Friday, June 24, 2011

kids & 30s


movie time
today my kids are driving me insane. is summer over yet? can they go back to school yet? i feel 1% guilty for saying that, but i also believe every parent feels that way sometimes so whatever. every morning augustine and olive get up, leave me sleeping, come downstairs and play lego star wars until i wake up naturally. this seems ideal, and let's face it, it's a pretty freaking sweet deal for me when it comes to sleep, but having an hour or more of mind numbing video games to start the day gets us all off on a bad foot. if we don't go out and do something and forbid more video games OH THE MELTDOWN FOLKS. we've been having such a great summer though. dollar movies, sleep overs, cookouts, gardening, hosting meals for big groups of people at our house, playing at parks, walking to get ice cream cones, running in the hose, etc.

also while i'm talking about the kids, i want to mention how proud and shocked i am at augustine's understanding of numbers. it is obvious to me that he already has a deeper grasp of how things work even than i do. david randomly asked him what 56+56 was (as a joke) and without hesitation he said "112. because 50+50 is 100 and 6+6 is 12." meanwhile i'm over here trying to carry ones and all that.


i had the best playdate ever a few days ago. we show up at the mom and a neighbor/mutual friend were in the midst of tearing up the corridor between the sidewalk/street and gardening it all. KIDS GO PLAY WHILE I BLACKEN MY NAILS. it's funny to me that i have previously perceived myself to be very "soft" when it comes to anything hard, particularly physical. now, i enjoy nothing more than toiling in the soil, digging holes, clipping branches, hauling away debris, etc. if i had an ipod to listen to while i did yardwork/gardening i believe i could do it for a whole day. like, landscaping would be my dream job! or a baker.

i feel very loved lately by friends. while i've in recent years i've had good friends i feel like i am in an ideal set of circumstances right now to be a good friend and receive good friendship. i've said this before but i can think of no cattiness between any of my friends. i've got good men and women who not only are good people but interesting, diverse, thoughtful, and for the most part doing the best they can with their lives. i dont know what it is about me but i feel like my circle of friends, even acquaintances "get me" on some level that i've not had in any other point in my life. i am shocked but pleased by the constant influx of things people find that remind them of me and they shoot me a little note or give me a call to tell me about it. beyond that, i seem to be running with a group of real Thinkers. maybe it is where we are at age-wise but i have been blessed with some really amazing, deep, important, controversial but sane dialog lately. i hope this is a sign that as our 30s unfold that this will be the trend and not a surprise. i am turning 30 in december and while a lot of great things happened in my 20s there was a lot that i am happy to let go of (or at least distance myself from). ie the passionate stance on Every Little Topic that typifies youth (and instead giving myself room to not know how i feel about this or that.), inviting self-reflection instead of cringing or crying at the thought of someone correcting me, etc.

4 comments:

Melanie said...

great post - love your blog.

madelyn said...

Hey Jenny, I noticed you go through your nightstand books like no other; where do you find time to read all these books!? :)

Olive said...

i hold reading as one of the supremely enjoyable past times known to humans. i am a fast reader and i spend nearly every night reading at least an hour.

i will add that when my daughter was born and i felt like i was nuring 18 of the 24 hours i decided to spend that quiet, still time reading. i wound up reading a book a week for a YEAR!

Vicky said...

My kids haven't even broken up for summer yet and I want them to go back to school! Lol. But the prospect of not having to get up early for 6 weeks does sounds like fun.