fear versus freedom
she dares hope in the face of
winter's winding paths
okay, so i'm not a poet and don't i know it!
December 2003 Archives
happy birthday to my sunshine girl! you have been a beam of sweetness and affection and light to our family for eleven years now. we sure do love you! hugs and kisses and birthday prayers and wishes to you, homegurl!
i love you forever,
mama
...makes one weak! i have been so busy with my other job as santa's helper for the past few weeks that i have had nary the time to blog. {sigh} i like blogging. i get frustrated when events and general busy-ness keep me from blogging. it's not like i really dump all my thoughts and heart stuff here. it's just that blogging, verbal and/or visual, serves as a stress reliever for me. not necessarily a stress reducer, but definitely a reliever. a stress reducer would be unloading stressful activities. what insane person in the 21st century would do away with these unnecessary details? for now i'll stick to my favorite stress reliever which, for me, means simply letting some of the stress escape... like steam from a hot tea kettle. aaaaaah. :-)
so... my "santa's helper" days for the year 2003 came to completion at 3 am on december 25th...
ho ho ho... how 'bout a jacuzzi and a corona?! ;-)
i would love to wax philosophical AND poetic on this special day, but my creative energy is at "fizzle" rather than "burst" so i shall just speak plainly.
thank you, God, for making me a mother to ashleigh on this day 23 years ago. i couldn't have wished, planned or hoped for a finer person to have for a daughter. you have used her to stretch me and grow me and bless me in so many ways. happy 23rd birthday, dearest ashleigh! i love you!
oh, and she happened to greet us on the anniversary of orville and wilbur wright's first successful flight... happy 100th to the wright brothers!
to grandbabies' house we go! i'm heading off soon to babysit my grandgirlies, emma and juliet, so their mama and dada can go to his office christmas bash. they deserve a night of posh celebration and i am happy to be of service in making that happen. it's no sacrifice on my part, believe me. i'll be in baby heaven for a few hours and dream of their little sugarplum faces the rest of the night. aaaah... my heart is full. :-)
december means another williamsburg exploration in order, thus our yesterday was spent wandering in the steps of the colonists. our first stop was the "Public Hospital for Persons of Insane and Disordered Minds" for a reality check. creepy. scary. sad. did you know they were already exploring the use of electrotherapy for mental illness in the 18th century?
[Listening to: Bach Brandenburg Concerto No.5 - emmanuel Pahud - Bach Brandenburg Concerto No.5 (01:40)]
my 10-almost-11-year-old has not been seen for two days. she is locked in her room with her new karaoke machine, an early christmas gift, and she is in heaven. she needs more karaoke cds fast. she is running out of material since she only has the sampler cd included with the machine (i can't seem to convince her that it would be good to learn to sing patriotic songs from the 50s and 60s ;-) ) and two karaoke tracks from a v*enna cd. i found a couple free samples online, but she wasn't too impressed with the likes of "somewhere over the rainbow" and "the lion sleeps tonight". whatever. i suspect she might be pried out of her confinement by the promise of a trip to the yankee candle store and other mall attractions with her older sisters. even rock stars need to go shopping now and then. :-)
it's SNOWing! i returned from practice early because it was snowing and i didn't want to spend the better part of my night on the highway. the snow was so pretty as it fell that i came home and dragged the girls out at 9:30 pm to take a drive through town and let them observe this winter's first lacy flakes falling. we ended up at silver diner watching the snow through the windows, sharing a peppermint patty milkshake, and listening to oldies on the jukebox. it was a sweet hour making a cozy winter memory... a happy investment.
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snowy streetlamp jukebox
[Listening to: Celtic Music for Flute & Guitar - Allan & Jessica Walsh - (10:59)]
love, actually, is all around us... so goeth the opening line of this holiday flick about love, lust, loss, new love, old love, unexpected love... joy, sorrow, weakness, strength, surprise. there were stories within stories culminating in only two degrees of separation instead of the proverbial six. without actually telling the story, i will say it was a funny, tearful, bittersweet, heart-fluttering, thoroughly enjoyable ride that did not quickly leave my thoughts. the fact that some of my very favorite players were in this movie probably equaled the story in charm. needless to say, bill and i enjoyed our pre-christmas movie date. i expect the dvd will be promptly added to my collection upon its release. :-)
Continue reading love actually.
