m ::

is for MOM. My mom is my inspiration. She has lived an amazing life. She married my dad six weeks after meeting him on a blind date and within a few months he left to fight in the Korean war. When he came home, they spent a rainy summer living in a tent with a baby (!) in a northern California state park while my dad worked as a ranger. They were so poor that they lived on berries they picked and salmon my dad caught. To this day, my mom won't eat salmon. Then, when dad got a job in Nevada, she lived in a shack with four kids in the desert outside Winnemuca where she would lay awake at night listening to the sound of the trains pass , fantasizing about getting on one and riding away...leaving it all behind. Yesterday she told me about the time, when we lived in the cabin in Garden Valley, that she had to evacuate us from a rapidly spreading forest fire, by herself. She had to decide what to save (photos, antique clocks, and her sewing machine), piled the dog and her four kids into the station-wagon and drove, literally, through a wall of fire because there was no other option. Then, she told me, she cried because she realized she had left her silverware, which was probably the only truly valuably thing she owned. She taught me to love to read and sing and she has always reminded me of cross between Doris Day and Carol Burnette (which is a very good thing.) Mom, I can't tell you how much you inspire me. I admire your amazing strength and the grace with which you've handled all the challenges in your life. I love you.

is for Motherhood. Being a mom has healed me and changed me in ways I never thought possible. It's been better than years of therapy and has empowered me and challenged me and satisfied me immeasurably. There is nothing I wouldn't do for my little bug.


is for Moby. He's our sweet boy. He smiles (seriously) when we come home, which makes him sneeze like crazy. He always lays with his front paws "criss-cross-apple-sauce" (as Anna says). If we sleep too long, he'll just sit next to the bed and stare at me. If I ignore him, he'll say, simply, "woof". One small, quiet "woof". He loves Anna the same way our childhood dog, Smokey, loved us: completely and unconditionally. Sometimes he'll go into her room and select one of her stuffed animals (usually a porcupine, ironically) and bring it out to her and set in on her lap, as if to say "Here. Thought you might want this." When I brought home an abandoned fawn, he was so incredibly gentle with her. When she lay down in the bushes, he lay next to her, alert and ready to protect her. He is such a love.
















M :: is for Monday. Which is really just a way to get to talk about the weekend: I had the most wonderful, relaxing weekend. No kid (she was busy riding on a combine at a friend's farm), no David. Just me and Moby. I spent literally all weekend sitting on the front porch, either reading or working on some baby gifts. And I rediscovered my love of embroidery...aaahhhh...