A Composer in the Making

I get treated to the original works of a singer/songwriter most every day. The Silver Bullet seems to be a constant source of inspiration for my budding musician because songs just come to her out of thin air everytime we get in it to go somewhere. Today I heard the first-ever public rendition of a song called If You Like Bugs and God is in Your Heart (a working title). It went something like this:

If you like bugs
and you think they are delightful
Delightful, delightful
You should keep the bugs
and never squish them
You're not afraid
Because you adore God
and you praise Him
Because of the bugs
They swim in the pool
In the pool, in the pool
And God is in your heart
in the pool, in the pool
And that's all....

She always asks how I like the song, to which I always reply - I love it!! Where did you learn that song? And she scolds me gently, Mama, I didn't LEARN it. I thought of it. Myself. Yes. Of course you did.

Bringing up the Rear

Our Small Fry joined her first soccer team today. Actually her first official team ever. I must say I derived great joy from the whole thing. Seeing her in her tiny uniform just about sent me over the edge into the land of There Has Never Been a Cuter Child Than This In All of History. It's the land where her older sister lives also, in case you were wondering. But really, the greatest part of the whole thing was seeing her out there, just doing her thing. Her Daddy pointed out early on..."Look. She's last." And we exchanged knowing looks. There is a universal truth about Small Fry that we have all come to accept. She's always last. No matter where you're going or what you're doing, the kid will be bringing up the rear. Trying to rush her will do you no good. In fact, in her younger days, it might have brought on a fully involved, five alarm tantrum. I've even gone so far as to warn preschool teachers trying to hustle her out of the car..."Don't Do It. Just let her finish her thought. You will be so glad you did. And so sorry if you don't." Nowadays she takes it mostly in stride, just looking at us quizzically as if to say, What's the rush folks? I've got butterflies to catch and songs to sing. What's your hurry, what's your worry? And soccer practice was no different. They tried to get her to kick the ball and hustle back in line. She was not fazed in the least. She took her time, never noticing that she was taking longer than anyone else or that she was always the last to get back in line. She swung her hair. She played patty cake with her friend. She waved at us on the sidelines. La La La. And she was so happy every single second. God, I love that about her! Not to say it hasn't frustrated the living bejesus out of me now and again, but I think I've learned to let her be. And I so rejoice in her being-ness. I have a friend who is around us a great deal, and she often comments that I am so patient with her. This is, of course, quite comical to me as I would not rate patience at all high on my list of good qualities. But she just brings it out in you. She has trained me to be patient. She insists on doing things at her own pace, and what's wrong with that? We should all insist on the same thing.

Just Keep Swimming

We have survived the first week of school. Summer seems a long-ago memory, although the air is still heavy with Indian Summer heat. It seems that I require a good long while to process life, a system that does not respond well to frequent interruptions and constant sidetracking. There are a lot of experiences and lessons-to-be-learned from this summer that have yet to be fully experienced or properly learned because I'm not an on-the-fly experiencer or learner. My ability to multi-task is just not up to snuff, people! And I have this idea that at my age, my psyche really ought to be a little more settled. You know, like I should know what I want to be when I grow up already. I don't have the luxury of time to ruminate, reflect and figure things out, and yet I feel constant pressure to have things figured out so that I can be this steadfast rock and foundation to some other little growing psyches in this house. And so I'm back gulping snatches of air while the crashing waves of let's-just-get-through-today churn over my head. Is that any way to live?? I think not. But what can I do? Just keep swimming, just keep swimming...I guess that's what Dory would say. Sounds like a plan. Not a great plan, but it's the best I can come up with on limited oxygen.

10 Things to Love About Summer

Swim team! Where else can you gorge yourself on Twizzlers and Pop Rocks whilst screaming your head off for your offspring, whilst simultaneously trying not to cry because you're so stinking proud of her?

Slip-N-Slide! The genius who invented this glorious contraption should be crowned in the How to Kill a Summer Afternoon Hall of Fame.

Low Country Boils. YUMMMMM.

Naps, because we aren't on a schedule, you see, and 10 p.m. has suddenly become a perfectly acceptable bedtime! Heck, it's not even dark at 8:30, mama!

Backyard tomato gardens. No fear of salmonella!

Using my passport twice in one month!

Florida sunsets. Small Fry kept prodding me...get a picture of it now, mama. Get one now, mama. She was right. It just got prettier and prettier.

Hello Kitty kites.

Days when blood is thicker than beach sand.

Olympic fountains on a blazing hot day.

Puddle Jumping

Don't you love how one thing leads to another? Serendipity. I popped onto a new blog today by an writer I loved when I was pregnant with Big Stuff about 7 years ago. I saw Catherine Newman's name in a magazine I was perusing whilst waiting for my OB-GYN appointment a couple of months ago. Cool right? And finally, I've gotten around to catching up with her new blog at wondertime.com. In the comments section of her latest entry, I see a shout-out for a book that sounds good - The Creative Family: How to Encourage Imagination and Nurture Family Connections. So I pop over to that author's blog, which I'm loving already. Then I click onto her book for sale at Amazon. I stash it in my wish list, to perhaps purchase later when I have other things to add in the hopes of getting free shipping. I wasn't too sure I even had a wish list, but I actually do and there were 22 items on there, none of which I remembered. The earliest wish was entered in 2001, a few months after Big Stuff was born. Apparently, I was interested in Tony Bennett singing the blues that day. Hmmmmm. A year later, I wanted Jewel's new album along with the Spanish versions of The Big Red Barn and Goodnight Moon. Because I was really into my one-year-old being bilingual at that time. And liking quirky folk music. Apparently. Two years later, we were into fairies and Harry Connick Jr. In 2004, I was all about creating family traditions and heading off sibling rivalry (I was pregnant with Small Fry at that time, and apparently planning ahead for the Big Bang that was about to shatter my only child's life). Since I've had no wishes since 2004, I'm thinking that was about the time I decided getting books from the library would be so much more economical than buying them from Amazon, seeing as how we were becoming a one-income family. I love how jumping around in some link puddles on the internet suddenly shows you a bunch of links in your own life. Who knew?

Dream of a Summer Day

Hey, that thing I said about summer...I really need it to come. I do. And soon. I need to wake up in the morning at a less ungodly hour and to the sound of snuggle-happy voices (can we get in, mama?) instead of the obnoxious beep-beep-beep of my alarm clock. I need to be free from having to remember 18 pieces of paper, two checks, three overdue library books and 39 permission slips that must be tucked into backpacks, purses and preschool bags before anyone can set foot outside the house. I need to think about how I can make a memory instead of a dollar. Memories last so much longer, you see. I need to eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and watermelon and cut-up apples by the pool instead of remembering to send in lunch money. And snacks. And water bottles. And juice boxes. I need to smell sunscreened faces, chapsticked lips and chlorinated hair instead of stale laundry that I forgot to put in the dryer. I need to take walks outside with my kids at 8:30 p.m. without a barrage of thoughts running through my mind about how quickly I need to bathe them, read to them and shuffle them off to bed (can I shove all that into 25 minutes? Sure! Step up the pace, girls!) I need to lay on a raft after dark and watch the stars pop out, one by one. Those stars, they love to show off, and I haven't paid the least bit of attention to them in months. I need to read something for fun instead of because it was assigned. Or because it's on the AR list. I need to take trips to faraway places where I can appreciate companionable silences. And really tall mountains. And lakes and oceans in which you can float and talk and laugh about stuff and reminisce (remember the time I saved you from that big wave, mama?). Because memories, they last so much longer than dollars.

Summer is Only Four Weeks Away, I Promise

It's official. I'm just not cutting it this week. I'm losing my mind. I'm not on top of ANYthing. In fact, I think I may be under a few piles of s.... something. Laundry most likely. Actually I haven't been cutting it for several weeks now. It's so lame to complain about how busy things are...it's to be expected, and nearly everything going on is Good Stuff. No doubt about that. School is wrapping up for the year, we've had St. Patty's, Easter, visits from the tax man, three birthdays, overnight guests, planning for summer trips and activities, end-of-the-year parties, field trips and gatherings, concerts, sports and school functions, ordering things, returning things, wrapping up my own classes and studies, oh yeah and throw in trying to make a little cash to pay the aforementioned tax man. Everyone's busy. We expect to be busy in April and May. What I don't expect is to lose brain cells over it! And really disturbing is the fact that I seem to have no control over this loss of mind. No matter how much time I put in trying to catch up, reorganize and reprioritize, I am still letting some not-so-minor things fall through the cracks. Last week, I realized at 1 p.m. that I had just plain forgotten to send Small Fry to preschool. Today I remembered to send her to preschool and even packed her lunchbox, along with snack for the class and money for her end-of-the-year pictures (which were overdue, natch). Unfortunately, I forgot to put anything INSIDE the lunchbox. The look on her best bud's face was priceless. He was appalled and ran over to me, saying dramatically "Small Fry Mama, Small Fry Mama, Small Fry opened her lunchbox and....THERE WAS NOTHING IN IT." Sadly, Small Fry herself seemed not at all surprised that her mama would do such a thing. Which prompts me to muse...have I forgotten to feed her other meals in the past few weeks? Luckily, she is pleasantly chubby and could probably miss a meal or five with few ill effects. But still. It's disturbing. But what can be done? I imagine most people I know are going through the same thing right now. It's why everyone is saying how they can't wait for summer to come. Although I wonder if their dirty deeds are staying better hidden than mine? I have no time to notice or to comtemplate this. Now there is a cheering thought! If I have no time to notice their flaws, perhaps they are too busy to notice mine. See, I knew this post would make me feel better. Here's to hiding behind a pile of dirty laundry!