Twenty Years

Twenty years.

It went by in a blink.  Twenty years ago, I woke up very pregnant in the morning and ended the day the mother of a baby girl.

Oh how I wanted a little girl. 

Our house would be filled with dresses, earrings, nail polish and sparkles!   I was sure she would love all the girly stuff, like I did.  And she did.   For a while.    Until she could talk and tell me she DID. NOT! 

And now twenty years later, when I’m completely sure of this girl of mine.   She changes her mind. This weekend we bought a dress that sparkles.     

It turns out that my little girl had an independent streak.   A very strong independent streak, that grew with each birthday. 

If she doesn’t want to do something – I’m completely out of luck.  Bribing, ordering, whining or stomping my feet can’t convince her to do things my way.

I asked her to poise nicely for a picture with her birthday cake…. 

It seems like only yesterday that she was two and refusing to sleep without a book under her pillow each night and waking up with wild morning hair that she wouldn’t allow to be combed.   

My girl is all grown up.   She’s funny,  smart, sweet, and sarcastic.   She’s strong, athletic and determined.    And now she is willing to put on a dress with sparkles.   My work is done.     Well, except for the getting her to poise nicely for the camera… perhaps next year I’ll have better luck.

I can’t believe it’s been twenty years.   Happy Birthday Jelisa!

Veterans Day

We often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude.

~Cynthia Ozick

Least Favorite Chore

When I was growing up, my least favorite chore was washing dishes. I HATED doing dishes. Really detested it. I dreaded every evening standing at the sink. We did not have a dishwasher until I was older, so for the majority of my growing up years, dishes were washed by hand. It took hours (or at least seemed like it) every night. A family of nine creates A LOT of dishes.

Washing dishes was a girl chore. Even as a young girl, I realized the unfairness of this arrangement. My sister and I even wrote a song about it. I don’t remember the song, which is probably a blessing, since I do recall it was set to the tune of “Like a Rhinestone Cowboy”

I don’t have any rational way to explain my next confession.

My least favorite chore as an adult is emptying the dishwasher.

Sometimes I hand wash the dishes in the sink rather than empty the dishwasher to load the dirty dishes.

How odd is that?

Halloween 2009

My husband is a creative guy.   In late summer, he decided that we should let a zucchini grow as big as possible and then he could carve it as a zucc-o-lantern for Halloween.     

  It got very big.   It took a careful work to hollow it out.

He used a Dremel tool to thin the skin so the candle light would shine through and give an eerie glow. It was a success and he got compliments on his unusual zucc-o-lantern.

Most holidays are centered around family, but not Halloween.  Halloween is about proximity.  It’s neighborhood and friends who  are near.  I love seeing the kids from the neighborhood and their costumes.  It’s not just the kids either.    My neighbor dog came over, she was wearing a blue wig.    She’d just been groomed and looked so cute.  She didn’t seem so impressed though.

Spiderman and a princess came over to my house to trick or treat in the neighborhood. They were very excited.   My husband and I went to a Halloween/Birthday party and a neighbor delivered his annual treat of monster cookies to our house.   The weather was cool but nice.  I reminisced about the costumes my kids wore when they were little.   How the year my daughter was Minnie Mouse, I couldn’t find red fabric with white polka dots so I had to make my own with fabric paint.   How this wasn’t our first Halloween with a unconventional vegetable carving, as my husband carved a small green squash one year when pumpkins were scarce.

 

I like Halloween.

I always wear my tiara and feather boa while handing out candy.  Everyone thinks it’s just dress up, but this is one day when I really feel like myself.