Chicken Little

We have a few very special friends whom we can count on for just about anything. If things go really crazy, they're the ones that get the call. Or the desperate e-mail. Whether it's minor emergencies, major crises, or just tough situations and decisions that leave us feeling a bit over our heads, we can send up a prayer flare and know that they'll be going before the throne of God along with us, from wherever they are. Not surprisingly, these are folks that have been there on the ground with practical support, too, when that's what was needed.
Sometimes, as I'm reaching yet again for the flares, I can't help but feel a bit like Chicken Little, running around again, telling everyone the sky is about to come crashing down around me. Maybe it's the world we're in that tells us we should be ever more self-sufficient, take care of anything that comes up at home from within those same walls. I was definitely raised to be self-sufficient. Don't become too dependent on anyone, they might not be there when you need 'em.
So it's taken a lot of time to learn to reach out for that support. And our friends have been most patient with us. There've been a lot of flares fired their way in the last few years. Some of those things seem very small now, but perhaps that's because there were good friends alongside us. Certainly some of those things I couldn't see us having come through without them, at least not without some major scars. And if every now and then, perchance, I get a tad trigger-happy on the flare gun, they've been more than gracious and never let on.
Thanks.

The best kind

Mmmm... It's good to be home. Most of all to sleep in my own bed again. Even Tweetie liked that idea when we got in last night. A real crib with a mattress thicker than an inch, and her big air filter white noise generator, and her bedtime lullabyes on CD. I put her in her crib and she was snuggling her face into the mattress before I could get the sleeping bag zipped up around her. Then there was the obligatory protest, but it was brief and half-hearted.
But it was a good road trip, especially the last leg up with our friends the Goddess and Badger. The Badger had lined up some work for the Bear, so he was kept pretty busy, which is always good. Whenever we have the chance to spend time with them, I come to appreciate their friendship even more, and I wish it were easier to stop by more often. They're the kind of friends you can just be yourself with. And you feel a part of their family as the stuff of life goes on. They'd just officially finished a year of renovation on their new home, and as you'd expect, there were a few loose ends. So we jumped in wherever we fit best. From the Bear helping the Badger with wiring and sound - flashbacks to their days as church sound techs - to my helping with baking or mopping the floor. That last one, oddly, was as much for my benefit as anyone else. The catharsis of making a floor clean when my hands are free is, for me, a strange side effect of early motherhood. You would never guess this by the state of my own floor on any given day, it's just one of the things that feels good when I can actually get it done.
But I most appreciate what happens when we're around for more than a few hours. The threads of conversations that weave in and out as the days pass. The Goddess and I share a distaste for phones. It's just not a channel that works well for us. But she's a very good listener, and whatever our hands are busy with when she's around, we can chat. And when the misfit pieces of a messy life come to the surface I find them a little easier to look at. And when we've gone over missed steps, rough terrain and uncertain direction on my current path, I walk away feeling a little less lost, knowing someone's been there.
That's the best kind of friend.

Papa's day

Lest anyone think I'd neglected the Bear on his first Father's Day as one, rest assured he was not forgotten. I think I came up with the near perfect gift for him at this time and occasion (IMHO). Something to share with Tweetie.
I picked up a bike child carrier trailer at MEC, and the Bear took it out for a test spin in the afternoon.

Tweetie took it all in stride, though this next shot might be considered false advertising. The happy grin only came after they stopped and, camera ready, I sang the first line of Five Green and Speckled Frogs - she really, really likes that song.

She also wore her freshly minted Father's Day shirt for the occasion. It was remarkably hard to get a clear shot. She wouldn't stop dancing around!

And lest there be any doubt which bear's her papa, this one's marked with three toes.

Sidewalk refreshment

I was a grumpy mum this morning. We were up earlier than usual, and I had a lot of stuff running through my mind. A good walk helped a bit, a little snooze too, and I confess a bit of unloading on some good friends via e-mail.
But the most pleasant part of my day so far was just a little while ago. Tweetie's rather unsettled today, so I opted to practice walking with her out front again. Caught the neighbour's daughter-in-law heading for her van and we got to chatting, which turned into an impromptu playdate right on the sidewalk. Their little girl's a real cutie. She's about twice Tweetie's age, but with the Down Syndrome and related health issues, they're at almost the same place developmentally. We just sat on the sidewalk and chatted about mom things and life in general, and kept the girls from poking each other until we both knew they were overdue for feeding. It was most refreshing.
The neighbour's been renovating and his son is here most nights working on the house, so I'm looking forward to hanging out again some time.

Tagged

Tex over at the Maru was tagged this week and proceeded to tag me, among others. Here's the rules I'm loosely obliged to follow (we seem to have started a little rebellion over rules).

1: People who are tagged, write a blog post about their own 8 random things, and post these rules.
2: At the end of your post you need to tag 8 people and include their names.
3: You may need to leave them a comment and tell them they’re tagged, and to read your blog

So here are eight random things you may or may not know, or care to know, about me.

1. When I was a kid my hair was so blonde and fine a friend told me I looked bald when we were in the pool.
2. I played trombone in the band. Never was one for the road most travelled. I still have my 'bone on a shelf, and I'd consider playing it again if I had some context. I taught three other girls to play, too. Before that I played banjo. Well, I took banjo lessons, anyway. Gave the banjo away awhile back. I also sang tenor in vocal jazz and chamber choir. I miss singing the most, especially with a group willing to work hard on getting it just right.
3. I studied computer science at UVic as a stepping stone to architecture school, but I never stepped. Sometimes things change. When I go back to work following mat leave in (AACKK!) seven weeks, I'll be putting on my techno geek hat again. Right over my current favourite and always present headgear: Mamma.
4. I once fell for a guy whose lives to be the hero. Many kinds of hero. Random acts of kindness hero. Balance the scales of justice hero. Hero with the cool toys and crazy tales. I think his personal favourite is the nobody-else-coulda-ever-pulled-that-off hero. Keeping a hero ready to go and well-stocked with clean capes is hard work, but more than ten years later, he's still mine.
   
   half-way there, gotta think up some more stuff.
   
   
5. I can do the wave with my eyebrows.
6. If I had the opportunity to go back to school at this point, I think I'd do a Masters of Christian Studies at Regent College. A number of reasons, but one big one is that they offer a concentration in Christianity and the Arts. And they don't limit their definition of arts to music and drama. So hard to find much real discussion around visual arts, and to actually take time to do research on it and do work in that kind of context? Mmmm, very tempting.
7. We have a daughter, nine months old today. The Bear's sister has two girls, his little brother two boys (so far). My sister has two kids, one of each. So in theory, if we had another and it was a little boy, both our extended families would be all balanced out. I've always kinda liked the number three, but I've also kinda grown attached to being married ;)
8. I've been to Europe once with each of my parents as a kid and once with the Bear in 2000. We've been talking about a trip to Africa where we could visit some of our missionary friends from MAF.

So that covers eight random things. Now there's the tagging of others. I still can't come up with anywhere near eight that haven't already been tagged; Perhaps we're a bit incestuous here in our blog circle. Or maybe it's 'cause there's a lot of folks that read us and don't post comments to let us know who and where they are. Anywhere, I'll go half way. To Shirtless, Viscountess, the R. Pletts, and Poisho (cause you're waay overdue for an update anyway), "Tag, you're it!" Some of you have your hands rather full with various things right now, but that's OK, I did away with the time limit.

Out of the roaring silence

Yes, it's been a little quiet here, and by here, I mean Gone Coastal. It's been anything but at home.

This may be a short post while everyone (most specifically Tweetie) is still asleep. Odds are good when Tweetie wakes she'll wake up crying, as she did a few times last night. I only had to tend to her the one time, and that was alright. For one, I was still up anyway, preparing formula, so it didn't involve that violent jolt from deep, sweet sleep to triage mode. And more importantly, it didn't take long to figure out why she was upset. A quick sweep of my finger in her mouth and I think tooth number five had poked through. I'll do a more thorough verification today sometime when my sweetheart's not crying out in agony.

Between teething and the headcold we shared the past week, there've been more overnight disruptions lately than I'm accustomed to. It all balances out as we learn more about who she's becoming. Besides, it keeps me mindful of our friends Shirtless and Tiny who are still in their first week with their first child.
And I've been having too much fun having the Goddess here with us to be bothered by it. I will blame the Goddess, however, for my not posting sooner. I've been yackin' with her in whatever spare moments come up in the day.
Saturday, we were off in Sidney with Raven, my Sunday art friend. We poked about in various galleries, and determined that the Sidney Gallery Walk brochure needs some serious updating. I think they should also add a bookstore tour, as that place is full of them. Sunday we hung around in the morning, walking the dogs, then went for a drive up the coast. It turned out to be a bit too cool on the exposed coast to do much exploring or puttering, but it was still a nice drive. Yesterday we hung around for the morning. I finally got the safety gate/fence fully installed across the living room while she was napping, and in the afternoon we went downtown for a bit and found more galleries and bookstores.
But the best part of such a visit is always the days long rambling conversations that let you air out the thoughts you've been chewing through on your own on things that matter in life. And sharing little experiences first hand with a like minded soul. Little experiences like watching Tweetie go from pushing along on her belly to lifting up on hands and knees on her own (had to get a little bragging in, didn't I?).
The Goddess is heading north again tomorrow, and we'll be heading east to the prairies till next week. Don't know when we'll get together again, but I'm sure it'll feel like too long. We're off to make the most of the sunshine today.
(By the way, Tweetie woke up quite gently after all, with a content little smile on her face. Tooth number five is all that much closer to the surface, but not quite through, and number six is lining up for its turn on the other side.)

The Bear awakes

and joins the rest of us bloggers. Find my Bear on his very own blog at osok.ca.

A hat tip to the Badger for setting up the hosting.

Reflecting

Yesterday I attended a funeral. A former colleague had passed away from a sudden illness. I never worked closely with him, having only a few overlaps where I was tasked with something he had worked on previously, or vice versa. But you didn't have to work closely, or very long, around this man to appreciate his dedication, his warmth or his sense of humour. This was evidenced by the incredible turnout for the service: standing room only at the reception hall of the golf club where he was a member. They had to open the back doors and overflow into the common area of the restaurant. Colleagues, both from his current and former careers. Family. Golfing buddies. People he grew up with. Many from out of town.
The service was a wonderful celebration of his life. Those who spoke shared many stories of his humour, and how he treated everyone around him, whatever their role or abilities, with equal respect. He will be missed.
To my knowledge, he has never known the Lord.