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Our Lily girl has become quite interested in space. Well, that's really quite an understatement. Lily has become fascinated with planets, asteroids, astronauts, space travel...you get the picture.
Last night Tony, Lily, and I were outside looking at the night sky. Right now, Jupiter and Venus are easily visible with the naked eye. While we were discussing how neat it was to be able to see the planets I mentioned how cool it would be to see the planets up close through a telescope. Lily quickly piped in, "I bet Dad Dad has a much better view than we do!"
I bet he does, too!
Today was Lily's 100th day in kindergarten. Can you believe it???? I know I can't!!!
It seems like just yesterday we were taking Lily to her very first day! I really didn't think I...um...I mean Lily...would survive!!
How can 100 school days already have passed??? How can Lily have more days of kindergarten behind her than in front of her??? I truly don't know!
What I do know is that Lily was *SUPER* excited to go to school today. In fact, that's quite an understatement. Lily has been so looking forward to her 100th day of school we have been keeping a little count down on our kitchen door...because the one at school just wasn't enough!!
As part of their 100th day celebration Lily had to bring in 100 of something. Our sweet girl agonized over what to bring. I did my best to help guide Lily's choices (because, you know, 100 cinder blocks would be kinda heavy to carry to school!), but it was Lily who finally came up with the idea of 100 foam shapes. Thank God! Nice and light and all 100 fit in a Zip-loc sandwich bag!!! Woo Hoo!!! I must confess I felt even better when I saw several of Lily's classmates arriving with overflowing lawn and leaf bags!
When Lily wasn't worrying about what 100 things to bring to school she was worrying about what hairstyle to wear. Because, you know, how you wear your hair to your 100th day of school is of UTMOST importance!!
Finally, Lily decided that she wanted to wear her hair "in a side pony". The fact that Lily's hair isn't long enough for that style was positively inconsequential!!
I thought Lily was pretty excited when I dropped her off at school this morning...that was until I picked her up!!
Oh my, what a ton of fun they had celebrating their 100th day of school!!!
When I put Lily to bed tonight she said, "I can't wait for tomorrow. You know, it's my hundred and oneth day of school!!"
Have I mentioned lately how incredibly much I love this precious child?!?!
Yesterday marked 3 months since Dad died. How can that possibly be??? I miss him so terribly much. Sometimes I still find that I truly can't breathe. It's as if for some reason my body suddenly realizes - as if for the first time - that Dad is really gone.
Don't worry. I'm not completely crazy...only half! It's true. Since Dad died I've had some really bad days and some really good days...and sometimes both occur in the exact same day!
Yesterday I woke up missing Dad. One of the first thoughts that crossed my mind was, "I've gotta call Dad." Nothing new there. Up until November 15th I had never gone 3 days - much less 3 months - without talking to Dad. In fact, Dad and I normally spoke daily. Some days it would just be a quick, "Hi. How are you?" other days it would be a long, laugh-filled, storytelling session. Either way it always brought me such peace to just hear his sweet voice.
Yesterday afternoon Lily and I ran out to Dad's so I could do a quick errand. After we left Dad's we stopped at a little restaurant nearby for a late lunch. The waitress who waited on us was a waitress that used to work at the restaurant where Mom, Dad, Tony, and I had breakfast on Sunday mornings years and years ago.
Rita, the waitress, and I looked at each other a few minutes before we could remember where we knew each other from. Rita told me that she had heard that Mom died "several years ago" and couldn't believe it when I told her it had been over 9 years. Naturally, the next thing Rita asked was how was Dad. When I told Rita that Dad had died her eyes quickly filled with tears and in the course of talking about what had happened to Dad Rita shared that her husband's best friend had just died the day before after a brief but terrible illness.
As soon as Rita said her husband's best friend's name my ears started ringing and the tears began flowing. You see, it's not a name you hear frequently. However, it was a name we heard daily in our home when I was growing up - the name of Mary Beth's high school/college sweetheart.
To refer to Booty as simply Mary Beth's high school/college sweetheart does him a huge disservice. Booty was so much more than that - he was truly part of our family. Booty was at our house much more than he was ever at his own. He is part of so many of my favorite childhood memories. Mom and Dad adored Booty...we all did.
As it turned out Booty was not the "right" guy for Mary Beth. However, I do think he was definitely the right first boyfriend. Booty wasn't perfect, but he did set the bar pretty high for how a boy should treat a girl. That not only made a lasting impression on Mary Beth...but on me and Patti too.
When Mary Beth called off her engagement to Booty I was *FURIOUS* with her. Truly. In fact, I seriously thought I would never speak to Mary Beth again. Not only that, I planned to keep her engagement ring, marry Booty, and not invite Mary Beth to the wedding! I only wish I were kidding!! I was so angry at Mary Beth I vowed to never like another guy she dated. Ever. Of course, that was before Mary Beth met Ed! I mean, how could you not like Ed????
As I sat there in the restaurant with tears flowing I felt so bad for poor Rita. She had absolutely no way of knowing that I knew Booty and that my tears were not only for him...but for Mom and Dad...for childhood memories...for time that sometimes moves too fast...and for some days that are just harder than others.
We had a wonderful Valentine's Day filled with fun and love.
Keri, the woman who made Valentine's cookies for me last year and who made cookies for Clare's bridal shower, made cookies for us again this year. Keri made a heart cookie with the name of each of Lily's classmates. Lily was *SO* excited to bring them to school. She was proud as a little peacock.
Today was a "dress down" day at Lily's school for Valentine's Day. Lily actually LOVES to wear her uniform, but today she was excited to wear her heart shirt...even if it is about 2 sizes too small!!
When Lily came home from school today she was positively on Cloud 9. Lily couldn't wait to share with me all of the Valentine's she received from her friends. Of course, the other reason Lily was so excited is that she had a very special lunch date planned this afternoon - lunch with her cousin James. It was a very fancy lunch of heart-shaped peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
Lily and James have such a fun, crazy, LOUD relationship! Honestly. James brings out a decibel level in Lily we only hear when he's in the vicinity.
Speaking of decibel levels, for Valentine's Day James gave Lily a stuffed talking dog. I plan to remember his thoughtfulness if/when James has children!
Tonight we had a quiet dinner at home. It was a veritable gourmet feast ;-) of salad, breadsticks, and individual heart-shaped pizzas. During dinner Lily said, "Mommy, this dinner tastes like a real chef made it." How cute is she????
We had planned to have fondue for dessert. Fondue has become our annual New Year's Eve and Valentine's dessert...but not tonight. After our "chef prepared" dinner Lily said she was too full for dessert and could we have fondue another night. I can't lie, you could've knocked me over with a feather!! Turns out Lily wasn't too full to eat one of her personalized Valentine's cookies!
Daddy gave Lily a beautiful music/treasure box for Valentine's Day. Lily absolutely LOVES it! Lily loves to collect little things. I just can't wait to see what little treasures she fills this box with!
Tony also gave me two pairs of beautiful earrings and a beautiful bookmark. Not bad for a holiday where we don't exchange gifts!!
Oh, and I'm not sure if I should mention this or not...but the flowers Tony sent me and Lily for Valentine's Day migrated south. The florist delivered the flowers to Laura and Rich's house instead of our house! The few times Lily and I have gone to Richmond without Tony he has sent us "Miss You" flowers. I'm guessing that's how the florist made the mistake. Suffice it to say that Tony didn't find it nearly as humorous as I did!
On Friday night Tony and I attended our very first Parent-Teacher conference at Lily's school.
The teachers' report on Lily was positively glowing. It's obvious that they love Lily as much as she loves them. I can't tell you how happy that makes us!
I'm certain that Parent-Teacher conferences in the future may not always go so smoothly...but for now we'll definitely take it!
Tony and I still can't believe that Lily is old enough for us to be attending a Parent-Teacher Conference on Friday night and then be sitting front and center when the Chinese Lion Dancers come calling on Saturday. Our baby is growing up so, so fast!!
Days - 15, Parties - 5, Dragon Cakes - 3, Celebrating Chinese New Year - Priceless!
I'm not going to lie...these 15 days holidays take their toll on this old mama! Doesn't matter. I wouldn't change it for the world! We have so much fun celebrating Chinese New Year.
You want to know what was the most fun for me this Chinese New Year??? Making dumplings with Lily. She was really, really into it. And, as you might imagine, making 300+ dumplings takes quite a bit of time and I need all the willing hands I can get!!
Lily has been with me many times when I've made dumplings with my friends. In the past the only thing Lily's been interested in doing is eating the raw dumpling wrappers. This time Lily wanted to pretend she was "one of the big girls" and sat at the table with me and we "discussed" important things like how our children are doing in school while we wrapped dumplings. Let's just say Lily has paid close attention to the conversations my friends and I have had in the past. Oh, and Lily really is quite creative and imaginative...and apparently her children are quite a handful!!
I wish I had taken pictures of Lily making dumplings, but it really is a messy process and my hands were not camera ready! I must confess, I am so happy that Lily now likes to make dumplings. Our girlfriend is a serious dumpling eating machine. You would be shocked!
One of the parties we had to celebrate CNY was with Lily's girlfriends. Lily and her friends had so much fun! They made dragon masks, jumped on bubble wrap "fire crackers", and marvelled at Lily's chopstick skills. Lily absolutely *LOVED* that. Lily feigned surprise that all her friends couldn't eat with chopsticks and then proceeded to act like she eats every meal with them! It was very funny to watch the little chopstick power struggle.
Lily and I discussed that the next time the Year of the Dragon rolled around she would be a senior in high school. Lily quickly asked that I make the blue dragon cake for her Chinese New Year party when she's a senior because it was her favorite. I hope in 12 years I actually remember to tell Lily that she wanted me to make her a blue dragon cake to take to school!
I was planning to post about our Chinese New Year celebrations, but that can wait until tomorrow night. Tonight I want to share with you this beautiful piece written by Mary Catherine.
The Quiet Man
Over the past several weeks we've begun the difficult task of emptying the contents of Mom and Dad's house. It's heartbreaking. Truly.
How can you divide a lifetime into "Keep", "Sell", "Donate", and "Trash"? It's proving to be almost impossible.
3346 is so much more to me...to all of us...than bricks and mortar. It's our childhood. It's our past. It's the canvas to so much of our shared story. It's our home.
I have so many, many memories...
- Sledding down the slope of the driveway that runs down along the side of the house thinking it was Mt. Everest.
- The "forest" in the back of the yard that I was afraid Indians would come out of and attack Dad while he worked in the garden.
- Taking a walk around "the circle" and thinking it was a big adventure.
- Mom standing in the hallway leading to our bedrooms saying our nightly prayers.
- Hennessey
- Christmas dinners.
- Sharing a bedroom with Mary Beth and then Patti.
- Running over the mailbox with the lawnmower.
- Memorial Day picnics.
- Crab feasts in the backyard.
- Dad feeding all the birds for miles and miles.
- The rainbow painted on my bedroom wall.
- Sleeping out in the backyard.
- The huge Christmas wreath that hung in our front window.
- Dad using scaffolding to put Christmas lights on the two front pine trees.
- Patti and I using that scaffolding for "gymnastics lessons."
- The four of us walking to the top of the neighborhood to wait for Dad to come home from his business trips.
- Family dinners.
- Raking leaves...lots and lots of leaves.
- Dad making built-in cabinets out of old church pews.
- Our little log cabin playhouse.
- Sneaking out my bedroom window.
- Dad putting salt blocks out for the deer.
- Tree forts.
- Snowmen wearing grass skirts.
- Doodles
And the list could go on and on...
There has been positively no acrimony in the division of Mom and Dad's possessions. Absolutely none. I know Mom and Dad would expect nothing less.
What I realize is that we really haven't been dividing up "things"...we've been dividing up memories. You know, more like...Is it okay if I take Dad's favorite coffee mug?...Does anybody care if I take Mom and Dad's Nativity set?...Oh, I remember Dad wearing this hat to every Colt game. Can I have it?
There was a time when I thought I would buy Mom and Dad's house when I was a "grown up". Now that I am a grown up (sort of) I find I don't really want the house. It's just that I really don't want anyone outside the family to have it either.
I haven't lived at 3346 for more than 25 years. It doesn't matter. It's still home. It always has been. It always will be. And, right now, I'm terribly homesick.
