354/365 Another Day of Firsts

This evening we had our dear friends, the J's and the B's over to the house. In preparation for this dinner/get-together we whipped up some festive Winter treats. That's my girl, manning the latke pan, a first. She kept saying how much she enjoyed cooking, and she seemed so proud when she flipped each latke, having achieved that perfect golden brown. "I'm glad I'm good at something besides singing," she said. She's good at so many things, really. Making me smile, making me scream, making friends.

The J's brought LMJ, their precocious 2 1/2 year old daughter. Her last visit here was a pool visit, and she warmed up to talk to us about the time they were packing the water wings back into the car. Not so this time. She came in with an agenda, and she remembered where she was. Heading for the cats, their toys, and the fireplace statues, she marched around the house like she owned it, giving gentle commands in her a girly-nasaly-two-year-old voice. I remember when my girl had that same voice. Confident in the role of commander-in-chief, but still so curious and affectionate. This evening we were treated to a concert including the alphabet song and the refrain of the Winnie the Pooh theme. It wasn't very long ago that my little one butchered a childhood anthem and proclaimed "I'm a little peepot." Time whips by.

As we chatted this evening, my blogging habit came up. Will I continue for another 365? I don't know for sure. Some days I had little to write about, but I now realize that looking back at the little things can show us we have a lot. Like today, for example. Some fried potatoes, some friends, some singing, no headlines to be sure. But they are still moments worth remembering.

171/365 Too far, too fast

When she has these letters, I have a chance at winning!

The visit from my dear friend, her daughter, and the wonderful new man in her life has ended. Now they are on their way back to the other coast, and I wonder if we hugged enough. We packed our couple of days with good eats, laughter, more eats, beach time, eats, theater, eats, swimming pool, electronic Scrabble, theater, laryngitis and steroids, and then some more eats and laughter. They came for the show and saw it twice, standing for me and applauding from their second row seats. I spotted them there last night, thankfully not until the curtain call, because seeing them there for me caused me to tear up. All I had left to do was bow and smile, but I thought I was going to lose it. The people, the connections, the bonds in our lives, and how important they are - in this last month I've been held up by a chain of hands and hearts.

101/365 The Best Therapy

What a delightful day we had! No change in EG's medical status, but we had the most "scrump" distraction. EG followed doctor's orders, reclining beside (or within) the pool. We had a visit from LMJ and her Mommy and Daddy. With an almost-two-year-old around, it's hard to talk about anything but her, so we hardly mentioned the ongoing medical drama. She snacked on some Passover matzo brei along with her watermelon and apple slices. She wore her first her water wings and loved the water, especially the jumping game. Jumping into the arms of loved ones, trusting them to catch you when you need support, we've been doing that a bit lately too.

98/365 We have great fortune

My job- an unfortunate turn in the economy has left me with too much time and too little income. EJ's chorus riser lifting incident- a classic series of unfortunate events.

But still I think we have great fortune.

We invaded the home of MJ, LJ, and LMJ last night, after a long day at the hospital (including 5 attempts at a nuclear spinal tap) and before our musical rehearsal for Into the Woods. We were down the block from them, literally, when I called and said, "How'd you like some company...now?" They opened their home, offered up their couch for reclining purposes, and even hooked us up with some awesome pizza.

Coming home after 10, tired and stressed, we were greeted by the BJNR crew. They had cooked and cleaned, and had an scrumptious angel-berry Greek yogurt delight waiting for our dessert.