Iron Mountain ski jump

Iron Mountain ski jump

Wednesday, April 2, 2014

THE DREAM EDITOR

CHRIST IN WINTER: Reflections on Faith from a Place of Winter for the Years of Winter… ©

Kathy Roberts [aka Mrs. Bob Butts, or maybe he’s Mr. Kathy Roberts, I get confused by these things] is famous for many things, most recently her poetry, her authority to declare new holidays, her technological acuity, and her dealings with The Dream Editor.

First point of fame, declaring holidays: After the first half of our winter here in the UP, from November through March, I declared I would have no more of it, that when April 2 came, I was dressing for spring—no more fur-lined underwear, no more ear-muffs at breakfast. [I did not choose April 1 because people would think my new tropical attire was some sort of cruel April Fool’s joke.]

So this morning I received from Kathy her declaration that April 2 was now a holiday. I’ll let her explain it…

Second point of fame, poetry:

2nd of Spring

John Mac declared it,
Let it be so,
April Two’s
The end of snow!

No more winter,
No more sleet,
No more wool socks
On our feet.

Bring on khaki
Hello, cotton
Flannel? Fleece?
All forgotten.

Put on t-shirts
Dare a thong?
This darn winter
Was way too long.

Call on Hallmark
To do their thing
It’s a new holiday
…McFarland Spring!!

Third point of fame, technological acuity: Using pic-collage, she also included beautiful photos of daffodils and pussy willows and a spring wreath, but I am not technologically acute enough to do so here. However, I do not trust wal-mart not to steal her poem and my holiday, so I declare all above to be…darn, I’m not even acute enough to remember how to make that copyright symbol… [The one after the title comes from a cut-and-paste I did a long time ago.]

Fourth point of fame, the Dream Editor. We were visiting at their house on Thunder Ridge in Brown County, Indiana, when Kathy told us of her dream. It was going along pretty well, but then the Dream Editor appeared and told her she was dreaming wrong and would have to start over.

Writers mostly wish editors would just accept our stuff and tell us it’s great and then leave us alone, but I sort of wish I’d had a dream editor along the way, because I often dreamed of the wrong things—wealth and fame and cookies—all things I already had, although I didn’t know it. The dream editor could have told me to stop dreaming about the future and accept the gift of the present. The dream editor could have made me start over, appreciate what I already had, the wealth in friends, the fame in family, the cookies of memory…and oatmeal.

So on this new holiday, the 2nd of April, McFarland Spring, I shall accept the suggestions of the Dream Editor, and be thankful for what I have, including friends who are famous for many things, and Spring! [Even if the thermometer, that does not understand yet about the new holiday, claims it is only 16 degrees.]

John Robert McFarland

The “place of winter” mentioned in the title line is Iron Mountain, in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, where people are Yoopers [UPers] and life is defined by winter even in the summer! [This phrase is explained in the post for March 20, 2014.]

You don’t have to bookmark or favorite the CIW URL to return here. Just Google Christ In Winter and it will show up at the top of the page.

I tweet, occasionally, as yooper1721.


2 comments: