Father's Day Tribute Part 2

Dear Tom, thank you for being an awesome dad to our kids, for watching Adventure Time with them, for teaching them to ride bikes, for taking them to the movies when I desperately need a break. Thank you for loving our kids and for making it so clear to them. Thank you for changing diapers and telling them the most unbearably boring science stuff that they mysteriously don't find boring. Thank you for reading to them and for racing them, play fighting with them and teasing them. Thank you for showing them a great example and for making them the amazing little people that they are. I love you. Happy Father's Day.

This Weekend We- Alumni Style

This weekend we went back to our alma mater for alumni weekend, a weekend that bears some resemblance to summer camp with beer. We swam in the river, in the rain and in the sunshine. We kayaked and picnicked and spent the night in a dingy dorm room. We saw old friends, and the kids made new ones. We revealed in the beauty of our old campus and in the comfort of so many old friends, and it always seems appropriate to make some comment about how we're reliving the glory days. But as I watched my beautiful children play with my friend's beautiful children, as I watched them come to love a place I love so dearly, I was struck by the fact that I am not reliving the glory days; I live the glory days day in and day out. 

I am so lucky to have gone to St. Mary's; I learned there, I grew there, I met my best friends there, I found Tom there. College was great, and St. Mary's is wonderful, but now is great too, this moment is wonderful. And those moments on the docks, watching the sunset, my kids laughing in the distance, eating St. James pizza, that was super wonderful.

The Prayer of a Rusher

I've been a rusher my whole life. I always wanted to do the next thing, be older, get to the next step. I wanted to drive, to get a job,  to go to college, to travel, and I wanted to do it RIGHT NOW.
I never understood kids who loved childhood, the kids, like my sister Molly, who said they never wanted to grow up. Wouldn't it be better to be a teenager? Wouldn't it be better to be 21?
I did most things early.  I was so excited about what came next.
But now I'm a mama. I became a mama early, just like most things.
And now that I'm a mama, I want to learn to be still, to rest, to appreciate because today Sena is 3012 days old, Gus is 2298 days old, and Arlo is 178 days old, and that is only true for today.Tomorrow they will be one day older. They will be a little taller, a little wiser, a little less little tomorrow.
I can't wish and want so much that I rush their sweet childhood away.
Today I spent some time in prayer, asking for patience and peace and the ability to enjoy each moment without thinking about the next one.

These are the days of brother's sleeping together in their mama's bed, the days of sandcastles and little boys who want pictures of them. These are the bays of babies scooting after big sisters. I don't know what the next day holds, so i'll just keep holding on to these people of mine instead. 

Please excuse not so good iPhone pictures. Sometimes these little moments are best captured that way. 

This Weekend We Didn't

This weekend we didn't close on the house as planned, and we didn't move into our new home.
But we did go over to visit the new house and rake leaves and pull weeds and prune bushes.
And we did get to see my best friend in this whole wide world who came down from Brooklyn. We showed her the new place and walked to our new beach. We waded into the water that never gets deep, and she showed a New Englander how to suck the nectar from a honey suckle.
And we did go back to my parent's house to grill steaks and drink gin and enjoy a magical late afternoon with friends.

And then Tom and I drove our New York visitors to their bus stop, and I was sad my best friend lives far away, and I was sad we didn't get into our new house, and I was tired and sore from yard work. That's the problem with magical afternoons; magic can't be reality. But it sure is nice while it lasts. 

Thanks Joanna for the picture of my little shark. 

Good Enough

I'm not sure that any mother ever felt certain that she was doing it just right. I don't know if any mother knew, without a doubt, that she was nailing it. I've never met the mom who had all the answers, not one I would trust at least.

Heaven knows I worry about all of my inadequacies when it comes to these kids of mine. I'm not patient enough, or engaged enough, or consistent enough. I am a flake, and I can be so self-involved.

But I do know one thing; these kids of mine are having a great childhood, and if I had even a little to do with that, I must be doing at least one thing right.