Martin told me I looked like a toddler today. It was because I was kicking snow and hollering “take that!” at it. It’s melting, but there’s so much of it, it’s taking forever. And it’s melting from underneath in places so that it’s hanging in lacy little ledges, tempting little wedges of rotten, diamond-bright, icy snow. If you kick it just right, with a roundhouse sort of swing to your leg, it sprays up and out in a glittering arc. Ha ha! Take that, snow! Your time is UP!
He did clarify that I would look more like a toddler if my head was bigger. “And if my arms were shorter,” I shot back.
During the one-room spring-cleaning binge that struck me this weekend, I cleaned out a pile of old videotapes, and there were 7 or so with no labels that I stuck into the player to check and see what they were. One turned out to be a 6-minute video of the entertainment at the AWC Independence Day party in 2000. Karin was a year old, Martin was two and a half. Talk about big heads and short arms! SO CUUUUUUUTE! I turned and looked in astonishment at the huge gangly kids sitting next to me. My god, they change so subtly you don’t even know until you see a video like this and remember the way they moved and the squeak of their voices and how BIG their eyes were. How small they were. How short! Karin’s head still fits just under my chin, but barely. I wouldn’t return to those days, though. She sleeps through the night now.
It’s been a week of solid sunshine here. Bright blue skies, but not exactly warm. I’m still scraping windows in the mornings. Still wrapping a scarf around my throat for walks. What a gift spring is. It’s like wrapping up the whole world in a warming, greening ribbon of joy. One that unwraps itself oh so slowly.
Good things: the positive attitudes of people I love when faced with incredible odds and harrowing revelations, how much the kids like the “Come & Get It Sauce” I made to go with dinner, having my summer vacation dates approved.
Sending LOVE & STRENGTH to: John & Simone and her parents, and to Debbie & Ola and their kids
Hip hip hooray! Happy birthday wishes to Neil!
*Title from a quote by Doug Larson