It was 104F/40C in Seattle yesterday.
Hottest day on record – EVER.
We were there.
Car air conditioning died.
Traffic was barely moving.
Two boys in the back seat, wilting.
Two Mamas in the front, dripping.
Angeliki & her son, Tiger.
Visiting from Colorado
where I was so miserable for the sun & heat.
It’s cool and rainy there now.
Just like my home, Seattle, once was.
We found a shady spot by the wading pool
and were able to make it back to Rose’s.
I am thankful anyway.
I vowed that I would never complain again once we got here. And, overall, I’ve done a pretty good job of keeping that promise. So, participating in Mon’s Thankful Anyway Thursdays seemed like a thing of the past. Until…
I harvested a gorgeous head of broccoli from Rose’s garden. Teaming with earwigs!
Now, I’ve never really been one to lose it over creepy crawlies. But for some reason a mob of Dermaptera on my food freaked me out. Thankfully, JumbleSpouse was quick to action and relieved me of earwig disposal duty.
But their greatest offense was yet to come…
Yesterday morning, before I was fully awake, JumbleSon requested his water. I rolled over, grabbed his sippy and without opening my eyes, gave it to him. He took a drink and when I took his cup back, I pried open a lid to find him reaching into his mouth and pulling out – an EARWIG! I can barely type for the horror of it! I felt ill. The creature had been nesting in the little opening!
It’s needless to say, that sippy is forever banned!
And I am thankful anyway because I now live in a moist climate – perfect for breeding critters that share my love of dark, wet places – and that we brought a spare, earwig-proof sippy with us!
So, what are you thankful for – against the odds – today? Head on over to Holistic Mama to see what others are thinking about.
Terrified.
Trying -
Unconvincingly -
To write my academic bio.
[everything sounds ridiculously fabricated in light of my Mama identity]
Assigned -
Reading, writing, presenting -
Weekly.
[more work than I've ever seen in academics before]
And that’s just one course.
History of Geographic Thought
For me.
McGlobalization
Grad student.
With Teaching Assistant responsibilities.
Introduction to Globalization.
For them.
Freshmen.
Awesome topic.
Positively shocking work load.
For Freshmen!
For me!
I have the summer.
Three months to prepare.
I am thankful anyway.
Visit Mon at Holistic Mama to see what others are thankful for this Thursday.
We have stuff.
Some easy to let go of.
Some difficult.
We hold tightly
Fearing what might happen if…
We let go.
Sometimes we are surprised.
Happily.
Other times…
We hold tighter.
Disappointment sets in.
But look again.
Magic unfolds!
A Flower Fairy Visits
I am thankful anyway.
Thanks to Mon at Holistic Mama for hosting!
It was a hard decision.
A You or Me choice.
In the end, it was Us.
Here.
Had we known,
we would have chosen differently.
That could have been Us.
There.
Today, he is a Master of Mathematics.
Here.
Who knows what could have been?
What will be?
There.
I am thankful anyway.
Not what we expected.
Thanks to Mon at Holistic Mama for hosting TATh!
It’s been hot.
90F/32C if you’re in the shade.
In the sun, it feels like 115F/46C if you’re me.
I wilt. 
By mid afternoon I feel the crazies setting in.
Sunny day companion, Headache, joins the festivities.
5:30.
On the edge of madness that I’d only read about.
Son sticks almond slivers up his nose.
I think it is getting to him, too.
I haven’t cooked a thing.
But for tofu eggless salad sandwiches.
“You would like peas in your pasta?
No problem,” says the other man in my life.
Amazing Italian delights emerge.
Foraged from the recesses of our frig, freezer and pantry.
A toast with red wine.
A cool, night breeze.
I am thankful anyway.
Head over to Holistic Mama for more gratitudes this Thursday.
I must admit I’m hard-pressed to find anything to share today. I thought that if I just sat at the keyboard something would come.
waiting………waiting………..waiting…………….
Coffee!
That’s what’s missing from this equation.
Coffee and equations.
Our sustenance and our nemesis these past few years.
***
As we rode the passenger ferry back from our long weekend hideaway in Stehekin, we hatched our plans. It was 2002.
Academia. That is where we wanted to be. Professors with busy school years and open summers. Professors with sabbaticals in interesting places and published papers. Professors of Theoretical Mathematics and Human Geography.
But we were old. Getting into graduate school at this stage of life would be hard. It would take time and money and effort. Lots of effort.
But, we did it. We both got accepted against the odds. It was 2006.
So, we decided to press on. And add a child to the mix.
It is not in our natures to accept that there are just some challenges that can not be overcome. JumbleSpouse is an unwaivering optimist and I am a willfull warrior.
Together we make our bliss.
***
As JumbleSpouse stumbles out of bed, I pose the question after barely a “good morning”…free will or determinism? His eyes blink in the bright sunlight.
“Well, that’s the question. Isn’t it?” he responds before launching into an eloquent and engaging philosophical monologue, occasionally interrupted by my comments on the subject, and this question:
“Can I make you a coffee, my love?”
I am thankful anyway. It is 2009.
Thank you to Mon at Holistic Mama for encouraging me to find the light in my dark days.
Time is a glacier.
I check for messages.
Over.
And over.
And over again.
No word.
No work.
I watch our last dollars silently glide through the hourglass.
Inhale the sweet smell of lilacs in bloom.
Consider our Plan.
Our Strategy.
Our Love.
It gives me Hope.
I am thankful anyway.
Mon at Holistic Mama is hosting Thankful Anyway Thursday if you’d like to share the gratitude in spite of…
JumbleSpouse and I have been together for nearly 14 years, 9 of those as husband and wife.
Wedding anniversary morning, as we stole about three minutes of solitary cuddle time, my JumbleLove said, “I wonder what will happen in our next seven years?”
“Seven?” I asked.
“Well, yeah. You know,” he said in all seriousness, “things go in seven year cycles. Ten is an evil imposition by the French.”
Have I mentioned that I love this man?!?
Though the last 2 1/2 years have sucked monumentally, I’m thankful anyway for having him by my side, and for that happy day in 1995 when he walked into my life.
And whether life cycles in tens or sevens or threes (as I’m hoping it will for us), I am grateful that we’ll be catching the next wave together.
If you’d like to see what others are thankful for (anyway), head on over to Holistic Mama today.
I thought I’d join Holistic Mama in her Thankful Anyway Thursday today…
So, we live in a condo complex with, possibly, the best friends and neighbors in the world. They have gone above and beyond to care for us since we moved here in 2006. In all honesty, I’m not sure how we would have survived these past 2 1/2 years without their love, support and amazing generosity.
That being said, I am crawling out of my skin to get out of here. And it’s not just the climate that’s driving me mad these days. It’s our house, too.
Look at my work space…
Seeds to be planted and knitting on the ledge (that’s supposed to be my altar) behind the stove top. Age-old mail under the computer. Unread books and JumbleSon’s archives under that. Unfinished craft project on chair. Piles of crafting bits and bobs on the printer to the right (which is sitting on our dining room table that is JumbleSpouse’s desk). Basket of unorganized craft supplies in the closet. All of this just inside the front door, in a tiny corner of our living room.
It’s no wonder all of my thinking and crafting efforts are thwarted.
Then there’s the relentless Southern exposure and the plague of angry wasps that have already settled in for the next 7 months. Oh, and did I mention that my house is overrun by ants (again).
And while I’m at it…the washer has not worked since last Thursday.
So, when I ran past an identical condo for rent in the complex for $300 more/month than what we pay, at first I laughed.
But then I was grateful. There is no way we would have rented here if our landlord charged that kind of rent.
I’m thankful for living here anyway because had we not, our lives would not have been blessed by the kindest, dearest friends we have ever known.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to read A Room of One’s Own.
