Apple Picking

We (except Oliver and Simon) went to the apple orchard in Nebraska City last weekend with our friends, the Powells. A good time was had by all, but I think my favorite moment was when our massive van got stuck in the mud (the only parking being in an orchard after several days of rain). Luckily, several guys were willing to help, and only later did Shelle inform me that as I hit the gas, I sprayed mud all over the guy wearing the white pullover. Ooopsies!

Photos are here!

9/11

The past week or two I've been reading a lot about the events of September 11, 2001.  I'm normally not an excessively patriotic person, but it's hard to not get emotional when you think about that day.  Watching videos, thinking about it all... it's just overwhelming.

And yet, life goes on.  I'm far enough removed that I normally don't stop and think about it on a daily, weekly, or even monthly basis.  I'm not one of the mothers who lost a baby (full-grown, but always their baby), wives who lost a spouse, sisters who lost a brother.  As far as I know, I don't even know anyone who did.  But the anguish, panic, loss, felt by those who did is almost universal (almost).  Imagining going through that brings me to the brink of tears, over and over again.

I was 8 months pregnant with Simon on that day.  Emma was 10 months old.  I was at home, on the phone with the exterminator, discussing spiders in the bushes surrounding our house.  Ironic, kind of.  He is the one who told me about the first plane.  He didn't really know anything but that a plane had hit.  I remember thinking it was probably a private plane, out of control - an accident.  I thought "that's too bad" and went on with my day.  A few hours later, Oliver called me and asked if I was watching T.V.  I said no, and he told me what was going on and that I should turn it on.  For the next few hours, I watched footage while Emma played nearby.

The city of Lincoln did not shut down completely, but a lot of businesses closed for the day that afternoon.  I can't remember why Oliver wasn't home that evening, but Emma and I went to Hobby Lobby to buy frames for ultrasound photos I wanted to display on the wall.  I was apprehensive about going anywhere.  No one knew if that was the end of the day's attacks or if there was more to come, across the country.  Hobby Lobby was basically empty.

I'm 34 now instead of 24.  I'm sure that plays a role in my emotional response to this anniversary.  My kids are getting older.  The big, scary world looms ahead as I suppress the overwhelming urge to cover them in bubble wrap the moment they get out of bed in the morning.

Simon was born on October 18th, a happy and healthy baby.  He has shown a lot of interest in 9/11.  As he talks about what he wants to be when he grows up, I can picture him in a suit on Wall Street.  I know what his face looks like when he's panicking.  I know what his heart feels like when it's running on adrenaline, and he's sobbing against my chest.  Putting him, mentally, as an adult, into a scene like what I've been seeing lately, is something I can't not do.  Is it nature's way of preparing you?  Or torturing you?

I just put elbow- and kneepads on Max as he was practicing riding his bike without training wheels.  I watched Oliver hold on to his shoulders as he ran behind Max, steadying him as he tilted to one side and then the other.  I hope he'll let us do the same every day for the rest of his life, whether he's riding a bike or not.

It would be lovely if we could avoid tragedies.  If everyone just lived a relatively even-keeled life and just died peacefully in their sleep at a ripe old age.  For some, that happens.  But until you find out if that's your path or not, I guess it's best to live each day to the fullest you possibly can.  You have to get up each morning and love your life - the gift you have been given.  Otherwise, you end up with a lifetime of memories of staring at the walls of the jail cell you put yourself in.  And be thankful.  For everything you have.  Your family, your friends, food, water, shelter.  Your underwear.  Whatever.  Whatever you have, no matter how little it may be, is something to be thankful for.  Whatever you have is something that millions of people don't.


 "I would rather have thirty minutes of wonderful than a whole lifetime of nothin' special." - There is a Steel Magnolias quote for every situation, I swear.

Sam and his pee.

Sam was in the bathroom and announced that he was done peeing. Then he came into the room with a plastic sack. Max said "he's done peeing? He peed in the sack?" I said "nooo, in the bathroom." It says a lot, though, that I then had to check the sack, just to be sure. Yep, the bathroom.

Maximillian the Bravest Knight in the Whole Wide World

I started something huge tonight. Max asked me to tell him a story, so I invented Maximillian, the Brave Knight. Max quickly changed it to Maximillian, the Bravest Knight in the Whole Wide World, and the story was off. MtBKitWWW has decided that he wants various things that living in the middle ages don't provide. French fries, for one. Soda, things like that. So he invents a time-traveling machine to take him to different eras to obtain these important items. He has the ability to make a time machine out of anything he'll fit into, but sometimes he pops into places in time he didn't want to go to. His first attempt landed him in the bedroom of a boy named Max whose mom ("blasted woman!" as MtBKitWWW called her, with much irritation from Mom) did not respond to his demands for french fries.

Lots of fun will be had with this one, I think. Even Simon got into it, acting out the scene, and telling another version when I had finished. Having boys is pretty neat. :)