Friday Verse

Funeral
by Rosanna Warren

In church, you lay in a casket open to your waist
as if you were in a ticket booth tipped over on its side,
selling tickets for an unearthly show. Your domed, bald
head, smooth cheeks, globed eyes, and modeled chin
were frozen into ideal shape as by Parmigianino.
You, in life all smiling quickness, now slept severely.
You had completed your lesson plans, handed back all corrected assignments.
Your hands rested one atop the other on your chest
guarding your final assessments. We shuffled by but you ignored us
as you ignored the massed bouquets and the preacher's manic grin
when he declared that Heaven was a retirement home
with plenty of vacancies. In the graveyard, they had closed you up.
The undertaker flicked at your gleaming mahogany coffin with his hanky.
The pallbearers placed their red and white carnations. The prayers
went on, and then they didn't. We left the box
on a gurney perched over a green rug atop the grave. We were not to see
you descend. A train chugged by
the full length of the country graveyard by the stone wall and the line of oaks,
freight car after freight car huffing with afflicted lungs
hauling behind them a long, ribboning wail.

Happy Thanksgiving

I am thankful for:

health
children
home
work
learning
friends
my great hairdresser
Swiss chard
Nora's bad jokes
Owen's linear thought
Patrick's boyfriendy snuggles
Tim my good man
and that everyday is a new second chance.

Wednesday Day Book

For Today ~ November 25, 2009

Outside my window... it's gray, gray, gray.

I am thinking... that there's a good chance my paper for my class will be lame. It's due today and I haven't finished reading the chapter (and I have to work a full day today -- no pressure). Anyone know anything about Dissociative Identity Disorder they'd like to share?.

I am thankful for... sometimes remembering to breathe.

From the kitchen... leftovers: ravioli, chicken, green beans.

I am wearing... black yoga pants, brown t-shirt, fuzzy old slippers.

I am reading... The Beck Diet Solution (still).

In my ears... Half the Sky by Nicholas Kristof & Sheryl WuDunn and The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (swoon -- my new crush).

I am hoping... that I can finish my paper today and feel good about it... or at least not feel too badly about it.

I am creating... SERENITY NOW! Really, I'm creating a bigger attention span for myself when it comes to my kids.

I am hearing... Curious George.

Around the house... it's chaos.

One of my favorite things... hearing Patrick "read" his Richard Scarrey "Busy Cars" book to himself (he's not reading yet -- he's memorized it). "Stop!" shouts Sergeant Murphy.

A few plans for the rest of the week... writing a paper (blergh) and traveling to Grandma's in NY for Thanksgiving.

Here is a picture thought I am sharing with you...


















Owen at the age Patrick is now. In the foreground you can see Scully from the X-Files and Cowboy Curtis leading the animal exodus.

Who Needs a Radio for the Morning Commute?

Nora: I don't have a weiner. I have a fa-gine-ya. Fa-china.
MY CHINA!

Owen: Close the window, it smells like exhaustion out there.

Nora: I had a personal pan pizza at school last week. When I opened the box, it said, "Hello, Nora. How are you? I'm your personal pan pizza."

Patrick: Poop!

Good Advice

From Beyond Blue:

* Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible. ~ Dalai Lama

* If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion. ~ Dalai Lama

* There is no way to happiness, happiness is the way. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

* If it isn't good, let it die. If it doesn't die, make it good. ~ Ajahn Chah

* If we learn to open our hearts, anyone, including the people who drive us crazy, can be our teacher. - Pema Chodron

* As soon as we wish to be happier, we are no longer happy. ~ Walter Landor

* Hatred never ceases by hatred; it only ceases by love. This is a timeless truth. ~ Joseph Goldstein

* There is no enlightenment outside of daily life. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

* Realize that this very body, with its aches and it pleasures... is exactly what we need to be fully human, fully awake, fully alive. ~Pema Chodron

* When we scratch the wound and give into our addictions we do not allow the wound to heal. ~ Pema Chodron

So Baconstein, Pancakestein & Syrup Man Walk into a Bar...