fresh air and love

Assalamu alaikom and hello everyone,

A few years ago when I lived in WA state, a dear sister in Islam who used to lead our Friday night ladies' group would joke about the classic 'what's for dinner' dilema we all faced daily.  One time she joked about telling her husband something like "and what do you think we're going to have for dinner, fresh air and love?".  It cracked me up so much back then and I still chuckle when I remember our conversation. It was just funny how she said it.

Well, if fresh air and love is all it took to survive, then I could've made it all last week without breakfast, lunch, or dinner.  My family and I left our little home tucked in the concrete jungle here in TX and headed to visit my mom in her small town in Mississippi.  I prepped for a day or two getting laundry ready, tidying up the house, and sorting through the food in the fridge.  I lined up what we were going to take to Mom, did last minute shopping, and packed up the kids' clothes, shoes, jackets, and car activities (you should look at http://www.momsminivan.com/ if you ever go on a car trip with kids by the way).

What welcomed us in Oxford, MS, were sounds and sights of nature that I don't see where I live.  Large, old trees are scattered here and there.  Masha'Allah, birds actually sing and make noises often.  Homes have different types of flowering shrubberies and other types of plants around the property, and not in little manicured designs like at our houses here.  Because the town in small, we walked to many of our errands and appointments.  In doing that we'd run into friends and people we knew.  We spoke to other people who were also walking around.  What a nice feeling!  One day we walked through a wooded area for about an hour, and I was so happy breathing in fresh air, rustling the leaves that had already fallen, and walking with my kids in an area where all we could see were trees.

We picked pecans off the ground.  A large pecan tree behind my mom's house sure was giving us a lot of nuts this year.  My kids kept running outside to collect what new ones had fallen at least twice a day.  We filled up a rather large bowl (more like a vat) full.  The best part was cracking those pecans with the nutcracker that my late grandfather used at his home.  My mom has it, and it is mounted on a plank of wood. I wish I had taken a picture of it, but I don't have one right now.  I only took one picture of my son using it, so that'll have to do to give you an idea.

Since we passed through Memphis on our way, I decided to spend the night there and take a little sightseeing boat tour on the Mississippi River the following day.  The tour was about an hour and a half and we learned all about barges, tows, and life on the river in general.  It was really neat.

Back in Oxford, MS, though we shared a great week with my mom and her husband not only outdoors but inside the house as well.  My children played with many treasures they found in the basement (in treasure boxes as they called the old trunks stored down there).  They baked with their grandmother, played cards with each other, and watched football with Dave.  We had a relaxing week, alhamdulillaah, all praise to God.  It felt like a relief after some long weeks of feeling closed in.