A Road Less Travelled

So there I was, perched in the bathroom bleaching black mold off the walls and ceiling and cheerfully grumbling (a task that can be accomplished if one is in the right company).I was waxing eloquent about how I could be in college right then, in a classroom with my peers, discussing important and intellectually stimulating matters. But instead, and here I pause, but Crystal, who was also scrubbing mold off the walls, leapt into the gap. “Instead,” she said, “You are fulfilling your dreams of scrubbing mold off my bathroom walls.” “No,” I answered,” I am following my dream of one day scrubbing mold off of my own bathroom walls.” And we laughed and it was funny and we both knew how very true and profound it was.

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But what

if my heart revealed

should be proven worthless?

Because good writing is rarely safe.

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“Yes, you may shoot Titi Gaby, but do it quickly.”

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As Moriah approaches her first full decade, she begins to sound like the grownups…

“No, she gets to name her own fork.”

…and the grownups slide back toward childhood…

“Stop shining your fork in my eyes!”

 

Also heard recently–

“I have a way to put a bun in Lollipop’s hair, and I need a ponytail to make it stay.”

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Times are changing in the Ben-Ezra household. We have brought about the end of a thing that has been ever since we moved here. I am very sorry to tell you that the Quiet Room is no more. For those of you who don’t know the Quiet Room was a room in our house that was gated off and curtained off. The children had to ask to go in and only quiet things could be done in there. It was a haven. It was Seth’s haven in particular. Breakable things were put in there and anything we didn’t want the kids to break or mess with. It was set up like a Japanese-esque sitting room. We played Polaris in there. And now it is gone. We have been running out of room for a long time. And now that Noah is older and needs more space we have been feeling the pinch. So Seth gave up his quiet room. We turned it into a library and I am sitting in it writing this. It is very nice, but I think I will miss the quiet room. I didn’t use it much, but it was nice to feel like I could if I wanted to. We took the curtains down to make the rooms connect with each other more. I have already felt the blessing of one more room for the family to expand into, but it feels weird to be able to see into this room. I know I will enjoy this room and I am glad we made this change, but I will miss the Quiet Room and I do not think it is a bad thing to mourn an end. Farewell, quiet Room. You served us well.

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I like the contrast between these two haiku–

silence
a harmony
between us

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loving someone

I’ll never meet

until heaven

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This goes with Gabrielle’s post on Sparkle and Shine:

this harsh, hurting world

if I would touch it

it must also touch me

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Yesterday was Elsie’s sixth birthday. She is now twice the age she was when I moved here. (I’m going on a technicality here, because she turned four about a week later.) I am not going to repeat here the entire spiel about how big she’s getting, or how fast the time is going or any of that. I refuse to fall prey to that. Though really, I don’t know how she can be six years old already… In another three years she will be nine. Ack! Yesterday we had a nice little birthday party for her, but I must admit the part foremost in my mind is my contribution to her cake decoration. She wanted to use a plastic ballerina cake topper, but was concerned about the ballerina’s lack of modesty. Using only a few strips of tissue I fashioned a new top for the ballerina and all was joy and happiness. Yes, it looked a little like she was a ballerina wearing a body cast–but only if you looked closely. I’ll have to add this skill to my resume… Happy birthday, Elsie!

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silver

swirl of wire–

safety pin

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