also, if I had a band, I might call it The Blizzard of 96
Apart from being an incredible phenomenon, I love snow for how many memories it has created over the years. Here are some of my favorites:
spending whole mornings in the snow with Mandy and Sam - attempting to be the first ones in the neighborhood to step in it, sledding down the hill, and eventually coming in for cocoa and a movie while one of our moms put all our snowsuits and gear in the dryer
making tracks in the snow with Mandy at night, then later finding a drawing she made entitled 'The Best January ever' on my front step (fairly certain I'm not making this up)
it snowing on Thanksgiving one year in my entire life, and rejoicing with Bethany
sledding down the deck stairs when it was deep enough
playing in forts that Kirsten built out of the excess driveway snow
our hill being the snow day mecca of McGill's Common
stealing Diner trays to use on the Comcast hill before they stopped putting them out once snow was forecast
snow football (as if I played) on Metzerott and hanging out in Courtyards with a bunch of people afterward
So, I just found out exciting news...my grandma reads my blog! Just a few years ago, she didn't even have a computer, and now she is navigating people's blogs and following links to new ones. That's awesome. Apparently when Brita and my dad visited her, Brita set up bookmarks to all her grandchildren's sites.
My grandma, Ellen, gave birth to 11 children, raised them on a farm in Minnesota (and some off a farm), and taught in a one-room schoolhouse. My earliest memories involving her are of forcing her to read me way more books than she actually wanted to. She has more grandchildren and great-grandchildren than I can even count, though I have tried at times.
So thanks, Grandma, for being a faithful reader! I am impressed. While you're on the internet, you may or may not want to join facebook. It's a little overwhelming, but there is a pretty sweet family group that Kirsten made and that all of your offspring are joining. We posted some classic old pictures we found. But seriously, it is pretty overwhelming.
setting: playground, conversation with one of my four-year-olds
goofy girl: Pretend you're cold. me: What do you mean? goofy girl: Pretend you're cold! me: Okay. Brrrr. (hug arms tightly around myself) goofy girl: No! Do that thing again! me: Ooooh, you want me to shiver. goofy girl: Yeah, do it! me: I can't make myself do it; it just happens. goofy girl: Come on! Pleeeaase!
other things this same little girl has said to teachers:
Can I see your toes? Come on!
Show me your belly button!
Do you have something in your mouth? (after someone coughs)
I skipped the political posts during the election, but here it is.
Years ago, (2004 I believe), I asked a question in my AIM away message, as was the fashion in those days:
'Which do you think we'll have first - a black president or a woman president?' There was some debate about which one US citizens would be more likely to accept. Some people even made the comment that it could be a woman if Hillary ran in 2008. Obama was not even on the horizon, not yet a proverbial glimmer in voters' eyes. It seemed like such a distant dream - either one. How awesome is it that four years later, we have the answer, and many of us helped it happen?
I first heard of Obama when I saw him on TV, speaking about Darfur along with other senators. Each person got up and said a lot of mumbo jumbo while kissing up to all the other speakers who had gone before them. I was struck by Obama as he was more to the point. He spoke about the situation as someone who seems to genuinely care about people, whether they are Americans or Africans. I decided he was the first 'politician' I liked.
The next I heard of him was in a friend's AIM profile (so hot back then) with the mantra 'Obama '08.' Again, this is long before he announced he was running, and back when a large majority of Americans had still never heard of him. I was excited at the prospect, and began researching him and his eventual platform. He is someone I can admire as a leader, and he is the first person I have ever been compelled to vote for.
I do not think he is a savior. However, I respect him as president of our country based on his care for the less powerful, and to me that is much more important than whether or not he can quickly and easily remove the US from its current economic crisis. And come on, who could do that?
Unfortunately, I won't be in DC on Tuesday, but I'm overall just excited to be living in this time and place. We will look back on this not as just a historical event because it's a first, but as a meaningful change for individuals and hopefully for the world.
I have a continuous conversation going on in my head - constantly composing mental texts. Every once in a while I try to clear my head of these conversations - just to step out of myself for a little while. I don't do yoga, but I can appreciate this aspect of it. I'd probably really like it if I was dedicated enough to commit to it. From the people I know who do practice yoga and meditation, I have heard this phrase: Observe the thought; release the thought. I try to do this at the end of the day, especially when sleep is near. Sometimes it feels like the thoughts come so fast that I am actively pushing them away. In fact, I start to see myself standing in the middle of my mind, hitting fast-moving thoughts away from myself with a baseball bat. (Even when I am resting, my mind is creating strange images and narrations.) Tonight, I couldn't relax my mind. It was like a video game, how the more levels you surpass, the faster the incoming objects move.
I seriously need to be more conscious of what foods contain caffeine and cut them out of my evening diet entirely.
