Change of Worlds

My father had a stroke in October. This has precipitated many changes in my family and the dynamics of how we interact. It has challenged our assumptions and of course, forced us to stumble into action, mobilized as a team of sorts to offer support to my parents. It is new territory for us, this having to rely on one another, talk to one another about the details and not wait for Mom to fill us in on the details of each others lives. We have been spoiled. :) Mom and Dad have been so healthy and keen to help us with anything we've asked. Now, we gladly begin to return the generous extending of ourselves for them.


In December, despite Dad's stroke, we took him up to play in the snow for our family holiday outing. It was a huge success. A victory over our fears, over Dad's compromised physical condition and our own hesitance. Truly one of our best ideas as a family and one of the funnest snow trips ever, complete with a finished igloo, lawn chairs, heater, radio and excellent snacks. The excursion served as a powerful image and metaphor of our unity as a family and bodes well for the way we will face any challenges ahead. I love my fam!

Kindergarten Update May 2010

A blog. Why did I think I wanted to do a blog? To add to the incomprehensible largess, the copious amounts of information, musings and expression of human experience, exploiting the glut of technology at our disposal. To fill the slices of time between what must be done and what I am putting off doing. Hmmm. Yes, a blog.

My last post was in September. Pictures of my dear, sweet, precious Finley going off to his first day of school, terrified. That's always a great thing to get pictures of. We are surviving Kindergarten. It is both much better and worse than I anticipated. Finley's reading! And doing math! Those are indeed wonders and celebrated. I remind him weekly of how fortunate he is to live in a country that educates its people. As imperfect as I may find the public education system it is still a luxury by the world's standards.

Finley is also learning the heartache of a friend's silly cruelty as only another six year old can inflict. He is learning the compulsory boredom of standing in lines and wolfing down lunch to get out to recess with those same cruel friends (who have also hardly eaten their lunches either!).

He came home yesterday and told me about a girl in his class, Haille. "Mom," he says, putting his hand on his chest, "when I look at Haille my heart kind of hurts. She has hair of gold."

He is making up all sorts of rhyming and riddles and they mostly have to do with bodily functions, but hey! What a poet!

Evelyn is doing her best to keep up with Finley. Learning to count, "One, thwee, two, fo...". She has a precocious grasp of language and understands so much more than I give two -year-olds credit for. She also senses the power of emotions and asks me, "Mommy. You happy?" Already, she is apologizing too much, for things that are none of her concern or responsibility. I wonder at how my own idiosyncrasies have found their way to my children so early.