Dorothy: [to the Scarecrow] I think I’ll miss you most of all.

madonna meets angus young 4th grade style

Remember the doorman guy in the Wizard of Oz who starts off all GO AWAY! and then is in tears because he’s so moved by Dorothy and her friends?  That’s me today.  I’m grumpy as hell, but when I was walking Willow to school this morning a tiny little blonde boy with a sweet monster-faced backpack went running past us on the sidewalk, panting loudly, his right fist wrapped around the stems of one green and one yellow leaf, each nearly as big as his head, and he was so happy and excited I started crying.  Luckily, I was wearing sunglasses, because, DORK!  Willow would have been so embarrassed to be seen with me.
Also spotted this morning:  two mini trucks.  And they weren’t like, part of a team or anything.  You heard it here first (unless you heard it somewhere else first): the second rise of the mini truck is nigh.  
Willow came home from her dad’s house last night with those fishnet wristwarmers she’s wearing in the photo above.  Her step sister (Bonus sister?  I’m not sure what to call her yet.  Maybe Other Sister?) gave them to her and she slept in them last night.  So. Cute.  When I woke her up for school, she was really excited about the outfit she’d picked out the night before.  As we left for school I asked if I could take her photo.  She said yes and stood with her arms at her side.  Lemme see the gloves I said, and SHE SHOT ME THE BIRD WITH BOTH HANDS, and then her eyes got really big and she covered her face and we both started laughing and she’s like, WHOOPS I just accidentally did that!
Next week I am taking a quick trip to Texas to visit my cousin so we can go visit our grandmother.  She recently moved from the house she and my grandfather built in 1954 to an assisted living place (a really nice one).  I’m not sure I can write about it.  My grandmother, that house; you know how some people and places are in the very center of you?  Those are two of mine.  My three other grandparents who have passed away and especially my dad were part of my center, too.  And so was my mom’s parents’ house.  When they built it, they had a room just for me and my brother since we were the only grandkids at the time.  I think I’m just feeling a little bit hollow.  I am lucky to have Scuba and my kids and my mom and all my other family and Scuba’s family and amazing friends.  I should be FINE, right?  And I am fine, but it’s different.  And, it’s time to walk to the school and get Willow and see how her cool outfit went over with the rest of the fourth graders.  

2 thoughts on “Dorothy: [to the Scarecrow] I think I’ll miss you most of all.

  1. Viellefemme

    You are SO such a chip off the maternal blocks in our family…..tears are always just a blink away. But not the usual whaa whaa kind. The oh my god that’s so tender kind that just rush out unbidden at little snapshots of life most people never even notice. Curse or blessing? Blessing I think. Once when mom was here, we were driving to Safeway and stopped at the light at Union and Los Gatos Alamden and we heard an ambulance. I turned to her and we both had tears in our eyes for that unknown person in need. Cait broke it off with a BF because he had no empathy for others. Ashley shares the curse/blessing. Jay is such a tenderhearted boy of a man.
    The houses, and the loved ones who inhabited them, will live in your memory and unlike the actual structures and sometimes the people, are available for visits anytime. As you grow older you learn to move between this world and that with ease and gratitude. But it takes some practice. xoxo

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  2. Tammom

    I totally thought of you tonight and had to drop you a note. I don’t see your email address here so am reduced to commenting on a post. My husband is a Scoutmaster in the Alamo Area Boy Scouts of America council. Tonight, they had Round Table and enjoyed a lovely talk from a man named Tom Moser, who was literally a rocket scientist for NASA in Houston. I immediately thought of your dad and wondered if they worked together?! Seems Mr. Moser has retired to Kerrville, TX and is now part of the BSA district executive committee, and he’s still mentoring young engineers at NASA. He talked about things I’d read from your posts about your dad. Is a small world when things like this happen, but if you’d like to contact him, I’m sure I can come up with an email address for him.

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