?

Me either…

<sarcasm>Am I in high school again? I keep getting “tagged” for these little writing assignments. Call it a meme if you like. I call it trivial. But I guess it gets me writing. </sarcasm>

I guess I’m part of this list now:

1. Today’s Lessons
2. Hind’s Feet
3. Dandelions & Roses
4. Lifenut
5. The Reluctant Blogger

What were you doing 10 years ago?

Ahh, life on crutches. Broken leg, hobbling around. Baking cookies with the woman who would become my wife. Not to mention playing chess in the park while drinking root beer.

What were you doing 5 years ago?

Working two jobs and facing sleepless nights at home with little baby Sammy-ball. Trying to remember anything specific from that time is like trying to spot a specific person on Earth from a satellite orbiting a planet in the Andromeda galaxy.

What were you doing one year ago?

This was pretty close to a year ago.

What were you doing yesterday?

Watching the Broncos womp on the Pats. (I don’t care how good they look to be on paper. I still cringe every time Plummer touches the ball).

5 songs you know all the words to (only 5?)

Mona Lisa as sung by Nat King Cole
Devotion by the Newsboys
Krafty by NewOrder
Angel Eyes by ABBA
Straw Hat and Old Dirty Hank by The Barenaked Ladies

5 things you would do if you had a million dollars

Sing if I had $1000000 by the Barenaked Ladies
Take my wife to London via British Airways first class
Help build a few houses in Mississippi
Spend a month Down Under
Two words: Home Theater

5 things you like doing

Reading
Writing
Filming
Editing
Watching the kids grow

5 bad habits

TV
Losing time to the computer
nail biting
CompUSA
Best Buy

5 things you would never wear again

I’m a guy. You should really ask my wife what 5 things I’m not allowed to wear again.

5 favorite toys

Computer
Video Camera
Xbox
Soccer Ball
Kitchen

I’ll tag the usual suspects:

Nini
Daphne

Just over 10 years ago, I met a wonderful woman. I asked her on a date. I had a broken right leg and couldn’t drive. She came over and took me to the grocery store. She carried my groceries – a gallon of milk, a dozen eggs, chocolate chips, and some flour. I hobbled along beside her on my crutches trying my best to be cool.

We went to my apartment and baked cookies. We talked as we poured chocolate chips into the dough. We baked the cookies and talked some more. When it was time for my date to go home I put the cookies in a zip-top bag and said goodbye.

We talked on the phone. I don’t remember if it was the next day, or even if I was the one to call her. I remember being nervous – self conscious.

“How are the cookies?” I asked. I was fishing for some sign she liked our date.

“I didn’t eat any more,” she said.

“Oh.” I said. I was crushed. I wanted her to like the cookies. Like me. At least she was honest.

“My mom ate them all.”

“Your mom ate them?”

“Yes. She said they were very good.”

That was my first impression of my future mother-in-law. I hadn’t even met her and she’d eaten all my cookies. I felt so welcome, so blessed. She’s made me feel that way ever since.

The kids call her Row-Row. The name fits her. She’s a wonderful grandmother to our kids – loving, sweet, caring – comfortable. She’s a blessing. Just like the song for which she’s named.

But when I think of her I think of cookies.

Happy birthday Mom.

Tiny pieces of fallen snow.
I watch them collect.
They do not feel, they do not regret.

They sit there in the cold.

Tiny specks of ice surround
the dust freezing on the ground.
They glisten. They lay still.

They wait for the sun to shine.

The warmth will call them home.
It will take them.
It will calm them.
It will change them.

Vapor will fill the sky
and return another night.

I guess I did a good job getting Mopsy in the habit of blog writing. Her blog’s first birthday was yesterday.

Actually, as much as I’d like to take credit for her motivation it was all hers. She’s had plenty to sort this year (our whole family has). Thankfully, she was in habit of writing before most of the stuff happened. So she was able to turn to her writing into healing.

I am still trying to get in the habit, but I look forward to the day The Reluctant Blogger turns one.

Until then, here’s a little sample of some hard work I did put in for Lifnut:

The Stormy Night
Don’t Tread on Me

Happy Birthday Lifenut!