Off Like A Herd of Turtles

Look Closely and you'll see the Double Rainbow

OUTTAKES

• I have a brother named Huubanna and a sister named Huuwanna and a horse named Adonna ...no I'm just kidding. His name is Scoobert. -- Josh playing with his imaginary friends.
• After a long day, after months of complaints from Josh on every single, flippin' aspect of every single, flippin' meal put before him, I decided to make the first white chicken chili of the day, and when Josh turned to me with a very serious look and his hands on his hips, I braced myself for the worst. "Mommy, that was really, really Giant-Big-Good!"

I've been looking back through my camera (my favorite way to cheat and remember all the things I keep forgetting to tell you about), but there's just so much stuff, so I'll give you the snippets and hope I'm more on the ball the next time.

We've had some sad losses on our end in the last few months.  Kay Johnson, one mom's best friends for well-over thirty years passed away from a surprise heart attack.  Mom took it pretty hard, and for several weeks after, we were just keeping tabs on her, and trying to be there when she needed us and out from underfoot when she didn't.  As usual, she took most of her frustrations out on the house and the garden, but she let some of us into her grief and that seemed to help too.  Somehow, she made it through the memorial.  They were the true-life incarnate of the odd couple.  Kay, by golly, lived her life exactly the way she wanted to...and Mom, well, Mom's got this sort of "Just-So" thing going, as in she likes to have her life "Just-So"... the house "Just-So", she was/is/likely always will be the "goody-two-shoes".  I think Kay was her personal monkey wrench (and I mean that in the best possible way), and I honestly think they got more out of their lives because the other was in it.  They drove each other crazy. On a constant basis.  Kay thought Mom needed to loosen up.  Mom thought Kay could stand some reigning in. (Both of them were probably right...but you didn't hear that from me :P   )  It was really a potassium and water kind of relationship, but somehow, it worked.  They'd been friends longer than my lifetime. There wasn't a day that they didn't call each other at least twice. 

The next loss was more recent.  As you know, I've been frantically trying to beat a path through the Bickerstaff stories.  Well, there was a good reason, and her name was Sheila Rice.  Sheila was one of the founding members of my writing group.  She was a class act, always dressed to the nines, witty, sharp, not above a shameless poke at one's ego (if she thought it would do that person some good), but always ready to build people up when they needed that too.  When I was still working out the logisitics of this motherhood gig, she took me under her wing a bit.  She reminded me so much of my Grandma Rice, in so many respects...a consummate storyteller who was always reciting lovely long poems to people...their lives seemed to parallel in so many ways.  Right about the time that I started into the Bickerstaff stories (in earnest), we found out that Sheila was having several health issues.  She had loved the chapters of the Bickerstaff stories I'd read, and I thought that if I could just get them done quickly and correctly, that I would not only be finally keeping my promise to my grandmother, but my promise to Sheila, who had made a point to tell one of her closest friends that I "was a real writer"  (She was the kind that didn't give out compliments unless you really earned them.).  As it was, I only got the proof of the second story about two weeks before she passed away.  I had never really been asked to speak at a memorial service before, but they asked several folks in the writers group to help say goodbye...and I'm grateful that I had the option.  I left my only two proofs of the finished Bickerstaff  stories with her family... and in the dedications, I made a special one for Sheila the Magnificent...Her faith in the potential of others worked almost as much magic as the hard work she expected out of them...and it was wonderful to have someone like that backing me up.  There's a rumor going around right now that her family would like the group to try to finish her stories...for she always had "A Thousand Beginnings"...I may try, but I tell you...only Sheila could leave us with a thousand beginnings... and that seems right.

It hasn't been all tears though.  We had a lovely day at the zoo with the Greats, Harry and Helen.  I think it was the first time Helen had really been sightseeing in Columbus for some time, and with the exception of about two and a half hours where (Jon & Josh)  and (Me, Harry, & Helen) lost track of each other and couldn't contact each other because Jon's cell had died (more on his phone shortly.)

Then we took Josh to the local fair -- I swear, I will never get used to such a quiet little fair.  No noise. No screaming music or ride noises.  It's very cool and very weird at the same time.  First he pulled 14 feet, 1/2 inches at the little pedal pull and then we spent about six hours hopping Josh between the Merry-Go-Round (and he was adamant that he did not want me standing beside him as  a spotter this time....he's much to big a boy for that, thank you!) and the bouncy house with the seriously grouchy attendant. 

One of the really super fun things that happened was that Jon and I won the WICKED LOTTO, which means that we showed up about two hours before a Columbus showing of it, and waited around with a bunch of others to hear our name get called.  That gave us the option of buying these 2-3 hundred dollar tickets for, oh, $25 bucks a piece.  We made a deal with another couple that if they both got called, we'd pay for the extra tickets, and if we both got called, we'd let them do the same.  As it happened, they hit the lotto twice, but were gracious and classy enough to hold to their bargain, and Jon and I ended up three rows from the stage and close enough to count Elphaba's fillings.   We may never meet them again, but from the bottom of our hearts, thank you Mr. and Mrs. Summerfield, wherever you are.

Jon has also been suffering a bit of a set back lately. Rumor has it, a certain little boy got a hold of Daddy's cell, but however it happened, Jon's phone has parted company with itself.  It is literally broken apart, and you can't read the top screen at all, but believe it or not, it still works.  Calls can still be made...though he's not always certain who it is he is actually calling.  We expect to rectify the situation in the near future, but we shall see what happens.  In the meantime, did you know that Sam's Club and Wal-Mart just GIVE AWAY the dummy display phones?  We just found this out, and Josh now has a flip phone (case) and a qwerty phone (case) and he's left our phones alone for the most part now.

Josh's school did a terrific Halloween party (and the little girl who came as Ariel was totally working the room -- she knew she looked good and made a point of letting everyone else know it), and we did our usual Trick or Treat at the mall....and then we decided to change things up.  This year, he decided against Iron Man at the last minute and went as Darth Vader instead.  Oh yes, his father was Sooooooo proud.  Jon even broke out his college light saber (last seen just minutes before our wedding) so that Josh could be properly equipped.  And then, we let Josh go Trick or Treating, in town, to houses, for REAL.  "You mean I can go up to the houses?  But I'm not supposed to take candy from strangers..."  He had me there, but we wandered nearly every street that wopperjawed little town had, and Josh came home with nearly two pounds of candy and was just as thrilled as he could possibly be.

Up next, planning a run on Children's Hospital -- Josh seems to have an alignment issue with his eye.  We're hoping for the best, but we are also getting him psyched about the idea of being a pirate for a little while (if he has to wear a patch).  Fingers crossed, regardless.  And then onto his birthday and the holidays.

Thanks for waiting all.  More to come when we have it.