Princess and the Pea

On the cusp

My daughters and their West coast cousins have the privilege to spend a week’s vacation with one other on the Atlantic seashore… a brood of five kids from 8 to 10.  It’s feels so Kennedy-esque.  Minus the sailboat I suppose.
The funny part is that they are in this ‘tween phase, and Lordy-lord, the 10 years old (almost 11) are having mood swings right and left.  Sometimes it’s hard to tell when Rosie is on the verge of tears if it is because the younger kids have bugged her to no end or her sensitivity level is on a budding hormonal spike. She cried at the love and loss in WALL-E at the Drive-In sitting at the back of the mini van with her Dad, her legs swinging over the side.

She lost a tooth that night, making her seem little again.

The three 8-year olds are still squealing over burp, fart, and poop jokes, which make all of us, adults included, sigh and roll our eyes. Yet part of me thinks when the bodily emissions discourse has passed us by, then we’re all in trouble as full-blown adolescence will have surely descended upon our families.

The children have occupied themselves with hours of hide-and-seek in the rental house, finding musty corners and crannies, sweeping the cobwebs clean with their moist bodies.  Adele once passed me by in a flurry, “Have you seen anyone out here, Mom?”  Nope, I replied. “Shit,” she remarked as she bombarded by so I had no chance to scold.  I have never heard her say that.

They are all on the cusp.  It’s a wonder to behold.

Midlife Bloggers Unite

For many months I’ve been writing personal essays mostly to myself.  I’ve been trying to cultivate a practice of reflective writing.  The most obvious material has been right in front of me… raising two girls.  But increasingly I’ve been reflecting on other issues, like being middle aged (whatever that means).  My thoughts are not just about parenting, or being female, or a working mom, but about aging, friendships, finding balance in a world with relentless demands, and about spirituality and health.  (The irony is that I teach mind-body techniques to other women and it is an effort to practice them myself.) Writing in isolation is a lonely venture so I’ve made a commitment to staying and getting connected with other women – Sort of a prescription for health.

Yesterday I had lunch with a friend who had just learned of the death of a childhood friend’s husband – age 44, just three weeks after a cancer diagnosis.  This fell upon the heels of me getting a call from a dear friend, age 41, who was have having an emergency CAT scan that afternoon.  My lunch mate had told me that her mother had once said that if you get through your forties with your health intact, then the rest of life – the second half – is a pretty sturdy ride more or less. 

And it was raining out, to add to the strange overture of our lunch date.   But lunch was yummy and our conversation turned to more pleasant topics, like finally finding ourselves in a good place in life.

That said I was delighted when I came across a post at BlogHer calling out to us middlers a few weeks ago. See original post by MsMesa.  Well, her cry has caused an avalanche of comments, and lo and behold, I have a whole new group of friends.  Thanks to Lori, Between Us Girls, who offered up a blog roll, which I copied, because that is the beauty of social networking. I’ve been checking the comments every day and visiting blogs. And I am truly amazed at the creativity of these women. Check out the blog roll.