Children & Parenting
The World Itself
When she held out her arms, the world itself wrapped around me & held me tight.
Temptations
The plane shook so much I thought I was in a bowl of metal jello & I heard him say, If you & Mom die, can I go live with the Temptations?
Ten Commandments
I asked her why she never told us about the Ten Commandments & she said she wasn’t ever that good with numbers so she loved everything as best she could & I remember thinking who needs all those rules anyway with a mother like her around.
Tallest Man in the World
I’m the tallest man in the world, he said, so I’ll have to miss dinner & I said too bad about missing the ice cream then & suddenly he found he fit quite well at the table if he let his legs stretch down the hall.
Teaching Right
She asked me if I had kids & when I said I did she said make sure you teach them what’s right. & I said how will I know? & she nodded & said, good point, just don’t teach them any obvious wrong then.
Tell The Truth
It would be easier if I just told the truth, he said, but I wasn’t there for a lot of it
Survival
Some days I wonder how my kids will turn out, but most of the time I’m just figuring out how to survive them right now.
Such Small Things
For a long time there were only your footprints & laughter in our dreams & even from such small things, we knew we could not wait to love you forever.
Stupid Things
If you can’t laugh at yourself, my grandpa told me, you’re not doing enough stupid things. I told him I didn’t usually run out of stupid things, but it’s hard to laugh that long at anything.
Street Signs
These are all the street signs for this area but he keeps moving them around at night so the only people who aren’t lost all the time are the children who never pay attention to signs anyway.
Stress Management
I can imagine it working out perfectly, I said. I can’t, she said & I said no wonder you’re so stressed.
Strange Country
She asked my sons what strange countries they had been to & my oldest son said England & my youngest said we live in Iowa & they all agreed that was strangest of all.
(Note: The name of the state can be changed if you think yours is more strange than Iowa…)
Stopping Point
How hard is it to make stuff up? she said. Not hard at all, I said.
The real trick is knowing to stop before you get confused.
Straight Forward
Start here & go until you die, he said. What’s so complicated about that?
Spell Check
Does this spell anything? he said. I shook my head.
Maybe you should look again, he said, in case you missed something the first time.
Spider Princess
If I was a spider princess, she said, I would spin webs the color of sky & catch drops of sunlight to give to children who watch too much TV & then everyone would remember to come outside to play. If I was a spider princess, she said, things would be different.
Sound Engine
this is a racing bathtub that goes really fast as long as he keeps making loud engine noises
Soccer Coach
There are about a hundred good reasons why no sane person would ever coach soccer, he told me on the drive home, but I forget most of them when I’m on my meds & then we laughed wildly in the bright spring air.
Some Kind of Ride
feels like some kind of ride but it’s turning out just to be life going absolutely perfectly
Slow Pitch
How’re you doing? I said & he said we’re undefeated in our appreciation of the game. That’s against incredible odds, he added.