A Time To Be Born

It was good to hear Mayor Rudolph Guiliani quote from Ecclesiastes this morning, at the site of the WTC tragedy. There is, indeed, a time Under the Sun for all things. This morning, while watching the memorial service, was a time to reflect and to cry some tears. Now I have put mourning away, because today was also a Time to be Born. Today is the day, four years ago, that the joy of my age came to me. This is the day that I was blessed to hold my grandson Noah in my hands, to feel his small hand squeeze my finger and see his innocent eyes stare into mine; a day for me to be Revived. Of course, he will not understand any of these deep and profound things, since he is, after all, only four years old.

Today is Sunday, and he will be in church and then at his paternal grandparents' home, where they will celebrate. Next Saturday is his birthday party for all friends and family, where I'm sure at least 30 people will be paying him attention. I chose to celebrate with him yesterday. When you're four, the attention is enough, it doesn't really matter if it's on the exact date of your birth. Hmmm... upon reflection, that's true at four and at forty-eight!

First Mommy and Daddy dropped him off on their way to attend wedding that they never quite made it to. When you're in a hurry, it's easy to overlook the car seat -- and turning around to bring it back takes more time than you'd think, even when you're only five minutes away. I promised Noah we'd go shopping for Mimi's house stuff and then he could pick out a special toy for his birthday.



This is the special toy he picked out. I asked him why he didn't want something from Cars since he's on a Cars kick right now and he said he liked Buzz Lightyear better than Mater. I asked him who he liked better, Woody or Buzz Lightyear and Buzz won again. The other adults around us were laughing and smiling as he went on and on about his birthday. How come everyone thinks it's cute when you're four but not so much when you're my age?

After he picked out his special toy, he told me that, given the choice of cake or ice cream, he wanted ice cream. (It was 85 degrees yesterday, and like most people from Western Washington, he thinks that anything higher than 75 is uncomfortable.) So we went here:



Cute place. Twenty different flavors of froyo you dispense yourself, then dozens of different toppings, which you also pick yourself, and you are charged by the ounce. Noah's didn't weigh much, but I put a lot of fruit in mine to offset the not-so-good-for-you factor in frozen oversweetened yogurt, so it ended up being a bit pricey. Noah wanted pink ice cream (he got raspberry sherbet) and cereal on top (Captain Crunch w/Crunchberries), plus blueberries, whipped cream and sprinkles. After eating half the bowl, he decided he didn't like the blueberries. He picked them all out and made me eat them.





At one point a yellow jacket flew into his bowl, so I had to scoop it out with his spoon and fling it on the ground so I could stomp on it. He was very impressed with that. He thinks I control and subdue the forces of nature, which you have to admit is pretty cool when you're 48 years old and well acquainted with your limitations. Then he said, it's cold now and threw his bowl, two-thirds empty, and my bowl, practically licked clean, into the trash for me. He wanted to do it himself.

On the way home he mentioned to me that he'd like another little brother but did not want a sister. We came home, one exhausted Mimi and one wide-eyed four year old Noah, both satisfied with the world at that moment. I opened his special present and he played with it until Lyndie and Micah came back. When they picked him up, I gave him the stack of clothes I'd also bought for his birthday, but of course, when you're four and a boy you don't care much about clothes; the Buzz Lightyear Rocket Bicycle is much more compelling.

Thank you, most gracious Heavenly Father, for blessing me with my grandsons Noah and Joshua. And thank you for giving me beauty for ashes when Noah was born on September 11, 2007.

Summer in the Pink

This week is my week for attending to those things neglected. The first neglected thing on my list is this blog. Things have happened, but they seem to have happened in such quick succession that I haven't had the will or desire to post anything since my birthday -- which was, by the way, fabulous. Today, I feel like posting some of my garden pictures. My garden is in a state of transition (when isn't it?), but my flowers bloom right on schedule with little regard for my actions. These pictures were taken May through early July. I seem to have a lot of pink blooming in my garden during the Spring and early Summer.



The pink hyacinths I got from a friend have multiplied and fill my entire yard with their perfume in April and May (they were late this year). I can't have them in the house, but outside they are stunning to see and smell. (I thought this picture looked better upside down; the hyacinth looks like a tree at this angle.)



This hellebore will first bloom around the first of March (when I desperately need flowers), and I took this picture in June. Thanks to my friend and former prayer partner Michelle McCoy for this beautiful addition to my garden!



Snakeshead lily/Checkered lily -- I don't know if the detail will show clearly on this blog, but the flower is pink with mauve/purple checkers all over it. Just beautiful! This one usually makes its appearance about the same time as the hyacinth but was late this year.



This was a good peony year. I had them blooming everywhere! I wish I could remember the name of this one. I have two of these and they bloom like crazy. This is a middle-season bloomer; the blood red peonies are already gone by the time these bloom, and the Sarah Bernhardts bloom a few weeks later than these.



Closeup of the peony. I wish I could blog the fragrance.

This month, my garden seems to be delivering to me in purple. I'll get out there and post some of those pictures next time.

Birthday Rules

Today is my 48th birthday. I love birthdays; they are our own personal holidays, days we aren't obliged to share with anyone. 24 blissful hours in which the world does, indeed, revolve around just one person. Today, that person is ME!

My first memorable birthday was #6; my parents had a huge party for all the neighborhood kids, for family and for friends, in our garage on Redwood Avenue in Milpitas. They hired Coco the clown (I think that was his name!), and even though I have a lifetime aversion to clowns, he was nice and paid all kinds of attention to me. My parents have one picture in which all attendees are standing around Coco, who is holding me in his lap, and there I am with a huge smile on my mature, six-year-old face. Part of the reason for the huge smile is the fact that my younger sister is crying because she isn't sitting on Coco's lap.

Mom and Dad had four kids, and my Day was, chronologially, the last one in the year, so there weren't many memorable birthdays after that. Ten years fly by without much detail, but on my 16th birthday my parents threw a surprise party for me at a local bowling alley (I was on a bowling league.... whatever happened to that trophy? Hmmmm...) and although the number of attendees was markedly smaller, it was nice. I also got a beautiful fire opal ring from my parents (which I lost two years later at a Taco Bell in Roseville). I remember my 30th Day, when Mom and Dad drove north just for my day and gave me a lovely Mikasa fruit bowl and serving platter, blush pink and the glass forming swirls of flowers. I use it all the time.

I realized on that day that I'd not been making the best use of my personal holiday, so I changed the rules. I'd always made a huge deal over Lyndie's and Brendan's birthdays, but why was I shortchanging myself? I started expecting (and asking for) a little more from my children and from Derek. Over the last 15 years, we've developed these simple rules for MY birthday (these are just family rules; I don't expect the entire world to comply):

1. I don't just get the day, I deserve an entire month of being first in line, receiving courtesies, getting a little extra attention; sometime around birthday #40 we started celebrating Kerri/Mom/Mimi Month, which is the entire month of MAY. If we go out to dinner in May, Derek buys. If I want a drink of water but am too lazy to walk downstairs and get it, Derek gets it for me. If Derek goes to the store, he has to bring me back a treat. If there is any argument, a simple reminder of whose month it is will set things straight. If a grandchild is ever born in my month, I will (graciously) share. But only for a grandchild.

2. I expect a quality gift and a quality meal at a restaurant for my birthday. By "quality gift", I mean one I have physically picked out and shown Derek where to purchase. Left to his own devices, I shudder in horror at the possibilities. Probably a bowling ball with 'Homer' engraved into it. By "quality meal", I mean a restaurant of my choosing.

3. I expect attention from my children (and grandchildren), in the form of a party, a family dinner, or a reasonable facsimile of either. Believe me, I fawn all over them on their Days, so they aren't giving up anything. I'm all about reciprocity. I think it's especially good for Noah and Joshua to see adults getting all the attention once in awhile so they don't end up like me on their 6th birthday, grinning in malice because a sibling isn't getting any of the attention. They need to learn to share and that others have to come first at times, and it's much better to learn this when you're young. There is a good spiritual lesson in putting others first, and they might as well learn it on my birthday. I already know how to share, so this does not apply to me in the month of May.

4. Gifts are more fun when financial times are rough. That's why I love getting gifts from my children; they are going to be creative because they are young and struggling, and can't afford to buy something nice, so they have to either make it or hunt for it. This year, Bren's gift to me was the big family dinner (see #3), at Olive Garden Saturday night. He couldn't afford both, so instead of a gift he bought me an obnoxious card which wished me a happy 50th birthday. (I am 48 today.) I'm excited to see what Lyndie and the boys bring me today!

5. I DO NOT WORK ON MY BIRTHDAY. This is a new addition; I decided two years ago that I'd worked my last May 16. If you have the option, take your birthday off. No one should expect the Queen (or the King) to work on her/his birthday, and neither should you on the day you are the Queen/King.

So far it's been a great May. I'll post pictures of all my birthday gifts (and the Mother's Day gifts) later, maybe tonight. Happy May 16th, everyone! It's a great day to be born!

Morning Gilds the Skies

When morning gilds the skies, my heart, awaking, cries. "May Jesus Christ be praised!"

When I lifted my head from the pillow a half hour ago, I could see light streaming through the slats in my miniblinds. That light has been sorely missed for the past many months. As a California girl, the apalling greyness of the skies here in Washington tends to leave me feeling physically ill. What a beautiful exception is this morning!

Years past, when our neighbors kept us up to all hours with their 'wild parties', I'd be tempted to serenade them from my garden at 8am with the hymn quoted above, but having a child helped them to settle down admirably; our sleep isn't often disturbed these days. I'm still tempted. Nothing is more satisfying than belting out this song in the thin morning air with golden light falling upon your face; the rarified air lifts the voice like a trumpet, biting and pure. However, I know God and I will be the only two who appreciate it at that time of day and I've learned a bit about compassion and grace over the years.

It's going to be a beautiful day, God willing. There's a bit of high fog that needs burning off, but the sun shows intention of doing so swiftly, so I anticipate many satisfying hours of bicycling with Derek and digging around in my garden. I'll take lots of pictures so I can share them later. God bless you today!

New Beginnings

I'm almost afraid to make the comment for fear I'll ruin it, but it appears that Spring has finally come! I've put off working on this blog for months now because I was waiting for one of my children to help me, but busy lives being what they are, that doesn't look like it's going to happen so I'm jumping in without anyone to hold my hand. Typical Kerri behavior.

Derek and I went to Maui for our second honeymoon in December, and I've held the pictures close for a few months now. I wanted to share some of them because it was just so beautiful (and warm, and sunny) there. Not a drop of rain for seven glorious days, and doing my favorite thing (fall asleep in the sun on the beach).


There were many Spinner Dolphins who thought it would be fun to 'surf' alongside our boat out to Lanai. Out of about 75 pictures (I am not the best photographer), this was the best shot.


Derek snorkeling the reef at Lanai. He kindly decided to skip the Scuba for my sake, since my ears can't hack it. The reef was huge and so pristine, we could have stayed down for hours and hours. We saw so many creatures; a turtle tagged along for awhile but of course I didn't get any good shots of him.


Bottlenose Dolphin, about twice as big as the Spinners and, as a rule, not friendly to people or boats. I consider this a gift from God, as did the guide who says this almost never happens. We also saw False Killer Whales (really, REALLY big dolphins), A Grey Whale and calf, turtles, flying fish (those were WILD!) and numerous other creatures I can't recall at the moment.


Had to throw in a picture of the Luau. The pig was tasty!


Last day, at Haleakala. What you don't see in this picture is the group of (I think) Buddhists chanting and praying toward the sun. We saved this for our trip back to the airport because I just did not want to leave the beach. Ever. And speaking of beaches......


Here's Derek doing a little bodysurfing while I am laying on my favorite Maui beach. I won't tell you the name because I want to save it for myself. Sorry you can't see the beautiful white sand, but I cant' take a pic of it while I'm laying on it!