"The Dance" (for a moment, wasn't I a king)

Lookin' back,
On the memory of
The dance we shared,
Neath the stars above
For a moment,
All the world was right
How could I have known,
That you'd ever say goodbye?
And now, I'm glad I didn't know
The way It all would end
The way It all would go
Our lives, Are better left to chance
I could have missed the pain,
But I'd have had to miss
the dance.

(The Dance by Garth Brooks)

There goes the bride

"Goodbye. Be happy. I love you Mary!"

I am usually supportive, but....

so HerMajesty is taking a criminal psycology course at college. I think it's great - her finishing her degree. But this week she has a test about spousal homocide.

I hate to sound unsupportive but I'm thinking I might feel better if she flunks this one!

no YOW

YOW officially starts in 20 minutes, and I am not there :-(

I had almost forgotten but at 5:30 PJ called to ask if I had a wireless mic he could borrow (which I do and he can). So between finishing supper and going to rescue a disabled car at the mall, I fit in running to the church to grab my mic, running to south Plymouth, to drop it off (and spending a few minutes saying hi to the team). Shawn is doing the music, and he is excellent (I kid that I hope not too excellent, but I kinda mean it too!). During a prep meeting, I gave a "for instance" to explain how I would pick an opening song - one that everybody would know, upbeat, sing-along-able. Recent animated movies seem to be good for providing songs for YOW - we've drawn from 2 Shrek movies in recent years - so I simply offered as a for instance "Life Is a Highway" remade by Rascal Flatts for the "Cars" movie. To my surprize, that is the song he chose to open with. Thanks Shawn - for in your own little way letting me be there in my own little way. Funny how some things become a part of you so easily. I LOVE YOW, the planning, spending the year listening for potential YOW songs on the radio, meeting with the team, performing, watching and helping the kids transform from reluctant skeptics to eager participants to sad-that-it's-over proud-to-be-Catholic teens - all in about 40 hours. They have more kids this year than in recent years, but I can never understand why it isn't sold out and demanding a second weekend like in the good old days --- it is just such a tremendous retreat experience (for the kids and leaders alike)

YYYYYYYYOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWW

Daddies Little Girl

I've been doing fine. I have my task list to focus on. She's been gone at college for the bulk of the past four years so I've already gotten used to it. But tonight as I was dropping Yon off to swim at the Y, Butterfly Kisses came on the radio.


Unfair sneak attack. God shouldn't need to sucker punch me like that. Damn, I was doing so good up until then.

the punch line is "a baby in a microwave"

"I don't need no one to tell me about heaven I look at my daughter, and I believe. " (from song Heaven by the band Live)

I have three beautiful daughters to whom this lyric easily applies, but last night it was all about Mary. In nineteen days, my Mary will have a different last name than the one I gave her 22+ years ago. "HerMajesty" and "Her Harlequin" looked through the boxes of family pictures - particularly focusing on those that documented the life and times of "the Princess". Newborn polaroids, baby 35mm, toddler instamatics, all the way through digital images of the bridal shower -- the ever-evolving child is documented through the ever-evolving photo-technology. Through it all one can see the big blue eyes taking it all in, the cheerful, inquisitive, and fun-loving expressions - the unmistakable love of life. Most of the photos were taken by HerMajesty - who always has a knack for capturing an emotion or a "look" in even the most ordinary (seemingly) shots. During our journey through the past, Mary came in and got caught up in the process. It was such a pleasure watching the expressions on her face as she looked at herself; the excited recognition as some long forgotten moment returned, smiles for a childhood toy, sympathy for a foster sibling long since moved on, or amusement over a picture she had never seen before.

One day when Mary was 6 weeks old, HM was out for the afternoon and it was just me and Mary home having quality time together. I decided I should take some pictures of her and wanted just the right settings. I propped her up with my guitar across her lap, I tucked her into her little baby seat with my headphones on - all very cute and humerous. But then I thought about Nannie. Being a premie baby nurse, she had a silly sick love of "Baby" jokes (what's red & white and hangs from telephone wires? a baby run over by a lawn mower). Why she thought these were funny is any psychologist's guess, but her favorite one was "what's brown and knocks on a window?"

So I just had to take THAT picture! Well Mary had apparently never seen that particular picture. The look on her face when she realized that baby was indeed her, and that she was indeed inside a microwave (oh stop it - the door was wide open). Such a fun moment. The good news/bad news is that sometime (probably soon) we will go through them all again / but have to decide which ones to give to her and which ones we can keep. Thankfully we did lots of double-prints developing.

It's going to be real hard giving away my little girl - both in person and in photographs.

One of Her days - or - some day off

I can't complain because it is a rare day for me but common for her.
My day off from work:
6:30am = wake up and get kids ready for school (Carver)
6:50am = see middle kids off
7:15am = call HerMajesty to make sure she is awake as she drives home from work
7:25am = check oil in older kids cars and see Mary off to work
7:40am = welcome HerMajesty home
8:10am = see little kids off to school
8:15 am = see Tim off to college
8:30am = treat HM to breakfast out
9:00am = post office
9:15am = put HM to bed
9:30am = dump run (Rochester)
10:00am = call school nurse (Carver)
10:15am = bank stop
10:30am = get medical form from school nurse
11:00am = feed HM's bunnies
11:30am = work in garden
12:00pm = sew new patch onto referee shirt
12:30pm = stop at dry cleaners
1:00pm = grain store (Hanson)
2:00pm = doctors office (Brockton)
2:30pm = Grossmans Bargain Outlet (Brockton)
3:00pm = pick up Amy (Brockton)
3:30pm = get Yon ready for job interview (Carver)
4:00pm = bring Yon to Shaws
4:30pm = drop off presciption at CVS
5:00pm = drop Julie off at friends house
5:15pm = pick up at CVS
5:30pm = cook supper/ make driving arrangments for Corey/Amy
6:00pm = serve supper
(things slow down here)
7:00pm = walk Nikki to friends house
8:00pm = give Joe a hair cut
8:15pm = give Jamie a hair cut
8:45pm = check emails and write blog
----
still left to do:
9:20pm = prep Sue's supper
10:15pm = see Sue off to work
5:00am = wake up
5:30am = drive to Dorchester
7:00am to 8:30am = ref hockey games (Dorchester)
11:15am = bring Nikki to basketball tryouts (Carver)
12:00pm = pick up Julie

(rest up for Danvers saturday night, Sunday morning hockey Bourne, afternoon hockey Hingham)

so don't get upset when I'm not showing the proper sympathy when you tell me about your busy day!!

and this is just a typical day for Her!

The true meaning of Halloween

People talk about how we forget about the “true meaning” of Christmas and of course this is a very important issue. We should not allow society to alter the basic fundamental reason for and acknowledgement of Christ entering the world. But what about other holidays? There are plenty of stories about the origins of Halloween, but it seems OK that this night has transformed into something more modern – or at least is treated much differently than in times past.

Last night it was a time for children (and kids-at-heart) to loosen up, to be excited about doing something frivolous, to plot and plan about something that has little meaning and likely has no consequences. My little ones selected costumes and make-up (there was no fear of being “wrong”). 15 year old Julie and friends (without direct parental supervision) determined which streets to trick-or-treat on (they are all nearby side streets, mobbed with little ones and parents, and aside from a few mouthy middle-schoolers trying to be cool – totally trouble free). 21 year old Timmy’s goal was to be home from college in time to not miss any trick-or-treaters. 22 year old Mary talked 22 year old Katie (her bridesmaid) into dressing up and going out, then raced home from post-grad college classes to catch up with the gang. Corey casually went to work because none of his friends were going out this year (too old), but when he got let out early – raced to catch up with Mary. No house refused them candy on the grounds that they were too old. 32 year old Yon lost the battle with Katie over who got the cow costume, and settled for the clown suit – and then had to battle Tim over who passed out candy to the next group.

1/4 mile away is “the development” with 8 intersecting roads, hundreds of kids and hundreds of dollars of goodies on every street. Parents are dressed up, yards are dressed up (the merging of art & technology is impressive). Jeeps & ATV’s towing tricked-out trailers (expanding the range of youngsters whose little legs would never take them so far) are equally impressive.

I loved that even my “too old for this stuff” kids could throw caution to the wind and decide to not be too old. And it occurred to me that this is something that society desperately needs. A chance to be silly, creative, young, carefree, out after dark, mingling with strangers, getting rewards for no logical reason or accomplishment (other than for making the afore-mentioned choices). Our lives and our kid’s lives have become so intense, so focused on advancement, so fearful of failure, so devoid of pure fun – we need this night. We need to be ghouls and pirates and ninja’s and cows and clowns for a foolish night – just to get a break from being US. We need to make decisions that DON’T affect what college we might get into. We need to put on a uniform that won’t come with a critiquing coach. We need to step outside of our established boxes and be creative and artistic in whatever medium we choose.

As much as I wish Christmas would stay true to it’s origin, I am very pleased that Halloween has evolved into what it is today – meaningless, foolish, lavish, fun. As much as we need our lives to have deep meaning for our souls sake– we also need it to have moments that are free from any deep meaning for our sanity’s sake.
Happy Halloween!!!