Simply Having a Wonderful Christmas Time

Let the Sun Shine

Sundays past, Bryan and I would hang around in the morning and split up the newspaper, grabbing our favorite parts-the Style section for me, the magazine crossword for him. We would drink coffee until we were caffeine restless and then go about our Sunday activities. These days, we still drink lots of coffee and we still get the New York Times weekender, but it often goes unopened from one weekend to the next and I am left wondering what the heck I did all week that I could not even get the paper out of the plastic.

My all time favorite column is called Modern Love. Each week features an essay regarding different kinds of relationships and the everyday things that may not be so everyday that shape how we interact with each other. I got to read last week’s column because I went into the city by train for a night out with my best friend (a lovely treat!). The essay was about the abnormality that is the long-term marriage and the author’s reflections on why, perhaps, he and his wife have been married for 35 years. “Obstacles become assets,” was the main theme. Days later I am still thinking about it. Fortitude can be found when you can weather the many storms that blow through your life. It is more than just buckling down and waiting for things to blow over-as I so often do, but instead tackling the things that make things uncomfortable. It is so much easier to reflect on this when I am not in the middle of a maelstrom and I so wish I could give the gift of this knowledge to the people in my life who her hurdling through some major hurdles right now. Because if you can come out the other side, the sustainble sunshine awaits.

Time may change me, but I can't trace time.

Last Day for the Park

We hosted playgroup for the first time today. Two moms came over and it was a really nice morning (nice sounds so dumb, but it was really nice.). I guess like any job, I am growing into this one. A year ago I was so stressed about all the things I didn’t know, as if I could have taken Baby 101 and got an A so that I could have been better prepared. Now I feel much more at home with the things I know and the many things I do not know. Nori and Charlie are these cool little people who are very patient with my on the job training and do not mind growing with me. Our music classes ended a couple of weeks ago, so we joined Gymboree. Charlie loves open play, while Nori likes the structure and performance of the class. Charlie climbs on everything and yells “Wee” while moving on anything with a decline. He is very generous with his kisses and hugs. Nori likes to play in one place for a while and check out everything that is going on. She will almost always give out kisses and hugs when she is asked for them but she prefers telling others what to do by wagging her index finger and singing, “No, no, no.” They both seem to share with the other children while they ironically are terrible at sharing with each other.

One of the moms who came over today was talking about programs for next September, since 2 1/2 is the age to begin little half day drop off classes. I felt my heart drop. Maybe I will be okay with them being in a class without me in a year, but right now I really like hanging out with them. Sure, it's much easier to do errands, etc., without them, and I know I will find something to do with the time, but I miss them when we are apart at the Gym for an hour and they are only a few feet away in the babysitting room!

And so it goes, I now understand how some of my more experienced mom friends mourn the passage of time while still marveling in the changes that their children make.