It always tickles me, to reread that the month of February is the month of purification, at least to Romans! At the Februa Festival — Feb. 15 — people repented wrongdoing and offered sacrifices to the gods.

Another feast, called Lupercalia, brought purification to Roman women. As officials, the priests would walk the streets. Upon meeting a woman they would strike her with goatskin thongs; this gesture would assure fertility and easy delivery.

Bringing that thinking forward to today’s world, we could readily admit that the world needs cleansing. My world, especially. I am ready to repent. I am ready to cough up a multitude of possessions (sacrifices), but not to any “gods.” The only fertility issue here would be the fullness of my basement savings.
Cabbage Patch dolls and their clothes are cleaned and washed (purified) and packed to take to my daughter. When the whites went through the washer, the water was dark brown. Beneath the 20-year-old heap of playthings, a Barbie and Ken showed up with several odd pieces of furniture. Terribly odd. And Barbie’s hairdo is frazzled — talk about fluff chick. No priests have found her.

There is a garbage bag of red velveteen bows that have been used, disassembled, ironed and reused. The moment of departure has come.

There are empty scrapbooks. There are file folders burgeoning with Girl Scout ideas, files, rosters, financial statements, photographs, pins, badges and old handbooks.

There are dog and cat feeding dishes and bowls, some custom-made, beneath the basement steps. Jasmine went to live with another master and Lukyan passed away at Thanksgiving. The only blessing the dishes receive is dust bunnies.

Heaven knows what all this has to do with going over a garden fence. Yet a storage bin houses lots of worn-out shorts, stained shirts and cut-off denims for gardening. If I can repent, then toss out 40 years of National Geographic, a box of recipes clipped and saved, cut up half of the outdated clothing for rags, and deliver the dolls and doll clothes, perhaps purification would be under way.

No one is gonna have to strike me with goatskin thongs to get my attention.

Mary Lee Minor is a member of the Earth, Wind and Flowers Garden Club, an accredited flower show judge for the Ohio Association of Garden Clubs and a sixth-grade teacher.

source : www.bucyrustelegraphforum.com