Da Goddess

As some of you may recall, Orthodox Easter isn’t always the same day as “Western” Easter, so this year we get TWO!!!

For those of you celebrating Easter with most of the world, Happy Easter! May the bunny bring you many yummy treats.

For the Orthodox amongst us, we’ll be back to do this again in May.

Thanks,

I will, too.

I will tear it down.

Down, I say!

Unless you bring me cute, cuddly animals.

Sadly, my dad didn’t, and his apple tree is GONE!

LD and I spent the day taking down the tree yesterday. Two huge trash bins were filled up with branches and the trunk and there’s still a stump to take care of.

All day out in the sun. No sunburn. Not even any tan lines. I am a freak of nature, apparently.

I guess I’ve become so pale that I simply reflect the light.

Gah.

If I told you what it was, you still probably wouldn’t believe me.

Just some odd musings, spurred on mostly through conversations about kids with

Loving is what’s gut-wrenching. Motherhood/fatherhood/parenthood are just words. It’s the love that makes life exciting. What’s that quote from Parenthood? Gil and the grandmother are talking… (thank God for IMDB!!)

Grandma: You know, when I was nineteen, Grandpa took me on a roller coaster.
Gil: Oh?
Grandma: Up, down, up, down. Oh, what a ride!
Gil: What a great story.
Grandma: I always wanted to go again. You know, it was just so interesting to me that a ride could make me so frightened, so scared, so sick, so excited, and so thrilled all together! Some didn’t like it. They went on the merry-go-round. That just goes around. Nothing. I like the roller coaster. You get more out of it.

Once you give your heart away, you worry a little bit about whether or not it’ll come back. It does. But not in the way you think. It comes back to you in the form of love from others. It’s a great big game of give and take. You give a little, you gain a little.

Still, you worry about the pieces of your heart you’ve given away. With our children, they become walking, talking whirlwinds that careen about, bumping and bruising the heart with each fall, every tear. You can’t help but hurt along with them.

Sometimes you almost wish you could take your heart back…only for a little bit. Just to catch your breath. Just to have a moment where you don’t feel it beating out of your chest. But then, after a while, you learn your heart only gets stronger because of the journey it’s taken with those who’ve held your love so very close them.

When you realize that, you kind of learn to love the adventure.

My beautiful girl and I hung out yesterday and went through photos. I’ve scanned a few (just cuz I can) and figured I’d share them here.

First one: taken May 30, 1994. I’d just moved back to San Diego after living in Colorado for 4 years. I returned home to my family with the best bonus ever: Mojo!

I’m so grateful for the time we have together. She is truly the most precious young woman in the world. She’s smart, beautiful, funny, and oh-so-weird. All too soon she’ll be heading off for basic training and I will miss her terribly. I’m proud as hell, but I will miss her.

The day started off so nicely, too! Breakfast with my dad and my daughter. Running to the store with Mojo after breakfast. Looking through photos with her. Smiling so much, my cheeks hurt.

Now? I’m just so…IDUNNO…I bit all the heads off my Peeps.

Of course, that makes me want more Peeps to tear into.

And I’m not even hungry! I just want to rip marshmallowy animals apart.

I think there may be something wrong with me.

This young man’s work is inspiring to me!

Meaning, I’m not dead yet.

I lived through the most recent sinus thing, even though there were times when I thought I’d rather not. I should be used to sinusy ailments by now. At 46, I’ve had approximately 10,000 sinus infections — or something near that number. It never ceases to surprise me when it happens, though. Le Sigh.

On to better things!

Like woo in a canoe!

Also, I find it disturbing that the thrift store was trying to charge $47 for a pair of pants that are barely worth $4.70. In other words, I did NOT buy them.

Okay, the item in the photo is indicated by the white arrow.

And now you know.

I’ll try to come up with more “guess what this is” posts if you’re up to playing them. Once a week sound good?

Yes, I am holding an ice bag to my head in hopes that whatever small animal that crawled into my left maxillary sinus would get too cold and evacuate said space. I am miserable. The ice helps only a bit. The cough and cold medicine helps some. Positioning helps on occasion. Mostly, the hammer I’m about to attack my face with seems to have more promise than anything else in ridding me of this God-awful pain.

In the meantime, there’s another post about to appear that should keep you busy for 45 seconds. After that, you should probably start sending money and flowers to cover my funeral expenses.

Thank you.

It’s been lovely.

Except for the sinus stuff.

What a beautiful story!

Thank you for this, Pam.

I’ve always said music is a special language and a healing one at that.

Guess whose photos are on the cover?

G’on. Guess.

Yup. (more…)

Any guesses as to what this is?

Ah yes, those crazy little wing-ed (cuz it has to be said that way) bits of silliness and their teeny weeny voices.

That’s what my dad uses to dry his t-shirts.

I say this because he doesn’t care for the way I dry his shirts when I do laundry. They get too dry. So he opts for the gentle breaths of miniscule creatures as they toss and tumble his clothing in the air setting (which I didn’t even realize we had on the dryer until I got set straight). Things end up slightly less than sopping wet. From there, we stretch and hang his shirts.

Were that the fairies actually did the drying instead of wasting the electricity to run the dryer to NOT dry things.

Sigh.

Grown men.