Reunited

I flew back home Sunday night and made it in around 7 PM after a pretty much effortless airplane trip. I always imagine the worst is going to happen, so when all goes well I am very pleased. The Delta jet I flew back on had a cool trivia game on their personal computer that made the trip that much better..against 39 of my fellow fliers, I came in 1st on one round, and in the top 5 the other.
I didn't take one picture the entire time, so I only have narrative to supply. The first three days I was with my friend Nara and staying in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. She lives in a great neighborhood that is just being gentrified, but is still mostly Polish immigrants. I mostly followed Nara around like a puppy dog for three days - for some reason I had no will to do any sightseeing and was happy to just walk around. We ate some really great food, I got some studying done, and saw several areas of Brooklyn I hadn't seen before; Carroll Gardens, Williamsburg, and Park Slope. We met up with my friend Alieda at Momofuku Ssam Bar, which is quite the trendy place to eat, and we later agreed that all the serving staff seemed to be on cocaine. We did attempt to go to two museums - PS1 and the Lower East Side Tenament museum and couldn't get into either, despite a long trek in the rain. We hung out at their neighborhood bar, Habitat, which happens to be the only bar I have ever been in and really enjoyed myself. Thank you to Chance and Nara for being such great hosts!
On Thursday I took the Greyhound bus from Port Authority to Hagerstown, Maryland where Jocelyn was getting married. The bus provided some really fantastic people watching, not the least of which was a woman who seemed to be the absolute living embodiement of all things Conneticut. The whole trip was about 7 hours long, and I really had a great time in a strange way.
Friday and Saturday was taken up with all things wedding - and I had so much concentrated fun, it is hard to put it all together. I was like a sorority girl on spring break (sans anything skanky), not a married 30 year old mother of 4. I stayed up all night and danced and spent a lot of time with old and new friends. I even made a 5 am waffle house run with a friends from high school who had flown in. I give big kudos to Jocelyn and her parents. They threw one awesome wedding; I don't think I saw one person who wasn't enjoying themselves the entire weekend. I will post some pictures of me as a bridesmaid when the photographer puts them together. It was such an incredible change of pace for me, but it was fun to get home too. Ariel did an amazing job and had almost no problems at all. Everyone was happy to see me and the kids made me a big welcome home poster.

The only near misshap the entire time was when Ariel mentioned he hadn't seen Tess in a few days, then suddenly dissapeared out the back door. He had realized that he had not seen Tess since he closed the crawl space cover outside, and lo and behold she jumped out as soon as he opened it. I guess she is a pretty decent survivalist. Today I had to jump back into life as I know it, and face a few semi unpleasantries that I had put off while I was gone. I also have a rather bad case of jet lag/sleep deprivation/party hangover to get through. It is very nice to be home and be reminded how great my family and my life are.

Sayonara

I am trying to get a bunch done this aftertoon - and spend a good day with the kids, because I am flying to New York very early tomorrow morning. I will be in NY for a few days with my fabulous friend Nara and then I am going to my friend Jocelyn's wedding. A few years ago I announced that I planned on taking off once a year for a week myself - and that Ariel was more than welcome to do the same if he wanted. It was not so much to get away from home as it was that I really like to travel, and going anywhere with a big family is really expensive. A little over a year ago I visited friends in Berlin and Poland, and next year I have my eye on a volunteer vacation in Asia. The kids are now old enough that I no longer feel like my arm is aching when I am away from them, but it is still very hard. I am fine until a few hours before the flight and I start crying, convinced that someone is going to die before I get back.
Ariel is glad that I am leaving while the kids are asleep this time, as the kids are a little bothered when their Mother has a breakdown in front of me. Ariel is going to take the week off work to hang out with the kids, and I know he will do a fabulous job. I only worry about someone dying - and a little bit about who is going to do the girl's hair. I appreciate so much having the freedom to go off every once in awhile, and I know that Ar is going to be very worn out by the time I get back.

Neuro

Over the last year or two, as my involvement with one church has ended and I have yet to find a new one, I have thought some about what religious tradition (if any) I want to participate in. Tonight I was talking to my father in law and he brought up a David Brooks column in the Times on neuroscience and religious belief. Brooks summarizes what facts neuroscientists are excavating about the human brain and religious experience.
"First, the self is not a fixed entity but a dynamic process of relationships. Second, underneath the patina of different religions, people around the world have common moral intuitions. Third, people are equipped to experience the sacred, to have moments of elevated experience when they transcend boundaries and overflow with love. Fourth, God can best be conceived as the nature one experiences at those moments, the unknowable total of all there is."

I am working on getting a handle on how I feel about my personal beliefs, but so far I am not really able to articulate very much. I so enjoy reading about my peers and their beliefs, I hope some day to participate more. I know that enlightment may take awhile - especially considering the complete lack of contemplation time in my day to day life.

The Magic Flute

After a few days of what felt like hard labor; wednesday I worked a 12 hour shift, and Thursday was a blur of errands and house cleaning, I am enjoying some down time. Spring has officially arrived to the Northwest this week. Ariel and I took Hamda and Elias to the park this morning when we dropped the big kids off at school, and then we set out to garden. It feels so wonderful to be spending chunks of time outside again; my poor garden is so neglected, I am having to excavate it from knee high weeds and grass. It was fun to get out and poke around my garden again; my lilac and all my fruit trees are blossoming nicely. The rhubarb must have loved this dreary winter - I have never seen it looking better. The kids are the best part about gardening. They love to help dig and screech with delight at every earth worm and potato bug they uncover.
Last night we sat down to watch a movie - Ariel had gotten Ingmar Bergman's stage production of The Magic Flute (In Swedish! With Subtitles!). I couldn't believe he had gotten that - I am quite ambitious about trying to get my kids to absorb high brow stuff, but I thought he was a bit off his rocker. We only watched the first act, but they were defintely into it. It might be because they had spent the entire day after school biking and running around and were too tired to be bored, but they were asking about watching the second part this morning. Go Figure.

Travels with Tommy the Tent Trailer, Chapter Two

This chapter covers our brief forray into Humboldt Redwood State Park at the very end of our hellishly long, fourteen hour drive on our way to Mendocino. This is the day Elias had to make nine bathroom breaks at the worst moments possible, and that we almost ran out of gas on the dark, isolated highway one. The bulk of the pictures are from Makerricher State park - an absolutely gorgeous stop where we spent most of the day hanging out on the beach. Ar got some great pictures of the kids looking wild and happy - the way I like them best.