A Mindful Life

We have not had a working oven since Thursday night. The lock mechanism (operated by computer) got stuck shut. We’ve used the lock since Claire began crawling to keep her from climbing in or pulling the oven down on top of herself. Two people had to come out Friday (the first one wasn’t fluent in [...]

My father is a private man. I am not like him in this regard, but we share the traits of introspection, intensity, and curiosity. He is a man of his generation, which meant our relationship sometimes felt distant to me when I was younger; he was focused on providing for his family’s needs, and expressing [...]

There are 10^11 stars in the galaxy. That used to be a huge number. But it’s only a hundred billion. It’s less than the national deficit! We used to call them astronomical numbers. Now we should call them economical numbers. –Richard Feynman

Unfortunately the camera didn’t focus properly when Husband took this photo. The composition is perfect, the poses and smiles capture a moment of happy synchronicity. Just pretend the fuzziness is a result of viewing the photo with tear-blurred eyes (tears of joy, of course). My mother was only 20 years old when her mother died [...]

My parents’ visit ends tomorrow. They leave on the 10:30 p.m. red-eye. Yesterday and today I found myself verging on tears. It has been an intense and happy visit. There have been many “firsts” in the past week that I’m thrilled my parents were part of experiencing. I need to keep myself together, to focus [...]

Today is my mother’s 75th birthday. Here she is with Claire on her lap, reading a book to her. It’s difficult to articulate the precious feeling inside me when I see my daughter and mother together. Happy birthday, Mom!

Claire loves to vocalize. She keeps herself company with her talk, and enjoys engaging in games of fishmouth or other silly face games. New words emerge daily. Lately she says moon, girl (gul), goat, down (dow), star (tar), all done (aw duh) owl (ow), moo, baa, giraffe (gaff), banana (nom na), sky (ky) and Okay. [...]

Wearing her big girl shoes, she took a stroll with us. The sand and the items on it captured her interest more than the huge waves did. We had lunch in Ben Lomond, and it was a lovely day for a little tour.

Claire loves her grandma and grandpa, and they love her. And today was extra special; Claire got her first pair of big girl shoes. (And yes, they did cost as much as you see on the web page; they will also only last her about three months.) Her feet are so small that she could [...]

The much-anticipated visit is happening! My parents arrived late last night from the east coast to meet Claire. Right now they are still sleeping to recover from a very long trip, but very shortly there will be the first encounter. I plan to take lots of pictures and videos this next week.