Tumble Down The Step(s)-Mom

I stayed late at work last Friday night to catch up on some paperwork, and so that I could pick up Maris from soccer practice which is right next door to my school. All abuzz from productivity I strode out of my classroom door carrying my laptop bag, purse and some weekend paperwork. I zipped up my coat, put on my hat and headed down the stairs.

I don't know how I lost my footing. I just know that about 1 step into the 14 stairs of the second flight of stairs, I slipped. I made a valiant grab for the rail... I think I even held it for a moment. I very clearly remember thinking, "no, that isn't going to work, I'm actually going to fall." and fall I did. I somersaulted. I cracked the noggin about mid fall. I also got knees, hip and ribcage, and still somehow managed to land sitting up right on my amply padded posterior. A colleague head the thumps and came running to find me, legs a kimbo, sprawled on the floor amid the scattered debris of my purse and work bag, my cell phone and shoes still laying on the stairs.

He got my boss, who very kindly brought me ice and called Matt, then sat with me and kept me talking till Matt and Maris got there.

I could walk and talk but I was covered in bruises and I'm not sure I have ever had a headache like this one, so at my bosses request we "stopped by" the emergency room for three and a half hours. My dad, who is visiting from China, called to see if Maris would like to be picked up from the emergency room but he wanted to stay and make sure that everything was alright, and to crack jokes.

I have to honestly say that I am very lucky to live with a 15 year old who would voluntarily spend any time with his parents on a Friday night, let alone at the local emergency room. His jokes really were funny and it did make the time pass faster for Matt and I.

So I have been a lazy slug, feeling bruised, tired and sorry for my self. Matt has done most of the parenting/kid care stuff since Friday and the kids have been a dream. Maris called from a friends house on Saturday just to see how I was feeling. Seth curled up with Matt and I and watched movies until the three of us drifted off... it has all been quite relaxing really, despite the headache.

I'm not saying I would like another fall down the stairs, but I could get used to all the gentle care!!!

We heart New York

We took the kids on a long weekend trip to the big apple this past weekend... and despite the gruling 10 total hours spent in the car and the millions of dollars spent on tolls getting there (thanks, Delaware.... really! So glad we could help) we had a great time. We stayed in this tiny hotel way down Broadway in the garment district and we walked everywhere we went. Walking through Times Square with the kids was great, their eyes were popping out of their heads. There is a ferris wheel INSIDE the Toys R Us, and everything is completly over the top. It was pretty perfect. I love that they are old enough to do city things.
When we were first planning trips, they were only ever to outdoor places with plenty of room to run, becuase two little boys bare MANY resemblances to two puppie dogs, especially after long car rides. This time, they handled the trip well. They were really into the whole thing, even the trip to the Iridium Jazz Club to see the legendary, 93year old, Les Paul do absolutly amazing things on his guitar... guess which kid inspired our choice of show?
And even if my puppies, er, children did need half an hour of uniterrupted pillow fighting after the car ride to settle down, nothing was broken, and we made it back with out a scratch! We love New York and I love adding another page to the family scrap book.

I'm ruining your life...

A few brief posts ago I "totally got" my oldest step son. Today I am ruining his life. I am so good at it that I have accomplished this without even leaving my desk at work.

Technology must be the bane of any teen's existence when it means that the second your Spanish grade turns into a D, an e-mail goes out to your mom who quickly sends it to the rest of the members of "team parent". Then your unaccountably vile stepmother in whose home you are expected to sleep tonight grabs the cell phone and with a quick push of a button conferences with your dad, e-mails the team with an up date and (like the horrific monster that she pretends not to be) calls you guitar teacher and cancels your lesson that you had scheduled for tonight so that you can make up the work that you haven't turned in to your Spanish teacher.

If it is any consolation (and I promise you it will not be) I feel like a massive jerk. I have sacrificed a majority of my cool points on the alter of this Spanish grade... do you suppose he will thank me one day? yeah, I don't think so either.

Musing about music and baby names...

When I listen to Eva Cassidy I can see all of the wonderful moments I have ever shared with my beautiful husband Matt, and I listen to her songs all of the time.
I met Matt the year after I divorced my first husband. I was interested in him as a person from our first conversation, and it did not take too much expressed interest from him to ignite a deeper interest in me.
We met in the spring and came together after a gathering in summer. We couldn’t seem to part after meeting up at this gathering and went out for a coffee that lasted untill the wee hours of the morning. Two days later I accepted an invitation to his house and we sat on his couch in his sparse bachelor living room and talked, while the sweetest voice sang softly in the background. I asked about the music and was told that it was one of his favorite singers, Eva Cassidy, and was asked if I liked the music. I of course replied that I did and we spent the rest of our evening holding hands, revealing parts of souls, listening to Eva and planting seeds that would grow rather quickly into love.
Strangely when I got to my second job the next day, someone had a copy of an Eva Cassidy CD, Songbird. I mentioned how much I had enjoyed her music the night before and my co-worker sent me home with the CD.
Over the next few months I listened to that CD each night while falling asleep thinking about this wonderful man I had just met. Each song on that compellation seemed to have a special relevance to something I was experiencing at that time, or something that I had experienced in the break up of my first marriage. I never grew tired of falling asleep to the sound of her voice.
A couple of years passed during which Matt and I had combined houses and lives at a steady pace. When we were choosing our wedding music it seemed only fitting that she would be a part of our ceremony and so I walked down the isle on my father’s arm to Songbird, the title song from the album that I had listened to so many nights when I was falling in love with my husband.
Eva’s music has always been a part of our life together and my deep appreciation of her gift has grown with each new song I experience.
My husband and I were on our way to the store the other day when Songbird came on the radio. We stayed tuned to hear more of her lovely music and were amazed to hear that her parents were in the studio taking calls. It was the day before Eva’s birthday and as we listened to our favorite music and the parents of its amazing performer we sat quietly, both of us with tears in our eyes.
We are waiting to adopt a baby, our first child together, who will complete our family of four that includes Matt’s sons from his first marriage. We had long ago decided that if this baby turns out to be a boy we will name him for a beloved friend of Matt’s who passed too soon. On that day, in the car with the voices of Eva and her family ringing in our ears we decided that if we are blessed with a daughter, it will be our honor to name her Eva, after another beautiful soul who passed too soon.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eva_Cassidy

My beautiful husband