Dear Reader:

The rest of the quote from the blog title today reads: “Let my soul smile through my heart and my heart smile through my eyes, that I may scatter rich smiles in sad hearts”. Paramahansa Yogananda

Can’t we tell when a child is running fever and doesn’t feel well? It is always in the eyes….”They look weak” is the universal diagnosis pronounced, confidently, by  parents and grandparents down through the ages.

Thursday afternoon Jakie just wanted mommy to hold him. Overall he is doing better but gets his feelings hurt and tires more easily than usual.. He just needs a lot of rocking and loving to help him get over his virus…along with all kinds of meds.

It was while Mandy was holding Jakie that I closed my eyes on the other sofa perpendicular to theirs and kept them closed until I had a strange feeling. I felt someone staring at me. I opened my eyes and there was Jakie (who I thought had fallen asleep) staring straight into my eyes.

It startled me at first, but then I smiled and looked back at him…he kept his expression serene (as in the title photo) and seemingly never blinked …..he just kept staring at me. It made me wonder what was going on in his little mind that kept me in his target range of vision.

“Thickness“….didn’t I read something awhile back about the ability of small children to block nothing from their gaze at you providing a thickness of peace between you.   That was exactly what I was feeling. A sense of peace and connection with Jakie.

I discovered the article, again… titled : “Keeping Nothing Between” by Eugene Grenlin. Here are some excerpts from his message.

“In a restaurant a little girl in the next booth turns to look at you. It is an open look, direct from her – to you. She doesn’t know that strangers are not supposed to connect. She does not put this knowledge between herself and you. There is nothing in between. You look back. Her parents make her sit down and face forward. But then, when they all leave, she turns around at the door, to look again. After all, you and she have met therefore she wouldn’t just leave.

In first grade the children look at the teacher searchingly, openly, reachingly. They put nothing between. The teacher is concerned with the eight levels of reading ability, and does not look back.

Do only little children keep nothing between? Or can adults do that too? We can, but for us it is a special case.

…If I really want to be with you, I keep nothing in front of me. Of course I know I can fall back on the automatic ways I have been taught to avoid deeper contact. If need be, I can also defend myself. I have many resources. But I don’t want all that between us.

If I keep nothing between, you can look into my eyes and find me. You might not look, of course. But if you do, I won’t hide. Then you may see a very insufficient person. But for contact, no special kind of human being is required. This fact makes a thick peacefulness.”

Eva Cate and Jakie connecting! A truce…a “thick peacefulness.”

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So until tomorrow Let us remind ourselves to be honest in our visual contacts with others, letting the walls come down to reveal our true selves…splinters and all.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*John sent this link of their short stay at Disney but you would never guess it was short for everything the Turners experienced while there. (Mandy told me that several of the rides like The Haunted House are now personalized with the ghost sitting between you wishing you  a safe trip back to South Carolina. Really cute to see your names and home state personalized on the rides.)

*Eva Cate informed me that the fairy Tinker Bell was missing from my garden Wednesday.

Eva Cate….after seeing this photo in the family Disney album I think I know where she went…..don’t you?

…she must have decided to catch a ride to Disney World and hang out with Eva Cate and family.

W.T. and Joan….you two just keep getting younger and younger….it must be the magic pixie dust each year from Tinker Bell!

https://goo.gl/photos/F227kFCmk3qLba6YA

*Mollie is having a ball working with the cosmetic company Beauty Counter Momma. She started with this company this summer to supplement her income since several of her speech therapy clients are students and out for the summer. Instead she is having so much fun and has been promoted three times now in six weeks….amazing. She is getting to meet lots of new people while selling safe products to family, friends, and strangers who want to know that the cosmetics they are putting on their bodies are safe for them and their loved ones.. (Mollie is the third from the left in the white dress)

*Good evening ladies! What an awesome evening I just had with local Charleston Beautycounter consultants. I attended a “sip and see” in which Landon Clements from the Bravo hit series Southern Charm hosted. She is a local consultant advocating for safe products just like me.

Y’all this company is doing incredible things and going amazing places. I highly suggest joining me and the movement. Whether you chose to switch some products out or jump in and become a voice. You will 100% not regret it. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain!

On the way home yesterday from Eva Cate and Jakie’s….I stopped by to see my other two little munchkins – Rutledge and Lachlan. They are leaving in the morning with mommy for New Hampshire to see Mollie’s parents and just have fun!. Walsh will be joining them later in the week so they can all fly home together.

I went to tell them good-bye and give them their “funny money”  to pick out something to remember their trip by…Walsh said he had the boys Thursday….Daddy’s Day and they went on alligator adventures. Lachlan was so worn out when they got home he fell fast asleep on Poogan.

Mollie took Lachlan to get his summer shots before they leave for N. H. so Walsh, Rutledge, and I “hung” together for awhile yesterday. Have a safe trip my precious ones.

As Roy Rogers and Dale Evans used to say: “Happy Trails” to you until we meet again!