the glory

A picture of some leaves. Because I said so.

The deep end of the small pool at the 'Y' is only 4 feet and as warm as a baby's bottom, perhaps due to the copious amount of pee that pours forth from said bottoms? I shall never know. There must be a gallon of chlorine in there. Excessively warm chlorine. No matter. I'm a sucker for warm.

It was there this afternoon, only a scant few hours ago, that my dear Fluffy, be-goggled and be-suited, fluttering like a submerged bumble bee, paused from his deep (well, 4 feet deep) diving to say ponderously, Mom? Today, it's like I've rediscovered the glory of chess. It's like God told me about it all over again because God, Mom? God can't really talk so the way I think he talks to me is to put a thought in my mind and today, he put chess there.

That's not all he said. He also said, Mom? Mom? Mom? Do you love chess? Do you love my chess board? Do you wish you had a chess board like mine when you were a kid? Mom? Are you so glad Daddy gave me that electronic chess game even though at first you didn't like it? Mom? I love that electronic chess board. And my real board. At home. Did you ever have a board like that when you were a kid? Isn't it great?

And a few thousand other things about chess.

When we got home, he broke out the game, set it up, and promptly wiped the board of every last one of my pieces. Before you get impressed, beating me at chess is a victory akin to whipping your toddler's ass at Jai Alai.

But still, I love that he spoke so wistfully about God bringing the glory of chess home. And I agree with him about how God talks to us, through these fleeting images, thoughts, and feelings. I've been reading Eat, Pray, Love. I know I know. I'm behind you all. What can I say? I don't watch Oprah so I haven't the foggiest idea what to read outside of whatever the librarian, who wears dresses over jeans, puts up on the display shelf in the children's library when Fluffy and I tear through.

(Speaking of that? Today when we tore through, Fluffy was heart-breakingly tender with a girl who was no more than one, certainly no more than two, in fact, I think it was little Cindy Loo Hoo, herself, and may I say? She looks shorter in real life. Anyway, Fluffy was astonishingly, incurably gentle with her and for the first time ever I continued to run through the halls, slipping every single book balanced on it's open V-legs into my canvas bag and left him, unattended, in there, in that play room area with heavy blocks and viciously hard plastic super-sized dinosaurs! And no blood was shed!)

So, I love Eat, Pray, Love. I love it. I've been brainstorming some way to blow out of town for a year, or maybe just for a weekend of do-able I's, like maybe Ithica, Ipswich, and Illahee (in Washington--a stretch for a weekend trip, but it's so fun to say! Illahee! Illahee!) I could say much more about this but the main point, for now, is that she, Elizabeth Gilbert, the author, chats with God by writing both sides of the conversation in a bedside journal.

I want to write my questions to God and have him/her/it answer as I take dictation and you know what? I'm going to. Starting tonight.

And where did I get the idea? God.

Well, okay, Elizabeth Gilbert.

Or maybe it was God, talking to me through the glory of books.

Comments

[Niksmom]

Well, if it makes you feel any better, I haven't read it yet. Hell, I'm just now getting around to THE SECRET. Ya know, life just seems to get in the way of all that reading I want to do!

I *know* that God speaks to us through many things. Not in a religious kind of way (I'm not into organized religion per se), but in that spiritual, see the bounty and beauty of this particular moment or vista kind of way. And through chess, books, music, a child's laughter...we just have to open ourselves up to hear it.

[Anamaria]

I gave a copy of EPL to your mother for Christmas! It's not the sort of thing I usually read, and I was a little disappointed when my book club picked it for our next meeting--but now I'm looking forward to reading it, thank you! And I love the library story, and thinking about all the ways God can talk to us. Through the computer, even?

[Marla]

I was wondering if anyone I knew was reading that book. I saw all the hype on it which made me weary of reading it. I guess I will give it a shot after reading such high praise here.

Your son is amazing. I love what he said about God. I do believe we need to listen when our kids say things so wonderful and moving. Beautiful!

[autismvox]

Keep listening --- am still thinking that warm/chlorine water (Charlie was just in some this evening) got something going!

[Michelle O'Neil]

I love Fluffy's description of how God talks to us. I think he is absolutly right.

LOVE Eat, Pray Love! Just finished it not too long ago.

[drama mama]

Okay. I was thinking of Cindy Loo Who this morning, and EG and God.

(Insert Twilight Zone music here)

Hilarious and moving post. That Fluffy. A pip. A pip, I tell you!

[Jordan]

This was just laugh-out-loud funny, over and over again. Okay, and endearing, because your Fluffy is awesome and sweet. But I've just started Eat, Pray, Love (along with, according to my husband, every woman on the El in Chicago and flights between Chicago and NYC, so we aren't actually the LAST to read it). Good luck with God. I have a strong feeling that you'll get some very interesting responses.

[Special Needs Mama]

If God talks to Elizabeth Gilbert, then he most certainly talks to Fluffy. And what he tells Fluffy is far more interesting than what he told EG.