Budding talent

Music and dancing. There are no words.

Mr Harmonica from KRT on Vimeo.

Living the dream

The other day, a colleague called:

Me: How are you?

Him: Oh, living the dream. What about you?

Me: Oh, well, I’m leaning in.

This follows a conversation last week with a friend just returning to work after maternity leave and trying to get used to the new routine of two kids dropped off/picked up, endless pump and bottle washing, not to mention saying goodbye to baby in the morning, and trying to get dinner made when all people need to be attached to you between 6 and 6:30 PM. As we discussed the overwhelm of the logistics of it all, I said to her “I think this is called ‘having it all’.”

I’ve also been swapping email with my dad about him coming to rescue us when I need to attend a training in San Francisco during a week Steve is on-call (24/7). Because life naturally works out that the week the training is scheduled is a week he is on call. Of course. He said, “you are just trying to have too much fun at once,” to which I replied “It’s called living the dream, I believe.”

But even as I hit send I realized that my snarkiness was a bit much. What else could I want? Because here’s the deal:

-     - I have two healthy, wonderful children.

-     - Steve and I just celebrated 11 years of marriage.

-     - My husband’s career is rocking (and will soon allow us to "settle down").

-     - My career is actually becoming just that – a career, not just a job. I have colleagues who have supported me in   working 3000 miles away and a boss willing to invest in me.  

-     - This job that keeps me up at night and wakes me early also allows me flexibility to attend to my kids’ needs       and events. Not to mention, to pay rent, put food on the table, pay for swimming lessons and camp, etc.

-     - We live in a great, safe place, literally surrounded by friends.

-     - Although most of our family is too far, both my parents are willing to fly across the country to help us out.

If that’s not living the dream, what is? The logistics may exhaust me sometimes, but what would I want instead?

I think we have defined our “all”, and we’re having it. It may not always be graceful, but – amidst this summer of terrible news – I’m going to work on making sure it is grateful.

Laugh so hard you cry

There's nothing I can say about Robin Williams's heart-breaking death that hasn't been said by someone else, better and more appropriately. I feel weird acting as if it's even appropriate for me to say something - I did not  know him. But he made everyone laugh, and that's beautiful, so I suppose taking a moment to acknowledge his passing is not so strange.

Here are a couple of things on my mind:

- A friend posted this, and the following passage (plus the two following paragraphs) is sticking with me:

"He is standing quietly against a wall, a look of discomfort etched on his face. Onstage, you couldn’t take your eyes off him. He was relentless. It was impossible to not feel his impact.

Offstage, he is Boo Radley — hugging the corner, hidden, uncomfortable."

- Addiction and mental illness. If someone like him could be overpowered, does it shed some light and compassion on the battles of "regular" people a bit more?

- Robin Williams doing "Martha Graham, Martha Graham!" in The Birdcage. I love Graham-style, and to me it will always be inextricably linked to his Martha Graham.

RIP, God-willing he has found some. And tg for the internet's supply of videos to keep us laughing. Till we cry.

White Mountains Weekend

With just one more month of summer, I thought I should finally post photos of our trip to New Hampshire way back in June. The first weekend after Grace got out of school, we went up to the White Mountains with Becky, Ben, Eli and Aaron.

We rented a great condo in North Conway, and after an evening running the crazies out, it was slumber party time.

We spent Saturday at Storyland, which is an amusement park geared to young kids and perfect for the five year old set. The little guys liked it, too.

After success with the small roller coaster, Steve, Ben and I took Eli and Grace on the bigger one. The fact that we had to remove our sunglasses and hats should have been a tip that it might be a bit more serious... Grace looked terrified the entire time, and Eli was pale as a ghost when we got off.  They both hid their faces in their dads' shoulders. Apparently, they hated it. Ooops.

We all enjoyed the carousel, though!

Henry's special ride.

Magic show. Eli was the assistant, and he was awesome.

Water rides should be called "parents get soaked" rides.

Riding this with a pathologist did not help my necrotizing fasciitis-phobia.

Shaved-ice!

Becky nailed them while I cowered with the little boys.

Kids and trains... right before Henry removed his shoe and dropped it off the train.

A tiny carousel for tiny boys.

Dinner on the deck. No late night whispering in the bunk beds that night... G and E were exhausted.

Definitely one of the best parts about traveling with friends and renting a condo/house is the quiet dinners after the kids go to bed... no sitters, plenty of wine. And, the fact that the kids entertain each other! It was adorable to see Aaron trying to keep up with the big kids, and Henry try to keep up with Aaron keeping up with the big kids.

Sunday we went for a "hike" around Echo Lake. So pretty.

Trying to catch tadpoles. The lake was teeming with them.

Two generations of scientists.

The future of academic medicine.

After our hike, we had a lovely picnic while the kids played in the sand and waded in the lake. Always hard to judge if the happiness of sand play is worth the clean up... Steve now travels with the dusts buster in the car. Perhaps I will give him one to keep in the car for his final fellowship graduation.

Sweet baby in the sand, killing it with the pink hat. Getting him his own hat would require us to resolve the Dodgers/Giants thing... even born in SF, Steve probably won't allow him a Giants hat.

Perfect weather, perfect weekend, wished we'd had a third day. Thanks for the fun, guys!

Father's Day/Birthday

We started the summer with a day trip to Ogunquit for Father's Day, which also happened to be my birthday this year. Steve's dad was visiting, so it made for a lovely multigenerational celebration.

We walked along the marginal way, checked out tide pools and climbed rocks.

We hit the beach for a picnic, sand play and lots of (freezing cold, icy) wave-jumping. Those kids could play all day in the sand.

Back in Boston, we strolled Charles Street, the Public Garden, and the Esplanade.

Oh, summer evenings! I can't believe we're past summer's halfway point.