Beach Baby

The "holy cow, he's cute!" factor just went up a notch:
Ok maybe a couple notches:
We've been swimming (Wilder even swam with buds Ori & Grey). Summer's here. I've learned I'll sacrifice anything for my boy (swimsuit in public?--Lord, be with me!).

Conclusions

I have come to the conclusion that I should never, ever cut my hair short or dye it dark:
Uh huh. Leave the pixie cuts to the 90-lb pixies.

Don't you love going through closets for garage sale inventory?

I have also concluded that Harold Symmes (1878-1910) was a crazy talented poet. It pains me to leave you with only two of his pieces. But do this I shall, as I know you have other places to be, other things to say, zillions of tender feelings to fashion, many dreams to mold...

Love's Rhythm

Because you heart went singing,
Mine sang too;
And straight my life went swinging
To a rhythmic, joyful ringing,
Because of you.

Because your heart must sorrow,
I grieve too;
In tears to-day, to-morrow,
A deeper life I borrow,
Because of you.

Because all love in giving
Bears love anew,
I greaten in this living
That hymns the one thanksgiving
Of loving you.

And this one, because my friends rock:

A Friend

He shared his every pleasure,
Gave all great-heartedly;
And yet I felt some treasure
Was still denied to me--

Something I could not borrow;
Something he would not lend;
Until he shared his sorrow.
Then--then he was a friend.

(derived from Harold Symmes' Children of the Shadow and Other Poems, New York Duffield and Company, 1911)

Garden of Eden

I've been keeping a secret from you.

No, I'm not pregnant! What am I? Crazy?

It's just that we've been friends for so long and I've failed to mention that I live next to the Garden of Eden! The National Enquirer can search no more!
...

Our neighbor lady spends every spare moment in her backyard. I've even seen her vacumming it with this wand thing. There's no grass; just these beds and millions of plants. She's let Shawn borrow some limb-trimmers...a subtle hint for him to "please trim all your stuff that is growing over into my yard."

She works days. I sneaked into her yard (life's all about taking risks, right?):




The sun kept going back behind the clouds, ruining my "lighting."

Maybe I'll post pics of my plants next. Yeah, right.

Insomnia befriended me--unwantingly

Hello? Are you there?

Didn't think so--it's almost 5am!!! And no one's up (unless you go to the Y really early to work out or you get up to knead bread & clean your house). Regular people go to bed, and stay there (unless you have an infant...)

Shawn works late at home sometimes, and I have such a keen sense of hearing (thanks, Mom), that when he clanked his spoon around in his bowl of generic CocoaPuffs, 'round 2am, I heard it.

So I'm up. Couldn't sleep. Thinking of people, to-dos, ta-das. My son. My heart. Life.

And I'm reading blogs. Aren't there so many cool people in the world? Does it ever make you want to be, uh, cooler? Craftier? More fashionable? More spiritual? Yeah, me too.

So here's what I've been thinking: detaching myself from corporate America has allowed me to revive those passions and likings in my heart, but, more importantly, it's given me the chance to invest in others a little more. Not as much as I want and plan to, but, better than before.

Amidst my people-loving, I want to see where God wants my giftings to go/what he wants me to do. It's easy for me to talk to people. I like crafty things, baking, the elderly, mid-century stuff. My number one job is "momma" but I'm excited that there's additives to that. I like thinking that, one day, when I return to work, "work"?

it'll be something that makes me undeniably giddy.

Duh! Why didn't I think of that before?

Good morning! Hope it was a restful night.

Togethers

I've had some good days lately. Felt accepted and empowered amongst a band of friends, working together to love and to learn. It's a necessity in the throes of child-rearing. It's a good thing. Not a selfish thing.

The soul thrives on community, companionship, sharing, laughing, even venting. I'm thankful God has been looking out for me in that area. I'm a better mom because of it.

Whether you're a momma or not, I hope you canopy yourself with friends who adore you. Life's not always easy, which is why we must search the hearts of others.

We're in this together.

Enjoy your togethers this week.