Life in the Slow Lane

For the longest time I thought “Ebenezer” was a cup. Not just any cup, mind you, one of those old drinking vessels that might also be called goblet or chalice. My reasoning, you see, was all based on the hymn, “Here I raise mine Ebenezer, hither by thy help I’m come.” To my little girl ears, it sounded like someone was proposing a toast, glass in hand to having made it so far. I know better now, but I still feel as if I am far more likely to toast how far I’ve made it than to set a large stone on end. But truthfully, I’m not very likely to do either. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not slighting the role God has had in bringing me as far as I am. And it’s not a lack of gratitude that turns me into being one of the nine lepers who never returned to thank Jesus for his healing. (At least, not always.) Instead, I’ve found that many times I don’t want to draw attention to what God has done for me because I worry it will make others feel as if I am intimating that I am a favor...

This week marks 8 years since SOS asked me to marry him. In honor of that occasion, here are eight photos of us. Our first picture together. At my sister's wedding, two months after I finally admitted we were dating... and six months after our first date. In front of the Beverly Hills Court House after getting our marriage license. Because starting something off in Beverly Hills is much more glamorous than in Northridge... or maybe just the lines are shorter. Our wedding day. Dinner at our first home (our Honeymoon House). Notice the yogurt cups and pie plates we are using as our fine china and our high quality furniture. Our first meal in our new house. We had some work to do. :) First international travel together. Notice how well we communicated about what kind of picture we were taking.  What we look like through our children's eyes. And proof that every decision we make as parents is met with joy and enthusiasm by t...

You may wonder what it is about a Wisconsin summer that warrants nary a post. Honestly, I have no idea. Around about Memorial Day, when the air was still chilly enough on some days to grab a jacket, we packed up kids and car to drive nearly 900 miles to spend our lazy days of summer in Maryland. Let me correct that. The kids and I get lazy days of summer. SOS is commuting approximately five hours a day to a summer internship just outside of D.C. He certainly knows how to live it up, doesn't he? Having a summer internship away from our student housing in Wisconsin was always part of the plan in this great adventure of sending SOS back to school. I've lost track of the number of people who have given me looks to indicate that we are crazy, but I have a little bit of research to share with you on the matter. At the end of this summer I will celebrate my 34 years. Provided you don't count my years in Southern California as one long summer, I've had 34 summers. ...

Of course it would be a travesty if I were to have posts about every day of Wisconsin Winter and not even one post about Wisconsin in Spring. So here is that one post. Can I just affirm that tulips are amazing? Maybe (almost maybe), winter is worth the glory of a city populated by tulips. Okay, and dandelions. Giant dandelions. I've decided that if I were to create a crayon color for spring, I would call it Hallelujah Green and it would be that luminous green of a fresh spring leaf. Periodically, SmilesBabyGirl will wax eloquent about the return of the sun's warmth. "Oh, I love the sun. Don't you just love the sun, Mama? The sun loves us! The sun is warm! The sun is my favorite. I love the sun." I'm pretty sure the birds are saying the same thing. There are so many of them now! We live near some prime bird-watching spots, so we've gotten to see several kinds that we've never seen before. It's warm enough that ...

Of course it was bound to happen. I finally took the snow shovel and ice scraper out of the back of the car last night. So of course there was snow today. I was running errands and kept thinking to myself, "A few weeks of warmer weather and I've gotten soft again. Why am I so cold?" And then I saw white stuff floating down from the sky, and I studied it carefully so as to make sure it was not A) ash B) blossom petals C) dandelion fluff (which have all been airborne since the last snow). Indeed they were snow flakes. Not enough so as to require the snow shovel, but sufficient to be glad I had not yet packed away all of our winter gear. See? Procrastination (or busy-mommedness) has its benefits sometimes. SOS and CutieLittleBoy are off to try their luck at fishing, now. If cold temperatures slow fish down, they won't need any hooks. They should be able to reach in and grab any passing fish.

SOS left before seven this morning to catch a flight to San Diego. When he left, it was snowing. It would have been helpful to know this before I got the kids out of the house for church. Let's just say I overestimated the certainty of spring arriving this week. The good news, though, is that when we came out of church with insufficient outerwear, the precipitation that met us was merely rain and not snow.

How can I so easily forget how to dress sufficiently warmly for a bike ride? I did not turn into an icicle during my ride, but that does not mean that nothing else did. I keep telling myself that this is the week. A year ago, SOS came for a view weekend. He said that when he showed up it still looked very much like winter. By the time he left, however, the trees had a sheen of green. This is the week, Wisconsin. Do you hear?

This morning I took the kids out to the car without grabbing a hat or jacket for BabyMyBoy. I debated whether it was cold enough that I should run back in for them. Eventually, the fear of being chided out in public for having a freezing baby motivated me to climb our stairs and hunt them down. I'm so glad I did because the weather got colder and colder. By noon, when I came out of the grocery store, it was snowing and the wind was creating swirls of snow across the parking lot. And I said, "Self, remember when the trees blossomed in California and there were millions of tiny white flowers that the wind would blow off the trees and across the roads in great swirls of white? Remember what that used to look like and you would study the white petals extra closely to make sure it wasn't actually snow? Well, I don't think you will get that confused any more." On the way home, we drove by a house just around the corner from our apartment that is for sale. I w...

Snow again, snow again. Jiggity Jig.

Today I nearly drove off the road. Why? Because I saw color. Flowers, Gentle Readers. Like spring flowers. Don't get up your hopes too terribly much, though, about this (finally) being the end of these winter posts. We're expecting snow later today and again later this week.

I voted today. But only because it was above freezing... barely. Any colder and I would have skipped my civic duty.  Yes, I'm near-sighted. If it had been much colder I would have sacrificed the long-term good of political participation for the sake of keeping this particular representative of the next generation warm. #SorryI'mNotSorry

Again it's snowing. Okay, so maybe most people wouldn't notice. But white stuff is falling from the sky. Sometimes a flake or two will disappear mid-air, but far more make it all the way down. Yesterday it was 65 degrees and sunny. Kite-flying weather, in fact, and we did just that. Today is a different story. Which brings me to a confession of sorts... I have never idled my vehicle as much as I have this winter. There were the days when I dared not bring the kids to the car until it had warmed up, the days when I dared not move the car until the engine tasted heat, and (now the confession) the days like today where the glorious magic of sleeping children in their car seats urges me to stay in the car long after we arrive at our destination. Normally, I would just kill the engine. But that just isn't a wise idea when snowflakes have to think a minute before they melt on a windshield. Now my defense: We're only driving an average of 50 to 100 miles a week...

I never knew spring was such hard work. Today we woke up to an inch of snow on the ground. By ten o'clock it had done a masterful job of melting and then it started snowing again.  Lazy snow. Sunny. Horizontal snow. Fat snowflakes and teeny snowflakes. Almost sunny. Blizzard conditions. Sunny but windy. More snow. And repeat. Tomorrow it is supposed to be in the 60s... and then back to the 40s. Maybe we ought to bring out a cheering section. Come on, Spring! You can do it! Put a little oomph in to it!

Of course it is April Fools' Day. Why else would it be hailing just as SOS leaves for school? It was sunny and beautiful up until he put on his backpack.

The icicles are melting, I think. But they have certainly gotten longer since yesterday's snow.

Today the governor of Wisconsin declared a state of emergency on account of the weather. I am ever so glad to be living somewhat south of that emergency. I'm having enough of an emergency as it is, what with SOS being gone all week long. I had planned to take the kids on an outing today to ward off some of the slow deterioration inherent in Dad being gone, but the weather being what it was, all outings were cancelled. Well, there was one. CutieLittleBoy, at about 5:30 in the afternoon, decided that it was time to go play in the (still falling) snow. Can I admit to the world that he just pulled on his snow gear over his pajamas?  It is a little hard to see, but the branches have icicles hanging off them due to the freezing rain before the snow.

It's Back. It's warm enough that it is raining today rather than snowing, but with the wind, I'm still uncomfortably cold with a down jacket, boots, knit hat, and umbrella. SmilesBabyGirl and I use the wintry day to paint each other's fingernails. Maybe by the time it warms up enough to go out in public, the polish will look like it is merely affected by chipping rather than the truth of it having been applied by a manicurist not yet three years old. Do you ever have moments where you are quite certain you will one day remember it in a deja vu?

Spring may actually be here. I'm not putting away the snow gear quite yet, but today was warm enough that the kids stripped off their socks and shoes to play in the sand. The ten day forecast shoes no temperature dips. Look at that warmth! Could this really be the end of winter?

There’s rain outside. Nothing freezing about it. Will this be enough to wash the last bits of snow from the ground? Never mind. The downpour lasted all of three minutes. Snow still lingers.

Today a miracle happened. All three kids were simultaneously sleeping. Of course, this happened on the way home from running errands, which typically isn’t ideal, but SOS and I made the best of it. We decided we would have a driving date.  The neighborhood next to the student housing where we live is architecturally quite interesting. It’s one of the wealthier areas of town and not only boasts at least one house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, but has a number of other unique residences. The majority of houses that cannot brag uniqueness are stately, handsome, classic (you get the idea) homes. With the bits of snow lingering, so many houses look magazine ready. Except for the house with it’s own ice hockey rink marked out ten yards in front of the formal dining room window. Or maybe we’re just talking about a different magazine.