Our Trombonist POP

Josiah and his trusty trombone. 

A POP (Post of Previosity) from December 2007.

The year he first learned to play.

The joy of discovery, and the hand-in-hand joy of musical camaraderie.

What a gift for all the seasons of his life.

Much Love. Take Care.

Wormy

Gommy met a worm friend.

Wormy was very glad to make her acquaintance...he had been getting tired of low-level living.

Wormy could do tricks...

...like making figure "zeros."

Wormy was looking for adventure, so Montgomery took him downhill sliding...

...and skateboarding...

...and cross-country leaf hiking.

Wormy hung out sunbathing on the leaf while Gommy ran inside for a minute...

...and went to the bathroom...

...and had a snack...

...and watched a movie...

...and played with her dolls.

Gommy remembered Wormy was still sunbathing and went outside to visit him...

He was a little quiet...Gommy said he was taking a nap.

Ummmm........

Much Love. Take Care.

 

The Elders POP+

I love this photo of Job and Maia,

a POP (Post of Previosity) from April 1995,

when Job would have been about 21 months old and Maia almost 9 months.

It's one of my all-time favorites!

What I love is that it shows the natural inclinations, personalities

and sibling relationship of these two...even today.

Job tends to be focused on the activity of the moment, and the tools and items related to that activity, which for him in this picture is clearly the sippy cup, the drinking of the juice, and the wearing of the sunglasses. Maia tends to focus on the people of the activity of the moment and relating with them, and thus the items of the activity of the moment are kind of unimportant to her...she was simply wanting to "talk" to the nice mommy lady standing over her with the flashy-light-camera-thing.

Job has usually tended to exhibit a degree of reserve. Maia has usually -- well, almost always -- approached situations with a desire to dive right in. Job has tended to have his mouth closed much more often than it's open. Maia has tended to have her mouth open communicating something much more often than it's closed. Job tends to be methodical. Maia tends to be a bit freestyle.

Yet, with all of their differences, or maybe because of their differences, Job and Maia have always been very close siblings, and I think are even closer now than ever before. Perhaps they balance each other? Either way, as a mother, their special relationship has warmed my heart again and again over the years. And...the funny thing is that in recent years they seem to have started rubbing off on each other. Job is a whole lot more social these days and enjoys getting to know new people in new situations, and actively seeks out those opportunities. Maia is now contemplatively reserved in situations that warrant it, and has a greater appreciation for methods and procedures.

But I still sometimes manage to capture a few photos,

like this one from Job's graduation day,

that take me right back to April 1995...

...classic!

Much Love. Take Care.

This Land

This photo speaks to me on so many levels. As I think about what September 11th means to us as a nation and to me personally, my mind roams to the beauty of the American people in the days and weeks and months following that awful tragedy. My heart fills with more of the joy of solidarity than with the remembrances of grief. Perhaps I have that luxury because I did not lose anyone close to me on that day. Or perhaps I have that remembrance because we are so often a nation divided, but in the aftermath of that tragedy we were so much more a nation unified...unified in supporting each other and helping each other, and in many ways appreciating each other more.

Perhaps I have the luxury of that sentiment because I am not a Muslim American and did not experience the suspicions and backlash of that day.

Our world is very complex and there is much I cannot fathom.

The photo above is of Montgomery playing in the street at our neighborhood's 4th of July bike parade this summer. At the end of the bike parade, our local fire station opens the hose in a primary neighborhood intersection while the kids dance and play in the spray, and a local church on that corner hands out free red/white/blue ice pops to the crowd. Usually the hose is mounted on top of the fire truck (just out of view on the left of the photo) and sprays in the air at varying intensities, creating showers that sprinkle or drench. The kids love it!

This year, however, something wasn't working properly on the truck's mounted sprayer, so the firefighters took turns on the ground holding the hose for the spray action. This is by far not my best photo of that day, but it is the one that compels me to linger for a moment. When I look at this photo, I almost don't even see Montgomery in the foreground, because the scene in the background always captures me.

For African Americans, fire hoses hold many disparate memories, but often the first one that leaps to mind is negative. The horrible images, and for some, the horrible memories, of fire hoses, created to protect and defend, but so often in the 1950's and 60's used to inflict pain and preserve a way of life that desecrated the ideals of our unique nation, are what instantly leap to mind. As a native of South Carolina, that is often the case for me.

So this photo, of an African American firefighter, holding a hose on (at that particular moment) Caucasian young people, always gives me pause. And then my eyes roam to the other firefighters and the easy camaraderie their body language displays, and the relaxed crowd all around, and the mother squatting in the lower right corner to take a photo of her children...and my daughter Montgomery, happily oblivious to anything but the fun of this particular day. There are no mixed messages in her mind when she turns to see the fire hose. She is living the dream of the dreamer, and doesn't even know it: "I have a dream that one day... little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers." Martin Luther King, Jr.

Of course, one day I will have to show her the photos and footage from the Civil Rights movement, and plant that awful fire hose imagery in her mind. I will have to do this because a people who forget their history are doomed to repeat it, and in my motherly love and protection for her, I never want her to experience a fire hose turned in her direction for anything other than protection...or a little 4th of July fun. I need her, we all need her, as part of our nation's future, to know and remember all aspects of our country's history, both the wonderful and the awful, so that hopefully, we, as a nation, will never be doomed to willfully repeat the awful.

But...

...not that day...

...and not today...

...and not this year.

There will be time enough yet for her to know the uglies of the human heart.

And, so, on this September 11th, I choose the remembrance of the unification of the American people. I choose to see the silver lining. I choose to hear over and over again in my mind the lyrics of Woody Guthrie's old folk song...

This land is your land, this land is my land

From California to the New York Island

From the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream waters

This land was made for you and me.

I roamed and I rambled and I followed my footsteps

To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts

While all around me a voice was sounding

This land was made for you and me.

And I choose to delight in a photo that speaks to me something of how far our nation has come. We have much road yet to travel...but we have progressed.

"Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord..." Psalm 33:12a

Much Love. Take Care.

Billiard Boys

Josiah went to play pool today with his buddy Emmett...in a real pool hall.

Emmett's been wanting to play for awhile and his mom Karen scoped out a nearby non-seedy, non-smoky, non-early-afternoon-drinking, and non-other-undesirable-stuff establishment to which to take the boys.

They had a great time and want to play again soon.

Karen sent me this photo she snapped on the fly with her camera phone.

Can you almost feel the years melt away right through the photo image, 

and see these guys enjoying a friendly round of pool in their young adulthood?

I can...and it makes me happy...and just a little bit sad...all at the same time.

Much Love. Take Care.

 

Off to College! (Part 1)

So...the long anticipated day finally arrived, and our-baby-no-more Job, now a "six-foot-two" handsome and very capable young adult, headed off to college!

I have been negligent here, for some time, by not posting the news of his final college choice, which we were sure of way back on May 1st when we had to "sign on the dotted line" per say, and confirm his spot in the...

Carnegie Mellon University

Class of 2015!

We have delighted with him, over the part several months now, in this decision, believing CMU to be a great fit for Job. And while I must gratefully and proudly declare that he had many wonderful options from which to choose (even the awesome Johns Hopkins University, right here practically in our back yard...no really, I'm serious, it's that close...hmmmm...maybe that's why he sent them a "Thanks for the acceptance, but I will not be enrolling" letter!), we are all very happy with his choice, especially because he is so happy with it.

For Job, the choice boiled down to an excellent mechanical engineering department coupled with an excellent visual arts department, and the opportunity to continue his studies in arguably the country's best graduate robotics program. Knowing that he really liked the campus and the city of Pittsburgh from a 6-week summer program stay there last summer didn't hurt either. Not to mention the fact that Carnegie Mellon has squash courts right on campus, and a 30-something percent ethnic diversity figure. It all added up to a win-win formula for Job.

His parents really like the fact that he is only a four-hour drive away. Yessss!!!

This is how Job's CMU acceptance info creatively came in the mail...

...and this was the letter he found inside...

So, of course we drove up for the accepted students' weekend in April. That was so exciting for all of us. This trip it was just Job and I and a good friend high school classmate of his, Elliott Taft, who also had been accepted, and Elliott's mother, Val. Seeing the huge "Welcome Class of 2015" banner was exhilarating!

Job and Elliott stayed on campus, hosted by current CMU students that weekend, while Val and I shared a room and chilled at a nearby Pittsburgh hotel. We did the full round of accepted family giddiness, from posing with the "Congratulations! Welcome!" folders...

...to posing with the CMU Scottie Dog Mascot...

...to enjoying the various student choirs singing at the welcome dinner....

(that's Job down front in the yellow shirt)

...to enjoying touring all the great eatery areas on campus...

..and posing next to random Carnegie Mellon signage!

The guys had a great time and ran into various friends they knew from the CMU summer program the year before, like this young lady...

Everyone was all smiles. If you've never been the parent of a high school senior, diligently and stressfully guiding an almost-but-not-quite-adult teenager through the minimum six-months-long process of identifying colleges of interest, visiting them all (almost), SAT prepping, battling-senioritis-grades-management, endless applicationing, and finally the brutal and agonizing months of admissions-decision-waiting...just wait...or better still, just trust me...those smiles on our faces were WELL EARNED!

We feel so blessed that our son is able to be right where he wants to be for this season of his life. How awesome! I'll post some photos from dorm check-in day later this week (hopefully!).

Meanwhile, here's a link to a neat little Carnegie Mellon bragbook of ideas and innovation:
http://www.cmu.edu/social/brag/bragbook.pdf

Too wonderful!

And one little Carnegie Mellon fun fact: the university's official school colors are PLAID. Yes, that's right, not green and gold, or orange and blue, or burgundy and black, but PLAID! I just love it!

Enjoy it all Job! You've earned it!

Much Love. Take Care.

A Twisted Life ;o)

Maia spent a lot of time recently, over several days, twisting her hair.

(As a comical aside, she was about halfway through on Day 2 when it came time to go to an SAT prep class, and she had to quickly come up with a creative style of half twists/half fro...a bit challenging, but she managed...um, how shall we say...interestingly.)   :o)

Her twists are lovely and funky, much better I think, than when I have spent the hours styling them into her hair.

Everyone keeps asking her where she got them done, wanting to know the hairstylist she uses! Ha! Go Maia!

They make daily life so easy for her, especially now that school has started...just condition, spritz, fluff a bit, and go!

While I am delighted that she can do them now herself, I did always end up with a great feeling of accomplishment whenever I styled them for her...but the whole process just takes soooo long that I found myself dreading it rather than welcoming it as a time for shared mother-daughter intimacy.

However, I must say that whenever we were not hurried to meet a time deadline for completion (...boarding a plane for California in a few hours...heading off to perform in a play in a few hours, etc...you get my drift...) or pausing repeatedly to entertain/mediate/snackalize/bathe/chauffer/insertyourchoiceofmotherlytaskshere the littles, the process has really been quite fun. We usually watched reality TV marathons (Top Model, Think You Can Dance, House Hunters Int'l, Housewives, Top Chef, you name it...) while we styled and laughed and enjoyed some great TV peanut-gallery commentary along the way! I think I will miss that time...hmmm...

Wait Maia, WAIT!...please let me keep on doing your hair!! 

Just kidding...

...ummm...

...I think?

Isn't she beautiful!

My little Mai-Mai is growing up! (Sniff)

Much Love. Take Care.

Feet Seat POP

I love this photo of Josiah,
a POP (Post of Previosity) from mid-October 2006.

He was playing outside at our old house, still in his school uniform,

barefoot, and fresh from a round on the tire swing. 

I think it just captures his cheerful essence so well.

Much Love. Take Care.

 

Teddy Bear Picnic

Gommy is a very good mama to her teddy bears... 

...we just sometimes wish her tender loving care didn't require whole floors!

Much Love. Take Care.

Love in the Shadows

I was standing near the second floor landing recently, rebooting a load of clothes (our laundry nook is just off the landing), around Montgomery's bedtime (well...really significantly after Montgomery's bedtime), and heard muted excitement from nearby. I glanced into my bedroom (yes, that's still where Montgomery starts out sleeping most nights) to see Maia and Montgomery making shadow puppets on the wall.

Gommy had apparently noticed how my bedside lamp casts just the right spotlight on the wall for a center stage, and then her imagination took flight...it tends to do that quite often   :o)

Was that a big hairy spider?

Maia had come along and helped Gommy figure out some new characters...is that a unicorn?

And the two of them created some dramatic sceneplay quite befitting such interesting creatures.

Is the unicorn being chased?

Or was that a horse (or two) being chased by a dragon?

They knew, and that was all that mattered.

Much Love. Take Care.