I’m sure Jody married Andy for lots of great reasons. But I’m convinced that part of it was “music deprivation.” I don’t have a musical bone in my body. No doubt Jody wanted music in her life. I don’t blame her. However, as I’ve gotten older, I thought I might be getting better, more musical. Recently, a granddaughter in Texas even asked me to sing for her.
Here’s how it went. Laurie and I were in Texas with Jody’s brother, Jonathan and family. As Jonathan and Kari went out for dinner one night, Laurie and I had the chance to put granddaughters Irelynd and Haiydn to bed. Irelynd apparently has Kari sing to her at night, so when Laurie laid her down she asked for her good night song. Laurie has a lovely voice and created, I guess, the expectation that papa could sing as well.
“Sing me a song, papa” Irelynd said.
Well, the pressure of singing a good night lullaby to my granddaughter got to me. I could only think of one song. So, though the event was months away, I broke out into “Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you.” Laurie started laughing; Irelynd seemed to enjoy it. I did end the song differently. Instead of slurring “and many more” at the end, I sang “and sleep real well.”
Irelynd must of liked it, because the next night she asked me again. “Sing me a song, papa.” I told Laurie to leave the room and I tried hard to think of a song I could sing. The only song that came to mind was the National Anthem.
I started out well with “O Say, Can You See, by the Dawn’s early Light.” Irelynd was enjoying it, but in the background I heard Laurie giggling, then rolling around on the kitchen floor trying to constrain herself. Laurie’s snickering made me forget the words. I started to improv. Irelynd didn’t seem to notice and was quite happy as I sang, “May you sleep well, despite the rocket’s red glare, and the bombs bursting in air.” I wrapped up the song with “Sleep, sweet child til morning when you’ll wake up in the land of the free, and the home of the brave.” Irelynd gave me a goodnight kiss and fell right to sleep.
Mission accomplished.
It’s been two weeks now and Laurie hasn’t stopped laughing. Trying to keep a straight face, she has asked me several times at night to “sing me a song, babe.”
January 31, 2008
I was chatting with Cassie and Candi and dreaming big about Zeke and Kora’s room. I said, “I would love to have a big stuffed rocker chair in the corner for all our ‘holding’ time. And then a girl corner and boy corner. One set up with all Kora’s dolls and purses and kitchen utensils. And one with Zeke’s cars and trains and soccer balls. That would be cute. They each could have their own space.”
Cassie laughed, “You think because they aren’t your (or more like Andy’s) DNA this time that you have a chance, don’t you? A chance that you will get a tidy, organized, responsible, ‘color inside the lines’ child.”
Yes.
That’s exactly what I was thinking.
There’s a chance this time, people . A chance.
(Let it be known that we LOVE our free spirits–the energy, the creativity, the destruction that permeates from our boys! LOVE it. Treasue it! So proud of them!
Also think it would be nice to have maybe one who is naturally concerned about cleanliness and order and say, blizzards.)
January 31, 2008
especially for my husband who has an expensive addiciton to 411.
Google has a free service. ‘There are no ads to listen to (none!) and they connect the call for free. You just call 1-800-GOOG-411 and they will give you the number and address and even text a map to your cell phone if it has the capability to receive it.’
thank me later.
or now.
January 31, 2008
Tomorrow we will start a new weekly edition on this here blog. Because I am a genius with alliteration and a big dork, it will be called “Friday With The Folks.” Mom or Dad will take turns posting a guest post here on Fridays. Mom is full of practical homemaking tips and recipes and wisdom of chlid rearing and marriage and ministry. And Dad is good for some thinking and occasional humor to keep our Mommy brains from rotting. We’ll start tomorrow. Try to contain your excitement.
And tomorrow is Quincy’s appointment. I’m nervous. But as I was reviewing the appointment papers, I realized that maybe they aren’t doing the ‘painful’ test tomorrow. It looks like it may just be the ultrasound they are doing. Which is good in that it will be less traumatic for Quinc. But I’m not sure how much they will be able to tell us about his long term prognosis without it. So we’ll see. We do love our surgeon and he will keep us posted on options so we are anxious to talk to him.
January 31, 2008
1. Whoever is stealing our Blockbuster movies needs to stop.
2. I love to sleep. It’s my favorite thing. But I wish it wasn’t. Because then I could stay up and get all sorts of things done. And I really dislike the ‘tired’ feeling–I wish I never felt that way. It’s just annoying.
3. We are going to work on Zeke and Kora’s bedroom today. I have quite a bit to do to pull it together…and I have mixed emotions about it. I want to do it. I want to be excited. But I’m scared.
January 31, 2008
Andy’s home.
Blizzard has stopped.
House a disaster. Still. Even though I did do stuff today.
Still eating constantly.
Still waiting to hear from Dakar about Visas.
Still seperated from my computer.
And I’m actually in a fine mood.
I keep reminding Andy, “This is my happy face.” You’d think he’d know that by now.
January 30, 2008
I am attempting to play catch up this morning after our day yesterday. But the realization that I will never be ‘caught up’ is ever present today. For while something gets done in one room, antoher room is being simultaeously undone.
And that’s OK.
January 30, 2008
“At the heart of the logic of all renewal is the recognition that there is no changed Church without changed lives among the members.” (Elton Trueblood)
January 30, 2008
I literally just stopped my 3 little boys who were dragging an extension ladder–dressed in full super hero costume– from the garage into the BLIZZARD. When asked why they thought this was a good idea, they said they were taking it around the outside to Max’s window so they could climb out.
Oh, I see.
Proceed.
No, I called them in.
Suggested the perhaps this was not a good day to be climbing out of windows because I kid you not there is like 80 mph wind and snow blowing through the corn fields out here.
They obliged and came inside. And decided to instead play the really fun game of…pull every piece of clothing out of your drawers and change your outfit every 5 minutes. It’s thrilling. Really. And there are clothes scattered over every inch of this house.
Good thing I didn’t get to that ‘to do’ list which included folding and organizing the clothes drawers. Because then I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to find any humor in this…
January 29, 2008
Since we are all dreaming of backyard grilling season….
When preparing hamburger patties…thinner on the inside, thicker around the edges creates a perfectly flat patty. So says Rachel Ray.
Maybe if I just talk about food constantly that will help with the appetite suppressing….
January 29, 2008
