The pile of finished pillows, positively reeking of lavendar but they’ll calm down a bit over time. It all started with Fynn getting something similar as a gift, and me having to make a replacement when it was lost, so I decided to churn out a stack of them to make a few bucks for Christmas gifts this year.Well, that was a big old blank screen for a week, sorry about that! My pillow-making frenzy for a craft fair this weekend got in the way a bit … and of course I left it all till the last minute, had sewing machine problems that made me crazy, and it rather snowballed from there.
My moods didn’t help either, as they’ve been all over the place. I’m doing some therapy-ish reading and journaling, and it’s digging up some stuff that needs to come up, but makes life extra messy in the meantime. How do you work through stuff like that, and not drive your family and friends batty? I’m not quite sure, but it’s going to have to be survived I guess.
I did enjoy meeting a bunch of new blogging peeps at the NYC BlogHer Holiday Meetup earlier in the week, thanks to a nudge from my friend across the street, who I first met in blog-land. Did I ever tell you that story? Kizz wrote for the late-great Women’s Colony, and somehow between commenting on posts and submitting photos for a Photo Challenge, she ended up seeing my Flickr feed. She recognized my husband instantly, as his mustache is rather well known around these streets. She sent me a message about suspecting we were neighbors, and we discovered that we can practically see in each others’ windows! She writes beautifully and thoughtfully both here and here.
As long as I’m rambling, I had a couple of kid-safety/freedom experiences in the last two days that have me wondering if my radar is tuned vastly differently from most other moms? I’m just curious. First off, I was waiting for the bus yesterday with my two, and as it came I said “here comes the bus” to both kids, grabbed Fynn’s hand, and assumed (as always) that Douglas was following me. I got on and was paying my fare when the driver rather dryly pointed out the front window, and I turned to see Douglas standing alone on the curb, staring off at something in the distance. Admittedly he had on a winter hood, and just didn’t hear me, but it scared me a bit as I wouldn’t have noticed until after I’d paid my fare and was hunting for a seat. I used it as a chance to play a “what-if” scenario, and called it a good lesson. Is that unthinkable for you, or something you can envision happening to you?
The second one happened today, and I’m still mulling it a bit but not really second-guessing my decision. The boys and I were on our way to drop off the pillows at the craft fair, waiting for the subway this time. A boy who’d been on the platform before we walked up came to talk to my boys, and I realized he seemed to be traveling alone. I guessed him to be 10 years old, and he mentioned he was on his way to a nearby museum. He was friendly, very knowledgeable about the train system, and seemed quite comfortable. I didn’t question his right to be traveling alone, as I know that many people let their kids navigate the subways solo at a fairly young age, and I didn’t get any sense that he was worried, running, homeless, or lonely. I thought he was on the young end of things, but just chatted to him until he got off. Another woman on the same car freaked out a bit after he left, having thought he was with us, and chided me a bit for not saying something. She said she worked with Child Services, and didn’t think he was nearly old enough to be alone. Her age estimate was much lower than mine, but she’d been sitting 20 feet away, and I didn’t feel badly about my choice nor my decision to let him be. What would you have done?
One last thing, if you made it this far … MomaSphere is hosting a showing of Who Does She Think She Is next Tuesday the 14th here in Brooklyn, and if you’re a creatively-focused mama you really really should see it! It’s full of insights and examples of the challenges that breed when women artists become moms. Hope to see you there!
M’s putting the boys to bed, and the house is quiet, so I’m going to call it a day, and hope to catch you all bright and early on Monday. Have a sweet rest of the weekend!