Rent Check

I heard this today at church:

“Service is how we pay the rent for the space we occupy here on Earth.”

Billy Collins

I am not a poetry reader, but two days ago I happened to hear Garrison Keillor’s Writer’s Almanac on the public radio station I was tuned to while I was on my way to get Max from preschool. Garrison Keillor read the most wonderful poem by Billy Collins. It was called “Forgetfulness”. Here’s a wonderful poem I found today by Billy Collins.

The Lanyard
By Billy Collins
The other day I was ricocheting slowly
off the blue walls of this room,
moving as if underwater from typewriter to piano,
from bookshelf to an envelope lying on the floor,
when I found myself in the L section of the dictionary
where my eyes fell upon the word lanyard.

No cookie nibbled by a French novelist
could send one into the past more suddenly—
a past where I sat at a workbench at a camp
by a deep Adirondack lake
learning how to braid long thin plastic strips
into a lanyard, a gift for my mother.

I had never seen anyone use a lanyard
or wear one, if that’s what you did with them,
but that did not keep me from crossing
strand over strand again and again
until I had made a boxy
red and white lanyard for my mother.

She gave me life and milk from her breasts,
and I gave her a lanyard.
She nursed me in many a sick room,
lifted spoons of medicine to my lips,
laid cold face-cloths on my forehead,
and then led me out into the airy light
and taught me to walk and swim,
and I, in turn, presented her with a lanyard.

Here are thousands of meals, she said,
and here is clothing and a good education.
And here is your lanyard, I replied,
which I made with a little help from a counselor.

Here is a breathing body and a beating heart,
strong legs, bones and teeth,
and two clear eyes to read the world, she whispered,
and here, I said, is the lanyard I made at camp.
And here, I wish to say to her now,
is a smaller gift—not the worn truth

that you can never repay your mother,
but the rueful admission that when she took
the two-tone lanyard from my hand,
I was as sure as a boy could be
that this useless, worthless thing I wove
out of boredom would be enough to make us even.

I have no idea.

I discovered this tonight as I was putting the kids to bed. Suddenly the afternoon of Max and Emmaline playing together so quietly began to make much more sense. I actually thought to myself that today they were getting along unusually well and I was so happy about it. Now I realize that yes they were getting along, but it was the thrill of the forbidden that was bonding them together.

I found this on the floor in Emmaline’s closet tonight:

 

Yes, you’re seeing that correctly. It’s a lunchbox filled to the brim with dirt and planted with a flower, a Barbie, and a mini-Barbie. Inside my house. It was sitting on the carpet. I have no words.

Things My Kids Like

Tonight- only because the time completely got away from me- I told the kids that they could have ramen for dinner. I had a really delicious dinner planned that happily will taste just as good tomorrow night. (Yea for having dinner already taken care of for tomorrow!)

Well, when I told them they could have ramen for dinner you would have thought that I’d told them I’d ordered pizza for dinner or that I’d decided that ice cream cake was going to be the main dish.

They really, really love ramen. Nigel will often ask for ramen in the middle of summer here in Hattiesburg, which- in my opinion- is the equivalent of getting into a sauna at the gym and thinking to yourself, “You know what would be perfect right now? A delicious cup of hot, steamy soup”.

So tonight I was Super Mom because I fed my kids a cheap, nutritionally questionable, ready-in-3-minutes dinner. Here’s to an easy dinner!

So, so cool

Want to know what’s cool?

Having enough money in the bank to pay all the bills and still have some left over.(Ah cash, it’s been awhile).

Max’s love of Kesha songs. And that he sings along with the radio. And that every time Max hears a song with a catchy beat he shouts out: “Mom- it’s our song!!”

Celebrating my 12th anniversary eve and having my mother-in-law comment that “somehow Ernie and I missed the whole 7-year itch thing.” My response to that was that Ernie and I are way too co-dependent to entertain such nonsense as getting tired of each other.

Having all the kids home this week for Spring Break. Also knowing that on Monday 3 out of the 4 kids will be back at school (thank goodness!).

Little Ernie sweeping the stairs and the kitchen floor today.

Emmaline making Buttermilk Biscuits from scratch with me last night.

Nigel telling me that he can feel that his teeth are getting better- thanks to his orthodontic treatments.

Expedia calling me to tell me that our flight home from our June family vacation in California had been cancelled and them booking us on a flight out the next day. Which is what I wanted all along- but it was a lot more money- so I opted to cut the vacation a day short and get the much cheaper flight. Now I get the same price AND the extra day.

Telling the kids that all I wanted for my anniversary was a completely clean house- upstairs and downstairs at the same time- and them actually trying to make that happen for me.

My Ernie’s brilliantly naming no TV, no video games, no handheld video games- as a “blackout”. Now I just announce “blackout” and the kids don’t fight me and they head outside to play.

Committing with my sisters (mine and Ernie’s) to run a half marathon in Disneyworld in February 2012. I’ve already started my couch to 5k program and I’ll add the miles from there!

Deciding that I had “diet fatigue” and opting not to track or count or obsess for awhile about the food going into my mouth. I exercise because it feels good and I eat what sounds good to me. So far I haven’t gained a pound. (Nor have I lost a pound- but I’m holding steady and I’m eating. Double bonus.)

It’s springtime in Hattiesburg and I’ve been in shorts for 3 days now.

Celebrating 12 wonderful years with Ernie.

Liking myself at 34- almost 35- so much more than I did at 24 and 25.

Good friends, nice weather, a fire pit, and marshmallows.

It’s not fun until someone throws up. Right?

In a crazy, spur of the moment insanity- Danielle and I decided to take all of our kids to New Orleans for the day today. It’s Spring Break, we thought, so why not? At this point some of you might be wondering who Danielle is. Easy: she’s my awesome friend who happens to do a mean job of cutting, coloring, and styling my hair. She and I also do Cub Scouts together and her husband Trin gets along famously with my Ernie. Her kids are great, so it was pretty much a perfect fit for a day trip.

We set off this morning with a very general schedule and told the kids that the only thing that was for certain was that we were NOT going to the Aquarium in New Orleans, which costs an astronomical amount per person. WARNING: this post has a tremendous amount of pictures. So if you don’t like looking at adorable children doing cute things- stop reading now.

We spent most of the day in the French Quarter and the weather was perfect. 

Then the kids decided that they really wanted to start a band.

And we discovered Mardi Gras masks- which were awesome at only $2.50 each! (“Yes, OF COURSE you can each choose one!”)

We lunched…

And we ventured down the Riverwalk. Where massively crazy people hang out- like this guy who was literally painting himself blue with an actual can of spray paint. The kids couldn’t get over it- or the fact that you could see his fangs when he flashed them a smile (go ahead and click on the picture of him waving). Ah, the creeps that live in New Orleans.

And then we finished downtown NOLA by heading over to the Cafe Du Monde for some beignets.

Then we packed up and headed to City Park where the kids literally played for 2 solid hours more. At which point we drove home, the kids cried, and as soon as we got back to the house Max threw up. Which tells me that everyone had as much fun as they could possible stand, and then some. And- of course- they are already asking me when we can go back and do it again.