Mar
20

Real

Posted in blog, Lucy, memories, writing | 2 Comments
I bought Lucy new bedsheets this weekend. Actually – both kids got new sets. Connor is still all about Transformers and he’s clearly outgrown the Nemo set. (And don’t even get me started on his Thomas the Tank Engine sheets. He wore holes in them when he was younger.) I bought Lucy another set of Hello Kitty sheets. Different design than what she currently has, but we’ve washed the old set so many times they’re starting to tear, so makes sense, right? The thing is, she has a favorite blanket from that original set. It’s not a security blanket, exactly…but it’s hers. She’s had it since she was about 15 months. She guards it fiercely. So the other night she started crying when I put her to bed. Because she was starting to like the new blanket on the new set and she was afraid of hurting the old blanket’s… Read more
Jul
27

Calling Goblins

Posted in blog, friends, memories | 2 Comments
It all started with a McDonald’s Fry Guy whistle. During the mid-80’s – I’m not sure exactly when, maybe 82 to 86 or so, I had a summer friend who would come to visit. His grandmother lived next door to us when I was growing up and every summer he would come to visit her for a few months. (His parents were separated so I think that had something to do with the length of the stay. Sometimes his sister or cousins would come for a few weeks as well.) In some ways it was a godsend for me. They didn’t go to my school or know any of my other friends, so they didn’t know how miserably I was picked on. I looked forward to his arrival every summer like I was getting a passport straight into Narnia or something. I can’t even begin to explain it, because honestly? He… Read more
Jul
24

Dusty Memories

Posted in cleaning, memories, rambling | 4 Comments
It’s been a crazy weekend so far. I’m trying to get my stuff together for Nationals (and of course the suitcase I bought won’t actually get here until Monday…nothing like packing last minute, eh?) I’m trying to start sorting through my copy edits. I’m trying to rewrite the beginning of Book 2 to fit the way I ended Book 1. And, I’m trying to clean. Like really, really. I had a huge shit-fit about it last weekend (before off-roading), because as much of a slob as I am, even I have limits. And I have reached them. At any rate, I’m hitting as much of it as I can before I go – there’s a lot of removal going on. Piles of clothes and toys and books for donation…just stuff, I guess. Mr myn and I are both packrats to a pretty large extreme, but as I told him last… Read more
Apr
23

The Keeper of Memories

Posted in grief, memories, mom | 12 Comments
Against the betterment of my diet, I bought a package of circus peanuts at the store this week. The original orange ones. My grandmother used to give them to me and my brother when I was very young and we went to visit her at her tiny beach house on LBI in the summer. It’s funny how something that really tastes so craptacular can still have the power to transport me back to that time. So I eat the whole damn bag, each bite releasing a moment I haven’t given thought to in a very long time. I remember the green sofa I used to sleep on sometimes – the one that always had sand on it, no matter how many times I’d try to brush it off. The tiny swindle glasses that I was allowed to use to drink real Pepsi. The ceramic chicken-shaped bowls I would eat scrambled… Read more