Preparing

We've got twins coming to visit this weekend for Candlelight at Fort Nisqually! It is so much fun getting their room ready for them and their mama, Heidi.  Heidi's friend Micaila is coming too, and I am like "Lily, the caretaker's daughter" who "was literally run off her feet," from The Dead by James Joyce.  Well, maybe I'm not, for who can literally be run off their feet?  I'd rather be a comfortable squishy Mrs. Bennet, even though she squawks like a gaggle of geese.  She's so delighted in her flurrying!  Flowers in the bathroom, little changing table all prepared, rocking chair at the ready, nightlight on, two twin stuffed dogs standing guard.  All good fun.

Meanwhile, it is a good exercise to ponder what more we may do "to prepare". So as I'm vacuuming, I can mull over how to stand aside to let love enter any room before I do. What sort of herald am I?  What am I trumpeting?  Am I expecting the manifestation of good?  While fussing over details of recipes of things I hope to make, and while driving to the store to get the needed items, I can ponder what "feed my sheep" really meant.  While bathing the dog, and cleaning the bathroom, I can figure out what else can be washed away.

I feel like I've got a Roman Legion leading me onward, with banners snapping in the wind, armor clanging, and horses snorting.  Those horses just better not get any grass stains on the carpet.