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Sunday 14 August 2011

Love, Faith and Magic Wands..



J has recently returned from a fun week spent with his Daddy, Nanna, Bapa and Aunty in both Somerset and Wales. This has been a good week for both J and I as the break allowed me time to get on with some much needed decorating. In addition it also allowed me to spend time with P and take the first tentative steps into a new relationship. P has been feted as "perfect" for me over several months by a mutual friend....all to no avail as my heart has simply not been ready. This changed at the funeral of my friend's partner Dave when I watched P with Dave's youngest daughter  S- a heartbreaking and lovely little girl of 8 who like her sister and brothers is missing her Daddy terribly.  It is no exageration to say that my heart was touched by how lovely P was with S and so when my friend began her "you are perfect for one another" comments again I agreed to allow her to arrange a meeting of some description, Perhaps I was just ready to move on..... and the break from being Mum for a few days allowed this introduction to happen...so I have seen P twice and we are going out tonight again.  Having both had our fingers burned in the past we are proceeding cautiously still but are enjoying each other's company. Time will tell how it will all go.....life is short but there is still no rush, if we are meant for one another then it will happen in it's own good time and P has a lot to think about in this as being with me means taking on J as well who is my utter joy in life.

J has now returned from his holiday and I am so happy to have him back at home and in my arms. I am without doubt blessed to have this little boy, especially as he arrived stacked against all the odds of my infertility and the dire prediction of a doctor that I was "unlikely to conceive naturally".  I am happy to have proved them wrong.....

So this morning when I took J to church I said a special prayer of thanks for J's presence in my life and for the daily joy he brings me - even if that joy IS accompanied by a certain amount of stress at times! This would include yesterday when J was in one of his "climbing moods" which culminated in his c limbing 15 feet into a tree before going into utter meltdown when he decided he was stuck up there. Getting through to James and reaching him through these meltdowns is not easy....I am so grateful for the passing dogwalker who had an advantage over me in height! I said a prayer of thanks for him today too!

Towards the end of the church service today, J started talking of "magic wands". Aunty Moonroot has one, he had tried it and what was more, when he is 13 he could use it "if Mummy & Daddy agree otherwise Mum, I have to wait til I am 18". the conversation got quite loud and feeling that talk of  "magic wands" might not be appropriate in a Catholic church I decided to sit outside and continue the conversation with J there.

We had a great chat and J understood that Aunty Moonroot's magic wand was not like the wands he reads about or sees in Harry Potter books and films because she had explained this. We discussed the fact that like his Rosary beads  a wand was used as a focus for positive and reflective prayer and to offer love and support for others.  J seemed happy with this and we further discussed his use of a magic wand at an older age as he was keen to talk about this.  I said to J that if he still wanted to look more at this at 13 then he could do so along with looking at other beliefs in life. Being open minded is a good thing and understanding and respecting different belief systems is an important part of learning to respect others. We might see much more love in society if we all showed more tolerance and understanding for the beliefs of others.

After the service I spoke with Fr B the lovely and good humoured priest for his thoughts - we had a nice chat which ended with Fr B glancing furtively round then leaning in conspiratorially and whispering  "this ere magic wand of Moonroot's - does it work on the Euromillions"?  I suggested this was highly unlikely (I refer Fr B if he is reading this, to my conversation with J regarding Harry Potter and magic wands as above) and I wondered aloud what he would do with such wealth. Fr B had no hesitation "I'd retire" he declared "to live in a beach house in Barbados" .... presumably to live a spiritual life by opening his front door every morning and giving thanks to God for the good fortune and the beautiful beach and sea view in front of him, before relaxing for the rest of the day....now THAT is my kind of priest.  A great understanding of the spiritual but human first and foremost...just brilliant and I have giggled on and off all day recalling this conversation.

So - may I suggest to Aunty Moonroot that she gives Fr B "a lend" of her magic wand - like James before him I suspect he may feel some disappointment in the immediate results - pictures don't fly and in all liklihood the lottery numbers will not magically write themselves down but focusing on prayer while holding any object can give a deeper journey into the soul and to the universe and with THAT kind of power anything might be possible.

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