Every House Should Come With A Maddy

Five days left in the Sesame House and a pot pourri of feelings.

Two months ago a cluster of angels appeared on the horizon and we were ushered into this haven of color and comfort. We have been in transition for a year and house-sitting has been our saving grace. An exquisite young Audrey Hepburnish woman walked us through the back door of this nest in the valley where flowers popped out of picture frames and every piece of furniture was lime green, bright orange, purple or zebra striped. The images go in the eyes and down the spinal column and the breath speeds up. ‘I know’, she said, ‘it’s happy like Sesame Street’.

And the Sesame House entered our lives. Along with three tiny dogs and a fifteen year old beauty named Maddy.

Maddy’s mother had been called away to Hawaii to produce a movie called ‘Soul Surfer’, which is the story of the young girl that lost her arm to a shark and triumphed. The parallel between this theme and our Sesame chapter is no surprise, and as we approach our farewell our hearts are full.

Fifteen years ago my own daughters were Maddy’s age-ish. As a single mother the connections were intense and brimful of needs. My daughters and I have travelled the road into and out of and back into intimacy and truth beneath truth beneath truth, but as mothers and daughters, the tendrils being so easily entwined around each others’ hearts and souls, we must always stay mindful and present around each others’ boundaries and needs for such.

Enter Maddy, as a delightful surprise, a cherry on top, a valley girl with brains and sensitivities and sensibilities and creativity galore. Every single time Maddy crosses my visual path my artistic self begins to flutter as my eyes traverse the view. She has a gift for changing her entire appearance and vibe with a wand flick and with her long legginess and pixie lightness I feel as if I’m flipping pages of Seventeen Magazine in the mid 60’s.

Beneath all of this, ahhh yes, we females have our ways....a relationship was born and is now in full bloom. I love that life provides constant opportunities to visit and share each others’ realities; to see and know in one fell swoop that yes, we are all different, and the world that we are born into looks very different depending on when and where one enters, but we are also all alike. We each want to love and be loved and see and be seen and fulfill and be fulfilled and touch each other and work and play. Simple.

Maddy and I were dancing the dance of being two women inhabiting a shared space when a blow to Maddy’s heart upended her and I held out my hand. With this passage we threw the curtains wide open to chitter chatter and depth and spiritual exploration and friendship. And now? I am having an opportunity to listen and expound freely, co-create adventures spontaneously, close my door with no explanation, care deeply and experience a daughter-like creature who is not my daughter. And I have a feeling we have just begun.

Thank you Sesame House! Thank you angels: Michael, and Kaye and Susie and Joey.

And being a lover of large dogs my whole life long, and never really ‘getting’ little dogs, my heart has been stolen by these three. I adore each one and will miss each and all beyond expression. Thank you Twiggy, Billy and Courtney.