Mary Muncil

For those of you who could use some inspiration, I'd like to refer you to a blog I recently began following called White Feather Farm.   The writer, Mary Muncil, is an interfaith minister in upstate New York.  I learned of her on Jon Katz' blog (she married Jon and Maria).  Now most of you know that I am not particularly inclined toward ministers generally.  But following this woman's writings has been an absolute joy. 

I loved today's entry.  So in case you aren't going to take the time to go over to her site, I'm going to reprint it for you here.  I hope then you will appreciate her as much as I do and visit her site yourself from time to time.

"This winter I discovered cashmere. I had heard about it but never payed much attention…. some sort of wool isn’t it? Oh no…cashmere is like a cloud…soft, warm cozy, and expensive. I bought my first cashmere sweater this winter. It is like wearing a hug. I wore it everyday after I bought it. I even wore it to bed one night. Then, don’t ask me why, I went on-line and looked up the brand TSE. I found out it was a VERY expensive cashmere sweater…sold in some stores like Bergdorf Goodman for $400 and up. All of the sudden I didn’t want to wear the sweater to do everyday activities (like cleaning the kitty litter or god forbid sleeping in it!) I needed a special occasion…a whole week went by and it stayed (neatly folded) in my dresser.

Oh, you might be wondering how I didn’t know that it was expensive when I bought it? It came from my favorite place to shop, The Manchester (VT) Thrift store. I paid $2 for it. When I didn’t know how much it originally cost, I loved it “up close”…was not too worried about cat hair and spilled coffee…I even threw it in the wash!…in other words, I “lived” in it. All of the sudden, when I learned its “value” I put it away for a “special occasion”.

The scene in It’s a Wonderful Life came to mind when Harry is going to the dance and says he wants a couple of dozen plates. His mother is horrified and says, “Not my best plates Harry!” and George, who is sitting at the table with his father, says, with a smile in his voice, “Oh mother, let him have the plates.” This is the last scene in the movie that we see George’s father. He dies that night.

What does this have to do with cashmere sweaters and “good” china?…I wonder what Mrs. Bailey would have said had she known that this was the last meal she would eat with Mr. Bailey? I like to think she would have said to Harry, “Oh honey take the whole set and take your brother with you and don’t come home early…if you know what I mean!”

Life is for living. Life IS the special occasion. Clothes are for wearing, and wearing out and getting new ones and not grieving the old. Someone once said to me, “Don’t cry over anything that can’t cry over you.”…..I love that. It has been a policy of mine not to own anything that, if broken, would be a tragedy…after all, I have 6 cats, a big dog and a husband who tends to drop things on a fairly regular basis.

I started wearing the sweater again…almost every day."

That's great, Mary.  It made me think about my life from a different perspective -- and in such a subtle, pleasant way.  You are the best.