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Manners
“Manners are made up of petty sacrifices.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson It really is the little things. While walking recently with the kids, I found myself just like them – tired, sweaty and sleepy. My arms were already full when Bergen asked me, “Mom, will you please carry my towel?” I took the towel but I didn’t really want to. “Thank you Mommy for carrying my towel,” Bergen said to me. And just like that, the load seemed lighter. I really didn’t mind carrying the extra towel. Because he said “thank you”. Kevin has made it a priority to train our children to be appreciative of the meals I prepare…
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Shuffle
I love the random juxtaposition of the songs that flow from my iPod when it is on the shuffle setting. I’ll be floating along to the sounds of “Three Little Birds” by Bob Marley and then suffer whiplash when Amy Ray shouts on about Johnny Rotten. The Cure’s “Pictures of You” takes me back to the old days and then the Carpenters’ “Close to You” comes on to remind me of the even older days. I mean, really – where else but my iPod shuffle world can Dan Tyminski follow the Grateful Dead? I like to imagine all of these musicians lined up in some sort of concert hall, waiting…
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No Longer
No longer will I pass judgement upon you when I hear your kid screaming six aisles over while shopping at Wal-Mart. Perhaps you have just run over your daughter’s hand with the grocery cart and that is the reason for her ear-piercing wails.No longer will I assume you are lazy when I see you leave your shopping cart in the parking lot, far away from the cart return place. Maybe you just left the store without finishing your full purchasing potential because your daughter’s hand was crushed and your infant son needed to eat and your six year old daughter had just informed you that your toddler’s car seat had…
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Birthday Dos
A lot of my pictures recently seem to be of this kid. But she’s just so darn cute. And today there are more shots of Little Willow. Because it’s a big day. She turns two today. Piper, you’re a pretty cool kid. I like how you ask me to sing your special song every night. “Bennnnd Will-whoa”. And I think it’s hilarious how you wander around the house singing, “We will ROCK you!” Your stuffed eagle is still your absolute favorite toy and companion. He’s filthy and you have a particular way in which you hold him – upside down so you can caress his tail feathers all day long.…
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This Body
Some days I survey my own body and I am not exactly pleased with what I see. I begin to play the ultra-damaging Compare Game. Particularly when I find myself on a sandy beach surrounded by bodies. Barely clothed, flesh-in-excess bodies. So I find myself playing The Game. I pick apart body parts, compare my untanned self to the perfectly tanned supermodel splashing near me. I realize I am too short and too flabby. I think I am not toned enough, my hair is the wrong color. Are my ears even aligned correctly? Why can’t I have a little more here and a little less there? When I surrender to…
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Just What We Needed
You know when you reserve a beach house from looking at photos online, you never really know exactly what you will get. After a day in the car, as soon as our gang pulled in the driveway at our new casa for the week, we all stumbled out of our bursting Suburban and looked for the water. It’s what we came all this way for anyway, right? Walking down the picturesque stroll (per the website’s description) we saw ahead of us the shore and the ocean. Hooray! Upon closer inspection we realized the waves were not exactly crashing onto the sand as we had imagined. Oh and there was land…
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Is She the One?
Growing up on a dairy farm with pesky cows whose bodies demanded a milking twice every day lest they implode (or so I believed), our family was not able to take very many vacations. (That, and the fact that milking cows is not a consistently lucrative lifestyle.) The family outings we did take, however, were memorable and exciting even though the location was a simple one – camping on the Bull Pasture River in Virginia’s beautiful Shenandoah Valley. We always stashed our watermelon in the creek, always took a photo by the swinging bridge, always brought inner tubes for floating, always ate pancakes cooked on a propane-powered camp stove.…
Keep Reading . . .
epiphany: the order of things
Going to Guatemala
five finds friday (bits & pieces)
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See Ya’ Later
Camp is over. We’ve said goodbye to summer staffers. Now it’s time to say goodbye to you guys. But don’t worry. It’s not forever. Just for a week. We’re headed to the beach and we’re leaving behind the computer and we’re not checking facebook or updating blogs or checking e-mail. Instead, we’ll be checking out each other. We plan to swim and to splash and to explore. To sleep late. To eat crazy prepackaged foods like Pop-tarts and Spaghettio-‘s. We’ll let the kid watch extra movies and we’ll eat out at restaurants like Moon River and the Crab Shack. I hope we see dolphins and turtles and a big lighthouse.…
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14
Happy Anniversary to us!
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You’ve Got Mail
Every day when we check the little black mail box at our home, the kids ask, “Who got mail?” (Disregard the poor grammar.) And when the answer is usually someone other than themselves, their little faces turn downcast and they wonder aloud why only mommy and daddy get letters every day. These guys already know the significance of a Real Letter. I have about three friends with whom I (almost) regularly exchange genuine letters. And it is a highlight of my week to receive one of those beautifully hand written envelopes in the mail. I get almost giddy. And I never rip it open right away while I am still…
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Fix You
It was an offer we couldn’t refuse. Free tickets to see Coldplay. Kevin had to work so Riley was the lucky benefactor of Ticket Number Two. (Naturally, I had already claimed Ticket Number One.) We had a great time at the concert. (This is an understatement, of course.) Getting to the concert was an entirely different matter. One mile to the venue parking lot took us 48 minutes to traverse. I had to take Fox because of the whole nursing thing that he’s into right now. Besides, he’s a pretty big Chris Martin fan. Before you join the ranks of the thousands of strangers who judged me that evening, let…
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Multi-Task Madness
Women are Queen Multi-Taskers. And we have this whole network of women out there who are doing simple things better and faster. So we should collaborate a little more often – quit reinventing the wheel all the time – right? What I am saying is – what do you do that cuts down a few of your chores every day? How do you save time or money or energy or effort in some way that you think maybe everyone else is doing, but we really aren’t? I’ll go first. It’s a little one. And you may already do this. Or do this better. That’s good. But here it is anyway.…
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Some Things
This is just a photo. Of the cutest tiny baby I have seen today. We have been busy. A lovely visit from Papaw and Uncle John. A butterfly class at a children’s museum for London and Mosely – worth the money to hear Mosely talk about a chrysalis. Teaching Riley how to play Risk – and dominating her in the process. Getting a hair cut and highlights – a first time experience for me. Chauffeuring Riley back and forth to tutoring. Chauffeuring Kevin back and forth to Look Up on days the rain has been too hard or the hour too late to be riding his bike on a highway.…
