A round up of this week’s lovely little things.
Happy Diwali
Kids, particularly kids old enough to understand more about religion and faith, sort of force you to step it up when it comes to religious holidays. Just by their presence in your life, their big eyes looking up to you and asking questions, they force you to engage. Observe. Celebrate. I’m still not clear on my own personal religion or faith or what exactly it is that I believe. But I do believe that my children should be exposed to the traditions and cultures and beliefs that are part of their family history. So this week, we celebrated Diwali. We talked about Prince Rama, his exile, and the diyas that illuminated his return. We placed lights all around our home in celebration.
The effect in some places is a little bit more Halloween spooky than good over evil but such is the way when cultures and holidays collide. I’m ok with my kids’ memories of the end of October involving a mesh of costumes and pumpkins alongside diyas and rangoli. It represents their lives, a mesh of cultures coming together and creating something truly beautiful. Something truly lovely.
Desk time
It has been such a busy family season here lately. Birthdays and field trips and school functions, not to mention doctor’s appointments and speech therapy. I remember saying, back in August, that I couldn’t wait for the normalcy of September to settle us all back into a routine. But September and October have been anything but. So when I found myself setting at my desk on Tuesday morning, the house quiet, the sun streaming softly, but pointedly, through the window, I was simultaneously excited and at peace.
Friends
It’s been a while since I’ve done this so allow me to rave a bit about the amazing people I’ve met through writing and blogging. It can be easy to think of the people who read your words every day, and whose words you read religiously, but whom you’ve never met (or only met once) as not quite real. Or not quite the same as the people who have been inside your home and shared meals with you. But they are oh so real and oh so important. I reached out to a few of mine this week for some help with my book proposal and each and every one replied so quickly and enthusiastically. These friendships are truly amazing.
Planes
We had a rare thing happen on Monday morning. No appointments or meetings or errands that had to be run. We had a morning and absolutely nowhere to be. So we went to the Air and Space museum (the plane museum, as we called it that day). He spent the hour we were there volleying between running off towards every wing and propeller he could find and leaping into my arms because despite his unending love of planes, these ones are quite big and just a bit scary for a little person. I had forgotten, somewhere along the way, that my life right now allows for mornings like these–me, my boy, and some planes. Now that I’ve remembered, we’ll have many more like it.
Favorite words
“Be silly. Be honest. Be kind.”
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
I came across this quote while scanning the Words to Live By: Typography Art shop on Zulily today, looking for Christmas gift ideas/hand lettering inspiration. But it’s so perfect, isn’t it?
Happy weekend, all. It’s almost Halloween so definitely play up the silly.
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