Saturday, April 25, 2009

shedding

I didn't much appreciate all the hair I lost a couple months after delivering each of the boys. There's a medical term for it, and I started my shedding exactly 12 weeks after each of their birthdays. Hair everywhere. Yuck. A receding hair line. Double yuck.

This is much better kind of shedding. Therapeutic in fact.

We're getting ready to move. But we have found the house we're moving to yet. This had me a little anxious, staring at the computer screen many evenings, searching and searching different real estate sites, as if I could actually bring our future house onto the market with sheer effort, determination, or magic combination of search requirements.

And then, God gave me a few nudges. You know, that I am not in control. A friend encouraged me, "Well, you could use this time to pack, so you're ready to go when you do find the house."

What, not wait until the days before we move to pack? Somehow, I just figured sleepless nights and a looming deadline were a part of moving. With two little ones, it's pretty unrealistic to think I am going to have 12 uninterrupted hours in a day to pack up our house. It's the packing rush that leads to the I-don't-have-time-to-sort-it mess, the mystery boxes, the dust collectors that were never opened from the previous move packed into a truck to move yet again.

So, I have time. And miraculously, I am using it. Sorting, organizing, shedding, labeling. With each trip to the dumpster, black trash bag in hand, I feel lighter. A little giddy in fact. I'm encouraged by the vision of our new home, even though I have no idea yet what it looks like. I have a sense of how it will feel, and I'm excited.

Friday, April 10, 2009

Buzz

Bobcats (as in the skid-loaders) lost their all-consuming grip on Eli this winter. Lighting McQueen became his primary obsession, temporarily took second place to Wall-E, then regained his "most-beloved" standing.

A few weeks ago, he watched Toy Story. It took several days to make it through the entire movie. Those mutant toys are pretty scary! Eli especially didn't like Sid, the dog, or "the clippy thing with one eye closed". And his eyed filled with huge tears and his bottom lip quivered as he watched the scene when Buzz realized he could not really fly.

"Momma, Buzz is so sad. He can't really fly Momma. Momma, Buzz is really sad," and with that the tears came pouring down.

His empathy was sweet. I didn't know what to say or how to reassure him. We turned the movie off, as I reassured him that Buzz would feel better later in the story, that it would be okay.

A half hour later, in the kitchen, he said, "Momma, can we turn the movie back on and check to see if Buzz is feeling better yet? Is he still sad, or is he feeling happy now?"

Finally, we made it through the movie. And he's hooked. If you are quiet, you can probably hear him now.

"You Infinity....and Beyonnnnn!" as he jumps from the couch.