Ready or Not...

Ahh...here we are relaxing and looking over beautiful Lake Michigan. The sun warmed our bodies and spirits and the water was refreshing. The lazy days of summer seemed endless.

But today is the last day of summer and it's a stinker--gray and cloudy. We were hoping for one last dip in the pool. It seems as if the weather today is sending us a clear message: It is time.

Our summer was eventful: Claudia has been wearing underpants for quite some time; Fran practiced swimming and floating in the big pool; we visited in Indy; we did summer reading for AADL, Nicola's, and Bach School; Amy and Jason got married on the beach and we had a week-long beach trip with Nana and Papa; we did drop-in writing on Tuesdays at 826 with Mrs. Z and Miss Chris; we had lots of BBQs and root beer; we went for bike rides and runs; we celebrated Gran's 88th birthday; we had playdates and camp weeks. We basked in the sun and savored its summer-ness.

As the warm pulls away and is replaced by fall, I am left feeling sad. First grade seems so much bigger than Kindergarten. I should just be excited. Fran's reading has changed so much this past year. He went from reading little books to reading Fox. (He even tried doing tricks on his bike like Fox in Fox Gets A Job to "impress the girls.") He does math in his head and explains his theories. He loves learning and first grade will be fabulous, but he really loves summer. Claudia will miss him terribly. It will be a big adjustment.





Ready or not... it is time.
Good-bye, summer.
Hello, fall.

Overheard...

Claudia was looking through a picturebook. She was intently looking at the pictures. Fran studied her for a bit and then asked, "Is she reading in her head?"

Swerve: A Lesson from Naomi Nye

This weekend, I went to hear the poet Naomi Shihab Nye speak at the Ann Arbor District Library. I loved hearing her writing in her own voice. But it was her presence that impressed me the most: firm, quiet, funny, compassionate, positive, kind, welcoming. The kind of presence I want to have- and sometimes have- and sometimes don't. The kind of presence I want my children to have in the world. The kind of presence that comes from feeling good in your own skin.

I was pleased with her praise for Ann Arbor Public Schools, relieved that writers notebooks in elementary and middle schools have the power to overshadow bad financial news in education. I lapped up her talk about how notebooks, libraries and newspapers (and clippings) fueled not only her writing, but her experience in the world. But what really stuck with me was her advice: swerve.

That's right: swerve. Naomi said, "On the path of daily obligation, if you take some kind of swerve, the best things happen. We'll remember 'the swerves.' Do something you didn't plan to do." As I sat listening to her, I evaluated my Sunday so far. I had swerved the day before and registered at the last minute for the Dexter-A2 Run. It was fabulous (even though I had not run for weeks and had a dreadful headcold). I took my children (sans husband!) to the Taste of Ann Arbor even though it was a busy, crazy day with a birthday party, poetry reading, and t-ball hanging in the midst. Fran tried chicken satay (no sauce) and Claudia gobbled Thai food. Also, we finally tried a Michigan bumpy cucpake- pure bliss! Fran strutted around holding the tickets and Blaine heard we were there and left work to see us (swerve!) and we went to the photo booth for the AADL and I hula-hooped in the street. We came home and dropped Claude off for a nap and I returned to the parking nightmare of downtown to hear Naomi. I snuck out early to run through a rainstorm to the van to go to take Claudia to a purple fairy birthday party for a cute 4 year-old and the boys went to t-ball where they were drenched in rain. So much swerving. What a great day.

So we'll keep swerving this summer (between Claudia's naps). We'll keep doing robot karaoke and picnics at the pool and kayaking on the Huron and biking to Summerfest and volunteering at Mott (coming soon!) and making books and taking time to read and write new things. Swerving is fodder for both writing and living.

Did I Hook My Horse to the Right Wagon? or Did I Hook My Wagon to The Right Horse?

Happy Anniversary, Blainer.

Six Weeks

There are six weeks left in Kindergarten.