Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Happy and sad

 Had a very weird thing happen to me this morning, completely (or so I thought) out of the blue:  I missed my 'little' kids.

Like, my kids when they were little-er.  Preschool age to about 8 years old, to be specific.  Like this:

Photos by  Brucejohnsonstudios.com

I missed their boundless love, their sweetness, their sense of wonder.  I missed their cute faces and watching them become who they were meant to be, I missed the enthusiasm for fire trucks and dinosaurs and I missed their affection and I missed reading to them and I missed doing fun projects and just, well, the experience of being a Mom to 2 wonderful little boys.

And I sat at my kitchen table and cried, then slapped myself upside the head (figuratively) to get my act together because WHO DOES THAT KIND OF THING??  Who cries for that past children that were, when there are 2 strong healthy bright young men in the house to wonder at and be thankful for?

It can't just be me, can it?

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My Aunt passed away over the weekend.  My Mom's oldest sister hadn't been in good shape for a while, she was unable to see or hear, for example, and that's no kind of life to live.  It was therefore not unexpected, but still, even when you know it's a blessing to be released from suffering it's still hard to know that the last breath has been taken, that last act of so many has been reached.  From now on her presence will be only ripples where she used to paddle.

Time marches on and takes us all.   I don't think I care for that all that much, to be perfectly honest.

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On a happy note, we did have a nice visit with my Mom over the weekend (yes, she got that call while frolicking at the Tiny House), with chatting, a play, card games, cooking, and brunch among the activities.  She's getting along great, it was fun to hang out with her, and I'm grateful that she came down to participate in the grandkids' 'things.'

The 'thing' in question was a theater production of 'Hairspray' at the local high school; Thing 2 was in the pit orchestra as 1 of 3 trombone players among a very strong group of instrumentalists.  The pit did great, the actors did great too - it was a fun production.  As I've said before, I am so SO happy that the Things have chosen music as their deal; they have had so many great experiences already and will have a lot of skills under their belts by graduation that a lot of kids don't understand.

So, a happy thing, for sure.

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And lastly - we've had tornadoes around here the past few days. Sneaky things, those tornadoes, and the cause for serious alarms going off at 4:30 in the morning telling folks to 'find shelter!' and 'stay away from doors and windows!' and such.

Which of course, for some people, mean they run to the front porch with the camcorder (OK, phone) and start snapping pictures of funnel clouds.

Wait, what?

You heard it here first, y'all.  You wouldn't BELIEVE the number of contributors to the local teevee station were providing photos they'd taken themselves of various tornadic activity.  Really.  Their first reaction was to go 'oh, hey, there's a tornado!  Let's take pictures of it until the winds rip the phones from our hands and our heads from our necks!   That's a great idea!!'

That's a special kind of stupid, or am I being too harsh on the neighborhood stormchaser?

One wonders.

Tiff out.

8 comments:

Warped Mind of Ron said...

Stupid??? But my photos were really good!!!

toolprincess said...

Look a tornado! Let's check it out! Also, this milk is bad, blech, go ahead taste it I'm telling you its bad. Try it! Seriously.

tiff said...

No.

(Also, those are my real kiddoes, only about 14 years ago. Please comment on how gorgeous they are!)

toolprincess said...

They are adorable! Little towheads and big innocent eyes. I already feel a bit of sadness as "the boy" is going from sticky and sweet to stinky and sullen as he becomes a pre-teen! So no worries about a little cry for days gone by!

Shiny Rod said...

you have couple handsome fellas there. did you stock up on bread and milk??? j/k stay safe up there...

Middle Girl said...

I know exactly what you mean, with a 32 and 28 y.o. in residence, I have yearned for the, "good old days" whn they were very young.

Yourlil boys are too, too cute.

I'm sorry about your aunt. Happy you are able to spend good, quality fun time with your mom.

tornado. no thank you.

kenju said...

Where'd my comment go? They were beautiful boys and then still are!

LL said...

Pfft... I know a stock photo when I see one...

you should be ashamed of yourself Tiffy... ;)