So happy together...

A whole weekend of Carlos and I. No bike races. No long weekend rides. Just us and sometimes the kids.

Friday night his parents took the kids overnight (YES!!!) and we went to Canada for a co-worker's bonfire. Good times were had by all. Although I must say that nurse drinking games can be kind of effed up. Got to meet a number of people I hear about all the time and everyone was so very nice.

Saturday, went and got the kids and then drove to my parents place in the thumb for a picnic/corn roast with my brothers and my closest aunt and cousins. My dad is one of 6, but he and his sister Rosie are thick as theives. Her kids are good kids, and we grew up under each others feet moreso than any of my other cousins. Heck, I can't even NAME some of my cousins! Lots of grilled corn, another bonfire, plenty of beer (ick) and kids running around in wide open space. Probably the best visit I can remember honestly.

Now Lydia is all tucked in for her nap and I am trying to decide if I want to tag along on the sail boat this afternoon. I have so very much to do- but the water and the wind is calling.

Woes of a Bike Widow

It was time that this blog got back to its roots I guess...me dealing with life as a bike widow. As such, here is the latest saga:

I get a voicemail from him last night letting me know
a) he crashed his bike
b) he was at the ER
c) he was OK
d) mostly
e) OK so there is this little elbow fracture

Ah Carlos. Ah love of my life. Ah biking. I call you his mistress, and a cruel mistress you are - to both of us. You take away his time and then this is how you treat him.

On the upside, that amazing man I get to call my husband said this morning that he felt bad because he knew that this meant a lot more work for me while he can't help as much. Pretty darn insightful if you ask me...something I don't give him credit for all that often- so I was very glad and touched to hear it.

I suppose the upside is that I will have him at home a bit more for a while, which I confess will be nice. I'm never jealous of the mistress but sometimes I just miss my man.

For your general amusement

oh yes ladies and...well, ladies. Oh, and Marissa ;)
The time has come to reach into the waaaaaaaay back machine, and let you laugh at my expense. At least this time you have my permission to do so. A third volume of very, very, very, very bad poetry has been found.

This first one I am dedicating to Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians, as they summed it up best...

Shove me in the shallow water before I get too deep.

Paintings
A pathetically bad poem by Tiffany Bobek, circa 1990

Fragments of life
Whose only occupation
is to cause
neurotic
individual
perception.



yeah, think about THAT for a while. It was hard to be that deep every day I tell ya, but I managed somehow.


OK, maturing some, this one is actually kind of sweet. It probably would be sweeter if I could remember who it was written for.


My Poem
still pathetically bad, circa 1992

10:03 am
Late for class
Forgot homework
(that I didn't do anyway)
Misplaced my Spanish book
Got yelled at by Miss Gage.
None of this seems to matter
because at 10:03 am
I was thinking of you.


Sweet right? In a pathetic 15 year old girl kind of way.


Last but not least is (fittingly I guess) the last poem I ever wrote. Not sure how old I would have been, but I was well into college and really should have stopped writing years ago. Still, it was the last, and I found it today and it made me kind of happy. I'm thinking it was probably circa 1997ish?

Sublime

In Detroit
the moon is an afterthought
a hiccup in the night sky
not even recognizable as
the moon that I saw with you.

There
the moon filled the sky until
you couldn't help but
breathe it in
There
it filled your lungs
and made you
ache
There
the moon is a tyrant
the moon is a religion.

Because "Management" has been all grumpy

I'll make a new post ;)

Life right now is wake self, wake kids, run out the door, work, pick up kids, run home, cook dinner, crash, repeat. I think I was out cold by about 9:00 last night. Pathetisad.

Nate is developing an awesome sense of humor. That kid cracks me up! Lydia is growing before my very eyes- wonderful and sad all in one breath.

Me? I don't know how I am doing yet. Check with me in a few weeks.

what I know:
My family and I are healthy
My husband and I love each other
We can pay our bills
We have a roof over our heads

so really, anything else can't be all that bad

Poor Bug...

Poor mama too.

Today was supposed to be Lydia's first day at daycare (and mama's first day of freedom!) but the poor bug has an ear infection. She is just miserable right now- thankfully it should be short lived according to the doc.

I have a doc appt of my own on Thursday, hopefully I will have some answers and a quick fix!

Independence

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security

And so goes the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence. My challenge to you today is to read it, in full, and give it thought. I consider myself to be patriotic, in a form. In my mind there are two ways to be true to your nation- and both ways are needed for a country to achieve greatness. One path is through questioning, the other through believing. One is not subservient to the other- both must coexist for a nation to have strength.

I have a deep love for our independence. For the laws and systems that allow our country to exist. It is that love that pushes me to constantly challenge those same laws and systems, to ensure that the freedoms that we cherish- that those self-evident truths of equality and liberty- are never allowed to fall by the wayside in favor of greed, or tyranny, or fear.

The 4th is always a holiday of reflection for me as much as it is a holiday of joy. I set aside time each year to do two things- to listen to the Declaration being read aloud on NPR and to read some other favorite historical writing. This year it is "What To The Slave Is The 4th Of July?", a speech that Frederick Douglass made in 1842.

Happy 4th to you and your family.

mom of one

Disclaimer: This is not intended to offend moms of one. If you are a mom of one and get offended by this, maybe you should have another child. Then, first of all you will know what I am saying and second of all you won't have the spare time to get offended.

Second disclaimer: In hindsight, that disclaimer is probably more offensive than what I am about to post. So if you were offended by my disclaimer...well, deal with it.



Ahhh being a mom to one. Who knew it was so easy? Who knew how much you can get done with just one little one to tote about?

Nate is in summer camp 3 days a week, which means that it is just mama and Lydia all day long. I love the one on one attention I can give her. I love how much I can accomplish. I love my son and get so happy when it is time for him to come home- but life doesn't stay quite so simple.

I dropped Nate off at 8. By 9:30, I had washed and vaccumed my car, did a load of laundry, answered my emails, organized a closet, and spread world peace amongst the warring nations.