This has been such a busy fall. This post, then, slowly muddles my way back into writing non-book-related-things.
Do you see her? How big and independent she is?
1) I turned in what I hope will be the final revisions on my book this week. There may yet be comments from the publisher, and copy edits and page proofs, of course. But this giant step was a long time coming. I read a book for fun the other day. It wasn’t about sex, love, or theology.
Will my children even know me anymore, if I don’t have a constant, terrible deadline looming? What will they think, seeing me reading novels, and non-fiction, without the word “sex” in the title.
True story: My dad asked Fiona what I might like for my birthday, one afternoon when he was picking her up from school. Oh, probably a book. A book? Just any book? She has a lot of books already. Well, probably a book about sex.
Fee is seven and doesn’t know what sex is (she knows the basics of sexual reproduction, but isn’t clear or interested in learning about the mechanism by which a man’s “information” gets in the woman.) But she has obviously picked up on the fact that Mommy is a little preoccupied.
2) While in the car on Thursday, Fee looked out the window and said, Well! I’m excited to see that! I looked at various lovely trees, the recycling bins on the street, the smushed skunk (there’s always at least one in the fall), wondering what had caught her eye. Look! There are so many “Vote Yes on the library referendum” signs!”
We counted them. Six…. Thirteen…. more…
We’re very jazzed about the library referendum at our house. Since Josh and I spent
Chart from http://www.parkridgelibrary.org/referendum.aspx
a good chunk of the last year reading and writing at the big round tables next to the fifteen foot windows, begrudgingly packing up for Friday’s early close, or having to find an alternative spot in a better funded library (cough, Des Plaines, cough), on Summer Sundays and holidays, we are more than willing to shell out an additional $50 for this important public institution.
Our shared family values may not always included punctuality, tidiness, or mealtime prayer, but they definitely include libraries.
Park Ridge folks should vote on November 4th.
3) The girls and I have been listening to our “North Carolina 2014″ mix on the drive to school each morning. It always amazes me which songs move and enchant them. There are some they know by heart: “Life’s a happy song,” from The Muppets; “Just Wanna Be With You,” from High School Musical 3. There are some they know most to which they know most of the words. But, when Adele’s “Right as Rain” came on the other day, I was blown away. They have maybe 2% accuracy on that one. I always think they’re so grown up, but there are things, I am reminded, (including Adele’s funky accent and the themes of her work) that sail right over their heads.
4) In the same vein, Cal ate a whole bowl of oatmeal in the car on the way to the daycare the other morning. We were hustling to get Fee to school before the bell, and I just picked up the ceramic bowl and brought it with us, handing it to Cal in her carseat.
So, she powered through it and said to me, See?! I told you I could eat the whole thing! I had never suggested otherwise, but her indignant demonstration was pretty adorable.
Such a big girl, I thought. Though, as she’d burst in to the bathroom earlier in the morning, asking for help with her shirt, I could see the remnant of her baby tan line. She’s four, increasingly verbal and indignant and hilarious, and she’s my baby.
5) Earlier on “North Carolina 2014″ is a song that reminds me of Josh. He doesn’t love it, but I heard the singer/songwriter interviewed on WXRT and my commitment to it is doubled, renewed. “It’s such a sweet, almost sappy, song. So when we made the video, I thought you know what this needs? Zombies.”
There are also steel drums. Obviously, I can listen to this song eight or nine times on repeat.
6) I spend so much time in the car. My commute is ridiculous. Apparently all my significant interaction with my children takes place while chauffeuring them places. It rained most of this week, which meant that Chicago drivers forgot how to drive and everything took twice as long. But then, Thursday morning, the rain cleared for awhile, and while the sky was gray, I saw what looked like a glitter tornado, right before the Northwest Highway/294 underpass. Glittering, yellow gold leaves, blown off a nearby tree, spiraled and danced. It was stunning.
I got to campus an hour later, and because both the student I was to meet with and I had both just consumed a great deal of coffee, we decided to forgo our spot in the local shop, and instead walked around the neighborhood. We just walked around campus for an hour or so. It was perfect. I need to remember this. And take more meetings outside, while the weather holds. There’s a good deal to see, for those who are looking.
