Tuesday, April 30, 2013

You Talking to Me?

 
"Miss Lew! Oh my gosh, I mean Mom. Mom! I called you my teacher's name."

"It happens."

"I've never done that before."

"It's not a big deal."

"It's kind of weird-ing me out, Miss Lew. I mean, Mom. I did it again! What's happening to me?"

Monday, April 29, 2013

The Countdown Begins

 
"Mom, what's in that box that came in the mail? But who's it addressed to? Is it for me? Is it a present for my birthday? Can I shake it? How fragile? Is it Legos? It doesn't sound like Legos. I won't shake it anymore. Does it go with that other box that came last week that you hid in your closet? I don't know, I just saw it in there one time. Is that one fragile too? Is that one for me? Mom, did you know it's only six more days 'til my birthday?"

Sunday, April 28, 2013

Smacksy Sunday Links



These places are real and totally unreal.

I liked this essay about speaking joy.

And I'm a sucker for good latte art.

Happy Sunday.

Friday, April 26, 2013

Things That Are Good About Going to Work With Your Dad On Take Your Child to Work Day by Bob Rosenberg


Me and other kids went to work with our parents today for the whole, pretty much whole, day and I had to wear a button up shirt. I met a friend named Adam and I got to wear a badge with my picture on it. Adam's in second grade and I got to go to the park with him later and we climbed a mountain thing. There were lots of kids at Go-to-Work-Day, maybe more than are in my classroom at school. I had a snack after breakfast of these gummy things that were super good. I got to watch a videos of puppies having a bath and part of Spiderman and part of Karate Kid and the whole movie of Hotel Transylvania. Oh, and the best part? We had pizza for lunch. It was fun but I don't think I want to work there because when I grow up I still want to be in a rock and roll band and be a fireman in the daytime. The end.

Thursday, April 25, 2013

I Like All of Those Things


"Mom, I made this picture at school."

"Very cool. Tell me about it."

"It's me and Desmond and Felix and we're at Imagination World and everything's chocolate, like chocolate balloons are there and a chocolate car and the sky is chocolate and we're standing on chocolate mountains."

"Where is Imagination World?"

"It's the world inside my head, inside my imagination."

"I want to go there."

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

My Boss


"Bob, I'm going outside to water the yard."

"Can I help?"

"Sure. You want to hold the hose?"

"No, I can supervise. I'll be in the car."



Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Coordinates

 
"Sergeant Desmond, Captain Felix, report to the command center. Repeat. Report to the commander center."

"Bob, where is the command center, again?"

"It's by the police station."

"Over there?"

"The tree. The tree is the command center. Please report to the tree."

Monday, April 22, 2013

A Little Thing





"Hey, Bob! Come out on the porch for a minute!"

"I'm really busy right now, Mom."

"It'll just take a second. Come on out!"

"What is it?"

"Smell this rose. It's unbelievable."

"You seriously made me come outside to smell a flower?"

"Yes, I did. Have a sniff."

"Mom?'

"Yeah?"

"Are we in heaven right now because that smell is amazing!"


Sunday, April 21, 2013

Smacksy Sunday Links


I like this video by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros.

Loving these inspiring work-spaces of the famously creative.

And a cat playing with a vacuum.

Happy Sunday.

Friday, April 19, 2013

Um...


"Dad, I'm pretty sure we can get these all put back together."

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Wouldn't It Be?


"... it sounds like you had a really good day, Bob. I'm very proud of you."

"Why? I didn't do anything great."

"Just being you is great."

"You might be more proud if I was a crime-fighting super ninja with a magic plane for picking up criminals."

"Nope."

"That would be cool though, right?"

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

How He Works

 
"Mom, I figured out how things happen."

"You did?"

"God gets a thought and then presses it into the world like a globe."

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Who you gonna call?

 
"Bob, are you okay? What's all that noise in in your room?"

"I'm trying to grab a ghost!"

"Bob, what was that crash?"

"I got him!"

Monday, April 15, 2013

Sammich


"Mom, I've got a great idea for a new kind of sandwich."

"Tell me."

"You take two hard boiled eggs and mush them up a little and add some mayonnaise and maybe salt and you put it on bread."

"That's an egg salad sandwich."

"I guess you could name it that but it's not really a salad."


Friday, April 12, 2013

Good Signs


"Mom, when Teddy was kissing Daisy's face the other day before you left, do you think he was saying goodbye to her?"

"Yes I do."

"Do you think he's sad and misses her?"

"Yeah, I think we all do."

"Is Teddy going to be okay?"

"He's still eating and playing. He'll be okay, and so will you."

"I'm still eating too. So... can I have some of my leftover Easter candy with breakfast?"




Thursday, April 11, 2013

Thank You

Rainbow Bridge mural on the wall in our veterinarian's office

Guys. You are the best. I'm overwhelmed with all of the lovely comments and tweets and emails I've received about Daisy's passing. One of Mr. Rosenberg's friends shared the following quote with us and I fell in love with it.  
 
Author Donald McCaig wrote after the death of one of his dogs: "We carried him to his grave on his sheepskin bed and set his letter underneath. My wife, Anne, writes a letter for every one of our dogs and I have never asked her what she writes. She says it's a passport and I like to think of Moose coming to the last river he will ever cross and offering the boatman his letter, 'Oh, yes, I was a very good dog.'

But it may be, it just may be - all our dogs waiting on the far side of the river that Anne and I must one day cross - those letters may not be the dogs' passports. They may be ours."
 
Squeeze your people tight, furry and otherwise. 

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Daisy

 
It's with a heavy heart that I tell you all that Daisy died. She passed peacefully on Tuesday afternoon. Please know how much I appreciate all of your love and good wishes that you've sent our way these past few weeks. It means the world to me.

In her memory, I'd like to share the story of how Daisy entered our lives.

Mr. Rosenberg and I had only known each other a short while. I was working as a coordinator at an outpatient program for teens with psychological and addiction problems. To celebrate three months of dating bliss, Jeff and I moved in together. We shared a 500 square foot single on the top floor of a six-story walk-up. Two weeks later he was ready to get engaged. I threw in a tiny speed bump, requesting that we wait until we had six months together to even start talking about it. Jeff countered with the next most logical commitment step: we should get a puppy.

I had lost my dear black lab, Stella, to doggy cancer five years previous. I knew I wasn’t ready for the emotional obligation of another furry pal, especially one who wasn’t housebroken, so I told Jeff that getting a puppy was a sweet idea and that we should think about it, fully intending to put it off at least until we were living someplace larger than the back booth at Jerry’s Deli.


Two days later, on a rainy afternoon, I took Tommy to Rae’s Diner for lunch. Tommy was a sweet and heavily medicated kid being treated for a number of psychiatric and developmental disorders. He talked slowly and he moved slowly. As we sat at the window with our grilled cheese sandwiches, I noticed a skinny little black dog in the parking lot. She was wrestling with a greasy paper bag she had pulled from the garbage.

“Hey Tommy, look. It’s a puppy.”

He turned to see the wet dog eating old french fries from a styro-foam container. Tommy slowly stood up from the table and then bolted out the side door of the restaurant. I watched as he ran to her and tried to pick her up. Ready to play, she took off down the sidewalk, and Tommy ran after her out of view. I had never seen Tommy walk quickly. I had certainly never seen him run.

I walked outside. Tommy came back into the parking lot, the puppy following close behind him. “We had a dog when I was little,” Tommy said. “Her name was Daisy.” When we got back to the office, I called Jeff.

“Tommy and I found this tiny starving puppy and she was eating garbage in the rain and she’s super cute and nice and I was thinking that we could maybe keep her until we find her owners or something because she’s so little and we couldn’t just leave her out there in the rain and she peed in the minivan but it’s not like you can really smell it in there or anything and I was thinking I could bring her home. What do you think?”

“I already love her,” Jeff said.

We named her Daisy.

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Daisy Check In

Daisy, circa 2007

Hi Everyone. Thank you so much for all of your kind words and questions about how Daisy is doing.

On Sunday she didn't want to eat and was breathing heavily. We took her in to the vet this morning and they did the same procedure they had done before to reduce the fluid from around her heart. A new untrasound showed that the tumor on her heart is getting larger.

The doctor estimated that Daisy should be with us for another week or so. Daisy's still good at snuggling and is always available for pets and cold nosed dog kisses. You know, the important stuff.

You can read about when Bob and Daisy met here.

Monday, April 8, 2013

At the Dance


Saturday night my friend Nikki and I put on skirts and comfortable shoes and drove to the Westside. We paid $10.00 at the door of the Community Center and walked in to a large hall with hardwood floors. Musicians were warming up on a small stage. People stood in groups talking. We put down our sweaters on folding chairs and waited. We had come to contra dance.

Nikki is an experienced contra dancer. I hadn’t heard of contra dancing until she explained it to me. Contra is a group folk dance that is sort of a hybrid of square dancing and swing. At these dances, the first half hour is reserved for beginners like me to learn some basic steps from the caller. Then the more experienced dancers join the new ones on the floor. The dance begins. A small band (ours was guitar/fiddle/mandolin) plays a jig or reel and the caller calls out the steps.

The dancers ranged in age from twenties to late 70s. There is no dress code. Full skirts are favored for their twirl factor.

My first partner was a shy, 5’2” Indian man named David. He was more experienced and made it easy.

“Just smile and keep your arms up and you’ll be fine.”

I haven’t danced in any kind of organized way in years. (Actually, disorganized is a great way to explain my regular free-style.) The dances moved fast. I tried to keep up. Sometimes I did.

My next partner was, Carol, a woman in her mid-sixties. She was a pro and threw in lots of extra twirls and flourishes. Carol was fast. Mid-way through my dance with Carol, I started sweating. A lot. The dances are long. You’re instructed to look your partners in the eye when spinning so as not to get dizzy. My awkwardness with so much eye contact caused me to get a little seasick. I kept going.

There is customarily no alcohol served at the dances. People are friendly and patient. There were a few couples but many of the dancers arrived alone. Age is not an issue. I watched a young guy wearing a skirt and rainbow socks dancing with a beaming woman in his arms who favored Nancy Reagan. A mother and daughter who spoke only German danced together. The music rose and fell. Dancers stomped and laughed. There was joy in that room.

During my third dance, my “corner” partner was a thick man in his 60s wearing a Fire Department t-shirt and sneakers. As he spun me around, he leaned in and with a New Jersey accent said, “You come here and the whole week washes off you. It’s a beautiful thing.”

And it was. A beautiful thing.


Sunday, April 7, 2013

Smacksy Sunday Links


Mr. Rosenberg's band, Lavender Diamond, has a lovely new video directed by Jena Malone. It's "Buzzworthy"over at MTV.

Thirty beautiful things happening now.

And sweet animal friends.

Happy Sunday.

Friday, April 5, 2013

History



"Mom, you know how Abraham Lincoln grew up in the 1800s years century?"

"Yes."

"And you grew up in the 1900s years century?"

"Okay."

"And I'm in the 2000s years century?"

"Yep."

"I bet in the three years century everyone had to poo in a hole."

"Wow. I did not see that coming."

"Yeah, like a hole in the dirt because there weren't toilets or anything."

Thursday, April 4, 2013

Spring Break: Day 5

 
"Watch out, Bob. I've got hot coffee here."

"Watch out, Bob. I've got hot coffee here."

"Oh, boy."

"Oh, boy."

"This game again, huh Bob?"

"This game again, huh Bob?"

"My mom is the best mom in the universe."

"My mom is the... Hey! I have a new game, Mom."

"I'm very glad."

"It's called scream. The rules are I just scream by your face like this!"

"First game! Go back to the first game!"


Wednesday, April 3, 2013

The Latest

 
You guys? Daisy's doing great. We went to see the vet on Monday for a check-in and everyone was amazed at how much energy she had. She ran up to the veterinary technician who told us they had been expecting that we would have to carry Daisy into the office. The treatment to reduce the fluid around Daisy's sweet heart that they did last week is helping her to be much like her usual self. She sleeps a lot but she's not in pain.

Daisy has always been a runner. If the front door is open she will take off down the street waiting for us to run after her. It's her fun game and it's our chance to say hi to the neighbors while jogging and wearing pajamas. A few weeks ago, the last time Daisy got out, Teddy followed her and herded her back into the house. He's such a good guy. Daisy's not running out like she used to but she'll still run to the kitchen when she hears the word "treat."

We know the fluid will come back and either that or the cancer itself will cause problems soon enough, but for now we are all enjoying our time with her. Every day is a little party.

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Wash Me

 
"Jeff? Honey, do you have time to take the station wagon to get washed tomorrow?"

"Does it have to be tomorrow?"

"I keep having to go to the west side to places where I have to valet park."

"So?'

"The car's such a wreck, I just know one of these days when I go to tip the guy, he's going to feel sorry for me and give me the money back."

"Got it."

Monday, April 1, 2013

Wherein the Easter Bunny is Revealed to Have a Touch of OCD Just Like Mom

"Wow. You've got a lot of eggs there, Pal."

"Yeah, I must've missed one."

"How do you know?"

"Because there's twenty-nine eggs. Why would the Easter Bunny leave twenty-nine? It just doesn't seem like something he would do."

"Why wouldn't he?"

"It's just weird."

"Yeah, you missed one, Bob. I see it up there."

"I knew it."