V's Version

A direct quote from Pk in his comfy position on the couch, plumped up with the pillows I just finished making out of Brook's Thai silk, surrounded by narrow dogs and smiling in the light of the new reading lamp Dani found: "Mama! Come look at me! This is the way to live! Especially with a good book - I just lay down and I'm already done - it goes by that fast!"

Bestill my heart.

It's Dani's night in the city and I feel like I finally have a minute to write. Pk is just starting his new book but I won't have time to get back to the "Sweet 16" quilt before it's time to put him to bed. The quilt is very pink. Maybe too pink. I'm thinking about it for a while....letting it settle.

For his movie (it is movie night, after all!) Pk and I watched two episodes of the 1979 first season of Mork and Mindy with Robin Williams and Pam Dawber (?). It was perfect for Pk's humor and will give him all kinds of new vocabulary words to make the kids at school laugh. He loves to make kids laugh! Shazbot and nanooo!

Today was my day to help with math in the classroom. Much of the time I was running to and from the front office to either sharpen pencils (there seems to be one working pencil sharpener in the school) or to make copies of worksheets for the kids who couldn't find their copies (there seems also to be only one workbook). It made me wonder how much gets done in classrooms where all the kids have their own workbooks or in classrooms where the teacher has their own desktop copy machine or why they ever did away with the manual pencil sharpener in favor of mechanical ones that break down so easily? What a difference the little things make!

I love being with the kids though. I love it. Between my all too short time with the fourth graders and my recent visit with a four month old (who spoke perfect Napali dophin), I am aware of how much I want a larger family. Niether Dani nor I don't think it would be wise at this point and so we won't have one - but if my health were more certain or if Dani was more tolerant of chaos - I would adopt or bring foster children into our home in a heartbeat. Some people are cut out for parenting and others aren't. I belong in the group of the former. In addition to our two whippets, we are housesitting a third dog (our Amica's brother) plus caring for Mr. Pause (the cat) but I have to say that, for me, animals just are not the same as children. I don't get them.


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Things are heating up in the party planning department. We figured out a few things this weekend: the theme is "love in the redwoods" and we will decorate with candles, recycled paper hearts and lichen-covered branches from our very own redwood cathedral here in Felton. Dani and I are hopelessly mushy romantics so why not? It looks like vanilla genois with rasberry and lemon, tiramisu sans rum, moist carrot cake and Russian vegan chocolate in the cake department. For music, there is our pianist friend Carol (a sister battler of cancer) who will play standards (not sure whose standards exactly but she knows different things - show tunes and jazz and contemplative...), our friend Woody who is a local folk singer and our friend Nedra who is - well - phenomenal (you can hear for yourself!) She is a personal part of the sountrack of our relationship so I am incredibly honored to have her come. After the live music, Dandypants (who DJed most of the Zone events in 06) will see if she can mix it up (I am sure she can!) and the party will wind down just in time for folks to either hit the town or hit the sack - depending on their speed!

We weren't going to get into "real" food but Dani says that we cannot offer only poison and expect good results. Luckily, we found a fantastic alternative to the supermarket deli department. We are going to be able to tap into the winter survival campaign of the Western Service Worker's Association. They are having a Tamale Benefit and we will all win! Authentic Mexican tamales with all the money going to help families in the most dire circumstances to organize themselves. I LOVE how things work out!

I look forward to so many different kinds of people gathering on one place - old friends and family, dykes and trannie boyz from fest, office co-workers of Dani's, other parents and children Pk's age, young adults who used to be in the church youth group and folks from church. I feel like it's an excuse to share the love that Dani and I have for each other. We are so blessed and happy and in love that it just seems natural (to me) to want to spread it around. If people could have just a little of the magic we have - if they could take it and spread it around at their office, their spiritual community, their school or family - wouldn't the world be better for it? And so many people have helped to get me here. I want to thank them all at the same time.

We are both getting nervous though - Will there be enough food? Will there be easy mingling?
Will the children have enough to do? Will it rain? All of those normal wedding reception questions. I guess we must be on the right track. It looks like it will be quite a crowd and I am stoked!

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And as a final thought for today (for it is bedtime and Pk has read 6 chapters), I wanted to say that I have taken to consciously praying for all those who hate us (as women, as lesbians, as feminists, as Americans, as white, as sexually open, as different.) I pray for those who do not understand us - or who would do us harm in any way. If those people had more love and compassion in their hearts - if they were able to live their highest dreams of goodness - who knows what could happen?

I am so inspired by Jill Sobule's song "Hall of Fame" (listen to it!) I realize that she is satirical but the power of the song is in it's truth.

Thanks for sticking around - even when mothering and quilting make the words take a back seat.