Bedtime Stories

Raccoon used to love (and demand!) stories in the car. He was probably 2-4 years old or so, and found car rides difficult. I would tell him Peter, John, and Pepe stories. Peter was a little boy, John was his dragon friend, and Pepe was their skeleton friend from a local museum who was very particular about his red paint, which he thought looked like blood. They usually flew off on John to look for treasure, or occasionally to rescue someone.

Kitty's stories have been at bedtime, and much more varied in scope and characters, although her favorites are Tea (Tae-ya) stories, especially Why and his stabby stabs. I found countless notes on my phone with little scenarios jotted down, like guinea pig with wings flies to new town, princess decides not to marry and gets superpowers instead, etc. Since I tell Kitty her stories as we fall asleep at night, I realized that not even I remembered the story the next day. It would all be there in my mind with perfect clarity, but by the next evening it would be gone. I started jotted down little snippets so I could tell her the next installment the following evening, although now not even the snippets make sense to me anymore, having forgotten the stories they belonged to.

Telling stories to kids is a good test, because something has to happen very regularly for them to stay interested. It has been a blessing to share my made-up stories with my babies.

School Truths

I wrote this to myself on August 27, 2020 and it has proved true over and over as I've made my way through classes of precalculus, chemistry, calculus, and more during three years of schooling.

"You are not as far behind as you think."

I could write of the wonder of being in school, the soul-crushing anxiety of not being able to do ALL the things, the constant pressure of homework and home, the elation of finishing finals week. Now here I am at the crossroads between finishing out two more quarters and graduating with my pre-engineering associates, or pausing school (perhaps permanently?) to go back to work for awhile. Only time will tell which way I go.

COVID cohort

 This note was composed as part of a larger letter that is no longer relevant, but I liked these two paragraphs:

At the end of last year, my children and I formed a small cohort with a few other families and my mom. We all went from feeling discouraged and isolated to feeling hopeful and accomplishing the schooling that our children needed, together.

Now that we are facing an entire year at home, not just a few months, I think our mental and social health needs also must be met while still keeping our families as safe as possible.

Written August 6, 2020 at 10:21 am

Grief Moments

I pulled up in front of my Dad's office and looked for him in the window, just out of habit. For a split second I thought, "Oh, I'll pop in on my dad today." He was always glad to see me when I stopped by the church. He'd invariably ask, "What are you up to this morning?"

Trying not to lose my schnitzel, Papa bear.  Trying not to lose my schnitzel.

Written July 26, 2020 at 8:32 am.

Note: My dad passed away on April 6, 2020, just after the world shut down due to COVID. His skin cancer had come back even though none of us knew it and had spread to several tumors in his brain. He went to the emergency room in March with stroke-like symptoms and his decline was quick after that. He passed away at home. He was 63 and I was 38.

I had wanted to go back to school the fall of 2019 since Kitty was in school, but it didn't work out. Instead I spent those months at the church with my dad, puttering away at my books. They are some of my favorite memories of him. He'd come out of his office for a chat and we'd poke through the church fridge to see what snacks were left over from Sunday. I did go back to school starting on my birthday in January, 2020, just a few months before he passed. Our relationship was rocky at times, but I am glad for the gift of those months with the best version of him.

Personal Guidelines for Kitten Rescues

 1) Don't ever put them back. The weak ones may die and the strong ones will only get stronger. Hunting them down again will also be a waste of time and emotionally exhausting. Finding them is a gift. Take it.

2) They will cry for their momma a bit, but then they will cry for you.

3) No medicine until they are strong.

4) For the weak ones, feed little and often. Make sure they can poo and pee. May need help. Google it.

5) Keep area and box clean.

This is the end of the original content from June 24, 2020 at 7:31 pm. We had two batches of COVID rescue kitties, both born to our now-pet-then-feral cat Christmas. We lost one from each batch, Carrot and Roberto. We kept Pumpkin and Bob from the first batch. It seemed impossible that Christmas would ever be tame, but she thrived with the move from S. to W. and now sleeps under the blankets with whomever is her current favorite. Bob lived a full life and brought us much joy. He was our dog-cat. He passed on December 13, 2021, and was buried with much love and tears in W. I still miss him to this day. Pumpkin is a very catty cat, and likes to ride our shoulder, sit in the sink, and reached kitty heaven when he finally caught a bird. All three of them are orange.

Retro Nablopomo 2022

When I lost the ability to blog on my phone (I used to blog on my kid's ipad), I did not stop writing. I do not seem to be able to NOT write, so I used the notes app on my phone to catch the little phrases and ideas going around in my brain. I've meant to go back and turn them into blog posts, and finally, 2022 is the year! The oldest of these musings is from 2020, and may require more explanation. I plan to post the stuff mostly as is, because if I elaborate, I may never finish. So comment away if something is confusing! (Not that I actually have any readers besides my mom at the moment, but I am writing this by faith that someday, maybe something I write here will matter in the larger context of someone's life.)

I believe I can pre-date these entries, so they will say November in honor of National Blog Posting Month, but I am in fact writing them the week after Christmas. I have had my laptop, which I love, for school, but now that I am not in school, I have the bandwidth for a few personal projects.