Friday, May 21, 2010

Reflecting on beauty...

I don't know Chookooloonks but I have been checking out her blog, and she just announced she has a book coming out that intrigues me.

She is obviously a talented writer and photographer, and since I have begun embracing Twitter, I have been following her there.

This book focuses on how each person is different, and how that difference can actually make us beautiful. To quote from the website: "This book is designed to connect, inspire and encourage you to reconsider those attributes that make you unique, and reframe them as characteristics of distinction -- maybe even your superpowers."

Superpowers! Now we are talking. Because as I look age 46 in the eye (July 7th!) and am more and more aware of the impact of aging on my physical body (hello shoulder, you haven't bothered me lately, what's up?) what with the extra pounds and puffy eyes, I feel less and less beautiful physically. But through the eyes of others, like a three year old boy, I am crazy talented.

Let's review just a short list of my amazing, mad skillz: I can read, I can cut paper with sharp scissors and use glue. I am allowed to touch the remote and drive a car. My powers are ENDLESS.

Even with adults I can appear rather superfabulous. I produce tasty, even delicious meals using only leftovers and a can of diced tomatoes. I can find that missing thing that no one else can find, and is usually being demanded by the aforementioned three year old. That voice, that demand, makes his father almost blind to the point he can't find the door out of the house much less that third fire fighter that goes with that particular fire engine that Cooper has decided he MUST PLAY WITH NOW.

At work I am The Problem Solver. From helping a student figure out how to pay the bill to finding the jam in the copier, I am that go to person. Got a baby bird that fell out of a nest? Call me. Need some feminine hygiene products or a band aid? Come to my office. It isn't like I advertise these talents, but people seem to assume that I am a well supplied, prepared, and come armed with bird related wisdom. FYI...all I did about the bird was get an empty box, scoop the bird into it without touching it and plopped it under a bush nearby. After that it was on its own. The world has enough Sparrows.

My point is I don't think we give ourselves enough credit when it comes to the things we do everyday, but that we are really good at. That make us that person others seek out in times of happiness or sadness, or to help a bird in distress. We don't see those skills, those talents as beautiful, but we should.

I am looking forward to reading The Beauty of Different, and I am making it my personal mantra for the foreseeable future to consider my considerable talents, and to find the beauty in them. In me. Thank you in advance Chookooloonks for redirecting my mindset.

Thursday, May 20, 2010

It was just one of those weeks...

I feel like I have been going a mile a minute lately. Even right this minute I am keeping my eye on the clock because in 10 minutes I need to be over at Cooper's school to have his parent/teacher conference. Yes, even at 3 they have them. But that is cool, because they send you this evaluation that tells you all the great things you need to know, like he is on target with all these developmental milestones, and they say things like "We love having Cooper in class and we will miss him when he moves up to the next class". So it is a good visit.

I have done things like meet Bossy and a bunch of other fun bloggers like DaddyScratches and Meg of The Members Lounge to name a few. Meeting Ms. Bossy was great, and yes, she is THAT thin.

Things at work have been crazy, and then I cannot think about the oil spill in the gulf without wondering how do we become less dependent on oil and natural gas because if you think that is a clean fuel, you need to know my friend Pam whose life has been made hell by natural gas drilling.

This is why I cannot read books like The Omnivores Dilemma. I would probably stop eating if I knew more about where all my food comes from.

Anyway, that is a bunch of random thoughts, just to say HEY I am still alive and well, and hope you are too. Later. Must go hear how great my kid is now.

Monday, May 10, 2010

It's Perfect...

Yesterday was Mother's Day. The day started out with me waking up far too early for the time of night I went to bed the night before. I had gone with our neighbors (The Bob stayed home for a variety of reasons including but not limited to a lack of child care options) to a gathering for another set of neighbors who will soon be relocating to Maryland. We went into Boston to a place called Gaslight, which was loud but nice. I had been at a birthday party with Cooper for one of his friends from school just before going, so I had eaten pizza and ice cream and didn't need to order more than a glass of wine and enjoy my friends' company.

As the evening wore on, it became apparent that the neighbors I drove with were, well, drunk. So I said to the husband, "Am I the designated driver?" to which he responded by handing me the keys. The good news - his Accura is a nice ride. The bad news - I had to be the heavy and almost drag his lovely but seriously inebriated wife out of the restaurant at 11:15pm and try to keep her from flashing her tatas to the entire bar on the way out. That gal is a GOOD TIME for sure. She is quite hilarious actually, drunk or sober. What was supposed to be a quick evening out to celebrate with the neighbors became a repeat of many of my younger days, when I was the only sober person in a group of happy but silly and drunken people who all think that, after 5 cosmos it would be a GREAT idea to order shots, and then someone suggests going dancing and the sane and tragically sober person who is suggesting that if you are in charge of Mother's Day brunch tomorrow at your house, at 9am, for all 25 members of your immediate family who live in the area, you might want to leave now before you get MORE drunk, is such a an ol' stick in the mud no fun party pooper pants.

No one actually SAID that, but for anyone who has been that sober person, you KNOW THE LOOK.

Anyway, I am normally unconscious, in my bed, by 10pm most nights, so getting home and in bed at 11:30pm was LATE for me. We planned on going to brunch at Mel's, this great diner type place, first thing to beat all the other families with the same brilliant idea, so off we went at around 7:15am. We had a very nice breakfast, and not once did my child say "ALL DONE" and then insist on leaving. He was not interested in actually eating, but he was having a good time.

After that we went to Target, as I needed to pick up a gift card for my work study student who is graduating next weekend. Cooper LOVES Target, the place where all things Spiderman and Iron Man live. He immediately began asking for the Iron Man items he has been coveting since seeing them in a catalog. They involve a helmet that completely encompasses the head (a VERY important aspect to masks and helmets, according to Cooper), doohickeys you put on the hands that light up and an arc light that goes on the chest, that look like the repulsers that Iron Man has. Target sells all of these items, and after perusing them, I asked The Bob what, if anything, did he feel we should purchase for Cooper while we were there. The option of leaving without anything was real, but did we want to consider buying any of them?

We decided, since they were all on sale, to purchase the helmet. It was what Cooper wanted the most out of all of them. On the ride home I unpacked and assembled it, and he was thrilled. We arrived home and he ran in the house and was walking around the living room being Iron Man, when he turned, put the visor up on the mask and said to his father "It's perfect."

With that one little statement Cooper pretty much summed up my Mother's Day experience. Who doesn't want to provide, if at all possible, that item that fulfills your childs' aspirations, whether it is for a plastic helmet with eyes that light up and a British voice that makes statements like "Iron Man, return to Stark headquarters immediately" and then makes rocket noises, or something more lofty.

Motherhood. It is a lot of things, from frustrating to joyous and everything in between, and for at least a few hours yesterday, it was perfect.