Rain on Tin Roofs

                         I awoke this morning to the gentle,  peresistant drumming of much needed rain on my metal roof. Normally this is a sound that sucks me backwards in time to my Grandmothers bedroom and the smell of lilac perfume and lazy Saturday mornings snuggled next to her. Not this morning. This morning that all too familiar sound was punctuated with my husbands startling ,"the chickens!". To wit  I ran half-naked & asleep towards the front door-only to realize midway thru the living room 2 things-1: we have a house guest aged 10 who I am certain is not used to seeing 1/2 naked women dashing thru the house at breakneck speed @ 7 am, and 2:so what? the Henhouse has a roof? Soooo, I stumble back to bed and wedge myself between hubby & cosita and fall blissfully back to sleep with the lingering scent of lilacs filling my dreams.

                      I awoke the second time much more calmly and to my surprise without children milling about.

Seems it only takes 20 slices of CiCi's pizza to get them to sleep in. Noted for later use-check!  Last night was "D'LaVega family pizza eating contest night". Basically every Spring break we take the kids and a friend or 2 to CiCi's pizza here in St Augustine & we eat until we POP! It's quiet funny to watch and painful to participate in. The male bravado amongst the men is crazy, each boasting their digestive abilities ,then one by one falling by the wayside and turning the loveliest shade of green while unbuttoning their pants and looking very uncomfortable. Edd won this yr. He polished off an impressive 21 slices of pizza. Kieren was in a close 2nd with 20 and Kierens's friend Dawson(who is very slender BTW) managed 19 before his dsitended abdomen could take no more and he threw in his napkin. All in all it was a good competition and watching the guys bond thru gastric distress was heartwarming.

                     We all spent the day cleaning the house, doing chores and homeschooling and helping Edd clear the property. Of course we took breaks.To dance in the impromptu rain strom that blew in and to jump on the trampoline in the residual mist of said rain storm. To eat popsicles (twin pops of course) and to laugh.  We laughed at the way the chickens ran from the big fat droplets that seemed to appear out of nowhere, we laughed at each other  as we danced like natives gone mad. WE LAUGHED.We made mac-n-cheese together for lunch and tonite the 10 yr old boys cooked us all Nachos with ground beef while Edd grilled our steaks and Layla baked cookies for home made ice cream sandwiches.It was a good day. These are the actual pics of the food they made.

                      I am exhausted but the smell of rain is in the air still and my hubby just made the bed and fluffed my pillows for me( a little treat he does EVERY night because I mentioned once how happy it made me). Aaaahh, life is good. It really is. I don't have alot of money. Hell I am just as broke as everyone of you reading this, but, my composter is full of rich, black soil I MADE for FREE, my chickens are growing and healthy and for the most part my family is healthy and on solid ground. We stumble, we fall- we are not perfect. Far from it, but we are there for each other. I know when I smack my thumb with a hammer Edd will be there to laught at me til he pees himself and  vice -versa. I know that even if my teenager thinks she hates me, she doesn't and will be the first to tell you why she loves me(then deny it when I ask her to repeat it) but she's the 1st to hug me goodnight and ask to be tucked in.These things are my constant, what  I rely on to keep myself balanced in an off kilter world.. I don't wanna die a wealthy woman, with no debt and luxuries in abundance. I wanna live a rich life, full of memories and experiences and emotions.I wanna leave behind something tangible for my children that goes beyond fianancial substance. I want to leave them a blue print for happiness. For inner peace. I wanna leave them memories of a childhood they will long to repeat.

                    My shoulders ache and my eyelids are heavy and as I type these final words I can almost smell lilacs on the heavy,damp breeze blowing in from the dining room window. Many long years I have yearned for this sense of calm, this sense of home. To feel my Grandmothers quilt wrapped around my shoulders as I listen to rain of the tin roof of her lil farmhouse in the Ozarks......I may be a poor woman ,this is true, but today I see my riches stretch far beyond the horizon and my heart is indeed glad. I know one day my children will be teaching their children how to hand crank ice cream and they"ll be able to say,"just the way my mom did it". That is PRICELESS.