Three Days in May | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's note: Please join me in welcoming Author Michele Rhem, who presents us with her poignant memoirs of the Rabbit Patch, where her diaries weave tales of a simpler, expressive life lost to many, but gathered together in her most familiar environs - the Rabbit Patch.

    Yesterdays' "morning shine" did not last long at the rabbit patch. By mid-morning, clouds covered the land making the chilly breeze almost cold. It was that kind of day when the sunlight is muted and showers are likely at any given moment.

    I finished the kitchen floor and finally the kitchen can be used fully. We can walk where and when we please-even the cats. With the showers yesterday, the roof did not get fixed, but at least, it did not leak. The rabbit patch property remains in a poor condition. There is a good day of work there, to be reckoned with, but the flowers grow as if they do not take notice of the condition. They seem as happy as a lark, on a Sunday morning. I noticed yesterday that the foxglove is blooming down side one of the barns, and so are the wild privets along the edge of the young woods. Behind the oldest barn, there is a small orchard of sorts, and beyond that are the fields of clary sage. What a sight to behold when the sage is blooming, as it is now. Looking at acres of lavender, white and purple spiked blossoms acts like a tonic, for me. It always makes me want to pray , too. Today, while the sun shines, I will "go to Church" out behind the grapevines and apple trees.

    Mama and Daddy are still in Ocracoke, so instead of "Sunday Dinner", I am having "Sunday Supper". Jo Dee and her son, Joehn are coming for roast beef and potatoes, green beans and cornbread. I will probably make a yellow layer cake with old fashioned "hard icing" for dessert. It will be easy work to gather a bouquet of flowers today, for the centerpiece-"pickings are not slim", in May.

    In spite, of all the chores that demanded my attention, the extra day in the weekend allowed me the chance to read, rest and write. I even watched an old black and white movie. Those are my favorites. I had never seen "Rabbit Trap", but I will watch it again. . It was a simple plot, a father worked all of the time for a money-hungry boss. Finally, he was allowed a vacation and rented a cabin with his wife and young son. He and his son set a rabbit trap with hopes of taming a wild bunny. The boss interrupted the vacation, and the family left in haste, forgetting the trap. I will not tell the ending, but it touched me deeply-so much that it set me to wondering.

    We tend to set "great store" on finding our purpose. We worry that we may miss the mark-or we await with lofty notions that at some point "the secret" will be revealed. Surely, we must not blink, or we may miss it altogether. I wonder . . .what if, the purpose is to simply "live our truth" to "stand up, in our truth". Somehow, this makes sense to me. I do not think in my older age, that there has to be some great mysterious reason for our life. It makes less sense, that our purpose would be "shrouded" or tucked away in some far corner of the earth. Maybe, our purpose changes, depending on the circumstances we face at the moment.

    I will wonder some more about this-later when I stand beholding the fields of clary sage, behind the barn on the rabbit patch. A lot sure can happen in three days in May.