Monthly Archive: July 2004

Traveling went well, even though it took forever, and we are now on the other side of the pond, safely ensconced at mom’s, and I’m about to collapse so goodnight everyzzzzzzzzzzz

Today is the day I thought we’d be leaving for the States. I had the wrong date in my head for 3 months, because I’m stupid about numbers that way. I had the day we RETURN mixed up with the day we LEAVE. Anyway, we are NOT leaving today, we are leaving tomorrow, and while I’m feeling good about the state of readiness we’re in, I’m getting that little extra frisson of jumpiness that makes me want to leave NOW. The laundry is all done and folded but not put away. Martin and Emily were here last night until MIDNIGHT,...

There’s a very strange phenomenon going on outside the window. I noticed it this morning, in fact, I noticed it last night, but I thought I was hallucinating or overtired or something and convinced that it wouldn’t last longer than a couple of hours, I blew it off and went to bed. So, when I woke up this morning (to the delicious sight of my freshly showered and shaved husband in a freshly ironed white dress shirt and boxers, yum) and saw it again out the window, I thought I’d better not acknowledge what was going on in the hopes...

I’m in anticipatory slo-mo-speed-freak mode. It always happens right before a big trip. It’s all ohmigodwehavesomuchtodo and not enough time and how are we going to get everything we need to get done done before we leave and at the same time it feels as if t i m e s l o w s d o w n and our departure date will N E V E R A R R I V E. Or maybe it’s just me. My friend, whom I was going to have lunch with on Monday, changed our lunch date successively to Tuesday, then...

Nebraska was the place where my memories kicked in. I was old enough to really begin recording my own life in my head. We lived in a quadplex, on a corner lot with a huge yard, right next to an immense amusement park-like playground. It even had a 3-story rocket ship. Across the street from the playground were basketball courts that were flooded for ice skating in the winter and tennis courts where I spent many happy hours with my mom’s tennis racket smacking a tennis ball against the back wall. We had a swingset in the yard and hundreds...

It’s Karin’s birthday today. My little girl is 5 years old. 🙂 Mom revealed that not only did I run when she caught me dawdling along the road to school, but I ran past several houses and then tried to hide in a ditch! LOL She was embarrassed to death to take me into kindergarten an hour late and confess that I was trying to skip school at the tender age of 5 😀 I saw something on TV the other night that actually made me gasp out loud. I had just tossed back in the big chair to relax...

I’ve lived in 29 places in my lifetime. That’s a lot of places to remember. The reason I’m thinking about this is because some days I wonder if the home we have now will be my last one. That is, will we ever move again? I would assume that at SOME POINT, if we stay in this house, which I grow to love more each day, the kids will move out and it will be too big for just the two of us, and we’ll consider moving to an apartment or a place that is, at least, lower maintenance. We...

The first thing one notices is how everything is gray or green. Puddles shine their reflections of the sky, a sadly admiring mirror. Moon-pale mushrooms glow wetly in the grass, some as big as saucers. Mottled and moist, the sycamores are studded with snails. A crabapple tree has littered a circle of unripe fruit, scattering largess to the slugs. Pale purple thistle heads crown the meadow edges. Clouds tower, a sky duvet, backlit by high behind sunshine. The spongy ground is swollen, everything’s damp and mossy. I grabbed a half-hour window of opportunity, taking a brisk walk through a wet-washed...

Note to Self: Next time we have 13 kids over for a birthday party, NO NOISEMAKERS.