lunchbreak
still no computer at home... the whizkids are working on it.
i sit at my monstrous desk, with the winter sun pouring in the office, warm and bright and golden. the shadows in the snow are that indescribable blue that nearly stops my heart with its beauty. i'm munching on popcorn - forgot my lunch, and just aching to be out there.
last night after work i made the 1 1/2 hour trek to the nearby city where my daughter, Mummy of Centre of the Universe lives. it was Centre of the Universe's 5th birthday, replete with tiaras, t-shirt painting and a pinata. imagine a half dozen squealing princesses in wild and crazy t-shirts, taking turns bashing at a butterfly. seemed something of a mixed message to me. Teenage Uncle (one of the afore mentioned whiz kids - the other was at his newly acquired job) of Centre of the Universe was called on to do some serious damage to the poor flutter-by, as no one wanted to spend the entire evening waiting for the princesses to make a dent... earning thunderous applause for his success.
Mummy has a wonderful circle of friends. these young couples have formed their own village, in the sense of 'it takes a village to raise a child'. they exchange babysitting, throw birthday parties for each other, and go to each other's children's parties, offer marriage counselling, tips on child psychology, strong arms and trucks when one member is moving to another residence, previously enjoyed clothes and toys... in the middle of the city. being a bit of a hick, myself, it seems strange to me to find a pocket of small-town community thriving amidst urban sprawl and consumerism. it's a prejudice i have. i know cities are made up of all kinds of people, and some are even a lot like me, but i'm always astonished when i bump into those ones.
and it's so thrilling to see my child doing such a very fine job of raising her child.
i sit at my monstrous desk, with the winter sun pouring in the office, warm and bright and golden. the shadows in the snow are that indescribable blue that nearly stops my heart with its beauty. i'm munching on popcorn - forgot my lunch, and just aching to be out there.
last night after work i made the 1 1/2 hour trek to the nearby city where my daughter, Mummy of Centre of the Universe lives. it was Centre of the Universe's 5th birthday, replete with tiaras, t-shirt painting and a pinata. imagine a half dozen squealing princesses in wild and crazy t-shirts, taking turns bashing at a butterfly. seemed something of a mixed message to me. Teenage Uncle (one of the afore mentioned whiz kids - the other was at his newly acquired job) of Centre of the Universe was called on to do some serious damage to the poor flutter-by, as no one wanted to spend the entire evening waiting for the princesses to make a dent... earning thunderous applause for his success.
Mummy has a wonderful circle of friends. these young couples have formed their own village, in the sense of 'it takes a village to raise a child'. they exchange babysitting, throw birthday parties for each other, and go to each other's children's parties, offer marriage counselling, tips on child psychology, strong arms and trucks when one member is moving to another residence, previously enjoyed clothes and toys... in the middle of the city. being a bit of a hick, myself, it seems strange to me to find a pocket of small-town community thriving amidst urban sprawl and consumerism. it's a prejudice i have. i know cities are made up of all kinds of people, and some are even a lot like me, but i'm always astonished when i bump into those ones.
and it's so thrilling to see my child doing such a very fine job of raising her child.
posted by grannyfiddler at 11:32 AM
3 Comments:
What an amazing sense of community. I think we miss that here in the big city, except to say that on a "community by community" level, neighbourly help is often available and freely shared. When you step out of your community, however, the dynamic tends to change. People seem, on mass, to be shut off and emotionally removed from those around them. On occasion a light glows out of the darkness though.
Read your comments over at Sarahspace - "we go to incredible lengths NOT to be understood." is so very true! What happened to good old fashioned simple communication? We need a new word for everything these days and if you happen not to be "in the know", you quite possibly will be misunderstood.
I'm glad theres a good bunch of people that have managed to find each other in all the mazes of life.
"Bashing the Butterfly" sounds like some kind of code. ;-)
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