but not that bad, and (for some reason) not until we got home; but I perked up when we got to Xi’an… and could go to bed. I’m never sleepy when I’m supposed to be–like, never!
I had my first conundrum about food at lunch yesterday, when almost everything was SPICY, but we found some mild noodles and some pork that was only… flavorful. But breakfast is wonderful. They have Asianie things like noodles and rice and baked yams (for breakfast?), but they also have some more western things like fried eggs, pancakes, bacon, and french-toast. And they also have different flavors of juice–one of which was grapefruit which I had never seen before.
Our hotel is very nice, and it is a lot like American hotels. The view out of the window is just short of breathtaking! There’s a pond out there that the building is kind-of built around so it’s almost like a courtyard. In some places the water comes right up to the hotel-walls, and in some places there’s a little patio or strip of land in between. It is SO beautiful! With the goldfish clustering around in the water, the little trees and patches of green grass, the vines climbing up the yellow walls, the red roofs, the palm-trees, the little wooden porches and long wooden benches, the stepping-stones; with big Chinese buildings and a foggy Chinese sky rising behind it… can you tell I’m in raptures about this little spot? 🙂
Our guide is also very nice. She is organized and friendly and cheerful. She’s the only guide I’ve ever had, so I don’t have anything to compare her to; but I decided I liked her before I’d known her for an hour!
I stick out here like a banana in a smoke-house! People stare at us a lot. Sometimes people stare at you in America, but I think it’s worse here…. though I could, of course, just be making that up. We were standing by the fence around our hotel today, and people on the street outside kept looking at us as they walked by. “It’s like we’re in a zoo!” mom said! 🙂 Sometimes I just ignore people that stare at me, sometimes I smile (especially if they’re children), and sometimes I just stare back. I’m not sure how I should be responding!
AND-
(Drum-roll please)
WE’RE MEETING LUCY TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The two king-sized beds in our room are pretty close together; and I think it was a long time after we all woke up, but shortly after we turned on the light and all admitted that we were awake (which was a long time before we all got up), mom looked over at me and said, “It’s Lucy-day!” I just grinned, because it was too early to freak out–but I was freaking out inside! FREAKIN’ OUT!!!
I can’t believe it! I’m meeting my sister today! I’ve wondered about this for a long time. I wonder what she’ll be like. What she’ll think of me. But all my anxiety melts into absolute insignificance when I think about what she might be thinking! Does she know that she’s meeting her family today? I hope so. Is she happy? I hope so. Is she excited? I hope so. Is she scared? I hope not. Is she nervous? Probably. Is she curious? How could she not be?! I pray she is not scared or confused!
There is so much more I could tell you! This is in a nutshell.
And speaking of nuts, I got to try roasted chess-nuts yesterday for the first time! They were… interesting. They reminded me of potatoes, honestly. It was fun to get to try them, because now I know what they are. You hear about them a lot in English literature!
So far China has been great! Becca told me before we left: “I think you’ll like it (paraphrased) if you just think of it as an adventure.”
And that’s what I’m doing. I just keep telling myself: “It’s an adventure. Just have fun! Don’t lose your bag. DON’T DROP YOUR PASSPORT! Stay under your umbrella (it’s been COLD and WET here!) but don’t bump into anything with it (even though our guide already hit someone on the head with hers). Look both ways. See as much as you can without losing mom and dad.
“Live it up. Breathe it in–even the smog.
“It is beautiful.”
“Then let’s look on the bright side: we’re having an adventure…”
-The Princess Bride, by William Goldman, page 295