“I felt as much complimented today as though I had been praised for writing a good book: a man I met, who had bought a comb of honey from my friend, the market man, told me he thought it as fine honey as ever he ate in his life.”
David Grayson, The Countryman’s Year
Good things in June:
Riding a cart down the Wal-Mart parking lot in the rain
A whole weekend on the lake to celebrate Natalie getting married: water slides, kayaks, lily pads, sandwiches & watermelon on the dock, late-night painting, church on the porch, and sisters in Christ
Singing “Into the West” until Lila fell asleep against me
The boy in Brian and Taylor’s neighborhood who gives a popsicle to the trash man
Painting and scrubbing and moving furniture at Joel & Natalie’s house; a scaffold in the kitchen and oven on the porch, and how happy they both are simply in what it’s becoming
The two armchairs in Joel’s office that look like Carl and Ellie’s from “Up”
Girls trip to Costco
Walking downtown to the Stiefel Theater, the whole family dressed up on a hot evening
Scrolled stairwells, theater balconies, and Cody Fry with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra—resounding
Open house day and church people coming to celebrate Joel & Natalie, touring the house, in the garage, on the porch swing, playing cornhole, visiting under the shade trees like they did in the old days
Sunday evening sand volleyball
How the highway south to Arkansas has become as familiar as any, and how the trees change each time I go, from brown, to bare, to green and full with summer
Little downtown Alma: its coffee shop, train caboose, and city park with the statue of Popeye
How Jared’s mom always has food stocked in the fridge for us and hot meals planned; her French toast casserole
Heading out to the hives early to prep for honey harvest, and filming the bees for YouTube
After a morning of hot work, iced Earl Gray and video editing
Cleaning the garage to swing music on a summer’s evening
The antiques Jared’s grandparents have collected; old hats, glass jars, a tiffany lamp, and a typewriter
Making oatmeal cookies to take on our visits
Ann—who ushered us in, showed us her sewing room, and has spent her precious energy over the last year finishing a stunning quilt for Jared and I
Troy & Karen’s little white home on the mountain, and how they took us out to pick peaches from their trees
Sweeping the front stoop of the church on a Wednesday evening, eating dinner on the step with Jared, waiting for folks to arrive
Stopping on my run to pet cows at the fenceline
Driving the dirt roads to Crabtree Farms
Taking an observation beehive to the local Boys & Girls Club, where Jared taught about pollinators and I handed out honey samples and tried to answer the kids’ (and teachers’) burning questions about bees
Honey Harvest Day—learning to cut comb, running the extractors, sampling fresh honey, sticky hands and hair, listening to bluegrass, drinking kombucha, and falling into bed at the end of the day
Picking up Jared’s grandpa for church, and how he spotted a local tomato stand
How Destinie and I both wore green dresses on Sunday
The kids going up front to sing “Zaccheus Was a Wee Little Man”
Slow Sunday afternoon to rest, recover, and watch The Sound of Music
Stapling the hives closed at dawn and moving them out to the farm bottoms, one trip at a time
Meeting Andy, a funny guy who sang in the backseat and could identify the goldenrod and elderberry along the roadside
Dinner downtown; an evening walk & conversation
More long, soul-deep conversations that thrust me upon Christ to realize again the great sufficiency of his kingship
Teaching (and being taught by) John 12
Returning to enjoy the fullness of my summer garden: tomatoes, basil, thyme, zinnias, and zucchini
Picking yellow coneflowers and unripe blackberries with Gemma
Exchanging long, honest, deeply encouraging audio messages with Hannah
Sewing a dress
A strawberry moon
Lila running ahead of me to the garden, her hair as orange as the marigolds
Late-night movies at Brian & Taylor’s
An evening of babysitting, playing haunted hide-and-seek in the back rooms as a storm thundered outside; kids in the closets, under the beds, and hiding behind the curtains
At last, rain
bethanyjlincks.com 