Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Randomness

I don't know what I'm going to write about today.  I will just type and see where my fingers take me.  I'm sitting  in my living room right now and the evening sun is pouring through our west facing picture windows.  Out of my kitchen window I can see the bare branches of the birch tree gently shaking in the light breeze.  There is the slightest hint on green on the tips of those branches just waiting for their début performance as shelter from the sun's rays.



I have two overly tired girls tucked into my bed.   And even after using my sternest sounding mother voice warning, "any fooling around or talking you'll both be in your own beds", I can hear them whispering and giggling.  It warms my heart...these private sister moments between them.  Jon is away on a long trip making room for two hot, sticky little bodies in my bed.  Long trip is the term we use for any adventure that take us out of town.



Yesterday was the first day I really felt alive.  It was our first day of spring.  The first day that I peeled off my socks and wore capri pants and open toed shoes.  I took the time in the morning to breathe in the exhilarating fresh spring air.  I made the girls do it to.  I asked, "what do you smell?"  They didn't know.  I told them that it was the smell of life.

If I was in charge of the calendar, I would make Spring the start of the new year.

The girls and I have plans while Jon is away.  Some of the plans are small.  Like having ice cream for supper tonight.  And some bigger plans for Mother's Day weekend.  My love came early again this year.  Beautiful flowers and Callie's treasures from preschool that she proudly presented me with earlier in the week.  The questions were the same as last year...and so were most of the answers.



We had our first Mother's Day celebration last weekend.  Jon worked his magic in the kitchen preparing brunch while I fussed with table clothes and charger plates and last minute folded tent cards for the kids.  I know I've talked before about Hallmark holidays. I don't know the history about how Mother's Day came to be and I'm not up to Googling it tonight.  But if it was created by Hallmark... I say thank goodness someone is looking out for us as a society and culture as a whole.  Some days it feels like we have so few meaningful rituals and traditions.  That a meal is something we just have to get through before swimming lessons or soccer. That someone says, "we don't have to do anything for my birthday this year" or "it's just our 39th Wedding Anniversary, we'll celebrate next year".



I organized an event for work a couple of weeks ago.  I didn't prepare a formal speech to give and decided to genuinely speak from the heart.  I found myself spouting out something like, "I so rarely get asked to talk about the positive and what is working, that I had to create my own event to celebrate our successes."

 

With Great-grandma giving us a little scare last week... I am jumping on the bandwagon.  We all have one wild and precious life.  What are you going to do with yours?  I'm going to insist on taking the time to breathe in the fresh spring air.  To pull out the fancy dishes from way back in the cupboard.  And when I fall off the wagon, when the little things get suffocated with schedules and chores and work, I promise to run like hell with my arms reaching up looking for someone to pull me back on.

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