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Big Wheels Peace Accord
This morning I’m sitting on the couch, drinking coffee, and listening to the boys upstairs playing with some new action figures. The tension between the two of them has been through the roof the past couple weeks, so hearing them playing together does my heart good. Sometimes the struggle of parenthood is managing to equip children with conflict resolution tools while the bullets are flying… at each other and at you as the parent. Sometimes I succumb to the chaos and become the snarliest version of myself, and sometimes I rise above. I take a deep breath, say a little prayer, and try again to initiate a peace accord. Last…
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Rain on Asparagus
Last night the sky dropped over three inches of rain, and the beads of water left glittering blanket over the plants in the garden. All but a few tufts of asparagus have been cleared from the beds to make way for spinach sprouts and cool season crops. Crouching over the plant trying to get my camera to focus on a select few tiny globes required a stillness that I don’t find outside in the rest of the city. Sometimes guilt over having the of the luxury of stillness hits me. I feel unworthy of the quiet places I find and the time I make to dwell in them. But I think…
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On falling off the face of the earth
I had never before seen such a vast expanse of bricks. My school prided itself in its endless supply, but it wasn’t in the brickyard that I was first overcome by the feeling. I was walking down the street in front of the health center with its fairly new construction and not yet matured trees. I looked up at the sky and for a moment feared that if gravity were to stop, I would just fly off the face of the earth with nothing to grab a hold of on my way out. I grew up surrounded by mountains, large trees and rolling landscapes, and here on this flat scab…
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Sweet dance moves
I’ve been so slack about writing lately. I figure there is some form of writer’s block holding me back, so here goes an attempt at moving past it. If you’ve read my blog for any length of time, you know I have no shame when it comes to laying out personal struggles with faith and identity, but when it comes to the kids, I’m increasingly tight-lipped about what I write. Right now with summer upon us, they are my world, so there isn’t much else to share. Preschool ended a week ago, and kindergarten ends in another two weeks. I’m desperately trying to slow down time and not wish any of it away.…
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How Monkey Joe’s Happens to Families
Well it happened. I knew it was only a matter of time before it happened. We were circling the snake floor of the science museum and the oldest complained, “Mom, this isn’t fun. Can we go to Monkey Joe’s?” To think – we even got to see the sloth. THE SLOTH. In the ten times I have visited the museum over the past couple years (which is maybe why it wasn’t fun anymore), the sloth has been awake once. This was the moment of a lifetime – mark it down, we saw the sloth carry a piece of celery to his box. “This is boring.” Read the placards. Isn’t this why you go to…
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Conversations
At 7 am on the dot, Scooby jumps into bed, sandwiching Joe, and soon after the littlest bun Wookie joins in making me the jelly. “Why don’t you give me math problems, mom?” “Okay, what’s two times eight?” “Hmmmmm. Sixteen!” “Thirty-six!” chimes in Wookie who is three and counts “oooone, two, free, SEVEN!”, when you ask him to count to four. “Okay, Wookie, what’s eighteen plus eighteen?” “Thirty-six!” Scooby bursts into laughter. “What’s two times three times two times three?” “Thirty-six!” “You are right! Scooby, isn’t he the smartest baby ever?” “Oh mom, he’s just saying thirty-six!”, and he laughs more. “What’s 72,000 divided by 2,000?” pipes in Joe. “Thirty-six!” Last…
