Stream of Thought

Not to beat a dead horse, but this winter is kinda pissing me off. I don't think we need to make up for 3 mild winters ALL IN ONE FELL SWOOP. I also think it's beyond ridiculous that this massive amount of snow will be melting in the next 4 days. Once the rain begins to fall, and fall, and fall (as the meteorologists continue to predict), all of that precipitation will combine with the accumulated precipitation that is already gathered in heaping drifts around my home...and it will need to go somewhere. Seeing as how the ground is frozen solid, and that we have a history of a slight water issue in our basement (we need to reseal it and probably get another sump pump), I foresee water in the basement this weekend. There is extra awesome added to this possibility (probability) as Patrick will be out of town all weekend and I will be gone for Corinne's gymnastics meet all day on Saturday. Joy! I am positive that Saturday will be filled with absolutely NO anxiety or tension. None-whatsoever. (One truly good part is that Justin will probably want to stay home on Saturday and can then be on water lookout. That said, I don't know how much actual "good" he can accomplish on his own.)

TOPIC CHANGE

At this very moment, instead of hanging out at our usual Tuesday Homeschool co-op, my kids are building a ferris wheel from K'nex. All by themselves. Rather, Corinne built the first half ALL by herself and Evan saw how awesome it looked and said "Can I help?" So now, they are building together without arguing and I am calling this physics/engineering/art/family-team-building time.

Good thing, because I am not in the mood to play referee this morning.

Melisa and I had our LTYM auditions this weekend. In the past 2 years, we suffered greatly from the emotional trauma that comes from hearing pieces that can be brutally painful. Part of the show's beauty, for us at least, is knowing that even though we cannot cast every person who auditions, each person was able to receive validation that their story IS worthy of being told and heard. Motherhood is "given a microphone" in those auditions and that is just as important to us as the actual cast and show itself. Still, it's rough on our hearts. Like, neither of us slept on Saturday night. She had anxiety and I had nightmares that woke me up, sobbing so badly that my stomach was sore the next day. Not the best way to get an ab workout, but I guess every situation has a silver lining.

That said, we KNEW the show this year. Like, it was presented to us and the discussions about each piece were nearly always unanimous on our emotional levels and their need to be in the show. We didn't question ourselves or our abilities to choose the right ones, even if we did need to place dozens and dozens of truly lovely essays into the "no" pile. The amount of time that each person placed in their preparation was SO evident and I cannot say enough how honored this makes us feel. Chicago is amazing. I hope LTYM continues for years and years and years so that we can showcase more of these amazing writers.

Sigh.

Daily life is calling. Laundry, dishes, showers, school... Also, I spoke too soon about the happy-happy family moment over a table full of K'nex. Melt downs are happening. The peace was lovely while it lasted.