plant in rain kiss in the sun

dashing about today was such a fantastic mixed up day. We bought jasmine vines and pink flower to satisfy Marie's lust for that color and for flowers.
Our relationship with pink has been rocky (for me). As a new mom I dreamed of when this squirrely baby would be old enough to wear overalls and frog shirts.  I imaged a blond haired girl in grass stained overalls peering between the fronds stalking bugs and and looking up with vast eyes and cheeks smudged with dirt.  However.... by the time she was speaking in full sentences she was no longer wearing the striped leg warmers and the worn inherited 70's garb my mom so wonderfully gave me. No brown cordaroy trousers and shabby french comic book t-shirts and frayed swiss sweaters.
    By that age, she was twirling her hand lovingly down dresses as we walked through target.
Starting to get upset in the car one day out of the blue because " Mom! I just wish I had a dress all in pink".
me: " um, Marie you do."
"huh?"
me: " you know that dress with the layered ruffles, that one is only pink".
Marie" Oh! " giggles.  " Mom.. I am so happy".


so today June and I bought flowers in the gray weather and started planting them in the rain. She pulled through by not demanding to go in as I dashed around maniacally mixing compost into the dirt going into the hole ( our yard is going through some changes) and muddily doing one after another.   ANd we were all wet and then later racing to get lunch done before going to Marie's OT appointment. The sun came out as I was making lunch. We went to St. Paul. The rain clouds came back. June and I walked down to a little pond by a trailer park full of redwing blackbirds and frogs.

I was just all giddy on the sounds.  chicken noises, spring frog and toad peeper noises and redwing black bird's sounds just boom hit that magic nostalgia, childhood magic button. So I was completely full of bliss walking aroudn the grassy little area of mirk and cat tails aroudn the pond.

June gave me wishing flowers  (the white dandelions) and I would throw them after making wishes.  We made a ton of wishes.

Some of my wishes: that june and marie are friends when they are two grandmas.  That J and M learn to really love each other since it is the best thing in the world to really love people.  That we always live in the same state.  That when baby Benjamin first sees them he laughs ( all the flyers didn't blow off on that one so I told June, " maybe he will be crying").

June's wish:   that I (June) will be a little dog today.
It is good to have generous children.  Since she gave me so many wishes today,  I had to give some of my wishes to her.

what else? then we went to T-ball and Marie went running aroudn all the bases when she wasn't up to bat. started staring at the lines painted on the gym floor (we were inside because it was raining again) adn walking on all the lines around and aroudn the gym while everyone else played T-ball. Which was ok.  Then playing tag with parents, as in tagging the stomach of a rather large mom I have never met before while racing by- saying "tag".  Which was not ok. And, for some reason I was kind of still invested in getting her to play t-ball so I would get her over to the right place at the right time and then leave her and she would just spin away into her own little world.

but... later. In the playroom at the same rec center she just stood and drew with a (pink of course) marker for a straight hour. She drew some cursive e's to show me her new letter. But for the most part drew circles with many  lines through them. About 20 all the same.  They looked a bit like sow bugs.  She drew them on a black grid.  Then she drew a roller coaster. The sow bugs were holes, the roller coaster was what she and June wanted to ride. A very large bear chasing them fell in the holes- so she and June could ride the rollercoaster.


On the way home contemplating her art she told a new very long adn fabulous story - which will be the next post since many people might not enjoy reading it as much as I- and so will be warned of that which they are about to read.