The Joy Dare - Feb 7

Three gifts red
Red is indeed my favourite colour...I see it everywhere and appreciate most everywhere I see it...a sunrise or sunset, in food, in nature, in clothing, a blush on the cheek, a blush rose, in a fire's flame. It's a vibrant colour and it speaks life and health...mostly. There are those times when blood red makes us cringe, or cry, or mourn as we it in death...some associate it with the devil...and so we can fear it.
This is as deep as it's going to get for this one as my red gifts were pretty temporal today but they made my heart smile as I thought of them.

1. I am not really a vain person, but oh, how I adore having long red nails. They make me feel pretty and girlie and like I can take on the world...and they are a selfish thing just for me. They make me feel a little guilty sometimes but then I look at them for a while and that feeling goes away. I think its a little thing that gives me such great pleasure.

2. Yes, I drive a station wagon, not the most luxurious of cars...okay, it's all practicality and little luxury (mine has a sun roof and climate control people....AND... a third fold down seat in the back, people pay big money to ride in the back hatch of my wagon), but my wagon is red...it's a happy wagon. I think of all the kids I have driven places in that car, the laughter that has filled it, the tears I've cried in it, with others and on my own. Lord, we spend so much time in our vehicles in this country, I am so grateful for all I have been able to do, and places I've gone, and things and people I've carried in that wagon. And people see me coming, and they know me by it, and they start waving even before they see I'm driving it. It's the Schmidt wagon (careful how you say that). It's a gift.

3. Lord, I love my son and I'm proud of him. No he's not red, except when he blushes and then he's so cute. We went out with friends tonight to the Highwood restaurant at SAIT where my son is taking Professional Cooking. The three week module he's in right now is Dinner Service and so he was in the kitchen tonight, cooking for our meal service, a delightful five course meal...there were red tomatoes and bacon in the Mussels in Saffron Creme, there were some red spices in the butternut squash soup, there were red tomatoes in my deconstructed Cobb salad (which was my son's station tonight), my strip loin was a red medium rare, and the dessert...ooo, a chocolate trio, with red raspberries on the the chocolate brioche, and in the red velvet mousse...that's to say nothing of the red wine. It was an expensive meal, but such a lovely gift made all the more sweet knowing my son partook in it's preparation, training in something he loves so passionately. Oh that we could all have that gift.

Well, maybe a little more depth than I thought....I am such a blessed woman. Such gifts I've been given.