Spring Glory

April turned into a hectic month for us, with lots going on and everyone going in different directions, but little time to reflect or write. So it was great for the whole family to get away last weekend to the Bishop's Ranch in Healdsburg for a brief retreat. The kids love this annual event and enjoy the countryside, picking flowers, watching for snakes, hiking up to a hidden treehouse and playing with friends. Spring was in full bloom, and I was lucky enough to stop for a moment to "smell the roses"...

Pay It Forward

Today is Pay It Forward Day, and wonderful excuse to do something nice for someone for no reason at all. The idea is that you do a good deed for a few people, and that sparks them to do a good deed for a few other people, ad infinitum. If you haven't seen the movie that started it all, it is worth the watch...

I was reminded of this concept a couple of weeks ago when my old high school friend Leslie Brasher put out a call to pay it forward in a creative way, by making something special for someone who promises to do the same for three more people in turn.

Just day before yesterday, I went to Cafe Z to grab a quick bite for lunch while I was out running errands. I ordered a salad and then realized I didn't have my wallet in my purse. The man behind the counter didn't hesitate to say, "No problem, your credit is good here." He must have seen a look of shock on my face, because he felt compelled to assure me that there are so many regulars, it all works out in the end. Not only did I make sure to pay him, but he has free advertising for life from me (not to mention that all their food is incredibly good!). A small act of kindness and generosity goes a long, long way.

Wynham gave me a hug before he left for school the other day, something that doesn't often happen in the morning mayhem of getting everyone out the door, but it left me with a serious case of the warm fuzzies all day, and I can't wait to pass along the good feelings, so watch out. Something nice just might happen to you today; be sure to Pay It Forward!

In One Ear...

Go ahead, ask me how I just spent my afternoon. I'll tell you. I had to rush Jack to the pediatrician's office for an emergency extraction of the tiny bead he had lodged way, way, way down in his ear. This was definitely not what I had planned, but then it usually never is. The pediatrician said I should consider myself lucky; he'd recently extracted an orange pip from a girl's nose that had been there so long it had actually sprouted.

Witness accounts differ as to how the bead originally arrived in Jack's ear, but at the very same moment I said to Claire, "Whatever you do, don't put your finger in his ear!" she could be seen applying a sturdy jab with her index digit. That pretty much sealed it, and what small hopes I had for removing the bead myself were firmly buried in a bed of earwax.

What is it with siblings always experimenting on each other this way? A dozen years ago, it was Chloé sticking a TicTac up Wynham's nose for fun. Fortunately for him, the mint tickled his nose and he was able to sneeze it out. A couple of years before that, she stuck a kernel of corn up her own nose, which had to be removed with a pair of tweezers.

Now that I think of it, this all reminds me of the time James asked me to hold a telephone wire in my mouth while he worked on it. "Won't that shock me?" I asked. "Only if the phone rings," he replied. Well, as the old adage says, "No injury can be complained of by a consenting party..."