Have you ever picked a blossom from a crepe myrtle tree, squeezed it, and watched it blossom into a beautiful little flower?
This year for my wife Dana Mosman's birthday I decided that I wanted to build the blog/vlog she has wanted for such a long time. She has wanted a platform to share meal crafting, gardening, cultural engagements, and family adventures.
This blog is the first blog of many other blogs that will be blogged by Dana in the future. As such, I thought it appropriate to familiarize everyone with the essence of Dana Mosman. After brainstorming for days on the angle I should take I had far too many ideas to choose one. Until my friend came over and my oldest daughter gifted him a crepe myrtle blossom. It was then I realized that a crepe myrtle blossom was the perfect analogy for the essence of my wife Dana. Like a crepe myrtle bud blossoms under pressure, so too has Dana grown more beautiful with each adversity she's endured. And she has endured A LOT.
Before I get into the trials of Dana's life please allow me to show you a peak of my magical muse, best friend, and bride...
Everywhere she goes the flowers bloom, the trees turn green, the creek flows, and the birds sing Motown tunes. I know, I know… you think I'm some crazy old husband gloating over my wife of 11 years. But I'm here to tell you, friends, this woman breathes LIFE into everything around her. I've had the awe-inspiring honor of witnessing this divine phenomenon many times.
Exhibit A: Our backyard.
Beauty is a fruit of joy as Dana is a fruit of her mother, Joyce. Like her mother, Dana is an angel and like her mother Dana is a gardener. She once had a notion and walked out of the patio door and into our modest backyard. Then, put her bare hands into the dirt, closed her eyes, whispered a prayer, and smiled. Immediately, a green garden galaxy of astronomical annuals, nebular cultivars, and interstellar heirlooms burst forth like a succulent supernova.
A colorful, fragrant tapestry of lilies, tulips, and roses blanketed the yard. A mint plant our children ceremoniously pluck and eat. A crepe myrtle whose buds are harvested by the kiddos as gifts for visitors to pinch and bloom- a small gesture so that a visitor might also know what it's like to bring forth something beautiful- as their mother has done.
After witnessing such a miracle, I look over to my wife who stands and claps the dirt from her hands. All in a day's work.
A fort I built from the old hog barn offers an aerial view of that botanical paradise. A twenty foot trellis swallowed by a colossal vine is dripping with green and purple grapes. A row of youthful fruit trees stand at attention - apple, pear, peach, cherry - your pick. A dirt court with a few motionless basketballs sits next to its distant cousin- the melon patch. (The former a host of fun. The latter, flavor). The deep dark woods is illuminated with a thousand lights from the fairies we shelter. Insect city never sleeps beneath the branches. A wall of cannas shades the windows. If you jump on the trampoline as high as you can, you still won't be as high as the goliath teepee that stands as the pinnacle of our paradise. It's decorated with tasty string beans and hypnotic passion flowers. The entire site could overshadow Carroll's Wonderland or Lewis' Narnia. Remarkably magical. Overwhelmingly beautiful. I have seen my wife create cosmic beauty with an atom's worth of effort.
The Miracle of Mitosis
Atoms to molecules. Molecules to cells. Cells to organisms. True beauty is not unlike the fundamental process of mitosis. A cell duplicates itself and forms new cells. Mitosis happens to be the most appropriate analogy for the second embodiment of beauty I have witnessed as Dana's husband.
Over and over I have seen my wife bear the burdens of excruciating pain, unceasing discomfort, and debilitating emotional agony to defeat million to one odds and create a nine month miracle right before my eyes. As I stood witness I wept and laughed uncontrollably. I struggled to catch my breath. I did the same as she ushered each one of our three children into this world. Three beautiful children I never thought I deserved. Children we didn't even think we could have.
Two miscarriages, a subchorionic hematoma, a car wreck, a broken leg, heart failure that required experimental pectus surgery, an intracranial vascular tumor, preadolescent abandonment, and relationship abuse- she endured all these adversities and still managed to sprout life from it all. As the bud of a crepe myrtle bursts open under pressure. As she put her hands in the dirt to create a lush garden, she transforms life's affliction into unimaginable bliss. She's MAGIC.
Dana the Healer and Advocate
Dana's mind is a curio cabinet of wonder, adventure, creation, aesthetic, and wisdom. People have been ushered toward a path of healing by Dana's advocacy. She has spent hours and hours, day after day in hospital rooms next to friends and loved ones who were battling affliction. She has attended support groups for cancer survivors to listen to and learn from their experiences so that she might share some life saving wisdom with others. Sleepless nights nursing our babies while researching and reading to compile enough information to present to health specialists to assist them in the care of her loved ones.
For years she has studied holistic medicine and nutritional remedies as a supplement to traditional medicine. Based on extensive science, research, and professional inquiry she's developed health and diet plans for individuals up against cancer. All this notwithstanding the daily care she gives to the kids, her mother, and me. Taking blood pressure and temperatures, doling out medicine, mixing her potions and elixirs, understanding our specific diet and nutritional needs, kissing owies, and applying bandages adorned with little pink llamas.
For a decade, Dana has worked at a small church in Guthrie. It has been an avenue by which she can love on our community. On countless occasions she has gone out of her way to gather and deliver groceries to those who were searching for their next meal. She has booked hotel rooms for those without shelter. Cooked meals for those suffering from mental illness and poverty. Gathered truckloads of Christmas presents for families afflicted by misfortune. Transported those struggling with addiction to AA and NA meetings, and SO much more.
Community action. Dana is not only an advocate for her loved ones but also her community. Time and time again I have watched as she stands up for injustice. Whether it's something small like speaking with a school principal about equity and fairness, or something bigger that requires a trip to the State Capitol to speak her mind against systemic injustice. On at least two separate occasions she has even risked arrest for civil disobedience while standing up for the health and welfare of others. That's twice I've said "I'll watch the kids, honey. We'll be ready to bail you out." Her passion and charisma exceeds the likes of anyone else that I have met in my life. What a woman!
She's organized countless events that focus on the elderly, abused, and disenfranchised members of the community. She gathers history and uses it to help create new opportunities to honor the past. She has served as the vice president of The Arts In Guthrie which has brought awareness to and resources for the artists in our community. She teaches our children to serve others by her own actions.
As a follower of Jesus, Dana has followed his calling: "Take up your cross and follow me". As she carries her pain and sacrifice through this world she continues to comfort, teach, and heal others, creating divine beauty wherever she goes- like Jesus.
Where there is dirt she will spawn a paradise. Where there is adversity she brings bliss. Where there is suffering and affliction she brings healing. Where there are people she brings community.
About The Mama Mosman Blog
Of course, my wife's undeniable physical beauty can be seen by anyone who catches sight of her. But the beauty I'm writing is of the agape variety. A beauty that is of a divine nature. It transcends definition, it is not confined by anything tangible, and exists not subjectively within each of us but as a universal singularity that is available to all of us. All we have to do is open up the door and take it in.
To me, this blog is not just a place for Dana to share her recipes, or how-to videos (although there will be plenty of those). Rather, this blog is a doorway to that universal beauty that is a gift to us all. The Mama Mosman blog is a place for Dana to lasso musings from the metaphysical vortices that transcend our collective consciousness. You know, like a 21st century Pecos Bill only feminine, less fragrant, and far more attractive. This is a place where we can all have the opportunity to sit down at the table and marvel together with Dana as she breaks open proverbial crepe myrtle buds to expose the divine beauty within.
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