And why do I have his pencil?

Today was the beginning of the rest of my life.

You know, the part where I let my guys go.

Today my 10 year old and my 11 year old asked if they could ride their bikes to McDonald’s for dinner with some friends.

TWO POINT SIX MILES AWAY.

I said yes.

It wasn’t easy for me. But I did it.

I pumped up their tires and sent them on their way with $10 in a pocket.

And they left.

A bit later, I had to run out to school for a conference. On the way home, I ‘accidentally’ went the wrong way and drove past McD’s.

I saw ZERO bicycles. I drove around twice. Nothing. Nada.

Should I go in?

No.

I called Andrew. Had he heard from the boys? They promised they’d call when they got there. Yes, they had called.

I wondered where the bikes were, but reluctantly (and a little ashamed I’d gone in the first place) I drove away.

When the boys got home (you knew they would, right?) they were full of giggles and pride. They’d had the best time ever. They felt mature. Responsible. Grown up.

Oh, not grown up. Please. Not yet.

When I first read The Giving Tree, I cried. I was a new mother and never realized how hard it was to love and nurture your child(ren) and supply everything they need and then watch as they need/want less and move on. As my children have grown, I find that it's not as sad or hard as the book made me feel at the time, but there are moments in time when I do feel un-needed. The combination of pride (that they are competent and independent) and sadness (that I am less critical) is a challenge for me.

Yes. The time of year when I realize how sick I am of making lunches.

I’ve written about packing lunches before. It is not my favorite job. Not even close.

This year, Andrew has picked up 2 mornings a week, as I sneakily made my gym appointment at 6:30 a.m. I know, I know. The kids can make their own lunches. But they’d eat twinkies and crackers for lunch! Okay, you’re right. I’m going to institute that rule next year.

But the reason I sat down to write this is that I figured it out.

I did the math.

I have made 3,420 lunches since Davis started kindergarten.

I subtracted their sick days. And the days that Andrew made them.

3,420.

That’s about 350 loaves of bread. Almost 200 cases of yogurt. 27 bushels of apples. 425 boxes of Little Debbie’s.

Thank goodness we send water in Sigg bottles in their lunches so I don’t have to think about all the plastic water bottles we’d have added to the landfill. (We use Tupperware sandwich containers, too!)

I love oysters. I wrote about the Oyster Riot when we went. Yum! I hope we go this year. We missed last year because we didn’t buy tickets in time. (hint, hint)

Anyway, I was thinking about the saying in the title. Where did it come from? What does it mean?

Well….

It is derived from a Shakesperian play: “The Merry Wives of Windsor.” Here’s the quote:

“Falstaff: I will not lend thee a penny.
Pistol: Why, then, the world’s mine oyster, Which I with sword will open.”

- Act II, Scene II.”

(oddly, I found this in my drafts from a long, long time ago. for some reason, I’m hitting publish. don’t know why exactly)

chili lime rub coats
farmer owned vermont goodness
best on a baguette

Think I’ll win?

Win what?

The Cabot haiku contest, of course.

Why don’t you enter?

Greeted

Aroma of sweat

Grease

Cheap salad dressing

Again

Another day

Another desperate employee

Begging

Don’t fire me

Fire him

And I say

Less and less people

Pass through those golden arches

I have to cut back

Sorry

They cry

They sob

They walk out

And I

I cry

Why does a manager

Have such a hard job

At least I am not the one

Who poisons the customers

Makes them fatter

And makes them come back for more

No

I just take their money.

[poem by up and coming poet whom I admire who asked to remain anonymous]

Get your mind out of the gutter!

We took a field trip today to the Radio & Television Museum. We joined a tour given by Chris Sterling. He was so knowledgeable that I felt compelled to look him up. And as it turns out, he is a professor and his primary research interests focus on the history of and policy for both electronic media and telecommunications. If you want to be very impressed, click on his name (the link up there).

So we had this great tour.

If you’re wondering how we ended up with boys who like this stuff so much, think about this. All throughout the tour, they kept saying “Grandpa and Pop Pop would love this place.”

Oh and by the way? When I told the kids I had those exact TV trays, the said in unison, “what’s a TV Tray?”

I’ve been stressed out lately. Working my butt off. Trying to keep up with my life.

I forgot to register my guys for camp. The laundry (I might have mentioned before) is a mess. It’s pouring out of the hamper on to the floor.

But tonight, I walked away.

And I spent the night playing poker with my friends. Chick poker. This particular game started in 2002. We’ve played continuously since then, though a few players moved away and a few new ones joined.

But it’s a wonderful, tight-knit group.

Sometimes, I barely see any of them in between games. But it doesn’t matter. Because the minute we’re all back together it’s like it was yesterday. And the stress and the day and the week fall away.

Checking out my blog stats today and found the top searches:

my favourite room
my favorite room
allintitle:car
why you wouldn’t want to paint
do i feed my toddler beet
downfalls of secondary research
lord of the flies + underwear
getting rid of smell boy
spanx don’t work
tampax

What am I most impressed about? allintitle:car! I love seeing boolean search at its finest. Go boolean!
What am I most confused by? lord of the flies + underwear. How odd.
But of course, my favorite: getting rid of smell boy. Now that’s a subject I know a lot about. The smelly boy part. Not how to get rid of the smell. If you know how to do that, please ping me.