I've stated before that the month of August is like one long Sunday. The closer we get to Labor Day the more this holds true. I feel like each day is an hour and the light and air are already changing. The arrival of Hurricane Irene on the East Coast this weekend has ushered in cooler winds and I can't help but think of bright blue September skies and the golden light of fall. The end of a season always feels like something ominous is lurking just around the next corner. The skeptical New Englander in me comes forward and doesn't like what might be new and different just around the bend. The unexpected new elements of a season (*shakes fist at climate change*) do not put me at ease. I get comfortable in the present season and my fight to keep winter and its colder temperatures at arms … [Read more...]
A Week with Soucy
TD went off to camp this week (I still get nervous each time I think of it) and that means a week with The Comedian as the big girl in the house. It's been a blessing and a blast. We've had quiet story time (something she normally doesn't sit through), taken in a puppet show and Recess Monkey concert. We had a picnic at Wolf Trap, spent mornings rockin' to the White Stripes and cuddled.Even better I have realized that without her Chatty Cathy big sister around The Comedian can have some actual conversations. I told her she was a ham and she said, "I'm no ham. I Soucy-Ham!" It's been a really good week. … [Read more...]
Back to School
New Shoes? Check. Purple nail polish, hair bow and socks? Check.Lunch box with non-nut snack included? Check. Incessant whining about not being able to watch Super Why! and Curious George this morning? Check. A two hour absence of answering questions like, "Why is that an umbrella?" CHECK! Future as a hand-sign throwing sorority girl or gang member? A high possibility. … [Read more...]
On Life, Death and Our Children
I have never felt so inadequate or so much like an adult as when I attended my friend's mothers funeral a few weeks ago. I was alone in attending and unlike other funerals I didn't have my grandmother, or my father or my husband to lean on. As I sat there listening to my friend and her sister eulogize their mother with such tremendous poise and grace I felt that we were passing into a new phase of our lives that needed plenty past life healing. Our parents are dying now. We have officially grown up. Then I thought back to my childhood and remembered a few of my school friends whose parents passed away due to long illnesses while we were still in grade school. In first grade I celebrated my birthday with cupcakes at 8 a.m. so that the whole class could attend a fellow classmates fathers … [Read more...]