Jedi in the House

I must confess that when the husband is at a dental appointment and little son and I have the house all to ourselves, we may sometimes engage in full-on Jedi battles. Throughout the entire house.

Little son has mad Jedi skills and is not opposed to teaching me some pretty sweet moves from time to time. I wish I could be a Jedi, but mostly I just have to be Darth Mom. Are Darths Jedis? I’m not well-versed in all things Jedi, but I am learning.

As I said, there may have been a Jedi battle in our home today- after the insulation guy left. Because if the battle had begun while he was in our attic, he may have thought we were a little crazy. Plus, we try not to use Jedi powers on innocent by-standers and stuff like that.

Little son especially loved when I somersaulted up onto my bed and held him at bay with my light saber. It was a wickedly awesome move, if I do say so myself. Also, the bed was a great place to be when Jedi Boy pushed the force in my direction with his open palm, because Jedi-forced open-palm pushes are forceful and you need a soft place to fall back forcefully in dramatic fashion, which I ended up doing over and over and over again. And again.

We battled throughout the house, yelling stuff like, “Surrender to the force” and “You’re not my father” in authentic Jedi voices, mostly because those are the lines I remember from the movies. Plus I remember the line, “these are not the droids you are looking for” except we have no droids anyway so we couldn’t use that one. And there was lots and lots of loud laughter, and, as you already know, some evil-speaking. And it was good the husband was gone because we were kind of loud and I don’t know what his clients might have thought about the background noise and the chasing, since he does work from home and his office is located in the battle zone.

But, I also think that had the husband not had a dental appointment, he prolly would have joined the battle. And I would have made sure he was on my side. Because Jedi Boy is pretty strong in the force and I can use all the help I can get.

darn google

this past summer, we sat on the porch at grandma and grandpa's house in the evenings to drink in the lovely dusk and the mountain breezes pouring out of the canyon.

and we told knock knock jokes and climbed the poles and ran races and timed them to see how fast we were getting. some of us got pretty fast. and the husband taught the children how to handle corners when racing.

often, i would find two children on my lap, wanting tickles. or just time.

one evening, middle daughter was on my lap and little son was behind me, playing with my hair- which i always love and welcome. pretty soon i noticed he was muttering something as his little fingers danced through my hair. so i listened closer and understood him to be saying,

"searching, searching, searching."

finally i asked him what he was doing. to which he matter-of-factly replied,

"i'm searching for the eyes in the back of your head."

all mothers have them, you know. my mom did.

*********

yesterday morning as i was helping oldest daughter with her hair before sending her off to school and her exciting field trip, she decidedly announced that she knows i do not have eyes in the back of my head.

aghast, i demanded to know where this preposterous notion had originated. she then declared that she had googled it.

what? googled if moms have eyes in the backs of their heads? she did. at school, during computer time.

who gave permission for that? don't school computers have filters? and where's the teacher who should be monitoring what the children are doing?

i have been thinking long and hard for a rebuttal to this revelation. and i got nothing. nothing.

years and years to build up a good story and darn that google goes and destroys it all in one search.

still, amazing what you can google. donchathink?

Tallying

once upon a time, i was born. and since that day, every 365 days i have commemorated my birth by adding one to my year tally- and the total is adding up in a grand fashion. maybe you can relate.

just recently, i tallied up- again. because 365 days rolled around. and in keeping with tradition, i added one to my tally.

of all the traditions that are observed in my little family, i have one that just might be my favorite. the husband has made it a tradition to take the day off work whenever a birthday is to be celebrated in our home.

however, just days before my traditional tally addition, i was informed by the husband that he was required to be in a meeting on the day of my birthday commemoration. and he had tried everything he could do to get out of it. to no avail. to make matters worse, the meeting was to be held in another state and it would be necessary for him to travel, which would mean he would be absent the days preceding, including and following my birthday.

pout. (inwardly, so as not to appear unsupportive and self-centered)

and then the happy surprise: the husband had made arrangements for me to accompany him. three days. no children.

but it did mean that the husband would still be in meetings on my day. but, it also meant that we could get away, just the two of us and spend the evenings together- uninterrupted.

plus, it meant that on my birthday- the day of my grand tallying- i would have the day all. to. myself.

bliss. (inwardly, so as not to appear that i didn't want the children gathered around celebrating this most special of days with me)

we traveled. and arrived here

as the snow was gently falling. it was beautiful. and romantic.

we stayed in a charming suite with vaulted ceilings and a ridge-pole loft and fireplace.

early the next morning, the husband was off to his meeting after wishing me a happy birthday. i stayed in bed as long as i could- only til 8:00- which was a little disappointing because i would have thought i could sleep in a little longer. so, i got out of bed at 8:00 am.

i opened the curtains and was greeted by this breathtaking scene:

it was so lovely, i got dressed- and smiled to myself because i only had to dress myself and not 3 little people- and walked out into a winter wonderland. i tried to breathe in as much of the surroundings as my lungs could handle.

and then i enjoyed a breakfast by the fireplace, at my own little table. a breakfast i didn't have to prepare- with no one asking me to pour them some juice and no one needing their breakfast items cut or cooled. and it was quiet so i was able to gaze out the windows and lose myself in the winter scene, uninterrupted.

and then i hiked in the mountains. and had no cell phone reception, but every so often as i entered a clearing, my phone beeped at me to alert me of a voice mail waiting. one from my dad and one from my mom and one from my sister- all wishing me happiness on this day. and then other messages smattered throughout the day when i wandered into a patch of cell phone reception.

after my hike i made my way back to my room and got ready for the day- and i admit, i took some mirror pics to text to the husband- because without children, one can really have a good hair day and look amazing. then i attempted texting the best ones to him, although, i had no text reception whatsoever, so the texts never went through. no texts. all day.

i spent more time out of doors. and the day carried on. relaxed.

i believe it was the best birthday ever. i loved spending time alone. thinking. dreaming. hiking. resolving. contemplating. having no responsibility. just being.

it was a good day for tallying.

before we left sundance, the husband purchased a little memento for me. a little something more to tally up.

c + s = 1

i kinda like birthday math.

and that was my birthday. it was heaven. heaven.

and the day following was just as lovely- spent by myself as the husband attended meetings.

and when it came time for us to make our way home, i returned home to my children a better, more relaxed mother. because while i was away, i tallied my blessings.

three of which are my sweet children.

p.s. a million apologies to all our family and friends in utah for not letting you know we were in town. next time, i'll be less selfish. and probably stay at your house.

Two things helping me smile today:

1) the absence of political ads

2) this from little son :

"mom, i found more fake dollars!

woohoo!

{with double fist pump}

i love being fake rich!"

{stuffs fake dollars into real pocket

and runs off to play}

another reason to smile

...the beautiful, full-arching double rainbow

i witnessed on my run this morning.

and smiling because

i totally live in the

pot of gold

at the end of the

rainbow!

Smiling?

I've been in need of smiles today.

And I've been looking for them.

And I have found them...

...in the rain lilies on my porch

...in the love notes the husband left for me

on my bathroom mirror.

...in a son who loves his storm trooper gun.

...in a rest on the hammock after my workout.

...in fall decorations.

...in the cool air and mountain views from my back porch.

...in the mums the husband brought back from his trip to the store

that reminded him of the hanging mickey mouse baskets

and our disneyland vacation last week.

...and even in the melted bubble gum

that got caught up in my whites in the dryer.

ugh.