On Sunday, Harper was confirmed, and both of the girls played in the orchestra. This is a photo of Hadley and Harper talking with their former piano teacher, a woman we all adore and who is responsible for bringing out the joy and love of playing music.
I’m a writer, so significance is my baseline, but it would pain me not to note the significance of this moment. While she is no longer their teacher, and while it was a painful decision to stop taking lessons, it does not mean that what they learned has come to an end. We have each other for a time, and I like to think that in that time we have, we live that great quote in Fahrenheit 451: “It doesn’t matter what you do…so long as you change something from the way it was before you touched it into something that’s like you after you take your hands away.” May it be so in all the decisions and choices the girls face and get to have in their one wild and precious life.
We’ve entered Corby’s favorite time of the year when she spends most of her days outside. Laying in the sunshine and running are her two favorite things to do, and she’s not sure why the rest of us don’t participate in these activities all the time. Every so often she will stand at the porch door and bark (even though she has a doggie door). We will open the door thinking she wants to come inside, but she’ll stand there and start to cry until we come out.
This week, she was a little more aggressive, and on a sunny afternoon, she ran through the doggie door, and poked Harper with her nose until Harper chased her outside. For about a half an hour they played tag, and it was the cutest thing, and also, thank goodness for Harper’s swimmer lungs because she’s the only one who can almost keep up with Corby.
I have developed a lovely ritual since December. As soon as I come home from work, I make a cup of coffee, and settle in my chair in my writing room and read and journal about what I’ve read. It is my most favorite time of day, and it gives me the energy (and desire) to finish out the rest of the day with curiosity and peace.
Here is a picture of the current stack of books I checked out from the library earlier this week. Checking out any and all books that strike my fancy is among my Top 5 favorite things to do. I can’t not be happy walking outside carrying a tower of books.
Read:
- Finished Angel Falls by Kristin Hannah
- Emily’s Quest pgs.41-83
- Postcards From Summer by Cynthia Platt pgs. 1-45
- Poems: “Elegy,” and “Easter Egg Hunt,” by David Malone – Tornado Drill
There are three spots left in my Critique Course if you’re interested in signing up.
Leave a Reply