Just a little update about what in the world we're doing these days…
Where Is Yesterday?
(circa 1997)
Where is Yesterday?
It seems you look forward to the future
Only to discover that in a split second
Yesterday has vanished.
Where is Yesterday?
What happened to those names and faces?
For so long they were such an important
part of life and now they, too, have departed.
Where is Yesterday?
Does it know that I am reaching,
Longing to hold it again?
To embrace it so tightly
That it could never again get away from me?
Where is Yesterday?
I recently came across some old poems that I wrote in my youth. Gosh, I used to be a good writer (at least, for a young person). Maybe someday I’ll regain the brain cells needed to produce again. In the meantime, I thought I’d celebrate National Poetry Month by sharing a few of my old poems.
The Colors of Myself
(circa 1995, age 14)
Part of me is red,
Alive and fiery
Jumping around in every direction,
Claiming the attention of all who are near
The other part of me is violet,
Composed and aware
Looking within for the answers,
And wanting nothing but pure and simple love
I turned thirty today.
First, the good news. Thirty is the new 21. But the bad news is, I never really thought I’d make it to my thirties. I mean… I just never really thought past my twenties. I always knew I’d go to college and probably grad school. Then I knew I’d have a family. And I was pretty sure I’d do that all in my twenties. Perhaps I thought I’d die a horrible tragic death after that and everyone would talk about a life cut short (that’s the drama queen in me). But really… I just never saw myself go past 29. And then last year Nick threw me the “Forever 29 Surprise Party.” Part of me kind of took that as a bad omen that I might actually be forever 29. So, I’m happy to report, I made it through.
But I kind of have to think, “now what?” All day long the song in my head has been Tim McGraw’s “In My Next Thirty Years.” So, I’ve kind of been compiling my list of my next thirty years. Here’s what I’ve got so far.
If I sat here long enough I could think of a million more. The possibilities are endless. In fact, they are so endless that I think I’m going to like this new stage. I feel like I have a whole ‘nother 30 years to decide what I’m going to be when I grow up! And maybe by then I’ll figure it out. Or maybe I’ll just save that for my final third.
For my birthday today, my wonderful fabulous splendiforous husband took the day off work! I woke up to breakfast in bed and 30 balloons each filled with something he loves about me. I was also gifted an already-scheduled massage. I got to go to a leisurely lunch with a friend and then we went out for a date night dinner at Ruth’s Chris Steak House. This Friday the celebration of me will continue with a date night with friends to Comedy Sportz. I am so truly spoiled and blessed. And to prove it, here is a picture of my balloon-popping helpers, because heaven knows I couldn’t have managed the task by myself:
And the even better news? Thirty balloons really isn’t that many… look at all that floor space left. I guess maybe I’m not that old after all.
I make the best from-scratch homemade pizza. We’re talking dough from scratch and sauce from my own canned tomatoes. Someday I’m gonna make my own cheese too. Just sayin’.
Way way back (like, in June), we got this crazy idea to do a really cool Christmas Musical for our Children’s Theatre. What better Christmas production than The Nutcracker, right? We had a great script that put lyrics to all the familiar songs from the ballet, and also added dialogue.
There was one little thing that, although we factored it in, we did not adequately check our math. The little thing was, I was supposed to be giving BIRTH just three weeks before the production!
So, on December 18th, just three weeks post-partum, we took sixty local children ages 5-12, along with 120 costumes and sets and props and put on a WONDERFUL production of The Nutcracker. Somehow, despite numerous technical difficulties in a theater that wasn’t ours where we weren’t allowed to touch anything and where we only got to rehearse twice, and despite two of our leads PUKING on the day of the performance (one of them AT the theater), somehow it still just worked. It always does.
And I will never do that again (the whole, delivering babies right before hand).
For really really cool pictures of the performance, go to Steve Lents Photography.
Both on Friday and Saturday I got a great opportunity to go on a date night with Mylie and Nolan individually. On Friday Mylie and I went to see a performance of Annie by the Northwest Children’s Theatre. Even though I expected to be overdressed, I thought it would be fun to get dressed up in my suit.
Getting to the performance wasn’t too bad and I thought being there 30 minutes early would have given us enough time to get a cupcake at Cupcake Jones before the performance. Unfortunately parking was a bit of an issue and Mylie kept complaining she had to walk far. Once we got parked I had to carry and run with her to make it on time. The show was excellent, especially Miss Hannigan. It was hard to tell if Mylie had a good time because she just seemed to be tired the whole time. She also missed out on the cupcakes. Maybe next time.
For Nolan’s date night on Saturday we went with Karli’s aunts and uncles to Gospel Christmas put on by the Oregon Symphony and some local talent. This has been a tradition for her family for some time now but she was unable to come due to just having Oliver. Since Mylie got to see Annie the night before, I thought I’d give Nolan a try to see how he did at a performance. We went right after Mylie’s performance at Zoolights (see part 3) so he was already tired and the show did not start until 7:30 PM and went until about 9:30 PM. It also had a few extra encores. He actually did quite well the first half and even clapped many times but the second half he was very tired. He still stayed quiet and did a good job waiting. Folks around us were quite impressed with him too. He seemed to like the music but probably was a bit overwhelmed by the whole thing.
For one last hurrah before the baby comes, Nick and I were able to get away for a kidless weekend excursion to Seattle. We are big fans of the reality show, So You Think You Can Dance, and although the tour was scheduled to come to Portland, the performance was on a Sunday. So instead, we hit the Tacoma performance the day before on Saturday! It gave us a wonderful excuse to get away on a much needed vacation.
The Cast of SYTYCD
Our two all-time favorites from the show - Kathryn & Russell
Um, coolest move ever!
More of Kathryn because we love her
It turns out, seeing the dancers live, though a lot of fun, wasn’t a whole lot different than just watching the Season Finale live. And it was a little creepy watching all the 30-something women around us screaming like teenagers for the 18 year-old boys. Nevertheless, we had a good time.
The best time of the weekend, though, was getting together with friends. We were able to stay with our good friend Katie and Zach, and had lots of fun catching up with them. We were also able to go out to dinner with other friends, and those things were what made the weekend really special. Especially when I realized how much harder it will be to get away with 3 kids.