True Mama Love

Sometimes I get so caught up in doing things for my own children...showering them with my love, bending over backwards, marveling at their uniqueness...that I forget that my own Mama must still look at me like her baby.

This week I am busy planning a Jedi training academy party for my son's 6th birthday. It will be a party to live on in A's memory for decades to come (I hope). A party replete with homemade Jedi robes for each guest, light-up lightsabers (thank God for the internet and bulk sellers), Star Wars cake, Death Star Pinata...and a surprise appearance by none other than...Darth Vader himself. Okay, so it's really my dear old brother in a pretty sweet getup -- the authentic movie version costume with lights and breathing device. He gets really into this stuff, so who am I to say no?

So in the midst of all this work, I happened to email my mom for advice on how to make a Princess Leia cinnamon bun "do", as my son insists that we all wear costumes. I ran the gamut of ideas...bake some huge buns, shellac them, and glue them to a headband. Hmmmm...anything involving shellacking doesn't sound so fun. Roll up some rope and paint it? Braid a skein of yarn and roll it up? Meanwhile I found someone at Etsy who knitted a hysterical winter cap with the big old buns knitted on the side. I emailed it to my mom to ask if she could knit such a thing. Being a knitter, she could probably whip this up in her sleep, right? She informed me that it would entail knitting "in the round", which she was never fond of. She didn't think she could pull it off. Okay, no problem. (Although I didn't understand what a Shakespearean theatre had to do with knitting, but whatever.) My search continued.

Today dear, sweet, giving mommy emailed me with some surprise photos. Here is her message:

Okay, once I got Dad to stop laughing, he took these pictures for
me.....if they EVER get shown to anyone else besides you, (hubby), and
or the boys I will not do anything else ever again in the way of
"craft projects" for birthday parties. You may want to go with your
original plan of having a head band and braids....I'll bring this
"thing" but you may not want it. It's really hard to see the
"circles" on the side but believe me they're there. Ok, now
I'm gonna go back to my reading and try to forget I did
this :)

So of course I can't show you the photos, as it would break the sacred Mother/Daughter "let's not ever make each other look like an ass" bond. But suffice it to say that dear mother did indeed get her knitting needles a-flyin' to accomodate her only daughter's plea for help.

Now THAT, my friends, is True Mama Love.

Pint-sized stalker

A's Kindergarten "term paper" is due tomorrow. It's a story/book about whatever he wants.
Anyway, I sat down with him tonight to get him to work on it. OMG, it's like pulling TEETH! I'm going to go nutty by the time he graduates.Here's an excerpt of what our evening was like. Remember, he is OBSESSED with Natalie Portman (Queen Amidala in Star Wars), and his book is about the battleships of Star Wars...

A: (bobbing his head, making silly sounds)

me: A, focus.

A: (stops, stares at his paper, makes another silly sound)

me: A, focus. Write the words (tapping the example text that I wrote down as he dictated).

A: (writes one letter) Hey mom, do droids exist?

Me: No, they don't.

A: Well, do service bots exist?

Me: Nope.

A: What about buzz droids?

Me: Nope, those don't exist either. Focus...

A: Do robots exist?

Me: Yes, robots exist, sure.

A: Can we get one?

Me: Well, buddy...I doubt that. They're very expensive.

A: I want to get one to have around the house so Natalie Portman will be impressed. She'll think I built it.

Me: She will, huh? That would be something...okay, write the next word, buddy.

A: (writes a word) Mom? Remember that scene in Star Wars Attack of the Clones Episode II where Anakin rode that big animal and fell off (chuckling now)?

Me: Yes.

A: I'm going to do that for Natalie Portman, only with a cow.

Me: (fighting the urge to laugh and scream at the same time, considering the late hour and how many more battle ships need to be described) That would be pretty funny. Write, please.

A: Yeah.

(write write write)

A: Mom?

Me: Yes, buddy.

A: Can you get the spare room ready for Natalie Portman? (A firmly believes that the letter he wrote to her will reach her, and she will indeed attend his birthday party).

Me: Honey, I don't want you to be disappointed if Natalie doesn't show up, okay? She has lots of fans and she's very busy with making movies and stuff. She might send a picture, though. Okay, write the next word, buddy. Leave a space! Leave a space! Okay, you just wrote "Thisisa".

A: (Holds his pinky to the paper to measure how much space should have been between the words) Oh. Okay.

A: (more silly sounds)

Me: A, focus on the task at hand. (tap tap tap)

A: (writes a letter)

(We get to the part where he writes his dedication and his name)

A: Hey mom...I'm writing my name like an autograph, like Natalie Portman does.

Me: Yes, yes you are.

(by this time I'm exhausted from spending two hours coaxing a sentence per ship -- 10 in all. I place my head down on the table and I am silent as he writes a bit more.)

A: Mom, are you dead?

ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH!

I guess my one consolation is that he dedicated his book to me. I'm shocked that it wasn't Natalie Portman.

The Virtual Ribbon Cutting

TA-DA! Here it is. My personal blog...and the virginal first post, no less.

One would think that a person who has been programming websites and applications for almost 10 years now would have made this leap into the blogosphere long ago. Well, I guess it's sort of like the telemarketer who goes home after a long day of telemarketing and abhors the idea of getting on the phone to chat with anyone. Or the short-order cook who chooses to suck down a half pint of Ben and Jerry's rather than cook one more flippin' meal. Or the gyno/OBGYN who...uh...nevermind.

Anyway, the point is, I guess by day's end I also get into that mindset of, "If I have to work on one more flipping website..." Yet here I am. Why now? I'm going to blame it on my BFF, Laskigal. "You HAVE to start blogging," says she. Her enthusiasm bubbles over as she speaks of contests, feedback, community...not to mention the sheer cathartic nature that posting our brainwaves entails. Honestly, I didn't even know she HAD a blog until she told me a few weeks ago. And although my days are packed from beginning (8:00 a.m.) to end (2:00 a.m.), I find myself regularly checking her blog. Aside from her quick wit and engaging writing style, I discovered that it's a great way for me to keep abreast (tee hee..."abreast" :P) of what's going on with my BFF, who is six hours away from me.

So here it stands. My electronic therapy.

Oh, about the name. I chose "Life Out Loud" because, really, life IS loud, is it not? Yes, I am a mommy. I am a wife. I am a programmer, a baker, a seamstress wannabe...a Jedi robe maker, obsessive researcher, online shopper...an entrepreneur, a big thinker, a dreamer. But I am so much more than all of that. We are ALL so much more than we realize. From one day to the next, we never really know what changes will come our way. We can live it timidly, or we can embrace the challenges that come our way and relish the opportunity to find the silver lining in everything. That is the challenge that I put forth. Live out loud. Look for opportunites. Grab a hold of life. Seek the silver linings. And through it all, keep a sense of humor and humility.

Happy blogging.