Party At My House!

by Sheri at My Minivan is Faster Than Yours
Posted on August 15, 2007



I am currently in the throws of planning Bam Bam and Crusher’s second and third birthday parties. The invitation reads as follows:

Bam Bam's turning two,
Crusher's turning three,
Their parents are too cheap
To celebrate separately

I have no interest in overindulging my kids with an exclusive birthday party for their young selves. I intend to steer clear of expensive celebrations for any and all people who have the attention span of a fleeting thought.

Alternatively, we will be throwing a party that will perfectly reflect our children's current interests.

Please join Crusher and Bam Bam as they spend the afternoon chasing their tired, old mother around the house relentlessly inquiring, "Why? Why? Why?" Any child who is satisfied with any answer given, loses. If you lose you go to the loser bracket and have to pee in an actual toilet. Losers. Winners pee in their pants. Crusher and Bam Bam are winners. Read More...

Invisibility

by Andrea at a garden of nna mmoy
Posted on August 13, 2007

There is a really cute guy who works in my building. Tall, sandy ginger hair, nice features, broad shoulders, slim. And he doesn't have arms. He has hands, but his arms are about eight inches long, maybe a bit shorter. I see him around, normally buying muffins from the muffin shop in the underground mall.

I imagine if one day we struck up a conversation, he would want neither for his obvious difference to be ignored ("Can you pass me a napkin, please?") nor would he want it to be front and centre ("and look at you! How do you cope? You poor thing, I could never do it"). It would just be there, a part of him, but not all of him. He's probably proud of some of the adjustments he's made and how he's sorted his life: born without arms, at a not insignificant natural disadvantage, but there he is, eating a muffin at his desk just like everybody else. Read More...

chasing waterfalls

by Jen at one plus two
Posted on August 13, 2007

We took M to a place full of gardens and flowers and kid friendly natureish things yesterday. There was a gigantic manmade (although very natural looking) waterfall with a path that went around and behind the waterfall and during one section it allowed for much wetness. M and I went along the path and when we got to that part we ran through it quickly with heads down to avoid the water hitting us directly in our faces. As I looked back I noticed everyone else running through that part too, heads down. I turned to M and said you know, that's the part when we should be looking up instead of down because I bet the view is amazing. M agreed and so we went back around and when we got to the brink of the falls I picked her up and said ok, now look up into the water. i bet everyone misses this part. And we stood in the middle of the downpour with people running around us in a hurry to move through and we looked through the falls into the sky with water crashing down on our faces and M laughing hysterically. She loved it so much we did it two more times and were completely soaked.

And it struck me then that I spend a lot of time looking down when I should be looking up and I wonder how many waterfalls I am missing. And while it was a very small thing it made me want to try harder with M in those moments, to show her the other way around. It's easier to avoid the wet parts out of a desire to stay neat and clean and dry and I've decided I've missed so much beauty. And if it's taken me 37 years to unlearn this then I have to get my shit together now so M can learn to be free. Visit one plus two...

Are You Still in Love?

By Bub and Pie
Posted on August 13, 2007

Because I’m not.

I ask this question every time I see a certain friend of mine who got married two years ago. She always happily affirms that she is, indeed, still in love, and I roll my eyes. At our most recent coffee-date, however, we got down to brass tacks. What exactly do we mean when we say that we are – or are not – in love?

When I am in love, I experience the following symptoms:

• Loss of appetite. I can eat if I have to, but I never want to. This symptom lasts anywhere from three to six months, and is my favourite weight-loss plan. (The Divorce Diet is equally effective, but not nearly as fun.)
  
  
• Inability to be away from the loved one. Circumstances usually dictate that separations must occur, but these feel unnatural and wrong, as if I’m walking around with a bloody stump where my arm used to be, and bystanders are getting dripped on.
  
  
• Waves of euphoria when I am with the loved one. Better than chocolate. (This symptom applies only to requited love.)
  
  
• Instant, effortless memorization of every word that passes the loved one’s lips. (This symptom is especially true for unrequited love.)
  

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