Monday, June 29, 2015

Anniversary Hoopla

For the first time in almost 15 years of marriage Kevin and I made a lot of hullabaloo over our anniversary.   We've always celebrated with dinner out but have never done anything more on "special anniversaries".  On our 5th anniversary we were what you might call flat broke plus Emma was a year old and Eleanor was on the way--a trip to celebrate wasn't an option.  On our 10th anniversary I was almost 9 months pregnant with Lucy-- I was waddling pretty close to home!  So for our 15th  we decided we really wanted to celebrate!

We both love cities and the outdoors and wanted to go somewhere that we could enjoy both.  We chose to spend a coupe of days in Boston and a couple of days in Portland, Maine.  It was perfect!  I've never been to either place and have wanted to go to Maine for about 30 years (Hello, Cabot Cove!).  We ate some incredible food...if you are ever in Portland make your way to Duckfat,Eventide, and Fore Street. Took in lots of historic sites and just enjoyed being together.

Plus over 4 days we took 88, 000 steps.  That's almost 42 miles.  We were meant for each other!

I am so grateful for my marriage and for my wonderful Kevin.  I'm thankful for his love, his commitment and for the way we can laugh...mostly at ourselves!  I'm tickled beyond belief at the little family and what we've created over the past 15 years!  Here's to another 15 and 15 beyond that and 15 more!  Love is awesome!

Tuesday, June 9, 2015

Radical Gentleness

One night last week after the kids were in bed  I relayed some of the goings on of the day to Kevin.  Funny and sweet were mixed with awful and ugly.   I ended by saying---it's hard work not to be a jerk.   At that moment it was the true sentiment of my heart, it's hard work for EVERYONE, not just kids.  


And jerky behavior begets more jerky behavior.  So you just have to stop it and really sometimes that's just plain hard.   If there's one thing I know for sure, if it's hard for me, it's double hard for kids.


Last night I read this and I was just undone.  It spoke to me not only about my wide, wide world but about my tiny little home.  

 "Maybe there could be a “radical gentleness in the air”? Cornel West  #Justice15
Maybe justice could start around our tables, with the people under our roof, with the people we struggle to like let alone love: We refuse to be enemies, we will only speak words that make souls stronger, we will speak tenderly because:
Tenderness is what justice feels like in private. It’s about how we treat each other interpersonally.” Cornel West #Justice15"

And today I practiced radical gentleness and spoke only words that made souls stronger. and it made me feel strong and whole. And tomorrow I will continue those plans, knowing well I'll mess up and be a jerk because it's hard work.  But I'll keep trying.


Plus Lucy and I saw this guy today and an 800 pound 2 year old polar bear just makes you realize how small you really are.  Then the zoo played "Dust in the Wind" while we rode the carrousel and well, shoot radical gentleness was sort of my only option at that point because  ..."all we are is dust in the wind".  



Friday, June 5, 2015

the ups and downs of the first week of summer

It always takes some adjusting to get our summer groove going.  Every single year over the span of one little bitty week we go from pure delight to outright angst before finally landing on what is most generally a very comfortable space.  I'm used to it so I don't actually go from my highest to my lowest like years gone by.  That's the good part.  The bad part is the kids seem to physically need this metamorphosis.   So I let them.  And I lay ground rules and enforce consequences and try my best not to lose my mind while they are gaining theirs.

There were some really long hours and some delightful ones too and this afternoon I'm pretty sure we've made it to the other side just in time for a fantastic summer weekend.




Hope you love your weekend as much as Lucy loves parmesan cheese!!

Monday, June 1, 2015

It might feel like fall....

but it's most definitely summer vacation!



After this lovely girl finished elementary school on Thursday we celebrated with sushi, a movie, and Ted Drewes.  Perfectly Emma.

The weekend was spent relaxing, eating a lot of great food and spending an evening at a soggy Cardinals game.  All fun.


Today was the first day of swim team and for the first time in 3 years it was CANCELLED!  I guess 55 degrees was too cold even for our tough coaches!  We were nearly at the pool when we found out so we went out for bagels instead.  Standing in Einstein's with the girls in their swimsuits made me really feel like summer had arrived and it made me smile.  A big huge happy summer smile!