Life Lesson in Empathy?

For several weeks now we have been watching a sunflower grow out of our strawberry bed. The seed most likely came from our birdfeeder, but wasn't planted on purpose. But we watched as the stalk grew and grew until it was as high as the fence. This week the bud began to form and we watched each morning in anticipation of the day it would open. Well today was the day! At breakfast, we looked out the window and saw the yellow petals beginning to unfurl. Happy day.

What followed was a fairly normal morning routine, take Addison to school, run a few errands and home by 9:20am.   As I pulled into the driveway I looked over at our sunflower and did a double take. The head was missing. Not broken or dead, but completely gone. Gnawed off by some fuzzy, tree-dwelling, fluffy-tail having rodent that in some circles passes for cute. I stared slack jawed for several minutes, then pulled the beheaded stalk out of the pot and began stomping around looking for a squirrel to whack. But alas, no squirrel was to be found - they must have seen me coming.

Now, I know many people whose gardens have fallen victim to various small critters.  And I've always felt badly for them, in a vague, pat-on-the-shoulder kind of way.  I guess you just never know until it happens to you.  

So say we all.

We Have Lift Off!

Yesterday I set Mason down on the rug to play with his toys. If you give this baby a box of colorful toys, he'll sit for an hour pulling each item out one at a time and tasting them. Yum-yum. Meanwhile, mom (that's me) sits down to get some work done. All of a sudden I feel something on my leg. Surprise! It's Mason. He has mysteriously moved from one side of the room to the other. I looked around for someone to blame, like the cat or Elias, but to no avail. Mason has become mobile!

LACE Award for Susan Russell

Susan Russell the priest I have been making my documentary about was honored two weeks ago with a LACE award. It's an award given by the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center for activity in the community. Being LA the award is given at a big gala and a good number of super glam Hollywood types show up. As part of the award there is a small video made to introduce the award recipients at the gala. I was contacted to be interviewed on tape for the video. Naturally I was glad to sing Susan's praises on tape. I also let the people making the video use some of the footage that I shot with Susan. Here are the results.

It was a bit frightening to be on the wrong side of the camera, so I just went on and on and on, its a tribute to the magic of editing that I actually appear to say anything coherent!

What Would You Do

if you hadn't showered in two days, the house was a disaster and your child had a fever of 102 and . . . your old friend/flame from college calls and says I'm in town for one night and would love to get together and meet the fam.  Do you . . .

1. Begin cleaning like crazy, after lamely telling your friend what a lousy housekeeper you are.

2.  Call your hairdresser for an emergency appointment, take a shower and buy a new outfit.

3.  Go to the gym and try to lose 20 lbs in 2 hours.

4.  Say, this isn't a good time for me - maybe next time. (The smart choice - which should make it obvious this was not the choice I made!)

So can you guess what I ended up doing?

Tribute to a Great Kid!

Dramatic, enthusiastic, smart, bossy, sweet, helpful, impertinent, kind, loving . . .

My sweet little girl is growing up and becoming an amazing young lady.  I am so proud of her and all of her accomplishments.  This little girl is so much bigger than her tiny little frame would have you believe.  That brain of hers is constantly ticking away and her heart is full of enthusiasm for everyone and everything. There is so much that she wants to do and try. 

This past month, my dear daughter organized a week of Earth Day activities for her school.  She created an agenda for the principal to approve, chose an event for each day and spent her recess and lunch times running these activities.  She stood up in front of the entire school, announcing her plans and challenging everyone to adopt her motto :  "Make everyday Earth Day!" she shouted to the assembly.  That week she was able to help over 130 students make pledges to help the planet.  Her enthusiasm carried the school.  And this past Friday, she was awarded student of the month for all her efforts.  

This little slip of a girl has a strong soul!  Her enthusiasm and curiosity is a constant lesson to me.  I just hope I can keep up and give her the love and support she needs to be her best self. At the same time,  I also wish she didn't want to grow up so fast.  "Slow down," I tell her constantly.  And in my heart I say, be my little girl just a little longer.

This weekend she began complaining that she didn't feel well, and last night it hit full force.  High fever, headache, sore throat.  She is very dramatic about the whole thing - as is to be expected.  She was most upset about having to miss state testing this week.  She burst into tears until I could convince her that she could make up the tests next week.  What a kid!  You gotta love her.