random ramblings of Yours Truly.
The sun has finally risen, even though it’s behind this overcast funk that just won’t quit. The cat has gotten what she wanted (breakfast) and what she didn’t really want (her morning meds). I’m not quite firing on all thrusters yet, and the cold brew won’t be ready until I get back from taking my son to day camp.
Sounds like a good time to do some freewriting.
Except my mind is a blank.
Maybe it’s a good time for some meditation practice, instead.
As Connor and I sat idling in the loop line at school this morning, the stickers on the vehicle next to me caught my attention.
I couldn’t quite make out the dates, but it looked like this woman’s sister passed just a couple years ago.
Normally, an SUV bedecked with a memorial would stoke my empathy and curiosity, but only for a moment. Maybe it was because I sat there behind this Lexus for a good five minutes before the school began letting kids in, but something about this memorial just got me right in the feels. I think it was the added touch of the customized license plate that finally did it for me.
Sometimes rear-window memorials seem overdone or gaudy, but this just struck me as… genuine?
After we all drove around to the side entrance and I waited my turn to pull forward, I watched the kids climb out of their Mom’s car.
Sorry about your Aunt Jessica.
This year’s custom calendars arrived just in time! Honestly, I usually procrastinate to the Nth degree on calendars, so much so that I tend to set the starting month as February instead of January… so getting the calendar before New Years Day is kind of a big deal.
Now I just need to get my Mom’s shipped off to her (along with her Christmas presents and photos of her grandson and whatnot) so that it maybe possibly arrives before February.
It’s a typical Sunday morning: Connor’s in the La-Z-Boy, playing on his tablet — sounds like Angry Birds at the moment — and I’m sitting on the couch, taking care of random stuff on my laptop while doing laundry.
“Mom! Wanna watch these piggies go into orbit?”
Connor jumps out of the recliner and beelines for the couch, bumping the “vintage” coffee table with the wobbly leg, sloshing some coffee out of my cup.
We both freeze and stare at the coffee puddle for a moment. It’s not bad — just a splash. I smirk at him.
“As soon as you grab some paper towels!”
He tosses his tablet back into the chair and runs into the kitchen. I pick up my sewing notebook, which now has a quarter-sized coffee stain on the current page. No biggie. What little coffee has pooled on the page drips off as Connor returns with a few paper towels.
We blot up the spill. Nothing’s ruined, no one’s mad, no worries. I tell Connor I’ll take care of throwing the wet paper towels away in a minute, and he goes back to the chair to get his tablet.
“Hey, Mom,” he deadpans as he walks back to sit next to me, “wanna watch your coffee go into orbit?”
Work has me burned out, the weather’s been miserably hot, and I’m not looking forward to returning to the office as much as I’d expected.
Add to that the general stress of the global pandemic, getting used to the “new normal,” wrestling with wanting to stay home and safe but also venture out and do the few things I and my family enjoy, and trying to explain to my son why he’ll need to wear a mask at science camp and at school…
At this moment, I’m content to be relaxing in my sunroom, listening to the rain, feeling the breeze, drinking a cider, and watching darkness fall.
Just breathing.