HAPPY HALLOWEEN

For at least the last three years Rojo has declined all offers to get a new Halloween costume, instead opting to wear the red M&M costume we bought at Goodwill for $1.50 a million years ago. It's comfortable. There is no mask. It's predictable. It's red. It's perfect.

As soon as we turned our calendars to October he started in. "Mom, the Halloween carnival is on Friday, October 30th. I am going to wear my red M&M costume and Rosie is going to be a green M&M.

In the back of my mind I made a hazy note to check in with Rosie about this, but I kept forgetting.

Finally, about two weeks ago I saw Rosie when I picked up Rojo from school, and I said, "Rojo tells me you are going to be a green M&M with him for Halloween, is that true?"

"Yes! I am!" she chirped.

I put the whole matter in the "handled" section of my life and forgot about it entirely.

Until.

A friend and teacher at school came by on Thursday evening so we could go have dinner. She said, "Rosie is trying to get ahold of you. She is wondering about the green M&M costume." That's when it dawned on me that Rosie thought I had it, and I thought she had it.

I knew it was not a matter of going to the store and buying another one, I haven't seen them for sale in years, and Goodwill was probably closing, and I could see Rojo's simple dream go up in smoke. Not an option.

I racked my brain until I remembered that Kathleen's daughter had been not only an M&M one year, YEARS ago, but I thought a green one. I called Kathleen's cell phone. Yes, she thought it was green and she thought it might have survived her recent purging of the costume box, but she had a distant memory of lending it to someone and couldn't remember getting it back. She'd check when she got home.

My friend and I went off to dinner and about the time the wine arrived, Kathleen called. The green M&M costume had been located, she would put it on her front porch for me so I could get it on my way home and take it to Rosie.

And that's just what we did, except when we got to Rosie's house she wasn't home, and I feared she had her mother out searching the town, in vain, for a green M&M costume. I tried calling their cell phone but nobody answered. About an hour later Rosie called.

"Carrie? Did you try to call?"

"Yes, Rosie, I wanted to let you know I found you a costume and I put it on your front porch. I hope you aren't out looking for one right now."

"We were picking up my sister from soccer and then we were just about to go looking for a costume. Your timing is perfect."

No, Rosie, you're perfect.

It takes a village.

NOT ENOUGH HAS BEEN MADE ABOUT CARE BEARS


My soon to be eleven-year-old son, Rojo, went with me to Jennifer's about a month ago. He played in her backyard just long enough to find a 3" plastic Care Bear Jo had left in the sandbox.

I didn't know Rojo even knew what a Care Bear was. We don't have ANY - correction, didn't have any - at our house. No mention of Care Bears, no videos, no NOTHING. My daughter had mercifully skipped that whole cutesy B.S.

"Where is my Care Bear?" Rojo asked in the car coming home.

"You don't have one, Honey."

"But I need a Care Bear." (He never asks for ANYTHING.)

Upon coming home he went through his 2,001 stuffed animals, determined to find "his" Care Bear. The exercise proved futile.

That weekend he spent some time with my mom. When she brought him home, behind his back hid "his" Care Bear, "Lucky."

"See, Mom? I DO have a Care Bear! His name is 'Lucky'! You were wrong, Mom! I DO have a Care Bear! See Lucky? See my pink, boy Care Bear, Lucky? See his rainbow? See? I DO have a Care Bear, Mom, you were wrong! Why were you wrong? Why did you tell me I don't have a Care Bear?"

"Because until Grammy took you to Toys R Us 1/2 an hour ago you DIDN'T," I thought, but was smart enough not to answer. I knew that Rojo being Rojo had some divine plan for his new pink, boy Care Bear, Lucky.

Lucky went to school in Rojo's backpack for several days in a row. Lucky came out each day at "sharing time" and each day Rojo shared his pink, boy, Care Bear with the other fourth graders in his class. My husband and I shuttered for a minute, thinking what the other kids must think, but then said, "what the hell..." and allowed it to continue. He'd already "shared" Elmo, Big Bird and Ernie, not to mention his girl-turned-boy doll, "Tarzan" a million times already. What was the point of ending our humiliation now? The horses were long gone from the barn.

Monday our dear family friend and long-term Rojo advocate, "Rosie" came over after school. She is a frequently requested house guest by both kids, and my personal favorite. All three feet of Rosie are packed with personality and wisdom beyond her years. I'll never forget her mom telling me Rosie came home from kindergarten one day and said, "Mom, Rojo is a lot smarter than you think. He can recite the alphabet backwards and count to 100!" I was ready to adopt her on the spot. She has not let anyone mess with him, ever, she's got his back, front, and both sides around-the-clock.

While Rosie was stuck watching Rojo play an odd mix of Go-Fish and solitaire, she told me all about Rojo sharing Lucky for the 10th day in a row.

"Some kids, well actually two kids, were kind of laughing at Rojo when he shared Lucky. They said, 'He has a CARE BEAR??? A PINK Care Bear???" I just gave them a look and said, "Yes! He has a Care Bear? What's so funny about that?"

I looked at Rosie and told her again how lucky we all are to have her as Rojo's good, good, friend.

"Well it IS a Catholic school, you know, that behavior is unacceptable! We are supposed to be kind to everyone! Rojo IS kind to everyone, it's not OK for others not to be kind to him!"

"That's right, Rosie," I agreed, "you tell 'em!"

"Oh, I do! I don't even care if they get mad at me. Their parents should be teaching them this stuff, but since they AREN'T, I guess, I'll just do it!"

"I love you and everything about you, Rosie!" I enthused.

"Just doing my job," she smiled.

As she languished on the couch watching the Go-Fish/solitaire game patiently, as directed, I just had to snap her darling picture. I called her mom later to ask if I could post the picture and this story on my blog, I told her all about it.

"Sure," she said, "and you ought to know, her brother's nickname for her is Care Bear."

Of course it is.


This from the Care Bear website...

"Cheer Bear is a very happy Care Bear who helps others see the bright side of life. She will sometimes even do a cheer to help make someone happier. Wherever she goes, Cheer Bear wears a symbol of hope and happiness—a rainbow.
Caring Mission: Cheers people up.
Symbol: Her rainbow symbol represents hope.
Personality: Happy and upbeat.
Character Quirk: Sometimes communicates through rhyming cheers.
Color: Pink.
Best Friend: Wish Bear
Relationship Challenge: Grumpy Bear - she's always trying to cheer him up!
Motto: When in doubt, SMILE!"

TIE ME TO THE END OF A KITE

"Oh, tie me to the end of a kite
So I can go on, I can go on with my life
Every time the wind blows stronger,
I will feel my spirit rise
I just want to go away from here"

From "Kite Song" by Rosie Thomas


I just want to go away from here.

And apparently, I'm not even being very subtle.

Yesterday I bought new running shoes and I came home, showed them to STM. "See? Aren't they great? I'm thinking of doing another marathon! I wasn't thinking of doing a marathon, I was just thinking about fitness, but the guy that sold me the shoes asked if I was going to do the Portland Marathon, and I told him that no, summer was hard to train with the kids home, the heat, the conflicting vacation schedules, etc., and he said..."

STM cut me off. "I know where this is going."

"You do?" I asked, because really, I wasn't sure where "this" was going.

"Yes. You are dying to get on an airplane. You want out of here. Now you're thinking of distant marathons so you can have a reason to leave town."

Totally busted, so I did what all mature people do who are well invested in a 20+ year relationship, I lied. "That's not true! I'm just telling you what the guy at the RUNNING store said."

But he knows and I know, that I just want to go away from here.

It's been a long summer.

The next person that says, "I can't believe how fast the summer went," is going down.

You've been warned.




* Photo from www.gifttrap.com

$35.35


Thursday from 2:00 PM to 8:00 PM:

"Mom, tomorrow we will go to Fred Meyer at 7:00 AM (he didn't have school Friday). We will use the Self-Check. We will spend $35.35."

"Mom, if we buy three things for $10 each and one thing for $3.35, then we will spend exactly $35.35." (We don't have sales tax in Oregon, thank God.)

"Mom, do you think Swedish Fish cost $10 each? Should we buy three bags of Swedish Fish and one more thing?"

"Mom, wake me up at 6:45, I will just boom, get dressed, eat and brush my teeth, and we will go to Fred Meyer at 7:00 AM. Don't forget. Promise you won't forget. I can count on you, right? You won't let me down?"

Friday I awoke, ate, dressed and was just about to go get him when he woke up on his own (it's a rare thing for him to sleep that late, so I was sure I wouldn't need to "remember").

"Mom, I'm so proud of you for remembering! Good job in remembering! You didn't let me down! I'm so excited to go to Fred Meyer and spend $35.35! Let's get ready."

We were at Fred Meyer by 7:10. They open at 7:00. The boy needs new sweat pants as he's grown and all his are too short. I thought, perfect, that'll take us close, then we'll find one more thing and be out of here.

We walked straight to the sweat pants, found a pair he liked in his size. $32.00.

"Look!" I cried. "Now we just need to spend $3.35!"

He was thrilled. We walked hand in hand through the deserted store, and I cursed myself for forgetting a calculator. We roamed the aisles and I kept scratching out simple subtraction on the back of my checkbook deposit slips. One by one our possibilities were eliminated.

After about 30 minutes of this it finally occurred to me that we could just buy the damn sweat pants and then buy a gift card for $3.35. Smugly we proceeded to the Self-Check. We beckoned the one checker that was stationed in that area to help us "load" the gift card, and we swiftly swiped.

The &%@# sweat pants rang up for $22.40. The first time in my life I was unhappy to be saving a few bucks.

It took me longer to realize than I care to admit, that I could simply increase the value of the gift card. The nice (and lonely) checker helped me void out the $3.35 and change the value to $12.95.

We walked out of there with the sweat pants, the receipt with the "right" number at the bottom (the only thing of value as far as Rojo was concerned), and a gift for Rosie's birthday, too.

As we held hands back to the car Rojo looks up, flashes the dimples and says, "Tomorrow we're going to try for $20.20."

TOP 10 THINGS I AM GRATEFUL FOR TODAY

10. My favorite time of year - love the heat of the day and the cool of the night.

9. Love the darker mornings where the Marys light up extra bright.

8. Woohoo's great start to high school - well begun is half done.

7. Rojo's amazing support team that allows him to be in the school he is, not just surviving, but thriving.

6. At 49-years-old, my husband has decided to start taking drum lessons - midlife behavior could be a lot worse.

5. My neighbors support different politicians for president, but can live next to each other in perfect harmony.

4. One of Rojo's longest/most special friend, Rosie, is leaving her house extra early today so she can come here and ride her bike with Rojo to school today - because he asked her to.

3. Rojo can coin a new phrase at school, "Give me an apple," nobody knows exactly what it means, but it's quickly adopted into everyone's lexicon, anyway.

2. We have our health, home, electricity, basic and beyond, needs met.

1. love.



* Photo from http://shalomrav.files.wordpress.com

IN UNDER THE WIRE

It's not too late to give thanks, right? Never!

Inspired by Courtney Sheinmel's list, here is mine, stream-of-consciousness style!

I AM THANKFUL FOR THIS AND SO MUCH MORE

Happy children. Funny husband. Healthy mother. In-laws that are low maintenance. Darling nephew. Cousins. BFFs. My kids' teachers. Words. Prayers. Candles. Kris Delmhorst. All my many wonderful friends. Meg Hutchinson. Travel. Dar Williams. My kids' schools. Retreats in Sisters. Tracy Grammer. Mountains. Rosie Thomas. Seasons. Edie Carey. Books. Rose Cousins. Writing. Holy friends. Lucy Kaplansky. My neighborhood. Heather Masse. Desk top fountains. Laptop computers. Mary. Perfect coffee. Sleep. Dreams. Journals. Altars. Walking. Health. Laughter. Ticonderoga pencils. Love. Poets. Mystics. Pajamas. Bathrobes. Perfect mugs. Advil. e-mail. The Internet. Helpful people. Good doctors. My reliable 12-year-old car. Trader Joe's. Safeway friends. Forgiveness. Forgetfulness. Peace. Healing.



* Photo from www.christiandevotions.us