Dropoffs in the Rain

 It is raining today and the children are huddled inside my car awaiting their turn to step out in the carpool line.  The teachers were wearing raincoats, hustling kids out of the car, through the rain, onto the covered walkway.  Where are their umbrellas?  I asked out loud.  They always carry umbrellas on rainy days to keep the kids dry.  The car door opens and I say no thank you to their PE teacher, who looks back at me with incredulous eyes.  Today I'm not going to let the girls get wet, I say.  Today I'm going to park, walk them inside with my umbrella, one at a time.  Just today, I tell the girls.  Just today because mommy doesn't have to rush to work.  But really, who are we kidding.  I will always hold an umbrella over their heads, for as long as I can. 

On Reading

 It is impossible to read Stephen King's On Writing and not write something.  I realized today that reading, just like Stephen King describes writing, is a serious business.  Not for everyone, but for me.  It is not for relaxation, fun, or escape.  It is for learning and living.  I read to see the whole expanse of humanity when I only encounter a sliver of it in my daily life.  It is to zoom in and zoom out, from fictional pages to real lives.  Lines blur, truths come into focus, and I marvel at it all.

 

Isla turned 5 and Olivia turned 8 this month.  We have wrapped them in this warm cocoon of a home for the past 8 years.  At times stifling, at times chaotic, at times LOUD, but always filled with love.  I hope we will always be as content in this little life of ours as we are at this moment, rough around the edges but soft in the middle.