Perfect Moment Monday: Joie de vivre

Perfect Moment Monday is about noticing a perfect moment rather than creating one. Perfect moments can be momentous or ordinary or somewhere in between.

Once a week we engage in mindfulness about something that is right with our world. Everyone is welcome to join. Details on how to participate are at the bottom of this post, complete with bloggy bling.

Please visit the links of the participants at the bottom.

Here's a perfect moment from my week. I hope you'll share yours, too.

====================================
I drove Tessa and Reed over the Colorado mountains to pick up their Dad after his day of skiing, and for the four of us to continue on to the western part of the state to visit my sister and her family.

We headed into the mountains, leaving the metro area behind us. Twenty-five minutes into the drive, just past this shrine, Reed, wide-eyed with wonder, piped up from the back seat.

"Mom," he said earnestly, "The world is so beautiful. I am so glad to be alive! Aren't you?"
.
.
.
(let that sink in. it was glorious, being reminded of all the beauty around me, physically and spiritually.)
.
.
.
Oh, yes, Reed. Moments like these, seeing through your eyes, moving through life with you and your sister and your dad...yes I'm ecstatic to be alive.

(Five miles later I was back to "Quit fighting with each other -- don't make me stop this car!")

We've got to take these moments when we get these moments.
====================================
To participate in Perfect Moment Monday:

1. Between Sunday night and Tuesday night, write up your own Perfect Moment in a blog post, on Twitter, on Facebook, or simply leave a comment below.
2. Grab the URL of your Perfect Moment.
3. Use MckLinky below to enter your (or your blog's) name and the URL of your Perfect Moment
4. Visit the Perfect Moments of others (from the links below), and let the writers know you were there.

Once you make a Perfect Moment post , you may place this button on your blog.

I Capture
Perfect Moments.

What Perfect Moment have you recently been aware of? Be sure to visit these moments and share the love, and please come back next week (click to subscribe).






.

Show & Tell: Science project

Subtitle: How I ended up on the N0Fly List.

Reed, Grade 1, had his first Minds at Work Exhibition.

It was 99% self-directed (I insisted he change his focus from "weapons" to "military weapons") and 99% completed by Reed himself (I wrote the answers he gathered through an interview with his uncle so he could copy them; I googled for images). He was to choose a topic and run with it, resulting in a tri-part board that reflects his vision of his project.

Which turned out like this.

Click to enlarge

I'm hoping I can still get on airplanes, and worrying that men in black will arrive at my door to take me away. So if I should suddenly disappear, look for my habeas corpus at Guan.tanamo.

See the cool stuff my classmates are showing and telling over at Mel's Show & Tell.





.

Perfect Moment Monday: Contact

Perfect Moment Monday is about noticing a perfect moment rather than creating one. Perfect moments can be momentous or ordinary or somewhere in between.

Once a week we engage in mindfulness about something that is right with our world. Everyone is welcome to join. Details on how to participate are at the bottom of this post, complete with bloggy bling.

Please visit the links of the participants at the bottom.

Here's a perfect moment from my week. I hope you'll share yours, too.

====================================
Reed's first mother moved out of state three years ago, and has since gotten married and had two children. We hear from her sporadically, not often. Life is busy for her with a toddler and a newborn.

Still, it makes me sad to see Reed's heart sink when he doesn't get a response to his voicemail or email messages to her.

This weekend we got an email from her saying that she'd been visiting family in our area, but due to the flu (her son came down with it), she was unable to put us on her schedule.

She sent photos of her family, her 2 year old son and her 6 month old daughter -- Reed's half-siblings. He was so excited to see proof of his big-brothership!

I know I have no control over this, but my wish for 2010 would be for Reed to have more contact with his first parents.

Putting it out to the Universe. Thanks for this perfect moment for him, and, greedy mom that I am, I ask for more.

Image: EdgewaterTech
====================================
To participate in Perfect Moment Monday:

1. Between Sunday night and Tuesday night, write up your own Perfect Moment in a blog post, on Twitter, on Facebook, or simply leave a comment below.
2. Grab the URL of your Perfect Moment.
3. Use MckLinky below to enter your (or your blog's) name and the URL of your Perfect Moment
4. Visit the Perfect Moments of others (from the links below), and let the writers know you were there.

Once you make a Perfect Moment post , you may place this button on your blog.

I Capture
Perfect Moments.

What Perfect Moment have you recently been aware of? Be sure to visit these moments and share the love, and please come back next week (click to subscribe).





.

Perfect Moment Monday: Smashed

Perfect Moment Monday is about noticing a perfect moment rather than creating one. Perfect moments can be momentous or ordinary or somewhere in between.

Once a week we engage in mindfulness about something that is right with our world. Everyone is welcome to join. Details on how to participate are at the bottom of this post, complete with bloggy bling.

Please visit the links of the participants at the bottom.

Here's a perfect moment from my week. I hope you'll share yours, too.

====================================
The Wii brought a gleeful perfect moment to my son, Reed. He spent all of Christmas morning plotting just exactly how this new addition would change his life. He angled to get the Wii set up in the basement, where he and Tessa have their DVDs and old-style game system set up (not quite Atari, but close).

When I told him that the Wii would be set up in the family room -- the room where Daddy watches sports and where Mom works -- his plans for unfettered access were dashed. He heaped all his frustration and anger on me, yelling how now he'd NEVER get to play and then huffing up to his room. I think he may have accused me of ruining his life.

For newcomers to this blog, let me spell out that Reed is ultra-uber-super-duper sweet. Watching him pull a Tessa -- well, it was hard to keep a straight face. Still, my heart ached for him and his disappointment.

Daddy went up to talk with Reed and explain the placement of the Wii. Soon, all was right in the world again. Reed apologized to me for yelling and "being mean."

Roger pulled me aside and surreptitiously brought me up to Reed's room. In the time Reed was there sulking, he drew this picture of me on the side of a box:
Roger had asked Reed what it was. "Mommy in a smasher." See the boulder-smashers? See the arrows showing the smashers crushing Mommy?

Maybe some of you are horrified, but Roger and I were hysterically amused. It was the perfect release after an imperfect moment.

And I will be using the Wii Fit Plus to strengthen my Smasher-repelling muscles.
====================================
To participate in Perfect Moment Monday:

1. Between Sunday night and Tuesday night, write up your own Perfect Moment in a blog post, on Twitter, on Facebook, or simply leave a comment below.
2. Grab the URL of your Perfect Moment.
3. Use MckLinky below to enter your (or your blog's) name and the URL of your Perfect Moment
4. Visit the Perfect Moments of others (from the links below), and let the writers know you were there.

Once you make a Perfect Moment post , you may place this button on your blog.

I Capture
Perfect Moments.

What Perfect Moment have you recently been aware of? Be sure to visit these moments and share the love, and please come back next week (click to subscribe).







.

Show & Tell: Threescore and ten

I took the kids to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science last week to experience Exhibition Health. It's a fabulous display, enthralling for both kids (school-age) and adults alike. I found out cool things like the fact that my stride length is 3 feet 2 inches and my wingspan is 5 feet 10.5 inches (which matches my somewhat generously measured height).

There were dozens of fascinating stops, but I'll share just a few.

To learn about the respiratory system, kids got to watch a dissection of the lungs of a sheep. I was afraid my children would be squeamish, but instead they were right in there, asking tons of questions and poking around.

There were long lines for the pièce de résistance, a photo booth that ages you up to 70 years. You can choose to also see a projection of your aging with one of three factors: smoking, sun damage, or the effects of obesity. The idea is that kids may not forsake smoking for health reasons, but they might for vanity reasons.

Here's me:
Yikes! Aging sucks, except for the alternative.

Would you like to see Tessa and Reed in another 6+ decades? These are the BIG shockers for me.

^^images removed^^

P.S. We were told not to smile. Now, get off our lawn, you young whippersnappers!

See the cool stuff my classmates are showing and telling over at Mel's Show & Tell.





.

Perfect Moment Monday: Win-Win Wars

Perfect Moment Monday is about noticing a perfect moment rather than creating one. Perfect moments can be momentous or ordinary or somewhere in between.

Once a week we engage in mindfulness about something that is right with our world. Everyone is welcome to join. Details on how to participate are at the bottom of this post, complete with bloggy bling.

Please visit the links of the participants at the bottom.

Here's a perfect moment from my week. I hope you'll share yours, too.

====================================
We make it a point to have family dinners whenever possible. It's a time to check in with each other, compare our days, work out schedules and issues.

One dinner this week ended in a challenge. "Make me laugh," said Reed to his Daddy.

Now, this is funny to us because Reed cannot NOT laugh. This is the equivalent of a high school boy saying, "Make me horny" or Michelle Duggar saying, "Make me pregnant," or me saying "Make me a drink."

The gauntlet thrown, that game lasted .000003 seconds.

Then we switched it up. Reed was to make each of us laugh, and we were to hold out as long as possible.

That kid got super goofy, with his voice, his body, his face. He was completely unselfconscious, a master of improv, playing and being in the moment in a way that only kids and Gilda Radner can.

All four of us were doubled-over with giggles from these laugh-wars. My cheeks and abs hurt. Tears were rolling down our faces.

It was a beyond-happy moment of bliss and mirth that I will remember the rest of my life.
====================================
To participate in Perfect Moment Monday:

1. Between Sunday night and Tuesday night, write up your own Perfect Moment in a blog post, on Twitter, on Facebook, or simply leave a comment below.
2. Grab the URL of your Perfect Moment.
3. Use MckLinky below to enter your (or your blog's) name and the URL of your Perfect Moment
4. Visit the Perfect Moments of others (from the links below), and let the writers know you were there.

Once you make a Perfect Moment post , you may place this button on your blog.

I Capture
Perfect Moments.

What Perfect Moment have you recently been aware of? Be sure to visit these moments and share the love, and please come back next week (click to subscribe).





.

Perfect Moment Monday: My Special Power

Perfect Moment Monday is about noticing a perfect moment rather than creating one. Perfect moments can be momentous or ordinary or somewhere in between.

We gather once a week to engage in mindfulness about something that is right with our world. Everyone is welcome to join. Details on how to participate are at the bottom of this post, complete with bloggy bling.

Please visit the links of the participants at the bottom.

Here's a perfect moment from my week. I hope you'll share yours, too.

====================================
My 6 year-old son Reed got to talking about the Special Powers of some of the people in his life.

• Uncle Gino has the powers of Wii.
• Aunt Tami's is to serve yummy food and drinks like root beer.
• Tessa's is to be the "annoyingest sister but the best sister."
• Daddy's is to heal from being a half-dead big boy.

Mine?

"Mama, your Special Power is to always make kids feel happier when they are sad."

Why did this bring me a perfect moment? Because I see myself as the opposite, more of a "buck up -- you really don't have anything to complain about" kind of mom. Good to know it's somehow working for me, for him.

Reed thinks his own Special Power involves his skills as a swordsman (swordsboy?) and a warrior. As honed as those skills are, I think his true Special Power is the kindness swirling in his lion heart.
====================================
To participate in Perfect Moment Monday:

1. Between Sunday night and Tuesday night, write up your own Perfect Moment in a blog post, on Twitter, on Facebook, or simply leave a comment below.
2. Grab the URL of your Perfect Moment.
3. Use MckLinky below to enter your (or your blog's) name and the URL of your Perfect Moment
4. Visit the Perfect Moments of others (from the links below), and let the writers know you were there.

Once you make a Perfect Moment post , you may place this button on your blog.

I Capture
Perfect Moments.

What Perfect Moment have you recently been aware of? Be sure to visit these moments and share the love, and please come back next week (click to subscribe).

Bloom Where You're Planted

This is a cucumber plant in our yard. I did not put it there. I planted cucumbers about 75 feet away in a carefully tended garden. But this rogue cuke somehow grounded itself in the rocks, near the children's swing set and assorted pairs of stomping feet. Stubborn thing.

In that carefully tended garden, I have melons. I did not plant these melons. Earlier in the summer Roger served a breakfast of honeydew with prosciutto and lime juice, and then mulched the waste. I suppose the seeds took root. Stubborn things.

In the front yard, hanging over the driveway, there is a sunflower (? botanists, please confirm?). I did not plant it. There are no similar flowers near it. It is so florally prolific that it droops in the path of Roger's car as he heads into and out of the garage. It's taken quite a beating, but still keeps producing flowers that reach for the light. Stubborn thing.

I honor the hearty biology of these organisms, that they strive to grow where they are. I admire their thirst for sunlight, their ongoing quest for growth, no matter what sense there is in their surroundings.


I dedicate this post to Tessa and Reed, the hearty, stubborn rogues that landed in my garden. Grow with me here!

Perfect Moment Monday: The Half Dead Big Boys

Perfect Moment Monday is about noticing a perfect moment rather than about creating one. Perfect moments can be momentous or ordinary or somewhere in between.

We gather here once a week to engage in mindfulness about something that is right with our world. Everyone is welcome to join. Details on how to participate are at the bottom of this post, complete with bloggy bling.

Please visit the links of the participants at the bottom.

Here's a perfect moment from my week. I hope you'll share yours, too.

====================================

Roger had surgery on Friday for his collarbone broken in The Accident. My brother-in-law, Tom, had surgery the previous Friday for an elbow broken in a lame attempt to one-up Roger.

Later that evening, Sheri (my sister) and Tom visited us for the weekend. Though Roger had been snoozing all afternoon, he perked right up when Tom entered the picture.

Our two boys joked long into the night about their accidents, surgeries, nurses, scam to get their wives to wait on them, prescription drugs, undone yard tasks, and what they plan to do next summer (which better include taking their wives to BlogHer).

It was awesome to see them enjoying themselves so much. They didn't allow their cracked ribs (7 between them) to impede the laughter.

So, you may be asking yourself, what's with the title of this post?

This morning, I woke up Reed right before Sheri and I went to a yoga class to tell him that Daddy and Uncle Tom would be taking care of him.

"OK, Mama. You're leaving me with the Half-Dead Big Boys?"

It wasn't said with sarcasm, but with earnestness.

The kid cracks. me. up.

====================================
Once you make a Perfect Moment post, you can place this button on your blog.

I Capture
Perfect Moments.

What Perfect Moment have you recently been aware of? Be sure to visit these moments and share the love.


.

Perfect Moment Monday: Squeals

Perfect Moment Monday is more about noticing a perfect moment than about creating one. Perfect moments can be momentous or ordinary or somewhere in between.

We gather here once a week to engage in mindfulness about something that is right with our world. Everyone is welcome to join. Details on how to participate are at the bottom of this post, complete with bloggy bling.

Please visit the links of the participants at the bottom.

Here's a perfect moment from my week. I hope you'll share yours, too.

====================================
I'm showing photos but it was really the soundtrack that gave me a perfect moment this week. You should have heard the giggles.

Reed and his cousin, Dominic, were playing in the sprinkler and having pure summer fun. Their squeals of delight led me to a moment perfect with childhood simplicity, fond memories, lightheartedness, and sensory joy.

====================================
Once you make a Perfect Moment post, you can place this button on your blog.

I Capture
Perfect Moments.

Now. What Perfect Moment have you recently been aware of? Be sure to visit these moments and share the bloggy love.

***

Another day, another chance to vote for Weebles Wobblog. Please click on the blue button, scroll down to the Most Inspiring category, and vote for this blog, currently in 4th place. (You can also vote for Luna in the same category, for Eden in the Most Provocative Blog category, and for Melissa in the Blog I've Learned The Most From category.) Rock the ALI vote!

Here's a button if you'd like to help me make a good showing against some fabulous blogs. Not that I'm competitive or anything. OK, maybe inspiringly competitive.

(To those of you with the button: I really won't hurt the cute puppy.)

.

The Space Between

I got the message loud and clear that I need to learn to deal with suspense.

If I were more dramatic, I might have titled this post, "My son does not have a brain tu.mor."

Now YOU have to deal with suspense.

The lesson started benignly enough. A company asked to put a product link on my blogs for a fee. We negotiated a price and I put up the link. I gave the company my PayPal information to collect payment.

It didn't come.

It didn't come.

It didn't come.

Hmmmm. I thought. What could be going on? My mind then went to all the things that could have happened. The company backed out. They were fooling me. I messed up the negotiations. The CEO was arrested as part of a scam and now my blog would be implicated.

Hmmmm. I thought. What was really going on? Not with the situation, but with me. I was hurtling to conclusions. I was projecting. I was, perhaps, creating realities I didn't want simply with the power of my thoughts.

I decided to be more conscious about it. I really don't know anything became my mantra whenever I began to feel unsettled about the missing funds. An even deeper inner voice also told me to learn to be in the in between place. And that this is very important.

The next day, I had another chance. An article I'd submitted has been accepted to a magazine I read and respect. In fact, the editor wanted me to ADD to the piece. She asked via email if the piece was still available and if I would consider lengthening it. If so, she would send additional questions.

I responded immediately. Yes! Please send questions and I'll rework.

A day went by.

No response.

Another day.

The mind-chatter began: The editor changed her mind. She found a better article. The magazine folded. I had a typo in my response and the editor vowed not to work with anyone who doesn't proof their emails.

The calming voice kicked in. I really don't know anything. Except that I am in the in-between place. I'd better get comfy here. I will keep being presented with this lesson until I master it.

The email arrived. We are on track.

Time for the SAT of cosmic lessons (there's a reason I'm shying away from the more obvious metaphor of a "final exam").

Reed complained of headache Friday night. Intense, "stabbing" headaches in the back. No other symptoms, no fever. Just a headache that woke him from a deep sleep that night. Twice.

Early Saturday morning I got an on-call nurse on the line who told us to bring Reed in as soon as Urgent Care opened. Rob did that while I stayed home with a sleeping Tessa.

I did the stupid Dr Google thing (why can we not refrain from doing so?) and thus commenced the mind-chatter, which sounded like this:

• it'snotasinusinfectionbecauseifitwereitwouldbeinthefront
• it'snotanyotherinfectionsbecauseifitwerehewouldhaveafever
• it'snotdehyddrationbecausewehadhimdrinkwater
• it'snotsunstrokebecausehewasn'tinthesun
• itmustbesomethingreallyreallytrulytrulybadthatwillchangemylife
• irememberthatoneguywhosedaughterdiedofabraintumorwithindaysofdiagnosis
• iwouldwanttodiekillmenow
• idon'twanttobecomeacausecelebreinBlogWorldbecauseihavetragedyinmylife
  
• andhowcouldIhavetweetedjustyesterdaythatmylifewassowonderful?
• hahathegodsarelaughingatmyhubris

I began to quell the voice, repeating my mantra, I really don't know anything. I had some success; I found some mind silence.

Then Tessa woke up. And the voice INside my head became a voice OUTside my head.

"What will happen, Mama? Will he get a shot? Will he die? What will we do if he dies?"

This was actually good for me. For I said, out loud, "We really don't know anything. Let's just sit with what is and we will handle what comes."

And, I breathed. I stayed present. Right at this moment -- the only moment there really is -- I was breathing and loving and aware of my family. I really don't know anything.

After about 2 hours of being in the space between, Rob called to tell me that the doctor said that sinus pain sometimes telegraphs to the back of the head. Mo.trin and some allergy medication is all that was called for.

My boys came home and I gave them both the biggest hugs of my life.

I don't think the outcome was good just because I passed the test; I don't believe it works that way. Rather, I think that I had, at a soul level, asked for opportunities to play in the space between, to get a little familiar with it so that I won't freak out every time I find myself there.

And I got my wish.

***

Another day, another chance to vote for Weebles Wobblog. Please click on the blue button, scroll down to the Most Inspiring category, and vote for this blog, currently in 4th place. (You can also vote for Luna in the same category, and for Eden in the Most Provocative Blog category and now Melissa in the Blog I've Learned The Most From category.) Rock the ALI vote!

Here's a button if you'd like to help me make a good showing against some fabulous blogs. Not that I'm competitive or anything. OK, maybe inspiringly competitive.

(To those of you with the button: I really won't hurt the cute puppy.)

Reed's Amendment

When I told Reed (who is 6) that I'd blogged about our perfect moment, he grew quite concerned. Our bedtime conversation:

"You shouldn't have put that on your blog, Mama."

"Why, Reed?"

Pause.

"Mama, does Michele read your blog?"

Michele is Reed's birth mother. I wish we had more contact with her.

"No, Honey. I don't think she does."

"But if she did, that might hurt her feelings. I don't want to hurt her feelings. Will you tell everyone that I also love Michele? And that I'm glad she's my birth mother?"

"Yes, I will. You have a big heart, Reed. I love that about you."

***

Another day, another chance to vote for Weebles Wobblog. Please click on the blue button, scroll down to the Most Inspiring category, and vote for this blog, currently 10th row down, far right. (You can also vote for Luna in the same category, and for Eden in the Most Provocative Blog category.) Rock the ALI vote!

Here's a button if you'd like to help me make a good showing against some fabulous blogs. Not that I'm competitive or anything. OK, maybe inspiringly competitive.

(To those of you with the button: I really won't hurt the cute puppy.)

Perfect Moment Monday: Eskimo Kisses

Perfect Moment Monday is more about noticing a perfect moment than about creating one. Perfect moments can be momentous or ordinary or somewhere in between.

We gather here once a week to engage in mindfulness about something that is right with our world. Everyone is welcome to join. Details on how to participate are at the bottom of this post, complete with bloggy bling.

Please visit the links of the participants at the bottom.

Here's a perfect moment from my week. I hope you'll share yours, too.

====================================

"I'm so glad you're my son."

"I'm so glad you're my momma."

(He says this every time. My heart melts every time.)
====================================

Another day, another chance to vote for Weebles Wobblog. Please click on the blue button, scroll down to the Most Inspiring category, and vote for this blog, currently in 3rd place. (You can also vote for Luna in the same category, and for Eden in the Most Provocative Blog category.) Rock the ALI vote!

Here's a button if you'd like to help me make a good showing against some fabulous blogs. Not that I'm competitive or anything. OK, maybe inspiringly competitive.

(To those of you with the button: I really won't hurt the cute puppy.)

====================================
Once you make a Perfect Moment post, you can place this button on your blog.

I Capture
Perfect Moments.

Now. What Perfect Moment have you recently been aware of? Be sure to visit these moments and share the bloggy love.

(If Mr Linky is being stinky and you can't leave your link, leave a comment with your Perfect Moment Monday's permalink and I'll put it in later.)

Show & Tell: Aspiration

Reed has decided what he wants to be when he grows up.

He designed and created the prime accoutrement himself: a homemade and scotch-taped scythe.

My son, Grim Reaper in-training.

(This post was his idea: "Mom! Take a picture of me and put it on your blog! But don't show my face.*")

To see the showings and tellings of the rest of the class, visit Mel's Show & Tell.

* We are teaching our children to protect their privacy online. Once their (real) names and images are out there, it's forever, for anyone -- friend, stranger or foe -- to use as s/he pleases.

Just in case you wondered.
.

Perfect Moment Monday: Not Mine

Note: Clue #3 for Name That Blogger! will come later in the day.
===========================

Perfect Moment Monday is more about noticing a perfect moment than about creating one. Perfect moments can be momentous or ordinary or somewhere in between.

We gather here once a week to engage in mindfulness about something that is right with our world. Everyone is welcome to join. Details on how to participate are at the bottom of this post, complete with bloggy bling.

Please visit the links of the participants at the bottom.

Here's a perfect moment from my week. I hope you'll share yours, too.
====================================

We took Tessa and Reed to the Children's Museum.

I spent the time taking pictures, writing this post in my head, planning dinner, wondering if we'd left any homework undone and trying to remember if we'd fed Fishie.

In short, I was not present and I did not experience a perfect moment.

So I document theirs.

Kids being kids, they were nothing BUT present while checking out groceries, using non-power tools, being a veterinarian, and playing dress-up.

Watching people you love enjoy a perfect moment is almost as good as noticing one for yourself.

====================================
Once you make a Perfect Moment post, you are qualified to place this button on your blog.

I Capture
Perfect Moments.

Now. What Perfect Moment have you recently been aware of? Be sure to visit these moments and share the bloggy love.

Meet Our Newest Weeble

The kids' school had a Spring Fling last week. Come dance to music of the 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s! Buy pizza and root beer floats for just a dollar! Have fun with your kids and rock out with the other parents! Pretend you're not exhausted on a Friday night!

I was persuaded and we went. Shortly after we entered the gym, Reed disappeared for a bit and returned 15 minutes later all excited by the plastic bag in his arms. The plastic bag with water and a gold blob.

"Mom! I won a goldfish!"

I smiled, secretly plotting how I would pawn Fishy off on another family.

But the other moms were wise to my machinations, so I called Rob (who was watching college basketball in a bar with friends) to ask him to make an emergency trip to the pet store before it closed. Understanding the urgency of the situation, he left his friends and the action to get the fish accouterments, fulfilling his dadly duties.

The night wore on and I hula hooped, limboed, and played my leg like a guitar to Bon Jovi. Reed won a second fish. And Tessa won a third. Reed named his, curiously, 14 and 17. Tessa named hers Molly.

My kids somehow have a firm grasp of the Circle of Life. Because instead of asking about how Fishies live, their questions on the way home were about Fishies dying (how prescient).

"Mom, what will we do with Fishies when they die?" and "Mom, will my fish eat the others?" and "Will we be sad when they die?"and "How do we know when they are dead?"

I swear we don't talk death all the time.

At home, we poured Fishies out of their bags and each into their own cups. No directions about water or space (we guessed at filtered water, room temperature). No real clue on how to keep goldfish alive. We went to bed, hoping for the best.

By the time Rob got home to transfer Fishies into their new bowl, 17 was already dead. By morning, 14 had joined him in a burial at sea (thanks, Rob).

The children woke up to just scrappy Molly flitting around the new bowl.

We replaced one of Reed's fish with a fourth fish from the pet store (what a scam -- donate a bunch of goldfish to an elementary school and watch your sales go through the roof!). But it, too, died even before we could name it.

Looks like Molly was destined to swim alone. Meet the winner of Survivor: Weebles.


Long may she live?
.

Perfect Moment Monday: Par-tay!

Perfect Moment Monday is more about noticing a perfect moment than about creating one. Perfect moments can be momentous or ordinary or somewhere in between.

We gather here once a week to engage in mindfulness about something that is right with our world. Everyone is welcome to join. Details on how to participate are at the bottom of this post, complete with bloggy bling.

Please visit the links of the participants at the bottom.

Here's a perfect moment from my week. I hope you'll share yours with us, too.
====================================

As time goes on, I notice that the vestiges of the trauma of infertility are fading. The pain is now far enough in my past that it almost feels it happened so someone else. In a way, it did. It happened to the person I used to be.

This week we celebrated a turn around the sun: Reed had his 6th birthday party. And although I didn't know of him or meet him until a few weeks after he was born, his presence on this earth marks the anniversary of the fullness of my life.

We celebrated in a gym -- 12 friends and a few family members, a rope to climb, an obstacle course to navigate, uneven bars on which to skin cats, balance beams to conquer, parachutes to puff up, ice cream to eat, presents to share.


I am so full of love for my son. For my good fortune. For moments like this.

====================================
Once you make a Perfect Moment post, you are qualified to place this button on your blog.

I Capture
Perfect Moments.

Now. What Perfect Moment have you recently been aware of? Be sure to visit these moments and share the bloggy love.

It's confirmed. I am a disaster.

To find out why, read to the end.

Last night the Denver Museum of Nature & Science invited Mommy Bloggers to a sneak preview of their new exhibit, Nature Unleashed: Inside Natural Disasters.

The kids and I were greeted by Twitterer Tara (a hostess-with-the-mostest who allowed Tessa to carry her cell phone and who remained good-natured [punny, no?] as Reed dragged her from disaster to disaster). Curator and new blogger David Grinspoon joined us as well, sharing his expertise and enthusiasm for all things disastrous.

Rounding out our group were the families of GreebleMonkey, BugFrog (a/k/a Mr Shoulder Ride) and AMomintheBurbs. Would it surprise you that among the devastation, we grownups talked blogging?

It's a fun exhibit for kids 8 and up. Tessa and Reed were all about the buttons. Buttons to create their own digital volcano. Buttons to shake two model buildings in an earthquake. Buttons to turn on video scenes (real and simulated) of Hurricane Katrina and the Indonesian Tsunami and tornadoes.

(In town and want to go? Click and print this $2 off coupon.)

Near the end of the exhibit, patrons are encouraged to fill out a form and hang it on a clothespin, The form is to document any catastrophes the patron has witnessed. I scanned a couple: Mount St Helens, tornado in Kansas, stranded in a blizzard, wildfires, actually paying to see Ishtar.

Reed was eager to practice his writing, so he picked up a form and asked me what he was supposed to write on it. I asked him: "What is the worst thing that has happened to you?"

He thought a moment and asked me to help him spell this:


"My mom blogs."

I guess I'll be signing off now.

Perfect Moment Monday: Let's dance

Perfect Moment Monday is more about noticing a perfect moment than about creating one. Perfect moments can be momentous or ordinary or somewhere in between.

We gather here once a week to engage in mindfulness about something that is right with our world. Everyone is welcome to join. Details on how to participate are at the bottom of this post, complete with bloggy bling.

Please visit the links of the participants at the bottom.

Here's a perfect moment from my week. I hope you'll share yours with me, too.

====================================
Duty hours in this house are from 3:30-8 pm. During this time I:

• Collect the kids from school
• Drive to any lessons/activities
• Supervise homework
• Make supper (Rob does this more often than not)
• Clean up from supper
• "Polish" the kids' teeth after they brush them
• Read bedtime stories

I know I shouldn't look at all of these as "chores" because some of them can be quite enjoyable. But they are routine. I sometimes rush through them, eager for the post-bedtime solitude when I can write and read, uninterrupted.

While I was clearing dishes one night, Reed pulled me away from the sink and said, "Mama, let's dance!" The song I'd just loaded onto my iPod for him had come on. He beckoned me to leave the drudgery behind and break loose.



(The official video is un-embeddable, click over if you want the visual.)

We rocked the kitchen, lemme tell you.

Then it was Tessa's turn. Here's the latest song I got from iTunes for Tessa (note: despite the fact that *I* enjoy the 80s look of this video, I have no plans to watch it with the kids). Somehow, I manage every time to garble or skip over the second line, the one with Chicklet's and my special term of endearment.



Both songs kick in high gear after the first minute. Betcha can't sit still.

Dancing with my kids to these two songs in my kitchen is a perfect moment every time.

====================================

Be sure to follow the links below and share the bloggy love.

Once you make a Perfect Moment post, you are qualified to place this button on your blog.

I Capture
Perfect Moments.

Now. What Perfect Moment have you recently been aware of?


=============================================================
Got something to donate to the "Send Melissa West" tour? Want to buy a donated item? Visit this post.

I'll have mine in June 09.
Want yours, too?
Just click through.

Show & Tell: Captured

Last week I showed my documentarian tendencies.

When Tessa was born, my friend Juli (scrapbooker extraordinaire) gave me a beautiful handmade calendar that she designed especially for my daughter.

So it seemed natural that I would add my kids' journal entries to my nightly routine. Call it a.nal-retentive, obsessive or rigid (as my husband jokingly has), but I am happy to capture each day of their lives until they are able to do so themselves. As Mel suggested last week, I plan to turn over documenting duties to them on their 12th birthdays.

Tessa has 9 calendars so far (Juli's creations are the two in the upper left):



Reed has 7 (and yes, the second child's is sloppier; what's it to ya?):



Thanks to my mom for filling in on the overnights she's had them. And yes, the kids LOVE scanning a month of their lives and remembering an earlier time.

See what the cool kids are showing and telling over at Mel's.

=============================================================

Got something to donate to the "Send Melissa West" tour? Want to buy a donated item? Visit this post.

I'll have mine in June 09.
Want yours, too?
Just click through.