A Special Saturday

Today's a special day for several reasons. One is that Miss HoneyLuna is here to help her daddy work on a bicycle for her to ride to class. She's living a few miles from campus and it would be so much easier for her to ride a bike than to drive and find parking. We have bikes stashed away in the old barn, some we bought and some which just seemed to have appeared. Mr. Moon is going to try and get one of them in working order for her to use.

She just showed me her new iTouch which she had to get for nursing school. Man, I'd go back to nursing school if it meant I got one of those babies. There's a nursing app (There's an app for that!) that's got everything you could find in a shelf full of books plus who-knows-what? I swear. Apple just keeps making life easier and more fun. You can quote me on that, too. I listened to The Rising last night on my iPod while I made our supper of egg rolls and hot and sour soup. Bruce sang in my ear while I chopped and wokked and wrapped vegetables up in tidy little packages and baked them. I danced as I worked in my kitchen all alone, that tiny machine in my pocket, the earphones in my ears.

I made my daughter pose for these pictures with her new device. You can tell how much she hates posing. She's so shy and withdrawn, Miss HoneyLuna. She's like Daffodil that way.


I also made her go out to feed the chickens grapes and cantaloupe with me. She hated that too. Oh this girl. I don't know why we bother with her. She's never done one thing but bring light and joy to us. Well. What are you going to do?

She's eaten two egg rolls from last night's leftovers and a Little Debbie oatmeal cake and has her school books spread across the table but now she's gone off with her daddy to find which bike looks mostly likely to become road-worthy.

Another reason it's a special day is because we're going to Billy and Shayla's baby shower. This is going to be joyful, I tell you. I wrote about Billy and Shayla getting pregnant here. It's no secret to anyone who knows me that Billy and Shayla are two of my favorite people in the world. They'd be yours, too, if you knew them. This shower is going to be a great, wonderful party. Men are invited. Men are required to attend, in fact. Mr. Moon is going and he's looking forward to it. I like baby showers where men attend. Lily's non-work shower was like that and it just seemed so natural and right to have the fellas there too. If men are present those games that are so beloved at baby showers are not as apt to be played. Not that there's anything wrong with those games (except that they're usually stupid and insulting to all involved) but I really don't enjoy them. Let's get to the damn presents and cake, okay? Right now! Because that's what a baby shower is all about to me- tiny little garments that make everyone ooh and aah and soft blankets and stuffed animals and oh yes, in Billy and Shayla's case, tiny little cammo boots. That's going to be one shit-kickin' baby. Who loves unicorns.

I've gotten them a sasanqua plant because it blooms in the time of year when their baby is due- Novemeber. The name of this species of sasanqua is the Shishi-Gashira which I find delightfully charming. Say it out loud- Shishi-Gashira. I frankly think they should name their child Shishi but I doubt they will. I will suggest it, see how the idea rolls with them. Shayla's on track to have her baby at the birth center which means she can keep her placenta, which the hospital, in their infinite wisdom, does not allow. So if Billy and Shayla want, they can plant the Shishi-Gashira over the placenta. I hope they do.



We planted a dogwood tree over HoneyLuna's placenta and it's a beautiful tree now. We don't live in that house anymore, where it lives, but she still likes to drive by it. "That's my tree!" she says. I wanted to plant something over Lily's placenta but while it was still in the freezer, waiting for the proper plant, Hurricane Kate came and knocked out all the power and we had to just bury it in the back yard. Oh well.
And to finish up the story, May's placenta got eaten by our dogs while it was awaiting planting. Turns out dogs really like placenta.
Down Town Guy was born in the hospital so his placenta probably got sold to a cosmetic company. Seriously.

Anyway, and whatever, I'm giving Billy and Shayla a sasanqua and also a gift certificate to Barnes and Noble so they can go and have some fun picking out books for their baby. Shayla's a school teacher and she knows about books and Billy's a reader and he does too and babies need books. Oh yes. They NEED books. Many, many books.

And so I'm looking forward to this party. It'll be fun even if we do have to play silly games. It's BYOB so the games will only be that much more silly. And fun. Everyone will ask Lily when her baby's coming. She and Shayla look like goddesses now. Well, they are. They walk slowly with the great moons of their bellies shining before them, with grace and with beauty. It's so nice to be around that energy, that grace.

It's a good day. I hear HoneyLuna giggling and look up to see her daddy riding the bike across the yard, his mile-long legs pushing the pedals. Honey's legs are three-quarters of a mile long. I am the wife and the mother of a long-legged race of people.

It's a special day.

I hope yours is too.