Who We Are Not

We are not to be pitied. We are not freaks. Along the same lines, we don't have mo'better superpowers, we were simply given the privilege of using them with laserlike focus sooner than our peer-set. We were totally NOT prepared for this (might add that I passed for a pretty good facsimile of a Chinese-American meangirl, high grades, competitive, and with a whiff of shallow/sheltered).

More importantly, we do not take anything for granted (basic healthcare, complicated healthcare (like REALLY complicated), family dinners [yes, every day], modern appliances because potty training makes these things really count, decent wages, interesting work, kind co-workers, unkind co-workers (including the very weird- yes! I appreciate you!), beautiful seasons, sweet blooming cherry trees, the hardware store with everything in it, the 24-hour donut shop that is SO good it's even in Zagats (yes, it's in Kalamazoo!).

In the next month, Bo will turn 6 and graduate from kindergarten, Ahn will turn 3, we will all go to Oley and he will find kids his age and ability also on TPN, my human study will have some sort of data that will determine where the project is going, we might have some better idea what to do about Bo's stalled out growth, and we will have an entire summer to enjoy the succulent, humid, bursting summer together.

I remain more committed than ever to an unapologetically messy house. The clothes are crumpled in laundry baskets (at least they're clean), the piles of books threaten to decapitate toes (people love to read, yay!), library books are long overdue (I'm underwriting their 2013 budget). But it's OK! Why? Because we're doing more important things everyday: we have dinner together, we read books to each other for bedtime, we walk to see the gnomes (they live in a giant knot in the tree around the corner), we inspect the ants/roly-poly's/millipedes in the yard, we talk about simple machines (ramps and pulleys are 2 current favorites), we sing songs (both real and imagined), we are copycats (well, Ahn has to do everything that Bo does), we cuddle, we throw, we run, we dance, we ring-around-the-rosie, we red light/green light, we play the pee-nano (piano), we play the dumps (the drums), we eat superman ice cream, we do homework, we pick fruit from the farmers market, we pick plants from the garden center, we visit our friends before they have surgery, we watch videos of Weird Al, we take our shoes off, we help others put shoes on, we fill our backpacks and we empty mommy's purse.

May each season be uneventful, may each day's disappointment and joy be woven into a shimmering fabric that punctuates our memories with both the beauty and brutality of a life fully lived, may the complexity of our experiences be a barrier to our hearts' door closing to any in need, may our friends always be warmed by the hearth of our true soul's compassion, may we always find the courage to turn to another for the strength we may not have in the moment, may our dearest one's companions remind us who we once were, what we dreamed and who we are becoming, may we continue to hold ourselves and one another accountable for cherishing each other into a better tomorrow, today.