Paper Aeroplane

Summer days around Moraine float by like a dream.  This lovely Sunday has been following suit.  I prefer Sundays to any other day of the week.  We spend the morning at church.  Our pastor, Bob, is a 6'7 man.  He stands, just as tall as he is smart, in front of our huge congregation once a week and encourages us, through teaching, to be better.  Not just better Christians, but better people.  Better husbands, wives, mothers, fathers - better communicators, better with money, better with prayer, better with the everyday decisions we normally breeze through.  We leave and head to lunch from church as a family.  We take turns choosing where we will eat.  Big brother almost always chooses Chipotle.  D likes Chili's.  I tend to choose places where we haven't eaten before.  I feel new and encouraged.  I love my family so much on these sunny afternoons, I think I buzz.

dream.

swallowtail.

evening.

Sundays are ours. They belong to each of us differently, but we all love them.  This particular day, we rented movies and picked up sushi.  We laid in bed and ate and watched movies.  We went for a little walk.  We took turns with little brother.  We laughed a lot.  The day floated by.  Evening will close in on us soon.  Another week will begin and then another.  Soon it will be fall.  I'm already seeing small signs of change around here and I'm not ready for it.

Wednesday was my birthday.  Getting older is not getting any easier.  I feel smarter this year than I did last year.  I feel little aches that I never felt before, too.  My ankles pop when I wake up in the morning.  That's new. I can see lines developing around my eyes when I smile.  D swears I don't have any, but I do. I can see them when I look really closely. I have quite a bit of grey hair now, mostly down the center of my part.  D swears I don't, but I do.  I can only assume these things will only continue as I age.  I had better prepare. I hope D lies to me about this one thing for the rest of our lives. It sure helps me cope.

This was one of the best birthdays I can remember ever.  I can't say anything tremendous happened, I just felt hugely, beautifully loved.  I got wonderful, thoughtful, and useful gifts from people who know me well - and love me how I am.  I felt accepted and celebrated and so - warmly - blessed.  My day was quiet and my heart was full of gratitude. gratitude. gratitude. It was a peaceful day. 

D's parents watched both boys and he and I went to dinner. ALONE . TOGETHER.  We shared bites of seafood and drank cold water in frosty glasses.  We roamed around a few stores that I missed from before we moved.  I bought a dish and some perfumed lotion.  We went back to his parent's house because I missed the kids.  We had cake (it was pink and fluffy and creamydelicious).  Everyone sang to me and I felt happy in every cell. 

The night before my birthday, Big brother and I went out to eat, just he and I.  He was a perfect gentleman.  He paid for our dinner with the money he's been saving since right after Christmas and told me "get what you want, mom. It's your day."  I know. He's wonderful.

He is also turning ten in August.  I'm trying hard to wrap my head around that.  He's got such a good heart and an explorer's spirit.  He learns something in every encounter.  It's remarkable what he recites.  Most of the time I end up asking "Where did you learn that!?"  Everywhere.  He learns things everywhere.

DLT

Was I that observant when I was almost ten?  I can't remember.  I was around a lot of kids during that time, but I don't remember caring about any of them.  He cares deeply for little brother.  He notices signs that little brother might be hungry or tired or mad.  He tells me 'I think he's getting bored'.  Sometimes he'll pick him up and sit and talk to him. It's a beautiful thing.  I can't remember thinking anything about any of the babies that were in the house when I was ten except that they were annoying.

treasures.

I told him about when he was 5 or 6 and we'd ride in the car.  He asked me what the turn signal was for one day and I explained it to him.  For the next several months, he would remind me to use my "turn sniggle". It was like driving around with a tiny police officer, just waiting for me to forget my 'turn sniggle'....Geez.... Now he's ten. And so totally cool.

hiking.

Around home, the bathroom and laundry room remodel are completed.  D and I found a mirror we liked for the bathroom.  There is a new, fully functioning hot water heater, so we can finally take bubble baths.  The laundry room cabinets were sanded and painted Navajo White.  Before, they were a dark, dark brown.  The walls were wallpapered a multi-colored daisy pattern.  Now they're painted green. It's bright and clean and laundry still stinks  doing laundry is a little more pleasant. We found cute hardware for the cabinets at Pier One, too.

little brother is active, busy, and exhausting.  He's really moving around.  He can stand for short periods of time now, and will wave to you with a bit of encouragement. He is drooling and chewing, but still no teeth.  He says 'ball' now. It's more 'bah!'  But that's what he's saying.  Yep. He said ball before he said mama.  So. there's that.

teeth!

The garden is producing a lot of zucchini's.  It fills me with pride to see all the beans and veggies. I am curious how this happened, and if it's normal, though:

freak zucchini.

Do we pick it? Is it edible? How does that happen? Weird.

I've been chasing a bunny out of the garden pretty much every night now.  D thinks it's hilarious. I get really mad. Sometimes he looks at us looking at him, and continues to munch.  That's usually when I run after him like a crazy lady in a bath towel hard-working gardener who cares about her abnormally large, round zucchinis.

terrorist.

That's a normal Sunday around here.  I'm sure tomorrow will bring something new, and if it doesn't, I think that's ok.  Things could be just like this every day and I'd never complain.  Remind me to read this again in the depths of winter, snowed-in here at Moraine with two boys, so I can remember it all becomes beautiful again.

-S.