I have been trying to walk more. Like, whenever I have a second, I throw on some Birks and hit the road, even if it is just for 10 minutes. Sometimes Dorothy comes with me., Sometimes Ben. Mostly I am alone. (I would wear gym shoes, but I am trying to preserve my summer pedicures because it is honestly really hard to find an hour to sneak away and get my nails done— cry me a river, I know). The sunset above is from last night— a perfect moment of suburban zen.
On the way to work this morning (oh, the life affirming magic of wearing a pretty dress and going to campus for coffee and teaching twice a week), I listened to Happier for the first time in forever, and got the advice to check in on my word of the year, since 2022 is almost halfway gone.
My word is SAVOR, and I have been doing a pretty good job of holding small moments close and also eating salty snacks when my first instinct might have been to reach for something sweet. It’s easy to savor the last last year with a one-year old (shut up— I really mean it this time for serious) because everything is so final and so darling.
To be fair, all of the kids are at wonderful stages: a new license, more freedom, and more responsibility for Harry who has excellent graders and is on the cusp of his college choice adventure. A new beginning for Jack in high school after he had a wonderful end of middle school, has a new job, enjoys an excellent group of funny friends, and is in the middle of his dummer dive season, his favorite time of the year. Cooper is so athletic, grown up, caring, and responsible, but also he has his Apple Watch set to Mickey and often presses the button just to hear Mickey’s goofy voice tell him what time it is. Dorothy is like living with a cartoon— one made for adults— because even though she giggle and dances incessantly and is beautiful and always smells like flowers, she has the darkest, most grown up sense of humor.
And Minnnie! Knows all her letters and is working hard on numbers up to 9. She can do puzzles and gallop and jump. She uses 2 words together (mostly nouns and some adjectives. I don’t think the baby has a single verb, although the way she uses MEEEEEE and MIIIIIINE is very action-oriented) and has a delightful repertoire of animal noises. Her frog noise “ribby” is my favorite, of course.
And Ben and I are trying really hard to appreciate each other and the contributions we make to our family in this batshit crazy time in our lives. We have even started sneaking away for dinners and drinks as often as we can (which, I mean, is not supper often, BUT STILL).
This is where I am having office hours this morning, in the spirit of savoring.
Love this!
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