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Last week I wrote a piece “On Sons & Thunderstorms.” Several people commented that they liked the line “puddling with joy.” That made me smile because I actually borrowed that line from myself. In fact, that piece was inspired by a poem I wrote a long time ago. I thought I would share it with you.
What is a Sun Shower?
the heavy too-sweet scent of
woman’s perfume dribbling from gray skies
or a bumblebee, fat and
zig-zagging through air, cutting the
wetness with buzzing certainty;
a black string pulled too tight, too
tight to
the b r e a k i n g p o i n t, expectant with
tension, an invisible pulse or
heartbeat crashing around ears and
trees. too close when your teeth buzz, it is
too far when you are trapped in bed, sweet yellow galoshes squeezed in a dark closet.
it is luck before a wedding,
a bath for my umbrella.
nothing more than G-d’s tears.
nothing less than the earth gone mint-chocolate mud, gurgling,
and puddling
with joy.
What makes you puddle with joy?
renée a. schuls-jacobson 
Great stuff, look forward to reading more. Thanks for posting this
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Thanks Marie! Nice to meet you.
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That’s a “new-to-me” phrase, but I dig it 🙂 Although sometimes I feel stuck in a puddle as opposed to puddled with joy, for me, it’s the simple things. I love sitting outside in the sun and watching nature or working in the yard. I love my daily cups of tea and reading/writing. But I guess a big one would be seeing elderly couples hold hands. That always melts my heart, or I suppose, makes me “puddle with joy.”
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Wow! I was on you while you were on me. I feel so close to you. Like you, it’s the simple things that make me puddle: an unexpected cuddle from my soon to be teenager. Or a the way the tulips look in my backyard when they are all reaching for the sky, open-mouthed. 😉
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What a lovely poem. What makes me a “puddle of joy.” Watching my grandchildren smiling and growing up so nicely.
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😀
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So sorry I haven’t been around…I LOVE this! I’m gonna find me a sunshower today!
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Hi KD! I feel like we have all been doing a lot of apologizing lately, and it has just got to stop. When it’s lovely outside, we have to go to there. Go enjoy something that makes you puddle today. Even if it is sunny and fabulous outside. 😉
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No doubt the thing that makes me puddle (sounds a little weird) is my kids succeeding, doing good, and loving each other. Like my son who’s in the in crowd at school, posing for a pic with a socially awkward kid that’s kind of a loner, because he had befriended him in class over the years. That kid posted the pic on Facebook and called my son a good friend. That made me melt.
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That is a wonderful thing to share. And to know that you have played a part in creating those wonderful children: kids who embarce that loner child instead of kick him down is something that makes me puddle a bit. 😉
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Beautiful! I’m so glad you shared your “On Sons & Thunderstorms” inspiration.
I feel like I say this all the time, but laughing (with someone) until we’re both crying, makes me puddle with joy. That and Glee. 😉
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Weeping with friends is the best. And I have to say, I am fortunate to have someone with whom I share a lot of “Kleenex Says Bless You” moments.
And you know I love Glee, too, right? Like I’m a total Gleek. Like right now I’m devastated Rachel choked at her NYADA audition. Who cares if she got to be prom queen? She needs to go to New York! 😉
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Did you see this week’s episode?!?! Two hours, squee!
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Just saw the finale. Vocal Adrenaline should have won. Just saying.
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I love this! Great line, great poem! I feel an entire “puddle with joy” poetry unit coming on! I could teach your poem with the E.E. Cummings poem “in Just-” which is also about spring, puddles and more. 🙂
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Wow. You just put my name and e.e. cummings in the same sentence. I think I’m either puddling or piddling. 😉
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I puddle with joy when all my boys are under one roof. (Fresh on my mind because the Firstborn came home yesterday for the summer!!)
I’ll piddle with joy if they’re all under one roof and their rooms are clean!
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Okay, Lisha, I don’t know if that was an intentional “piddle,” but that is funny. And it made me laugh. So glad you have the Firstborn home. Now you can all be together. Plus one. 😉
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Oh, it was intentional. 😉
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Well, I almost piddled when I read it. Then I went to the bathroom. I’m fine now. You are so funny, and you don’t even know it.
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Standing barefoot on the earth…as in soil or grass or rocks. Reminds me that the universe is holding me up, supporting me. Somehow, shoes interfere with that reminder.
Lovely words in a lovely order, Renzay.
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Now that is poetry, too. And you, Shirtsleeves, you always me puddle. See, there’s a little right there on the floor. You might want to step around it. 😉
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Poetry makes me puddle with joy.
(Also, when my children are kind to each other without my prompting; which happens more than I ever would have thought in light of the reputations teenagers have…)
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Julie, I have a theory. People who know how to wield words like you do create beautiful people. I have no doubt that your children are going to give you much to puddle about in the next few years. Oh sure, you might want to smack them around a little in between, but still, they are going to make you sooooo proud. They are.
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I loved this, every word!
What makes me a puddle of joy? When my son lets me hug him. Last week he let me hug him and I had my arms around his neck and even kissed the top of his head and he actually stood there and let me do it! Felt so good to hold him again like when he was a wee lil’ chubby bubby baby boo…
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Darla! Don’t you hate when those hugs become few and far between. When they let you hold them a little extra long, those are moments to cherish. Glad you got a little snuggle in there.
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Beautiful! This was my favorite, because I could feel/smell it:” the heavy too-sweet scent of woman’s perfume dribbling from gray skies”. It made me feel so claustrophobic. What makes me puddle with joy? Hearing when someone was moved by something I said, or that they tried a bit of advice I offered (based on a similar experience of my own) and found that it worked! I love it when people connect and discover our similarities instead of lamenting our differences.
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It is fabulous when our advice actually helps someone, isn’t it. I have a friend who always emails me when something I said helped her. It’s such a small thing, but it makes me feel so good. I’m glad this piece had resonance for you.
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I love your poem and am wondering why you didn’t spell out God?
Great post Renee!
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Thanks for liking my piece, Susie. And you know what? Enough people have asked me that question, if you don’t mind, I’m going to blog the answer. Of course you know it’s a Jewish thing, right? I’ll try really hard to remember that you are the one who inspired the post! 😉
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I will watch for it!
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Susie! Chrystal has done a great job. And the other piece I filled in. Check out her post! 😉
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I’m not Jewish, but I wrote a sermon about that when I was a lay-preacher at my church. I posted it in my blog here: http://gumballgirl.wordpress.com/2010/03/07/filling-my-dash/
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Hi Chrystal! Coming to see! Maybe I don’t have to write that post! 😉
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Pingback: Revisiting an old post | The Spirit Within
Oh so very lovely, you!
(And authenticity makes me puddle with joy -that really is a fabulous line, girl!)
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What makes me puddle with joy? Seeing kids doing, willingly, selfless acts. it happens 🙂 Hearing good news. Holding a newborn baby.
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This is so gorgeous sweetie. Touched me.
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I LOVE that line “puddling with joy.” Resolving to get me more of that in life.
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