Hmmm well it seems I am getting threatening posts and harassing emails. So I give up ...

Yes, it's true! Atypical said, "If you don't come out of hiding soon, I am going to have to send my rambunctiously adorable epileptic dog out in search - and he has a bad sense of direction!"

And Mary-LUE sent me a note saying, "You are awfully quiet. Has Second Life stolen you away from us?"

Even this IM from my own daughter!
[12:05] violetkey: Hi, how goes it?
[12:06] MarillaAnne: HEY I'm actually writing a post
[12:07] violetkey: yeah, i've heard that before

And from my own husband!
[12:12] Billy: u really should put up a new pic
[12:12] Billy: the snow is long gone now

So they've confirmed to me something ... it's time to take my own advice. It's time for me to give up only posting when I have time to write -- as I prefer to. It's time for me to stop dismissing the small bits of time that I have.

Between all the activities that spring brings and working towards having my own business in Second Life, I am simply not able to devote large chunks of time to writing those long meandering posts that I love. But that doesn't mean I should just stop!

Aside: I do have two longish posts that I'm working with but every time I sit with them, the heart of it seems to slip just beyond the confinement of words. But there is progress being made.

Also, for the moment, I am not going to separate my "First Life" and my "Second Life" in this blog. I had toyed with the idea. And I may yet. But for now, I'm just going to tell about both.

Today is about First Life and how proud I am of my hubby. (He gets very frustrated that I always make him look like a saint ... but ... he never gives me anything bad to write about ... for which I am eternally grateful!)

One Sunday morning, shortly after we started attending our church, the pastor and his wife told about a lovely dinner they had attended the night before. A church in Connecticut had invited them to a meal prepared by the men in the church especially for the ladies.

Well the men in our church were not to be outdone! And I do not know how they possibly could be. They rolled up their sleeves and the Saturday before Mother's Day they put on one Royal Shebang!

All of us ladies were properly impressed and I don't know how we could have enjoyed ourselves more.

Billy grilled all day ... brisket and chicken. Anyone who's had Billy's grill'n will tell you it is fantastic. He's very careful to cause the effect to be much closer to slowly smoked meat.

The rest of the men ... oh my! Decorated, organized, fixed excellent side dishes, planned/performed music, and then the pastor gave us some encouraging words.

Now, I want to tell you about the most amazing affect of two very important aspects: 1) This was not hailed as a Mother's Day dinner. It was a dinner to honor the ladies of the church (and their friends). 2) The men never sat down with us.

As an event to honor the ladies, the men made little speeches about things that this event had made them reflect on. How much the women do in the church, how as a group the ladies bring the feeling of family to the church (this was especially pointed out by a single young man), and how we work diligently, side by side, with the men to make community events successful, etc. These facts are true -- motherhood and marriage have nothing to do with them. It was all about the ladies bringing their unique blessings to the church.

Now, the majority of us are married. And I will be the first to admit that we fully expected the men to put out the food and all of us to go through a line and for all of us to sit down together.

But they did not do this. They seated all of us ladies and then served us. They brought us punch and bread and the main course and all the sides and desert and coffee or hot tea.

At first, it felt funny to be separated from Billy but I quickly got use to it -- as did all of the other married women. Soon we were a group of women laughing and carrying on and enjoying the company of each other.

After the meal they ushered us into the sanctuary and we were seated as a group and we sang together and were sung to by a few of the men.

Then the pastor spoke to us about how the pressures in today's world are huge for women and encouraged us to take them seriously. He encouraged us to especially protect our hearts, souls, and emotions by "Rejoicing alway."

"It is not always. It is alway as in every way." Also Rejoice is to re-live joy ... not that every moment is joy but that every moment we can remember another joy.

And all the while, most of the men were cleaning up in the back.

I cannot begin to tell you what a huge huge blessing the whole evening was. The men totally cocooned us into a moment just for us. And we women fully enjoyed the company of other women, each of us in a different place in our individual lives. ... our only common threads were our womanhood ... and the fact that each of was connected to another man or woman who was in some way connected to our church ... and no it was not always by membership.

Okay now this is one more aside for anyone who attends the same church: No, Billy did not make himself sick grilling. He woke up with a fierce headache Saturday morning and it carried on through Sunday. He just didn't admit it to anyone on Saturday -- not even me! And I ended up with a round of insomnia Saturday that hit me like a ton of bricks Sunday morning. (Often I make it through the next morning.) So that's why we weren't there Sunday. Ya'll didn't do anything to us :~)

Okay, tomorrow I will introduce you to Janford and her Second Life islands. An absolute oasis! Right now I have to get ready to attend a meeting in Second Life and then also follow up on some advice from Janford.