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Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Still alive!

No, the flu did not kill me, although I felt that way Sunday, lol. I don't have too many pics to post, but here are a few. :)
Joe took the boys to the movies. I stayed home and felt icky. After Joe combed Pete's hair, I had to take a pic of the back of Pete's head. I don't know how much longer these wavy locks will hold their spring-I keep thinking he will outgrow them. That he will wake up with flat hair one day. So, I am always snapping pics of these waves. They are just so cute. :) 

Paul turned 5. Cannot believe it. Where does time go? :( I reminisced all weekend about his birth. My tiny baby wrapped in a cushy cashmere sweater mama knit him. My surprise at how different he looked from Joey, with his dark hair and dark eyes and dark skin. When a nurse started to take Paul away for some routine nursery thing, Joey said, "Hey bring me back my Paul." 
5!!!

The other day I took this random pic of this spot in our mudroom. I love this window. The evergreen outside it, the way light hits it. It is a pretty window. Our mudroom...you know, before I moved here, where you have black gritty muddy snow for half the year, I always thought a mudroom was just a nice pottery-barn type room that is wonderful for organization but not really necessary. Oh, lemme tell you, here, it is in fact necessary. This room is covered in black mud and salt pellets. We have 4 boot racks out there filled with wet snowy muddy boots, every day. Now, I am not sure how people live without such a room! Anyhow, here is this window that makes me smile. Below it is a bench to a table we no longer use, newspapers that need to make it to the recycle bins in town, a bumbo that is neglected now, and yet another potted rosemary plant that died in the pot. 

Speaking of all those newspapers...we read the wsj. I love that paper. Joe and I are opposites in alot of ways, and this is one of them:  I read the sections he does not read, he reads the sections I do not read. So, we can brief each other, and between the two of us, the paper is fully read. lol And, I get opinionated and cannot hold my tongue, or pen, so I have had 4 letters to the editor published, so far. lol And, well, as sad and pathetic as this sounds, that alone makes me feel like my brain has not turned to stay-at-home-mush afterall. lol Anyhow, this is all a big ramble to talk about what Joey and I saw in the paper the other day. There was an article about environmental policies and the poor. I did not read it(too sick, I usually read this section), so I cannot tell you about that. Anyhow, there was a picture of impoverished children in India, gathering bundles and bundles of sticks to burn for heat. The picture really grabbed me. The work they were doing, the shabby clothes, boys unabashed to wear girly sweaters in last decade's style, etc. It was a powerful picture. So, I showed Joey. I am always trying to teach these kids about these sort of things. To be thankful for what we have, to understand what it means to truly be poor, how people live in other places, etc. So, I am showing him this picture, asking him to point out all these things he sees, talking about how different their life is from ours, impressing upon him the poverty, struggle. He then looks at this little boy and asks...
"why is he smiling?" 
And, my heart just drops. It is a good question. But sad. So, I start telling him how your joy, your inner joy, is just not dependent on money or stuff. Yeah, these kids have a hard life compared to my kids, but do they have joy? Sure. We all do. I want my kids to remember this. To know this. It is hard in a consumer culture sometimes. Anyhow, this sweet boy above, despite it all, is a real lesson for us all. Find joy in your life, no matter the circumstances. It is there. :)


1 comment:

  1. Glad your alive and well! ;-)

    Love those gorgeous locks. And happy birthday to Paul!

    ReplyDelete