Spring, Sun, Showers

"Hold onto your curiosity all your life. Don't let yourself come to the end of it, ever."

How great is it that we valley dwellers can travel to the beach in an hour, or, heading in the opposite direction, make it to the snowy mountains in the same amount of time? Pretty cool. This is a good place to live for moody people who respond well to scenery. People like me.

All six of us, plus a friend and Sam, our pup, headed to the beach last weekend. What a great trip! Sun, breezes, kites flying, dogs fetching, relaxed people chatting, solitary dreamers reflecting, and couples snuggling. Little kids wanted to pet Sammy, and he loved it! Cassie and Caroline ran all around the dunes. Ben and his friend, David, dared go to the furthest edge of the jetty where they were rewarded with sea water splashing entirely over them. Joe and Sam explored the dunes with the girls and played in the water. We had some good conversation with the kids there in the sand and sun, with the music of the sea pressing the cares of the world right out of our minds.

Tom and I enjoyed the nutritious air, the sparkling sun, the hiss of the water, and the fact that we were surrounded by these energetic curious kids. We walked quite a way along the water's edge and into the dunes where we found a log straddling a little dune ditch. We stepped across it while balancing. Woo-hoo!

There's a feeling that parents get, a fullness, I don't know how to explain it, when surrounded by all their happy offspring, part of the cycle of life. It's like participating in a song, existing for a time in a poem of joyful intimacy. It's an awareness of the greater reality as well as the fragility of life. It won't always be so, the togetherness. Makes one appreciate the moment at hand, and all the similar occasions.

Joe leaves for Europe in less than a week. Today in the mail we received a t-shirt I ordered for him, as a little going away gift. It's black and says, "Sell your computer, buy a guitar!" It has a good picture of a guitar etc. He likes it! Says he'll wear it.

Yeah, my boy (boy? 21!) is heading off for Europe, to explore. Just him. Just for the adventure, the experience. I think it's entirely cool that he's doing this. Indeed, people do still backpack across Europe, free spirits, living on a dime, taking pictures, learning, experiencing first hand. We are all very excited for him! He will come home different, wiser, further educated! I always say that travel is a great teacher.

Cassie is in the kitchen now making her first pie crust. Very first! So far, so good. Such excitement!

Caroline gets her braces put on next week, well, the first appliance. She's so excited! You should hear her on the phone telling her friends. "Yeah, and it's going to be SO COOL!" We sure hope so, little kid. Of all our kids Cassie alone will not experience the ordeal of orthodontia. Caroline thinks that is so sad. The boys, not so much.

I think this blog gets not much reading, but you know what, it's helping me, and the kids seem to enjoy it. Tom, too.

Whoever you are, reading this, out there amongst the stars in cyberspace, I wish you well!