Day 180

Day 179

Nice rug burn, huh?  Ghost Daughter took quite a spill at school yesterday...banged both knees, bruised her pinkie, and slammed her ear pretty hard against the desk.  To cheer herself up a little, she drew a mini-mural on her bandaid.  Sadly, we had to change it, so her tribute to the Kratts brothers is saved on film.

Day 178

Ghost Girl does her own thing with her message board, too.  Ssssshhh...she's not really a 4th-grader...she is the superhero Kestrel!  Yeah, so much for chores on the board.

Day 177

Both of the Ghost Kids have a dry-erase board hanging on their bedroom doors, originally meant for little messages and maybe a list of chores.  But in this house, creativity eventually trumps duty.  For Ghost Son, that means a new take on an old theme.

Day 176

Day 175

Ghost Son is officially a teenager.  An interesting, eclectic, artistic teenager.  This is his new wall of fame—the art work and stencils that he has made over the last few months.  What a cool kid!  I can't wait to see what he does next.

Day 174

Soccer season is officially open.

Day 173

This hangs above my writing desk at home.  Very dear friends gave this to me when my mother died a few years ago, and it has meant the world to me.  But what meant so much more was that they came to see me at the moment when I needed them most. I care that love with me always...and send it right back.

Day 172

Day 171

Day 170

Day 169

It would appear that this particular pine in neither ours nor theirs.  It sits squarely between our properties, so the fence must go...through it?

Day 168

The developers of our neighborhood are working on a new project at the edge of our addition, a gated community they call "the Sanctuary."  Instead of the dingy yellow hydrants that line our streets, they get fancy red ones.  Yeah...we are now just the rabble.  

Day 167

First fall-like day.  Chill in the air, soup on the stove, and time to paint with Ghost Daughter.  (Mine is not quite done.)

Day 166

Ghost Daughter got her first glasses today!

Day 165

Day 164

Ghost Son likes to pose my artist's figure when I'm not looking.  I think he's in the middle of "YMCA" on this one...

Day 163

Day 162

A little free-range shade on a sunny afternoon for Angel Jr.

Day 161 — Remembering 9-11-2001

9-11 through the eyes of a 4-year-old.  

We were living in Indiana at the time.  We had our routine.  6-month-old Ghost Daughter was asleep in her crib while I helped Ghost Son get ready for preschool.  Usually I would flip the television to an episode of Rugrats before we ran our little buddy up to the church for preschool.  For some reason on that day ten years ago, I clicked over to the news for just a minute.  But that minute became devastating history that was unfolding before our eyes. 

The first plane had just hit the north tower.  "Mama, why is that building on fire?" my son asked.  At that point, no one really knew for sure what had happened.  All we knew is that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center.  As we listened to Matt Lauer speculate over the details and watched the smoke billow from the middle of the tower, the second plane crashed into the south tower.  At first, we could not see the plane that hit it.  But then the network found another camera angle that showed flight 175 arcing headlong into the tower, like a hawk swooping in to snatch its prey.  

We were stunned.  Speechless. Trying to believe what our eyes forced upon us.  Ghost Hunk was in the bedroom getting dressed to run our buddy to school while Ghost Son sat on the couch and nibbled on his poptart, unable to fathom the meaning of what was on the TV screen.  Was it a movie? Was it real?  30 minutes later, news came that a plane had crashed into the pentagon.  I screamed to Ghost Hunk, "They hit the Pentagon!"  We were under attack.  

Somehow, we made the choice to take Ghost Son to preschool as usual, only a mile or so away.  While the ghost men were gone, the north tower fell.  In a cloud of ash and debris and what remained of a thousand lives, it was gone.  "It's gone!" I said to Ghost Hunk when he walked in the door.  "It's just gone!"  He could not understand what I said.  He thought the smoke had simply obscured our vision.  

I had just stepped in the shower when Ghost Hunk came in, tears in his eyes.  "It's gone he said."  

"I know."

"No, it's gone.  All of it.  Both of the towers have fallen."

We held each other and cried.  As the day wore one, we heard of the heroism of the people on flight 93 who chose to stand up to the hijackers and crashed the plane into a field in Shanksville rather than let the terrorists take down the White House or the Capitol.  All day long, the images played on the TV screen.  I kept it on in the bedroom.  I could not turn it off.  While the kids played or watched Wild Thornberries in living room, I would duck into the bedroom for another look.  It just could not be real.  

Ghost Son knew something big had happened.  Something that would change our world forever.  He did not understand it all, but he was moved to draw it.  When he showed me this picture, I knew instantly what it was, but I asked him to tell me about it.  

"It's the fire, Mama.  And these are the people.  I want to show it to the bad men so they can see the people and maybe they'll feel bad and they won't do this anymore."

Let's hope that such lessons are possible, that such hope can rule the world instead of hate.  We did not know anyone who died in the attacks, but for all those who were lost or broken by the events of that day, we will never forget.  

  

Day 160

In just a few weeks, we should have new neighbors...

Day 159

Yeah...it's been that kind of week.

Day 158

Me and Ghost Hunk parked together at work.  Yep, that's how we roll...

Day 157

What's wrong with this picture?

Day 156

Goodbye, Summer...goodbye.

Day 155

(from the iPhone)  Remnants of the storm that covered Louisiana spilled over Walmart just as we had paid for our booty and headed towards the car.

Day 154

Day 153

Beautiful hair, huh?  Now imagine the face that is on the other side of that hair.  Keep imagining...

Day 152

Bye-bye gray hair!  

Day 151

Look closely...the grays are taking over!  Egads! Time to take action.  This is the "before."  Tomorrow you'll get the "after."