This is a true story.

I have a bad habit of putting my feet up on the coffee table. Phineas calls my suspended legs a "bridge" and loves to clamber up for a bouncing ride, or crawl underneath on his hands and knees. Some afternoons, he becomes obsessed and I field near-constant requests:

"Will you be my bridge?"
"Mommy! Put your legs up like a bridge!"
 "You're a bridge!!!" <ecstatic, angelic grin>

Thing is, Phinny doesn't say the letter R. It is totally silent.

Sometimes, he goes up to people we don't really know and says, "my Mom is a bridge."

A few yesterdays ago. . .

Heyo. I'm not feeling super inspired today (I think I may have poured all of that stuff into the philosophy midterm I wrote from the hours of 1am-9am this morning), so I'll share some stuff from a few years ago -- back when I was more ripe with creative juice. It's hard to remember to keep this kind of stuff up when you have . . . life and stuff to deal with.

I think -- after I finish Pauly McC -- a sister series is in order. 

Long Distance

A few weeks ago I realized that Tom and I have been dating for more than two years! He was actually Corban's friend first. But after he came to my family's annual Christmas party and told an awful joke about proposing to a girl with an engagement ring made out of, I claimed him as my own. (Actually it took him about a month to ask me on a real-live date, but that joke was the clincher. Not even kidding. Well, that and his ambition of becoming an astronaut, and his pretty blue eyes, and his mad Chinese skills. *Swoon* - but I digress...)

When we first started dating I was at school in Denver and he was at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, so we saw each other at least every weekend. But, after that semester finished, things got more complicated. I was transferring to Yale, and he was headed to Rice for grad school. That summer my mom invited him to join us on a family vacation in Europe. Tom thought it was a great idea, but I was less thrilled. I was convinced that after spending 2+ weeks with my family he would break up with me. I consoled myself by reasoning that the breakup would make our school plans less difficult.....Well, he didn't break up with me (still not exactly sure why - we were all crazy on that trip). And because we didn't breakup in Croatia, we had to decide if we were going to try the whole long-distance dating deal. I was really hesitant. We had been dating for 7 months - and he was my first real boyfriend. But we didn't break up. Instead we decided to date other people, just to see what would happen. It didn't really work. I think I went on four "dates" and he went on one....In December I admitted that I didn't want to date other people anymore. He agreed.

So we've been doing the whole long-distance thing ever since. And it's worked pretty well. We visit every four weeks or so, and talk every day. At one level I'm grateful for the space; it allows me to focus on school in a way that I probably wouldn't if Tom was here. At another level it kind of stinks.  And it makes me a little anxious. For the majority of our relationship, we've lived in different states - which definitely creates a different dynamic. We don't argue very much - and never about little things. When we are together, neither of us wants to do anything that would sully our time together - which is great, but maybe a little unrealistic. Sometimes it makes me wonder if we're experiencing an authentic relationship.

Last summer I decided to apply for internships in Houston (where Tom is in school) so we could see what being in the same place for an extended period of time was like.

It was wonderful.

We actually spent time together every day. And we got into fights about inconsequential nothings! And I could hardly believe that after 11 weeks I still wasn't sick of him! But since then we've had to go back to long-distance. And it's harder than it was before.

Sometimes I still wonder....And I get annoyed that he isn't here to go to things with me - to fight about things with me, to sit around and do nothing with me...Humph.

Have any of you ever been in long-distance relationships? What were the pros and cons? What advice do you have? Does it seem totally crazy?!

Honeymooners 3: Going on

Here's the last batch of photos from our trip to Costa Rica. Our final days were spent on the Caribbean coast in the town of Puerto Viejo. It was the perfect way to close an amazing vacation. As someone who has never been to the Caribbean before, I was really struck by the way everything seemed to slloooooooooooww doooooooooowwwnnn. Including us. Beach cruisers--or bare feet--were the primary mode of transportation, which was totally fine because no one had anywhere they had to be. The days and dreads were long, and none of the residents could remember how it was they came to live there.  

our porch-mate

In some ways, these days couldn't be more different. My company's big annual conference is taking place next week, and days zip by almost before they've started. Meanwhile my mind is engaged in an epic battle with itself, as it tries to decide whether I'm headed for certain disaster or enduring glory, with the odds changing ever couple of minutes. It's exhausting, but it's also exhilarating. And every time I think I've reached my limit, I'm proven wrong, and so I keep going.

Our days in the Caribbean were relaxing, restorative and incredibly chill. But oddly enough, times like these reinforce the fact that "dreamy" can be a subjective term, and if I had to choose, I'd take "big city hubbub" over "desert island bliss" any day.  

recycling at a random truck-stop FTW!

The primary mode of transportation in Puerto Viejo

A walk on the beach to watch the sun rise

I share this video ALL. THE. TIME. But...

 it felt so wrong to write about the Caribbean and not share it...

'Twas Some Months After Christmas

'Twas some months after Christmas and all through the hood

The company was fantastic'ly good.

The food, it was vegan and more than enough

The tree was a tinsled and stockings were stuffed

The hospital seemed left behind long ago

And Christmas was back for a fine cameo

Momo had hauled all her presents from Denver

Nephew Tomkins had Hay Fever badly, remember?

While Dennis got meds from the closest drug store

Elizabeth tended to babies galore.

When all of a sudden arose a sweet chorus
of  off-Broadway show tunes of humor and tsorus.
On Mia, on Shiloh, on Libby and Noni
On Chari and Levi, on Corbi and Yoni,
On Premal and Babies, the kids just kept coming
And before we all knew it, the children were humming.

The melodies rose, while a few little puppets
Did their darndest impression of your favorite muppets.
The musical Godspell seemed quite apropos
For a spring celebration of Jesus Christ, yo.

Now this poem I see, it is getting quite long.
But needless to say that the gifts and the songs
Were just a small part of what made these libations
a perfectly perfect Christmas Celebration.

Life happens. You'll miss some darn cool things, it's true.
But you just remember whatever you do,
February or May or December in life
With love we can all have a very good night!

According to What?

Last week I ignored about a hundred things I really needed to do, and trundled the kiddies of to the Hirshhorn Museum to catch the Ai Weiwei exhibit before it closed. I'm so glad we did.

Ai Weiwei fills such an interesting space. He collaborated to design the famous(ly expensive) Bird's Nest stadium for the Beijing Olympics, and was heavily courted by the local government in Shanghai before deciding to build his studio in their blossoming arts district. But then officials razed his new studio and threw the artist into prison.  Ai Weiwei was unable to attend this landmark retrospective, because they still haven't returned his passport.

Thousands of porcelain river crabs in a not-at-all thinly veiled protest of Chinese government censorship

Hettie was obsessed with this giant representation of the Chinese Zodiac -- for some reason she thought they were made out of chocolate, not bronze....

This marble construction helmet was Phinny's favorite -- maybe because he's grown up around so much home renovation!

Of his work, the artist has said, "I make the useful become not useful." These days, I feel that's a pretty spot-on commentary on my own life. Sometimes I look around at the chaos that all-too-often encompasses my little world, and am tempted to sink into despair. 

Some days, I would give almost anything for five peaceful minutes in a comfortable chair.

His art also put those thoughts pretty powerfully into perspective. 

This piece is made of rebar salvaged from collapsed schools in the wake of the Sichuan earthquake.

These giant rice bowls really touched me. Mundane simplicity, overflowing with beauty and abundance.

I'm trying to be a little more aware of the pearls littering my own quotidian life.
It's lovely.

Good People are Good to Everybody

I saw this over the weekend. I was, quite simply, touched.

And by touched, I definitely mean that I sobbed for 15 minutes after watching it.