Marriage Moats-Mary Poppins

Published: Mon, 11/08/10

Marriage Moats

Caring for Marriage

What is it about Mary Poppins that makes us want to follow her? She certainly seems to know where she is going. The trip into the sidewalk, the fox chase, even the escapade on top of the London rooftops are all an enchanting mix of wonder and a little bit of naughtiness. Well bred children are not really supposed to play with penguins, or fly up chimneys.

But she can transform even dreary things into frolics, like cleaning the nursery or swallowing medicine.

"Snap, the job's a game!"

"A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down!"

There have been times when the mundane parts of our marriage have been transformed by a little silliness and singing. Once the floor was covered with legos and no one wanted to pick them up. I suddenly declared that only Chara could pick up yellow, Micah would do red, Lukas must only touch blue, Daddy claimed white and I had dibs on black. Suddenly the lines of the forbidden made it all much more jovial, as people snitched other colors, and kids hollered about it.

Whenever someone felt sick, the rest of us would create a throne of quilts and pillows on the couch. He or she was served royal foods on a platter. I still remember the tray that the oldest two brought to their brother. It held orange sherbet, cubes of cheese, salt and pepper, juice and a vitamin. The time they spent making it all just so did result in the sherbet being runny, but no one seemed to mind.

There is a song I sing when children are sad. I sang it last night.

"What do I do when Aurelle is crying? What do I do, I don't know what to say? I take Aurelle into my arms and I hold her. I take Aurelle into my arms and I love her."

It had been decades since I sang that one to my firstborn when the phone rang at midnight last winter. The power in our house had been off for a couple of days and John and I were steeling ourselves for a cold night. We sleep on a waterbed which is a lovely treat under normal circumstances but when there is no electricity, the huge bag of water actually sucks the heat out of you.

The cell phones still worked, in contrast to everything else in the house. It was Lukas. His girlfriend was sad and he wondered if I could sing her the song he remembered from when he was little.

She was not in the mood for talking, so I sang into the phone, hearing only sniffs back.

"What do I do when Amy is crying? What do I do, I don't know what to say? I take Amy in my arms and I hold her. I take Amy in my arms and I love her."

Lukas took the phone back and said, "Thanks Mom. Goodnight."

The bed was suddenly warm, and I felt like I was flying through the London skies.

Photo by Andy Sullivan