Long Days, Short Years (12/30)

It's almost 5:00 and we've had a full day.  I think I've driven more miles today than all of last week.  I felt like a chauffeur, and also a tourist in my own town.  I'm done so I'm channeling my inner Grandpa Vic and going with the It's 5 o'clock somewhere sentiment.  I am here with my generous pour and a desperate need for a slice of me time.  Writing is my best me time.  It's cathartic for me to process and reflect.  In doing so I realize that there are so many sweet moments in each day tucked between to dos and accumulated along with miles traveled.

Yesterday Miss Bit and I got pedicures side by side.  She didn't want to...she's a tomboy you know...but then she was glad she did.  So was I because her toes needed some serious work.  Work I didn't have in me.  She must have said thank you two dozen times and was so sweet that she had the attention of all the ladies in the salon.  Those are proud mama moments I can never get enough of : my kids wanting to be kind to and knowing to show respect to others.

T. Bone accompanied us to the mall on a mission: to find his sister a gift for her birthday next week.  He did, and it's sweet.  He's proud.  So am I.  He entered the salon to check on our status and quickly left red faced at the suggestion that he too may want a pedicure.  All those girls.  Ewww! Talking to him about his body parts!  Ewww!   Toes!  Ewww!  He came back a few minutes later with an extra large vanilla malt and pleading eyes, but he never said a word.   My kids showing kindness to one another never gets old either.

On the way to camp this morning, Miss Bit decided she wants to stay as nearby as possible for college, but she also acknowledged that she wants to go to a good vet school.  Then she said, But I've got a long road ahead of me you know.  She's just a week shy of 9 so her dreams can and will change, but I just love that she has them at all.  When I was almost 9, my dreams were Disney Land and Christmas coming faster.

We were a little early picking T. Bone up from his golf tournament today.  We sat watching the links rather aimlessly, and then I eyed this golfer teeing off on the last hole.  What a drive!  Wait...I know this stance, this gait as mamas are want to do, but how is it more young man than boy now?  That's my T. Bone all right.  He looks so comfortable on the course playing this game of rules and finesse and tradition.  He's growing up. Maturing.  I'm so lucky that he is growing into a young man of upstanding character and presence.

It is true that the days can be long and the years short, but they're both made up of moments.  Moments I find joy in and will treasure forever.

A Frog Story (10/30)

Miss Bit started a new camp today at our favorite nature preserve.  On the way, she confessed her tummy hurt.  Nerves I told her.  It's just your first day jitters.  As we approached the lodge, she hoped to see a familiar face.  I hope I'm in camp with someone I know.  Well, not just someone I know, but someone I like too, she wished aloud. Moments later we ran into a neighbor.  Wish granted.  When she found out the day's activity was ponding, I knew her queasy energy was cured.

I called her from work after camp and she answered the phone with sunshine in her voice.  She shared that she had a great day traipsing along the trails and catching frogs at pond's edge.  And then her voice got small and slight.  She whispered, But I don't like the teacher.  She told me she didn't like the teacher because she didn't like the way she treated the frogs.  Apparently the masochist teacher piled the frogs in buckets, which does not conform to my girl's rule that you only hold frogs long enough to say Hi, name them and then set them free in the precise spot in which they were found.  She asked the teacher if she could set "her" frogs free. The teacher said No!  The teacher said No! and she walked away, and then Miss Bit promptly set all the froggies free.  The End!

Shrooming (9/30)

I've been saving a recipe that was described as perfect for fall.  It's been 65 degrees the past couple days so I decided to make it tonight.  I recommend you make it too...soon.  It was delicious and definitely company worthy.  That is the most prized rating at Casa Wags.

Slice a pound of mushrooms.  I used  a  combo of baby bellas and white buttons, but you can and should use whatever you have or love.  Season them graciously with salt and pepper and saute them in 3 T. EVOO along with half a diced onion until golden brown.  Add 3 cloves (or 5 if you like garlic like we do) and saute about 3 minutes longer.  Add 2/3 C. chicken stock, 1 1/2 C. heavy cream and 2 T. fresh chopped parley, and cook on medium heat until reduced and thickened - about 10 minutes.  Serve on a bed of whole wheat thin spaghetti (or whatever you fancy) and top with fresh grated Romano and more fresh parsley.

Open a bottle of red or white.  It is amply paired with either.  Enjoy.  We did.

My Manifesto (8/30)

It's the end of July, and I woke up this morning to a distinct chill in the air that belongs to another season. We're wearing pants and jackets we haven't seen since May.  We warmed up leftover soup for lunch and then headed to the movies instead of the beach.  It was an almost full theater.  Fall is my favorite time of year.  October my most loved month, but I'm not wishing summer away.  In fact, I've just finally felt the summer chi...found my dog days groove.  I know I'll soon be doing the back to school countdown. Not because I'm anxious for the school year to begin, but because that's the way I am programmed.  I get ahead of myself.  I'm a planner....an anticipator.  Sometimes I fall behind too.  It's also my nature to rue and regret. I'm a nostalgic romantic...a practiced historian.  And then I remember to be. here. now.  In this season...this day...this moment.  To long for the past or to fast forward to the future is to cheat myself of what is here now.  I know that is not the way I want to live. Be. here. now I remind myself many times each day.  As many times as it takes.

Grateful Friday (7/30)

Today I give thanks for friends.  I'm blessed with some great ones so I consider myself a lucky girl.  I don't see many of them as often as I would like, but that is starting to change as my children get older and more independent.  I know these ladies are there if and when I need them.  And when we do get back together, we don't skip a beat.  I've always thought that the barometer of real and true friendship is remaining tethered even when you're not connected.  Picking up the phone after months one day and picking up just where you left off.  No need to break the ice. No posturing.  No awkward pauses.  If there is silence, it is comfortable, and also rare because you can and do talk about anything and everything.  My friend Mary called the other night for one thing and before I knew it Miss Bit and I were on our way to her house for another.  She had raspberries fresh off the bush and she wanted to share her bounty with us.  Raspberries are T. Bone's best loved fruit.  We came bearing a just finished batch of chicken pastina soup for her.  It felt like we were pioneers sharing our harvests only we didn't drive our horse and buggy the mile to her house.  We took a walk around the block and past the first house Coach and I called home.  Incidentally, Mary is the first person my Mom called friend. We just chatted and enjoyed a sliver of the evening together and when it was done, we questioned why it is that we don't do just this more often.  So we said...we must...we will.

Just One Paragraph (6/30)

Tonight I don't know if I have even a single paragraph.  I do have thoughts.  Many thoughts.  They are running rogue and random and not the kind that make for witty or pretty stories tied with a bow.  It was a rough day.  I slept horribly last night.  I'm still reacting to the sun I got last weekend and then every day while I walked this week.  I'm peeling and itchy and mad at myself for getting in this position again.  Just as I was signing off my computer dreaming of coming home this afternoon, I spilled a near full glass of water all over my desk.  My mouse, my keyboard, some important paperwork were all submerged.  Right away I was chiding myself for not drinking the water.  If I had, none of that would have happened.  I crawled into bed and fell asleep for almost an hour when I got home, but before I drifted off, I was mad at myself again for behaving like Oblomov and leaving my girl to watch SpongeBob. I really dislike SpongeBob.  She wanted to do something.  I wanted to do nothing.  My malaise, exhaustion and that annoying sea sponge prevailed.  I woke up feeling much more human and much less self loathing.  Miss Bit and I went out to do a little shopping.  We went in for pillowcases.  She came out with the start of a fall wardrobe.  It made me chuckle because she's not much of a shopper and she has been boycotting any mention of back to school, yet here she was lobbying for school clothes.  We picked up dinner because I didn't even have the desire to reheat leftovers, and we sat down to eat at 8:00 with an episode of MasterChef.  T. Bone finally came home.  This summer it seems that he returns to shower and sometimes he eats and sleeps here too.  Coach made it home after an afternoon at the ballpark with friends.  The house is quiet now.  I'm about to take a couple Benadryl tablets and sleep the sleep of the dead.  It sounds heavenly.  Right now...this very moment is the best I've felt all day, but my body is still itchy and my mind is mottled.  This is the kind of day I'd rather forget, but this writing challenge is all about showing up here rain or shine...good or bad.  Today it isn't pretty, but that's life.  Hopefully, it will be better tomorrow.

Summer (5/30)

So I already failed the 30 day challenge, but I'll take my mulligan.  Today is (5/30).  There was no (4/30).  It's the way these lazy days of summer progress.  They take hold.  They suck you in.  You think you have all the hours in the day and then suddenly it's the gloaming yet again. You think you will need to put more to dos on your list to keep everyone entertained, and then you wake up one day and it's July 24th .  It's July 24th and you don't even know where your list is, but someway...somehow you've kept plenty busy. You think you have 3 months of leisure and suddenly it's late July.  Reality is setting in: fall will beckon before we know it.  Miss Bit reacts violently (well, as violently as she is able to) when back to school commercials are aired on the t.v. or radio.  The past few days have hinted of what is to come.  Low humidity...cooler mornings and nights...they remind us that fall is looming on the horizon that is morphing everyday as each day gets shorter.  Yesterday I spotted a caterpillar on the path.  I took a snap to show my daughter, our resident naturalist. Caterpillars are third only to frogs and turtles in her field guide.  She decided to accompany me today just in case he was still there.  She was better company than the Dashwood sisters I've been tuning into while I walk despite the fact that I find them rather entertaining too.  We never did cross paths with Mr. Caterpillar, or any other for that matter.  There were other creatures that delighted her almost as much.  When she stopped to make a wish on an extra large dandelion, she wished only to fly.  She didn't tell me, yet I knew.  I know.  I love that her mind can still imagine the possibility of impossibility.  I love that she has a treasure trove of wishes and hopes and dreams.  I love that she so loves this earth and sees so much worthy and good in every small thing...in every minute molecule...in each little moment.