Wine Truck

Mona says... 

"This is a wine truck.  It delivers wine to people's houses so they don't have to go out and get it themselves.  You can place any kind of order.  It will bring you wine from California or Michigan or even from Italian.  This truck will also bring you extra stems if you run out of glasses for all of your wine people.  It is a very wonderful invention"

Legos are the new favorite toy around our house and I have no idea  know exactly why my children would build a vehicle of this type instead of some sort of spaceship thingy.

It is a very wonderful invention!

STOP! Thank you for not climbing...

Ahhhh.  The zoo.  Wildlife up close.

Here, a mother primate interacts with her offspring. 

It's Just as Good as a Tree

The situation is, we do not have a tree in our yard large enough for my girls to climb.  They want one.  They asked me to plant a tree of sufficient size.  And they were not happy when I explained that you can't just plant a tree that big.  You have to put in a small one and wait.  Years.  "But Maaahhhhhm.  We want to climb."

My children don't have a climbing tree in their yard.  My children don't have a lot of things.  Ten years ago too many people didn't get to wake up on September 12th and be sad about what they didn't have.  I am sad for the people who wake up everyday and don't see what they do have.  How long have you been waiting for something to appear?  How long have you been seeing something only as the world sees it?   

Is it because you lost someone?  Or something?  Or failed, or missed an opportunity, or simply screwed up?  We fold our tragedies into the layers of our lives.  We build on them.  They either raise us up and make us more solid or rock our foundations and make us unstable.  Your tragedies may not look like anyone else's, but make no mistake...the towers we build collapse all the time.

How many days did you waste wishing for something to be true...that just wasn't?
  
Stop.  Be grateful for what it is.  Or make it into something else.

See what you do have.

Where?

Today everyone's talking about it.  Writing about it.  Thinking about it.  And I don't even know what to say.  So I am not going to say anything.

It's not that I don't think its important.  Truly.  I think it's a very important question, "Where were you...?"

I have an answer to that question.  Everyone does.  Everyone.

It's just that I think a more pertinent question is, "Where are you now?"

I am here.  In the Middle.  With the man who was with me back on that day, and three little girls who have come along since then. 

Here.  On the parade route with three little girls who stood up and waved their flags and sang the national anthem.

Here.  Happier.  Healthier.  More connected.  More grounded.

Everyone who was alive on that day has traveled from there to Here. 

Where are you now?  That's what I'd like to know...

YeeHaw!

This IS her first rodeo.

It's NOT What It Is

My friend Mr. Maple Syrup went on quite a rant the other night about people who use the phrase, "It is what it is."  More than a bit shocked at how riled up he got over the use of a simple string of words, I asked for an explanation.

"It's a cop out," he said, "People just say that when they don't feel like making an effort."

I totally disagreed with him...but on second thought...Darn him!  He has a way of getting to me.  That guy!

In this house, Fridays are special.  We don't just meet the bus at the corner and let it be the last day of school for the week.  We meet the bus at the corner with a giant bowl of popcorn and make it the first day of the weekend.  We make it special.

So many times as a mother or a wife or a daughter or a sister or a woman, I have chosen to view things as what I make them and not just what they are.

So, Mr. Syrup, as much as it pains me to admit this...you were right.  It's not what it is.

It's what you make it.

The End of Summer

Our town has a very big celebration this weekend.  Four days of carnival rides, funnel cake and the best small town parade that you've ever seen!  Ever!  We are celebrating the defeat of a very famous bank robber and bringing an official end to the summer season.

If you come to our town this weekend you'll see all the typical Fall changes.  Front porch geraniums become buckets bursting with orange mums and haystacks piled with pumpkins.  Little sisters become big kids and everyone has officially graduated to the next grade.  Stay at home moms find themselves with empty rooms after everyone goes off to school and the farmer's market is loaded with tables of apples.

But ours is not the typical end to summer.  We wait until the weekend after Labor Day in this town, and all sorts of ordinary things become something quite extraordinary.  The empty field by the river becomes a carnival and the mayor starts riding a horse.  The dog park becomes a rodeo and the downtown streets are filled with music and street food.  People that grew up next door become royalty and little boys on bicycles get to be cowboys...even if it's only for a few days.

Quite extraordinary.