Kristin Williams Balla

I am very blessed that my sister Kathi, House-Cleaner-Extraordinaire, cleans my house for me (for a fee!). She is the one person I know will clean it as well as I would clean it myself (when I am able). My Fibromyalgia pain increases exponentially with all of the knee-bending, kneeling, etc. that is the necessary evil of cleaning my house “my way.” So I rarely clean my house!

But I do change the decorations in my living room and dining room each season. Fall/Christmas/Winter/Spring & Summer each involve a make-over that only I can accomplish. This transition provides the rare opportunity to see my house at the micro level – to be amazed and sometimes appalled!

Last Fall I carefully wrapped the basket of seashells, bagged the floral arrangements, boxed the birdhouses, and moved the beach pictures to their off-season condo in the basement. I replaced these items with festive fall leaves, a cornucopia with small Pilgrims and Native Americans at either end, and put up the beautiful autumnal arrangements I manage to purchase nearly every year at our annual church craft fair. In the process of this makeover, I discovered that someone had lost her head.

My raucous big-girl laugh filled the room when I discovered most of my marble collection rattling around inside a bird house with holes the exact size required to allow them entrance. My darling three-year-old grandson Jayden had been methodically squirreling them away. The holes are just large enough to get the marbles in, but small enough to make them difficult to retrieve.

I had a difficult time as I attempted to remove the marbles. I resembled a spastic rumba dancer hopping around while I shook the house to dislodge the elusive little devils.

These marbles are part of a small collection that sit in an antique bowl on the coffee table. They are my visible proof that I have NOT yet lost all of my marbles. But apparently, I had indeed lost quite a few!

The bird house has been packed away, but the marble bowl remains. I checked my Fall decorations for marble-size apertures that might beckon to a mischievous toddler. This way, I would know where to look when my marble bowl begins to look sparse.

The most likely option was a twig pumpkin that sits on the dining room buffet. I thought that the marbles might just add that much more sparkle and fun.

At Wednesday night Family Dinner Jayden tried to open the door of the church next to the pumpkin. He was visibly disappointed when he found they were merely a facade and could not actually open. See? He was scouting for a new marble deposit location.

I have learned that losing my marbles doesn’t bother me at all, as long as it is at the hands of my precious grandchildren.

(Pictures were taken by my daughter Lyryn - the professional photographer – and Jayden’s mommy)