Friday's Feast

There is a meme I occasionally do, a set of new questions each week on Friday, in the theme of a five course meal. There are over 100 people who participate and post a link to their answers at this site. I haven't participated for a while, but this set of questions posed for Dec. 28 caught my attention.

Appetizer
Name 2 things you would like to accomplish in 2008.

Having just turned 50, this was actually a harder question to answer than I would have expected. My mind was blank at first. Hmm, if I think about my heart's desire, it would include at least two things and they have to be things that I can actual control - things for which I don't have to rely on anyone else's cooperation for my success.

1. I would like to habitually conduct myself in a way that provides a safe place for my 15 year old son to open up. If he doesn't choose to, that's okay, but my measure of success will be whether or not I have actually cultivated an atmosphere of love, acceptance and attention that provides him the time and space to speak freely, openly and without fear.

2. I want to make at least 3 meals per week where we as a family can sit down together to eat. In the past, these have been times when we could engage in lighthearted conversation and hear about each other's activities and on the rare occasion, really discover treasures through laughter and tears. I guess it is another chance to create a safe space to connect with each other.

Soup
With which cartoon character do you share personality traits?

It used to be Lucy, from Peanuts. Always wanting to give advice. Not quite audacious enough to set up a booth and charge 5 cents each, but the attitude fit like a glove. If I'm completely transparent, though, I'm more like Eeyore, from Winnie the Pooh. The consumate melancholic.

Salad
What time of day (or night) were you born?

2:56 am. That is also about the time I usually go to bed.

Main Course
Tell us something special about your hometown.

When I grew up, there was no ice rink in my small city in Missouri. Now they have a beautiful twin arena that is home to the university hockey team, youth hockey association and the figure skating club. Above the ice surface, there are two large flags side by side: USA and Canada. Hockey: it is a Canadian game after all.

When my son was quite young and learning to skate, he asked why I didn't skate. I explained that when I grew up there was no skating rink, so I didn't have opportunity to learn. The next day I heard him exclaiming to a friend: "When my mom was little, they didn't even have skates yet!"

Dessert
If you could receive a letter from anyone in the world, who would you want to get one from?

Elisabeth Elliot. A wise, godly woman who has much wisdom gained through much suffering and discipline. Most ideally this letter would be in answer to one I would send her. Granted, she has written over 20 books and has hundreds of radio program transcripts available for me to read. That's almost as good as a letter. I guess now I have something else I can accomplish in 2008: to read one of her books.