4 years

Yesterday, at about 11 a.m., I met Théa.. 4 years ago. Her birth, much like her life, was both fascinatingly powerful and surprisingly challenging. But the rewards of meeting that challenge are huge. Every day, she makes me laugh, sometimes snort with shock with her antics, sometimes laugh in glee at her wit. I am so grateful for the experience of being her mother and in awe at the amazing person she is. Look out, world.
As per the typical style, no one celebrates just one birthday any more. It's a collage of days, and with Théa, those days come right smack at the tail end of everyone else's holiday. Excellent. This year, at least, I was able to get a bit of a plan going early, thinking about what to reserve for birthday and what to give at Christmas. But still, it snuck up on me. Sigh. Nonetheless, the birthday party, complete with a rainbow-colored cake with stars on it (OK, wasn't exactly purple on the inside, but that's hard to do, really) - and fairy wings, constructed by her father, Mike and Craig, and lots of glitter glue, and lots of friends to celebrate with. Good times. Her real birthday was good, too. Matt got to spend the morning with her and then I took her out to dinner with Mike and Ella later. Capping the night off was a movie at Craig's, a new book - "Listen to the Wind" and the world's best popcorn. Today, she slept in till 10 a.m. That's going to be a bit rough when we have to get up at 6:20 tomorrow (probably me who's going to be roughest) but we'll manage.
Shortly thereafter - Sunday morning - the kids go to Hawaii for three weeks. I'm partly sad to miss their snuggles and hugs and general banter, but I'm looking forward to the solitude on other levels. I've been trying to work through some things on a philosophical level, and they require long periods of time and introspection - not stuff you find very often when you have children on hand. I'm also interested in minimizing the stuff in my life again - things have taken over and I want to get control on the chaos. I find it detracts from my life. I've also got work projects - a new paper to put out - and the high tunnel to focus on. And possibly a trip to Kodiak to see my friend Judy's new digs, I've never been on the ferry and it sounds awesome. And last of all, hopefully, a trip up north, probably to Barrow this time. So I think that aught to do it. That and lots of skyping and facetime.
But for now, I'm reveling in the joy of time with the kids, new friends who are wonderful additions to my life, and chances to reconnect with everyone, and the joy of knowing that the holidays are finally over again. Hurray!