Today I saw a patch of wild dandelion blooms lightly lifting in a vortex carrying them them up into the air and out into the field. There were hundreds of wishes getting taken away on the wind. Parts of these plants were carried so far from where they began, to find new spaces to spread out and thrive. Millions of wishes launched and caught on a breeze all at once; somehow being entirely connected and yet entirely on their own journey.
Read moreI Wish
Rather than facing the truth in my present moment, and understanding how that can help me evolve, I continue to visit the past thinking I can rub salve on a sore that is now a scar, hoping to heal it.
Read moreThe Day I Die
This is not the solemn low drone of letdown, with an honest knowing that life is as it should be. Rather this grief is the long traverse of deep sorrow into a valley, with stumbles over rocks and potential drops that leave you marred for life. It is a graceless fall, crashing along the way, to the bottom of it all.
Read moreJoy of My Life
Willy’s crazy energy, which I thought was entirely too much at the time, proved to fill in our home with so much love. I miss him: his big spirit and all the joy he gave us. How lucky we are that he swooped into our lives and ran rampant with our hearts.
Read moreTen Thousand Words
Looking back now I see how grit can be turned to pearls, how seemingly bad moments can be blessings, how you can find hope in unsuspecting places.
Read moreLesson Number One
Miss M has been asking to take a singing class. For weeks I would offer "dance" and she'd say, "no, singing". I couldn't find a group kids singing class. The closest I could get was a theater class in the spring. So I found a one-on-one session to try. I of course loved the teacher, loved the situation. Miss m? not a peep. Literally not a peep. Some scrunched up head nods and glances (at me for 25 of the 30-minute meeting) in response to the teacher's questions. In all honesty, we were in an under decorated sound proof room the size of my cube at work. Needless to say she was too young for the experience. If she wants, we'll return down the road.
For the time being, I have chosen to focus on singing songs with her that expand out of my 50/60s pop and indie band favorites to identify newer, cooler pop and other more more up-to-date tunes (also more females). The other night we picked Lesson #1 from Mulan II (which if you're dying to know is not as good as Mulan - lesson #1 might be the best part). She knew a fair amount of the words already but still it was fun.
In any case, it's all about exposure. Sometimes she'll say phrases unknowingly and I'll need to show her the irony of, liking "dancing in the dark". This lead to a Saturday morning Bruce Springsteen concert.
Miss A has begun a phase of showing off all the cool things she can do. It involves moves like putting her coat on the ground and flipping it over her head to put it on. More recently, she regalled me with walking backwards into daycare. She was doing it tonight (right in to the kitchen table) when I realized she didn't know what moonwalking was; miss M either. How did they parent in the 70s without Google?!
As we were watching the video, all sorts of questions popped up. I found myself trying to explain that MJ doing the moonwalk during Billy Jean live at the Mowtown 25th Anniversary was history in 1983. It was then that I realized, move over Mulan, I have some lessons of my own.
Miss M asked, "Is that a boy or a girl?"
"A boy but his voice is high like a girl's, right?"
So what do you think?
Great. Can we watch something else like, "Shut up and dance with me"?
For the time being, I have chosen to focus on singing songs with her that expand out of my 50/60s pop and indie band favorites to identify newer, cooler pop and other more more up-to-date tunes (also more females). The other night we picked Lesson #1 from Mulan II (which if you're dying to know is not as good as Mulan - lesson #1 might be the best part). She knew a fair amount of the words already but still it was fun.
In any case, it's all about exposure. Sometimes she'll say phrases unknowingly and I'll need to show her the irony of, liking "dancing in the dark". This lead to a Saturday morning Bruce Springsteen concert.
Miss A has begun a phase of showing off all the cool things she can do. It involves moves like putting her coat on the ground and flipping it over her head to put it on. More recently, she regalled me with walking backwards into daycare. She was doing it tonight (right in to the kitchen table) when I realized she didn't know what moonwalking was; miss M either. How did they parent in the 70s without Google?!
As we were watching the video, all sorts of questions popped up. I found myself trying to explain that MJ doing the moonwalk during Billy Jean live at the Mowtown 25th Anniversary was history in 1983. It was then that I realized, move over Mulan, I have some lessons of my own.
Miss M asked, "Is that a boy or a girl?"
"A boy but his voice is high like a girl's, right?"
So what do you think?
Great. Can we watch something else like, "Shut up and dance with me"?
Today is the Greatest
Smashing Pumpkins
This is what I'm working with here today...
This is what I'm working with here today...
I'll tear my heart out
Before I get out
Damn It Feels Good to Be a Gangsta
Geto Boys
Be on the lookout for M&M's new rap video to premier on YouTube later this month...
(so much for nice respectable girls)
In the Pit
We went to Boettcher Concert Hall and tried on our listening muscles. We literally sat on stage while the musicians surrounded us and participated in Tiny Tots by Inside the Orchestra, a 45-minute performance created to introduce kids ages 6 and under to orchestral music. It was a really fantastic experience; one of those things that's probably logistically cooler as an adult though as a kid you're pretty enthralled too.
We watched as the conductor explained how things work, we laughed as guest conductors lead the orchestra, we were enamored by a young (8 year old) gal who did a piano solo, and completely taken aback by a serenade. I would go back in a heartbeat. Miss M wants to go back because she really wanted to join that 8 year old savant at the piano (which I had to bag because I've seen her play on Nancy and Ed's piano and it's no Nadia's Theme)...
We watched as the conductor explained how things work, we laughed as guest conductors lead the orchestra, we were enamored by a young (8 year old) gal who did a piano solo, and completely taken aback by a serenade. I would go back in a heartbeat. Miss M wants to go back because she really wanted to join that 8 year old savant at the piano (which I had to bag because I've seen her play on Nancy and Ed's piano and it's no Nadia's Theme)...