Friday, November 25, 2011

Old wounds...

Last Christmas morning, my beloved little dog, Cosmo, suddenly and tragically died. It was an awful Christmas, and I couldn't wait for it to be over. I miss his fuzzy little presence, but I've adjusted to life without him over the last year. I've been doing just fine. Until today, when I opened up the bins of Christmas decorations to begin my annual day-after-Thanksgiving decorating bonanza. Foster was "helping" me. Translation: taking everything out of the bins in no particular order, and tossing them around the room, creating total chaos and confusion. After a while, he came to the bin that had our family's Christmas stockings.

"Here's Daddy's stocking!"

 "Here's Spencer's!"

"Ooooh, here's MINE! And, yours too, Mommy."

"Here's Lucy's stocking!"

"Oh, here's Cosmo's stocking, Mommy. Where are we going to hang it?"

Next thing I knew, I was bawling my eyes out...
It's amazing how quickly old wounds can re-open, isn't it? And I've been crying off and on all day long.

By the way...I hung Cosmo's stocking right next to his picture.

I wish he was here.

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Ahhh..the irony.

Coming home from work just now, I was behind an SUV at a red light. A HUGE bumper sticker across the back of the car stated "Remember Anna. Keep your eyes on the road!" Great sentiment, right? Except for the fact that the driver was texting and didn't even notice when the light changed. I had to honk my horn to get her attention. Sigh.

Cheers!

Saturday, November 12, 2011

Spencer Wisdom

A few nights ago, I was tucking Spence into bed, which involves singing 3 songs and then having a long conversation about whatever may be running around in that amazing little brain (his, not mine), followed by "snuggles." The whole thing only takes about 10 minutes, and it's one of my favorite times of the day. Unless, to be honest, it's been one of those days where I'm just counting the minutes until I can be responsibility-free, in my pj's, glass of cabernet in hand, channel surfing under my snuggly electric blanket....Then, the 10 minute routine can seem endless. I'm not gonna lie. I have those days.

Anyhoo...We'd finished our songs, and Spence started talking about things he wonders about. Typically, this involves thoughts on robots, alien life forms, or some sort of scientific invention. This time, it was a bit different:

"Mom?"
"Yes, sweetie."
"I've been thinking a lot about caterpillars."
"Really?"
"You know, caterpillars build cocoons around themselves and stay there for a long time, right?"
"Mmm Hmm."
"And, then, without even moving around at all, they somehow get wings and turn into butterflies."
"I know."
"It's the most amazing thing, isn't it Mom?"
"Definitely."
"And, it doesn't take any technology at all! Isn't that the coolest thing?"

In this electronic age, when people line up days in advance for the next fabulous gadget from Apple, families eat dinner without ever looking up from their cell phones, and the number of Facebook "friends" is a status symbol, MY boy marvels at the transformation of a butterfly. THAT'S the coolest thing!

Cheers!