NaBloPoMo: Thirty Acts of Love: Day 30. Sunrise and Sunset

Love. It's everywhere you look. You can choose to embrace it, ignore it, or call it something else. But for me, it's the energy that makes the world keep turning around. It's the thing that calls me out of bed each day, and the thing that I think about when I fall asleep.

I'm surrounded by love. I hope we're all surrounded by love. Sometimes, I think we do a pretty crappy job of communicating that love, and that's why things like Newtown, the Boston Marathon bombing, and all the other horrible things are allowed to happen. Could someone really take their own life or someone else's if they realized the true value of each of them? If they really felt loved?

I also think the sunrise and sunset each day are an amazing show of love from the universe. Every. Single. Day - those two things happen. And I'm forever grateful.

Elaine


Day 1. The All Night Sewing Spree
Day 2. Package from a Friend
Day 3. For the Love of the Game
Day 4. Always There
Day 5. Ups and Downs
Day 6. Siblings
Day 7. Football and Money
Day 8. Theater
Day 9. Young Friends
Day 10. Playing Catch
Day 11. The Ugly Scarf
Day 12. I Love You
Day 13. Every Row
Day 14. You Look Good
Day 15. Fried Food and Friends
Day 16. Indoor Camping

Day 17. The Small Stuff

Day 18. Miami

Day 19. Minecraft 

Day 20. Repeating the Mantra

Day 21. Attended Stephen Kellogg's All Love, Future's Bright tour. No post - but much love.

Day 22. The Playground

Day 23. Dinner

Day 24. Moms Run This Town

Day 25. Adapting the Play

Day 26. The Driving

Day 27. Old Friends

Day 28. Bridge

Day 29. Big Kids and Little Kids at the Playground

NaBloPoMo: Thirty Acts of Love: Day 29. Big Kids and Little Kids at the Playground

My sister's children are in their teens. They could easily choose to graph their iGadgets and ignore Helen and Connor. But they don't. Instead, they always seem to find some way to make Helen and Connor feel special and loved. It's a lot of years to bridge!

Yesterday, we went bowling and today we headed to the park. All of the kids ran around the park and most played a raucous game of hide-and-go-seek. Connor and Emily are clearly the stealthiest of the bunch.

Day 1. The All Night Sewing Spree
Day 2. Package from a Friend
Day 3. For the Love of the Game
Day 4. Always There
Day 5. Ups and Downs
Day 6. Siblings
Day 7. Football and Money
Day 8. Theater
Day 9. Young Friends
Day 10. Playing Catch
Day 11. The Ugly Scarf
Day 12. I Love You
Day 13. Every Row
Day 14. You Look Good
Day 15. Fried Food and Friends
Day 16. Indoor Camping

Day 17. The Small Stuff

Day 18. Miami

Day 19. Minecraft 

Day 20. Repeating the Mantra

Day 21. Attended Stephen Kellogg's All Love, Future's Bright tour. No post - but much love.

Day 22. The Playground

Day 23. Dinner

Day 24. Moms Run This Town

Day 25. Adapting the Play

Day 26. The Driving

Day 27. Old Friends

Day 28. Bridge

NaBloPoMo: Thirty Acts of Love: Day 28. Bridge

My parents have played bridge (the card game) longer than I've been alive. I remember watching them play with curiosity. Several years ago, Ed and I decided to learn the game. We've had loads of fun, and only wish we knew more people who played. A huge bonus to the game is that now, when we get together with my parents, all 4 of us share a common interest - and we've played many a game well into the night. Thankfully, my parents follow up the late night game these days with an early morning for Connor and Helen so Ed and I can sleep.

There. Two acts of love, wrapped into one.

Elaine

Day 1. The All Night Sewing Spree
Day 2. Package from a Friend
Day 3. For the Love of the Game
Day 4. Always There
Day 5. Ups and Downs
Day 6. Siblings
Day 7. Football and Money
Day 8. Theater
Day 9. Young Friends
Day 10. Playing Catch
Day 11. The Ugly Scarf
Day 12. I Love You
Day 13. Every Row
Day 14. You Look Good
Day 15. Fried Food and Friends
Day 16. Indoor Camping

Day 17. The Small Stuff

Day 18. Miami

Day 19. Minecraft 

Day 20. Repeating the Mantra

Day 21. Attended Stephen Kellogg's All Love, Future's Bright tour. No post - but much love.

Day 22. The Playground

Day 23. Dinner

Day 24. Moms Run This Town

Day 25. Adapting the Play

Day 26. The Driving

Day 27. Old Friends

NaBloPoMo: Thirty Acts of Love: Day 27. Old Friends

Posting late on this one, but hat tip to my dear friend Martin, who drove out to visit me at my sister's home last night. It's always a joy to see him. I have never been near him without laughing. And last night, his step-daughter was able to join us and the laughter that came from the basement between her and my nieces was so much fun to hear. Can't wait to visit again!

Elaine

Day 1. The All Night Sewing Spree
Day 2. Package from a Friend
Day 3. For the Love of the Game
Day 4. Always There
Day 5. Ups and Downs
Day 6. Siblings
Day 7. Football and Money
Day 8. Theater
Day 9. Young Friends
Day 10. Playing Catch
Day 11. The Ugly Scarf
Day 12. I Love You
Day 13. Every Row
Day 14. You Look Good
Day 15. Fried Food and Friends
Day 16. Indoor Camping

Day 17. The Small Stuff

Day 18. Miami

Day 19. Minecraft 

Day 20. Repeating the Mantra

Day 21. Attended Stephen Kellogg's All Love, Future's Bright tour. No post - but much love.

Day 22. The Playground

Day 23. Dinner

Day 24. Moms Run This Town

Day 25. Adapting the Play

Day 26. The Driving

NaBloPoMo: Thirty Acts of Love: Day 26. The Driving

My dad has put a ridiculous number of miles on his car to move me from dwelling to dwelling or ferrying me from one place to another. It's nothing snort of ridiculous. But tonight, because his car is the only one in the family large enough to fit everyone in my family, he'll drive from Topeka to the airport in KC, then to my sister's house in the Southern suburbs of KC where he'll drop my crew off, and then back to Topeka. He insisted I not rent a car for this task. What can I say, but thanks.

Elaine

Day 1. The All Night Sewing Spree
Day 2. Package from a Friend
Day 3. For the Love of the Game
Day 4. Always There
Day 5. Ups and Downs
Day 6. Siblings
Day 7. Football and Money
Day 8. Theater
Day 9. Young Friends
Day 10. Playing Catch
Day 11. The Ugly Scarf
Day 12. I Love You
Day 13. Every Row
Day 14. You Look Good
Day 15. Fried Food and Friends
Day 16. Indoor Camping

Day 17. The Small Stuff

Day 18. Miami

Day 19. Minecraft 

Day 20. Repeating the Mantra

Day 21. Attended Stephen Kellogg's All Love, Future's Bright tour. No post - but much love.

Day 22. The Playground

Day 23. Dinner

Day 24. Moms Run This Town

Day 25. Adapting the Play

NaBloPoMo: Thirty Acts of Love: Day 25. Adapting the Play

Connor and Helen dream about decidedly different things. Helen likes families, happy endings, musical instruments, and her brother. Connor likes assassins, punching, legos, Star Wars, and his sister. Despite this, they can spend a lot of time with each other being completely happy. Just yesterday, Helen brought out the tinker toys and a doll house that looks like a tree stump. She was making useful things for the family of gnomes that lives in the doll house. Connor got involved and I heard stories of death and destruction and various Star Wars references. Then I heard Helen "maybe everything could just end happily" and "look, Connor, I built an instrument" and "fine, Connor, everyone can die, but then let's pretend everyone is fine". Connor put up with all of Helen's thematic diversions because he really does love it when someone will play with him for a long time.

Elaine

Day 1. The All Night Sewing Spree
Day 2. Package from a Friend
Day 3. For the Love of the Game
Day 4. Always There
Day 5. Ups and Downs
Day 6. Siblings
Day 7. Football and Money
Day 8. Theater
Day 9. Young Friends
Day 10. Playing Catch
Day 11. The Ugly Scarf
Day 12. I Love You
Day 13. Every Row
Day 14. You Look Good
Day 15. Fried Food and Friends

Day 16. Indoor Camping

Day 17. The Small Stuff

Day 18. Miami

Day 19. Minecraft 

Day 20. Repeating the Mantra

Day 21. Attended Stephen Kellogg's All Love, Future's Bright tour. No post - but much love.

Day 22. The Playground

Day 23. Dinner

Day 24. Moms Run This Town

NaBloPoMo: Thirty Acts of Love: Day 24. Moms Run This Town

My fitness goal for next year is to run a half marathon, and I'm hoping to do it in 8 minute miles. This is a ridiculously crazy goal for me, because not only have I never run this far, I have never run even close to this fast. My longest timed run, to date, was back in 2004 when I ran 7 miles in the Topeka Tinman Triathlon. My fastest run that was officially timed was a 5K back in May when I ran 8:43 minute miles.

After deciding my first attempt at a half marathon would be the Rock and Roll half in March, I spent a while trying to figure out how I was going to meet my goal. A friend of mine who is an ultramarathoner volunteered to pace me which has been extremely motivating. I DO NOT want him to give up a morning for me if I am not prepared. I think I owe him that much.

I decided I needed to do two things to get faster and be able to run farther. First, I needed better motivation to run regularly. I will not be able to run 13.1 miles without a significant amount of training. Sadly, I am finding it very difficult to motivate myself.

Second, I decided I needed to figure out what stride I will use. I recently read Born to Run, which makes me fearful of my classic heel-toe stride. However, I have ultimately decided that I'm going to stick with the shoes I bought last Spring and hope that I don't injure myself. I will be devastated if I train and get hurt and can't run in March.

I think I have also solved my motivation problem. Last March when Ed and I completed the St. Pat's Day 8K, I saw several women wearing "Moms Run This Town" shirts, which I thought was an incredibly clever name for a running group. As it turns out, there are chapters of this group all over the area, including one in Alexandria / Arlington which has several members within a few blocks of me. Last Friday, I joined 7 members at the high school track a few blocks away at 5:45 and ran 4 miles. On Saturday, another member of the group met me at 6:00 AM, took me on a 4.5 mile run, running 8 minute miles the whole way. Both times, the women I have been with have been an amazing source of support.

I'm starting to believe I'm going to meet my goal. And I already love these women who pass me on the track with their words of encouragement, and give me that extra bit of motivation to get out there and train.

Elaine

Day 1. The All Night Sewing Spree
Day 2. Package from a Friend
Day 3. For the Love of the Game
Day 4. Always There
Day 5. Ups and Downs
Day 6. Siblings
Day 7. Football and Money
Day 8. Theater
Day 9. Young Friends
Day 10. Playing Catch
Day 11. The Ugly Scarf
Day 12. I Love You
Day 13. Every Row
Day 14. You Look Good
Day 15. Fried Food and Friends

Day 16. Indoor Camping

Day 17. The Small Stuff

Day 18. Miami

Day 19. Minecraft 

Day 20. Repeating the Mantra

Day 21. Attended Stephen Kellogg's All Love, Future's Bright tour. No post - but much love.

Day 22. The Playground

Day 23. Dinner

NaBloPoMo: Thirty Acts of Love: Day 23. Dinner

I know this is on the wrong day, but time got away from me last night and I did want to post an act of love for November 23.

Before Ed and I had children, we enjoyed cooking. We regularly would spend a fair amount of time just to prepare a nice dinner.

We don't cook elaborate meals very often these days. Mostly, it's because our schedules have shifted so much. Dinner happens at 5:30 and if we miss it then - the next best time is around 8:30 when the kids are asleep. I can't eat that late without consequence. And, even if I am rocking it and able to throw something nice together for the 5:30 dinner bell, at least one - possibly two eaters are likely to have negative feedback for me. It doesn't make cooking that pleasant.

A few months ago, a friend came over with her boyfriend and he literally kicked Ed and me out of the kitchen and set to work making an amazing meal as we wound down the evening with the kids. Then we had a lovely evening on the deck, which provided the inspiration to reignite supper club.

And so it is, that we now gather regularly with friends and share stories, food, and much laughter. It's a reminder that cooking can be a great show of love.

Thank you, friends. I think these dinners mean more to me than anyone else.

Elaine

Day 1. The All Night Sewing Spree
Day 2. Package from a Friend
Day 3. For the Love of the Game
Day 4. Always There
Day 5. Ups and Downs
Day 6. Siblings
Day 7. Football and Money
Day 8. Theater
Day 9. Young Friends
Day 10. Playing Catch
Day 11. The Ugly Scarf
Day 12. I Love You
Day 13. Every Row
Day 14. You Look Good
Day 15. Fried Food and Friends

Day 16. Indoor Camping

Day 17. The Small Stuff

Day 18. Miami

Day 19. Minecraft 

Day 20. Repeating the Mantra

Day 21. Attended Stephen Kellogg's All Love, Future's Bright tour. No post - but much love.

Day 22. The Playground

NaBloPoMo: Thirty Acts of Love: Day 22. The Playground

Helen loves playing the role of mom. She told me a few weeks ago that when they play family at school she always wants to be the mom. Why? Because the mom is the one who gets to boss everyone else around. My response? That's why I love it, too.

Out of class, Helen also likes to be a little mom. Today we met friends from school at the playground and one of her classmate's little brothers was there. Helen and her friend G. could not mother that kid enough. According to Helen, it was crazy on the tennis court, so she and G. made sure S. was safe. They told the other kids to give him some space.

They also practiced picking him up, and when G. did what Helen thought was a particularly dangerous move, Helen ushered S. away from her so that he didn't try and do it, too.

She really does love little kids.

She also loves bossing people around.

Elaine

P.S. It's not that no acts of love happened yesterday. It's just that I failed to record any of them early in the day and I was at Stephen Kellogg's "All Love, Future's Bright" tour. Not only did Ed and I arrive early enough that we were standing on the rail at the 9:30 Club, we stayed until the very end of the show. I was considering trying to snag the set list off the stage, but lucky for me, a drunk next to me decided to do this first. It's rather impressive how quickly 9:30 Club security can descend on an area, get the set list out of a drunk person's hand, and prevent any further ruckus. I would not have had the explanation of being drunk, so I'm very thankful for whatever voice in my head prevented me from pulling the move first.


Day 1. The All Night Sewing Spree
Day 2. Package from a Friend
Day 3. For the Love of the Game
Day 4. Always There
Day 5. Ups and Downs
Day 6. Siblings
Day 7. Football and Money
Day 8. Theater
Day 9. Young Friends
Day 10. Playing Catch
Day 11. The Ugly Scarf
Day 12. I Love You
Day 13. Every Row
Day 14. You Look Good
Day 15. Fried Food and Friends

Day 16. Indoor Camping

Day 17. The Small Stuff

Day 18. Miami

Day 19. Minecraft 

Day 20. Repeating the Mantra

Day 21. Attended Stephen Kellogg's All Love, Future's Bright tour. No post - but much love.

 

Pets: Inspired by Buddy: How a Rooster Made Me a Man

I have grown to understand that there are "pet people" and there are "not pet people". My feet are firmly planted in the second group, though I think I understand at least a little bit about people in the former group. It seems everyone around me (outside my immediate family) is a "pet person". They all have dogs, cats, or sometimes even both. I'm afraid of cats and I'm confident they would ruin the sheer curtains in my home, so I have never even seriously considered acquiring one. Occasionally, I think I should get the kids a dog, because admittedly, they bring a lot of joy into the house.

But along with that joy? It absolutely overwhelms me to think of remembering to buy food, take a walk, feed the dog, get the dog clean water, hire someone to take care of the dog when I'm out of town, etc. And as I was reading "Buddy: How a Rooster Made Me a Man", I think I finally realized that dog people don't think at all about what I see as major inconveniences.

Instead, dog people think about the unconditional love from a pet, the satisfaction of fulfilling a need, the getting out int he neighborhood and finding new purpose. This still astounds me. But the more I thought about it, the more I thought about how I view a lot of things through a lens of "how inconvenient is this?". And it strikes me that although time pressure is probably the thing that haunts me most, it's probably not the healthiest lens to view things through. 

And so, in honor of McGrory and all the dog lovers out there, I'm going to try changing how I prioritize considerations of new things. I'm going to move up the value of possible adventure and love in my decision tree. Or at least I'm going to try! But no, I will not be running out to purchase a dog, or a rooster, or a cat, or...

Elaine

Disclosure: This post was inspired by Buddy: How a Rooster Made Me a Man, a memoir by Brian McGrory. Join From Left to Write on November 21 as we discuss Buddy: How a Rooster Made Me a Man.  As a member, I received a copy of the book.

NaBloPoMo: Thirty Acts of Love: Day 20. Repeating the Mantra Back

I make no bones about it, I want a woman President. Now, I don't want a woman President so badly that I would vote for someone just because she was a woman. But I do want a woman President badly enough that I would be happy to have a woman President even if I didn't support her. I just cringe to think about raising a daughter in a place where a woman has never been considered the top dog!

Because I live in a very politically minded place, talk of Presidential runs tends to be prevalent even when we haven't made it to midterms. Our home is polled constantly. And so it is, that I regularly talk to Helen about how much we need to have a woman for President.

She agrees, of course. She's six. It's very difficult to make a coherent argument to a strong-willed six year old that she ought to be excluded from anything, let alone something as important as the Presidency. My side of the argument is easy.

Helen and I high-five about the prospect of another run by Hillary Clinton. I promise to take Helen with me as we knock on doors begging people to vote for our gal. We're going to tell them what Hillary will do for our country and we're also going to tell them how meaningful her victory will be to little girls everywhere. We're going to offer to drive them up to the local elementary school to vote, and we're going to stand in front of that same school with signs letting people know what a victory would mean. My excitement will likely carry Helen.

And it is no small thing to me when I come home and Ed mentions that he put the phone on speaker earlier in the day so the kids could help answer political questions. Immediately, Helen clued into what was going on and asked Ed "who is it that Mommy says we need to support?" and support her, she did.

Thank you, Helen, for letting that pollster know where I stand. I hope you enjoy standing with me as long as it takes. My offer of the first round of drinks is still on - though I do hope you're too young to drink alcohol and we can share a hot cocoa instead.

Elaine

Day 1. The All Night Sewing Spree
Day 2. Package from a Friend
Day 3. For the Love of the Game
Day 4. Always There
Day 5. Ups and Downs
Day 6. Siblings
Day 7. Football and Money
Day 8. Theater
Day 9. Young Friends
Day 10. Playing Catch
Day 11. The Ugly Scarf
Day 12. I Love You
Day 13. Every Row
Day 14. You Look Good
Day 15. Fried Food and Friends

Day 16. Indoor Camping

Day 17. The Small Stuff

Day 18. Miami

Day 19. Minecraft

NaBloPoMo: Thirty Acts of Love: Day 19. Minecraft

In what can only be described as an act of love, Ed and I agreed to let Connor purchase Minecraft tonight. He fell in love with it instantly. Hopefully this doesn't end up being another thing that breeds resentment when Connor wants to play and Ed and I want him to do anything except play.

Elaine

Day 1. The All Night Sewing Spree
Day 2. Package from a Friend
Day 3. For the Love of the Game
Day 4. Always There
Day 5. Ups and Downs
Day 6. Siblings
Day 7. Football and Money
Day 8. Theater
Day 9. Young Friends
Day 10. Playing Catch
Day 11. The Ugly Scarf
Day 12. I Love You
Day 13. Every Row
Day 14. You Look Good
Day 15. Fried Food and Friends

Day 16. Indoor Camping

Day 17. The Small Stuff

Day 18. Miami

NaBloPoMo: Thirty Acts of Love: Day 18. Miami

Several women in my mom's group have been quite enthusiastic about planning a trip. I have been less than enthusiastic, in part because I already go away with friends at least once a year, sometimes more. It just doesn't seem fair to get more vacations than everyone else in the house. Also, I'm in the midst of planning a different reunion with friends, and I'm not sure I have the bandwidth to think about two similar events.

But I have to hand it to Marya. Despite pessimism from more than me (including the person the trip is allegedly supposed to honor), she has not looked back and recently sent an email announcing the date. That's dedication - and love.

And as such, it's impossible not to respond to. See you at the beach! I've already scouted flights and they're not that expensive. Woohoo!

Elaine

Day 1. The All Night Sewing Spree
Day 2. Package from a Friend
Day 3. For the Love of the Game
Day 4. Always There
Day 5. Ups and Downs
Day 6. Siblings
Day 7. Football and Money
Day 8. Theater
Day 9. Young Friends
Day 10. Playing Catch 
Day 11. The Ugly Scarf
Day 12. I Love You
Day 13. Every Row
Day 14. You Look Good
Day 15. Fried Food and Friends

Day 16. Indoor Camping

Day 17. The Small Stuff