just another day of Catholic pondering

Once upon a time, there was a little girl whose nose was in a book all the time.  You might remember her curly hair or her loud laugh.  Maybe you teased her into conversation a time or two.

In junior high, she was normal.  In high school, she found a niche in FFA, though after student teaching in college, she abandoned her dream of being an ag teacher for a job at a John Deere dealership.

It was there, surrounded by farm machinery and the smell of grease, that she met Prince Charming.  It was then, having met him, that she discovered she was really a princess.

I may not look like a princess to all of you.  My treasures look different than the gold you might expect:  two daughters and a loving husband, family friendships, and a community that grows and embraces us daily.  We live in an old farmhouse that’s only quaint if you’re visiting — the reality of constant do-it-yourself projects and something always broken gets old after a while.

But imagine the adventures we have at our fingertips!  Think of the history around us, from the brick in the house to the animals in the barns.

Elizabeth, my oldest daughter, would insist that the lack of a crown probably disqualifies me.  But she’d also tell you that we live in a magical castle on the days when the world around us is dreary — and sometimes, on days when it’s not.  She could tell you stories of the pretend games we play together, of the tales we tell, of the fun we have.

Though I’m wearing cotton and my hair is mussed, there’s not a princess anywhere in the world who is more blessed than I am.

I’m a different kind of princess, I suppose, but without that sparkling crown — invisible though it is — I could easily start a Poor Me Pity Party and never emerge again.

So that’s a little about me.  I hope we can connect on Facebook or Twitter and that you’ll stick around and join the conversation here on my blog.