You know, I am still here. Here in my life. Not so much here at Fraught-The-Blog. I know.
What’s keeping me occupied?
Well, there is the gardening, and the children, and the cooking cleaning washing driving. Some biking and running and general combating of the Earth’s gravitational effect on the physical plant that is me. And I have a job! Did I tell you that? No, not the cycle-instructing job – though I still have that one – but a job that gets me out in the world and interacting with cool people and thinking about interesting things. Fun!
I have never in my whole entire adult life had a job where I went in at a prescribed hour, worked for a certain number of hours, and then went home at a set hour and didn’t think about it again until the next prescribed hour. A leave-it-at-the-office job. Nor do I have that job now. But I have one that lets me work mostly when I want to, and that’s pretty freaking awesome. I get paid reasonably and I do things that I enjoy and I feel appreciated and I’m learning new things. Not much more to ask from a mid-life part-time job, methinks.
The girls? Oh, them. Those growin’ thangs. They are SOMETHING. Megs starts middle school next year and while we still have a gracious plenty of Moments, I’ve realized that we are going to be friends. She trusts me. I can tell her when I’ve screwed up, and I can hear her apologize when she does, and there is a foundation of respect, be it at times deeply subterranean. Every once in a while she’s more mature than I feel. I feel quite blessed by our relationship, and though I am occasionally nervous about what the next years hold in the way of conflict for us, most days I think we’re going to weather it just fine.
Kira was, at the close of her 2nd-grade year, invited to the same program that her sister attended in grades 3-5. Pupils Learning Appropriately TOgether is the acronym. Gahh. Her scores were such that her daddy and I have looked at her with different eyes. Because Megan is, after all, the gifted one, the wicked-bright one; Kira is the sweet one, the personable one.
Those labels, they are dangerous things. Why do we do that to our kids? Megan shows herself incredibly sweet, and Kira is going to whip some math ass, and I for sure am going to try to remember not to box them up and limn their life-roles for them.
Probably some peeps will read this and think I am a little too braggy on my kids today. My blog, my braggy. Yup. They are beautiful and funny, too.
Let’s see, what else? Well, I have a quinoa recipe to share. Is it just me, or has quinoa rocketed into the chi-chi sphere of late? I’ve seen it on more menus in the past six months than I did in the six years before. I know a secret about quinoa, though, and it’s not just how it’s pronounced. (No, that would not be “Kwih-no-ah.”) It’s about how to keep it from being gummy and sticky!
Stay tuned. I might even post said recipe over the summer, since it is a summer-style dish.
I have made some friends lately who are just about exactly half my age. That is a funny thing. And a learnin’ one. Some of them, they are so freakin’ smart – it is an awesome thing to see.
One thing I have decided is that the best indicator of intellect is the questions people ask.
Another thing I have decided is that in my advancing years I have winnowed my rules for friends to two: 1. Be kind. 2. rsvp. In that same vein, I like to think I am softer, and more forgiving, and have left some of my peskier expectations along the road.
And I am sometimes astonished at the serendipity of life. In a few weeks or months I may get to tell you a story about that, if things go down the way they are looking like they might.
My brother and his wife have adopted/rescued a new Keeshond, and we get to meet this little furry niece soon. I am happy for them, and happy that we get to stay with them for our Yellow Springs time next month. It is a tradition we love, and I often think the best memories are built on the bedrock of tradition – maybe to do with the memory being created one layer at a time, and over the years it takes on depth and luster. Like a pearl!
Or something like that. Whatevs, we love us a tradition, and ones that involve family are the best.
And with that, it’s bedtime here at Casa Fraught, and the girls are coming in from outside with volume and spirits both high, and it is time to be a-settling them down. I’m already in my jammies, so I’m going to go nuzzle some sweet necks and breathe in some outdoor skin smell and then get myself into bed too. And count my blessings, because I have a bunch. Some of you are among them, and thank you for that.
Hugs, A
fraught 