Girl's Gone Child

Spring Break is over and I'm slowly coming back down to earth after ten days of frolicking topless and doing keg stands with my family. Just kidding. (When I think of Spring Break I still think of Spring Break, is that normal?)

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Cooper is doing really well considering it's been two weeks since the stroke and our "let's give him a few days home with the family before we say goodbye". He's on pain meds at night and is sleeping well and eating somewhat normally. I was told that post-strokes dogs can have a second wind and this seems to be what's happening.

He made the trip down to San Diego and back with us with zero problems and I'm hoping he can live comfortably with us for twelve more years. (Four years ago he was given six months to live and made it well past then so I'm starting to think he might seriously live until he's 80, the dog who cried woof.)

Cooper hasn't been able to go down stairs in months and last night he went down the three steps in the living room to lie down next to me on the floor. I have no idea what that means but slow and steady wins the race, you know? We'll see.

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We spent a week at my parents' house in San Diego and my entire extended group of high school friends were also in town which is always amazing because we see each other once a year and we are all straddling completely different lines and, yet, somehow, find a way to interset and hug and trust like nothing has changed and it's such a relief. I didn't go to college so I don't know if that's what happens with college friends as well but it's a pretty spectacular feeling to meet up with best friends from childhood + all their children and holy whoa we made a lot of children, guys.

(Bo wants to be big.)

(The rest of us kind of wish we were small.)

duets with cousin James

My friend, Kelsey got married on Saturday and it was one of those ceremonies that was SO reflective of the couple and so totally unique and Kelsey made all of the bridesmaids dresses herself and there was so much love and hope and Hal and I held hands and my mom and I cried and I got to spend most of the night with my 20-years-of-friendship friend, Meredith (who now has three boys! see above photo they all look exactly like her) and we all danced and drank wine and remembered things and cried and felt each other up and oh life, you wonderful bastahd.

lol

Our garden is nothing compared to Nana's but last week Fable and I transferred some of the plants we had growing in the window of the kitchen and even though we broke them all in half trying to get them the hell out of their little plastic pots, we sort of managed to get them down in the soil. Partially. My thumb is far from green but it's getting closer to yellow these days thanks to Fable who is her great grandmother's great granddaughter and is, like, "mom. Let me handle this. I have it under control."

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When I was sixteen and railing against the man/fast food restaurants I had an idea I believed would save the world or at the very least bankrupt fast food chains like McDonalds. I would walk into local fast food chains, order a dozen waters and grab a handful of napkins and condiments as I left without paying a dime. "If everyone did this..." I thought. IF EVERYONE STOLE NAPKINS FROM FAST FOOD CHAINS COME ON, GUYS!

I had forgotten all about those days until I found a sealed subscription envelope on the kitchen table, empty, postage billed to addressee.

It was Hal's.

And when I handed the envelope to him and asked "what are you doing?" I wasn't really asking.

"Just, you know, mailing stuff no postage necessary if mailed in the United States."

And even though the babies were totally watching, and it was only a postage stamp's worth of revenge, I pushed him up against the wall and kissed the shit out of his face.

GGC

I feel like every year I write the same post about Nana's garden on Easter but it's kind of impossible not to. 'Tis a highlight of every year: a treasure, a blessing. An explosion of flowers and fantasticalness.

Nana's garden is the most magical place I've ever met and every year, as my childhood becomes more distant and my children's, more pronounced, I am affected deeply by our annual family gathering in a paradise my grandmother designed and created with her beautiful (and very strong) hands.

this year's menu = french toast + fresh fruit + meaty things

She has help, now, of course, but Nana is still active and incredible, gardening and writing and working the earth. She planted our entire garden last summer, using her cane to push seeds down into the soil. I am blown away by this woman and all that she does to maintain such a space. Retirement? Not this girl.

Sunday was Bo and Revi's first egg hunt. Revi hunted carefully dropping each egg in her basket while Bo smashed all of hers and then went hunting for rocks instead.