May Day

Oh Sweet May! I love this month! I took the kids out for a walk this morning and it was intoxicating. The smells of a hundred different flowers, fresh-cut grass, clean air. Oh....heaven. It always takes me back to the spring of 1992. I was 20 years old and working as a tour guide on Wheeler Farm. It's a turn-of-the-century working farm, so I dressed up in a Victorian farm dress every day. When I wasn't giving a tour, I took long walks in that dress around the fields and was transported back a hundred years to a slower, quieter time. I imagined myself then, and I dreamed about my own future waiting in the wings. The smells of those fields that spring were all intertwined with my hopes and dreams. The grass....the flowers....the trees...(the cows :) ) Right now, we live in a community with a lot of natural green space and wildflowers. That must make a difference, because all I have to do is walk out my front door and I'm drowning in floral bliss and filled with all the wonder of that 20 year old girl in me. We walked for a while this morning in May Reverie when what to our wondering eyes should appear, but a kid on a skateboard with the words "BLOOD SUCKING TOY MACHINE" plastered across his T-shirt.

I'm guessing the flowers were lost on him.

I Swore I'd Never Do It

I gave Miri underpants for her birthday. I know- stop laughing. My mom used to wrap up underpants and socks for Christmas. It was so hard to open those up and act surprised and elated: “Mom! Underpants!! Thanks!!” After about 10 years of this, I swore I would NEVER do the same. Underpants and socks are the basic necessities of life. Isn’t it my duty as a mother to simply provide these for my children??! Fast forward 20 years. I’m in T.J. Maxx shopping for Miri’s birthday. My sister took my kids for one glorious hour so I could shop alone. We made the mistake of meeting for the drop-off just down the street from DownEast. I’m not a big shopper, but I can’t resist that store. If I’m ever blessed with some Mommy Time Off, it’s either DownEast or the Bookstore for me (or both). So, I admit. I squandered some of that Miri birthday shopping time in my favorite store—for ME. Bad Mom. Then I ran over to T.J. Maxx to see what I could find for Miri and hit the shoe isle on the way to the toys. Shoes for ME- that is. (I don’t get out much.) By the time I finished and threw some shoes in the cart, I had about 10 minutes left. I usually manage to hit the jackpot at TJ Maxx for birthdays, but I was struggling this time. I found some Dora flip-flops (with the Dora conveniently under where the foot rests), a Dora Snow Cone Machine (big mistake), and then circled the area once more for that last present….some head bands, maybe…..a pretty necklace……something….something. And then I saw them. Hanging from the stand just below eye level. All their hot pinkness and white glowing under the fluorescent store lights. HELLO KITTY UNDERPANTS. Ahhhhhh…….shoot…She would LOVE those. (no exclamation point) I stood there and stared at them for at least a minute (that’s a long time), caught between my integrity as a mother, and my daughter’s hopes and dreams. I grabbed them and tossed them in the cart.

You should’ve seen the look of overwhelming joy on Miri’s face when she opened up those underpants.

It's About Time

So....I've been gone for awhile. Our lives turned upside down after that first/last post. We're still swinging from our toes- not sure when we'll be on our feet again, but I've officially decided that it's time for me to write. Time to put on paper (per se) the musings of my mind. I've realized that I think in blog, so I may as well write a blog. I'm sure I'll be the only one reading this, but that's the point. I get to laugh at my own life. Discover and re-discover myself. Relish my children. Adore my husband. Rant and Rave. This blog is all about me. Just for me. And maybe, one day, for my kids.

Yee-Haw! Here I go!