Just Write {169}

January 6, 2015

We played music while removing the wallpaper in Elsie’s room. Another day, Nanny and Bapa came and helped us paint the walls purple. That little girl is in purple heaven. We played music while cooking and doing dishes. I looked over at her in the midst of all the doing, and she was dancing. I took her hands and spun her around. We got the giggles. I dipped her, I twirled her. We shook our booties. The weather took a turn for the even more cold, and we rush from one inside to another. Boots, hats, mittens, coats…it’s all so time-consuming and still needed, for the few seconds it takes to run to the car or the house and all the places. It is tempting to stay put, hide, cover ourselves and wait. But we need to keep going, we need to dance. Lately, if I’m being as open as I can be […]

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Just Write {168}

December 30, 2014

It seems a rational thing to start at 4pm on a winter’s break Monday. Elsie Jane thought it was a great idea, and decided on purple for the replacement color after all the wallpaper border is slowly and meticulously removed, shred by shred. She is a helper, to an extent, so proud of her ability to peel big strips off with her tiny strong hands. But then, as these things go, I was left to fight the sticky paper while she played. She would “talk on the phone” to the “plumber,” telling him that she dropped an earring down the drain. She would scold him for not understanding, and then huff and hang up on him. Poor plumber. The wrath of EJ. Then she’d tell me she was going to work, and “Hey Annie, can you babysitter my babies?” Sure, I’d say. Then she’d sit in the hallway outside the door, instructing me. […]

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unwrapped

December 29, 2014

Many unwrapped gifts are still under the tree, waiting their turns for attention. We sit close on the couch, in the first morning light and eat my sister’s banana bread while making yum sounds. We sit together and even if we don’t talk for a long time, we’re here. With the kiddos on break, we are lazing around, finally, after all the holiday running. Piles of Legos are like minefields across two rooms. I look around at the Christmas decorations and consider putting them away, but then I don’t. We like having strings of lights inside the house. We have had all the winter germs inside our bodies. Strep and Influenza, infections, and plain old nasty colds. Please let us be done. That’s a lofty goal, to be done, but please. We are coughing and coughing, sometimes in unison, shaking up the quiet house. In the mornings, I look at Facebook for a […]

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Just Write {167}

December 23, 2014

I walk the aisles of thrift stores, and I search for treasures. The book aisles are off limits for right now, because I should really read all the un-read ones already at home, tucked in rows on shelves all over the living room. Wouldn’t it be something if we could sit and read for days and days? Would it ever grow old? For those of us that love books in a mad passionate way, I doubt we’d get sick of it. Especially if we could sit on a porch or a beach or maybe even just our favorite spot on the couch. I was thrifting for Christmas presensts. (Shhhh, don’t tell my family members that their gifts are used, they will never know.) I’m a regular thrifter, I’m pretty sure I’ve made that clear here. But I guess I just figure that if I need to buy something, and I can find it […]

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