February 9th, 2010
Sortin’, sortin’, sortin’
My uncle is making a nice new daybed/filing cabinet/reading nook/bookcase for us. It is spurring all sorts of organization that is badly needed.
My life, okay–my personality–is problematic. I am very sentimental. I have a hard time letting time slip away from me, so I cling to all sorts of reminders of the past. I went to move boxes around and noticed that I had two huge cardboard boxes labelled “memories”. That seemed like one box too many, so I sat down and attempted to pull things out to recycle right there and then. That was last month. I spent most of that work session reading, laughing, and crying, clinging to cards with clever notes from deceased family members, precious reflections from friends during a time in life when WE ACTUALLY SAT DOWN AND WROTE REAL LETTERS TO EACH OTHER. I couldn’t get rid of anything. How could I get rid of the letter from a friend coming out to his parents and telling me how surprised he was that they still loved him? How could I get rid of a letter telling about a friend’s new life in a new country with a new man she loved? She was shocked to find love. She was astounded to be learning how to communicate. How could I toss my sisters’ early stories of the excitement of new relationships, especially when those boys they told me about are now my family? It is all too precious. I couldn’t toss any of it. Finally I decided that I could recycle cards with just a signature (not good enough!), letters from people who I absolutely do not see anymore, and silly things that I wrote that are not immediately, apparently special.
A few things that I realized during this exercise:
- I have more friend than I ever though. Many many people have loved me (*and hopefully still do!). I think back on times when I felt lonely or sad in high school, and I am a bit in wonder of how I could have felt this with such a huge outpouring of support from all these friends. I read back on these letters and see, “Oh, you’re so great!” ”I love you so much!” ”You are such a great friend!”, and yet, I don’t remember feeling that way. I don’t know what my excuse was. I guess I was a teenager.
- My siblings are so wonderful. I have three of the most loving, clever, devoted sisters that a girl could have. Throughout the span of my life, these women have been tied so strongly to me, and in their letters I see how, especially when I was off adventuring, they were continuing to reach out to hold on tightly to our sister-bond. I have three sisters, so you would think that one could be a dud– but no. They are all fantastic. Lucky, lucky, lucky I tell you.
- Woa. I was popular with the boys! It makes me laugh at how transparent all these “friendly” letters are now (including the ones from my husband). Why was I so dumb?! Opportunities missed, I tell you! Actually, I was very fortunate to have good male friends all the way through high school and into college. These are charming, smart boys. Their letters make me smile and hope that Zephyr can one day be somewhat like them.
- Thank you aunts and uncles who cared about me. I have letters and cards spanning 20 years from aunts and uncles just showing that they were interested in my life. That is important to get this sort of support outside of your own parents. I hope to be a good aunt and god mother too.
- And yes, my parents were/are excellent.
Okay, now to ponder: do you keep letters you “earned” (for drama & band!) even if you don’t have a letterman sweater to put them on?
















I don’t want to be a braggart, but damn this stuff is good. It really is awesome. My complaint about tomato soup from the stores is always that it is too salty, even the reduced stuff. Mine is perfectly tangy, tastes like real tomatoes and has these lovely little chunks in it. Now if we don’t get botulism, all is well.
I had a rough day with the kids today, and instead of my first instinct which was to put them in front of a movie, we pulled out the art supplies and made a royal mess. It was exactly what I needed. We made these fun skulls for Dia de los Muertos, and most thrilling to the kids, we got everything hung up and looking awesome by the time Brad got home from work. He was suitably enthusiastic and the kids were super happy. In addition to the skulls we made today there is
And the front door:
Zephyr’s skulls are so funny! HE did the one on top and the one on the lower right with blue eyes (it looks sort of like a decrepit lizard). I took these pictures in the dark, and I know that was not a fantastic idea, but hey, the kids are asleep, so it IS dark. I don’t see an alternative really.
The weather is weird around here. The season is changing. The mornings are cold, but then midway through the day, you are sweating in your wool socks. I put on a sweater, take off the sweater, contemplate turning the furnace on but then see that it is still 67 degrees. Fall is here, but it is sauntering in. We’re having showers in the morning, heavy clouds and then bursts of sun.
And what is this? Peeking around the side of a tomato plant, these buggers looked me in the eye. Begone deadly nightshade! I love that it has “deadly” in its name. Makes you think, “Now wait, should I eat this?”. I think I should have deadly in my name.
I had an ill-fated couple weeks for all things coffee and tea. Just when the weather changed and I wanted more of both, I broke my coffee pot (knocked it on the sink), broke the spout of my teapot (dropped it while washing it), and suffered the loss of my milk frother (Zephyr swept it off the counter and then imbedded a piece in his foot for good measure). Sigh. Ill-fated. This tea pot was so cute and useful. Brad’s aunt gave it to me along with this excellent little tea cozy. I couldn’t part with it,even though the spout is broken down the back in a quite irreparable way. You can’t see the break from the front, especially with the plant in it. I’m going to keep it on the front porch to announce my priorities to the world. I planted a corsican mint in it.
