April 18, 2011

Elmo Live (see also: Suckers)

April 18, 2011/ kendratheadverb

Oh hi. This is me. Right here in my living room. I'm doing that boob tube shuffle. Another day of watching ELMO. Another day of wishing he would come alive and talk in the third person with me about my favorite topics: crocuses, jewels, and whether or not other people like crocuses and whether or not people notice crocuses and whether or not people like jewels and whether or not people notice my jewels.

What? Elmo CAN come alive? WHERE IS HE?

Oh. We have to take the train to see him. With my new homegirl, Lady A.

And just before we get to the Elmo Show WHERE ELMO LIVES, we get to see his bus, WHICH ELMO DRIVES, with Lady A's parents, Sean and Isabel.

We also must practice our dance moves before we get to SEE ELMO.

It's okay if we totally freak out when the lights go off. Because, again, ELMO. ELMO ALSO may be scared of the dark. ELMO, can be scared of the dark WITH us!

After an hour and fifteen minutes of ELMOTOWN, we take a break. My mom snickers about all the suckers in the audience who are conned into buying ELMO balloons.

Look at them all. A sea of suckers, my mom said.

Pay no attention to the ELMO balloon next to us. ELMO doesn't know how ELMO got there.

Nope. I guess ELMO just wanted to come LIVE WITH US!

April 09, 2011

Fried Day; Friday

April 09, 2011/ kendratheadverb

I used to dread Fridays. Used to, meaning, like, um,... a month ago. I did not have an attitude of gratitude at the prospect of Friday. That whole day, stretched taut with each of my children pulling from his and her respective ends of my sanity. What will we DO with all those hours? There aren't enough lunchdates and libraries to get us through, and I have all of these e-mails from my students to answer, and there are only so many Care Bears' throwback episodes a 3 year-old can legally watch on On Demand before she overdoses on the Kool-Aid of Care-a-Lot, and what IF neither of them naps? What THEN?! How will we muddle through until we hear "The Chimes:" that most uplifting sound of Loverpants' keys hitting the floor signaling that he is home once more. But something has changed. It's not a particular tip that I can share, a tear sheet from a designer's notebook. All I can say is that I was granted an extra portion of Friday mercies from Someone and I am thankful. I have this heart knowledge that I need to enjoy my children on Fridays. I lose my expectation of them and uphold my expectation of myself to just enJOY them. Today was no exception. We were, all three of us, sacked at 5:30 p.m. when the Chimes rang. Loverpants asked me later what I was smiling about and I suppose I was just so glad it was Friday.

*** Did some sun salutations and stand-ups.