55 and Still Kicking

This is the birthday gift that greeted me when I came down the stairs yesterday morning. Nice presentation, Duncan! After a year that has pretty much kicked my ass, it's nice to have my husband give me something to kick back with next year!

And here is another special birthday gift, from Mom. I have admired and coveted and begged for this ring for oh, about 25 years now. Mom and Dad bought the stone when they went to Brazil in 1979 and Mom had a jeweler design and make the ring using the gold from her mother's and grandmother's wedding bands.

I  think because I loved it from the minute I first saw it, Mom always meant to give it to me "at some point."  This year has reminded us to ask "What are you waiting for??" and  I love that she has made it a gift to me now.

On Sunday, Bert preached about "temples of memory" where you "harvest meaning from the seeds of experience." He said Christmas -- or a birthday or any anniversary -- is a temple of memory. Mary, when she learned she was pregnant, remembered her grandmother Hannah -- and The Magnificat -- the "My soul doth magnify the Lord" part are similar to words of Hannah. Anyway, if bread and wine can be Christ, I don't see why this ring can't connect me to the spirit of my mother and grandmothers in a sustaining way.

I wonder what my grandmothers would make of red cowboy boots?. Probably in their lives, they would shake their heads -- or scratch their heads!. But hopefully, from the vantage point they now have -- they are cheering me on..