Life shifting naps.

I had the best nap once.  My mind still floats to the moment when I awoke from it.  I was lying in a bed in an old cottage. The roar of the ocean could be heard in the distance.  I had been so overcome with sleepiness when the nap settled in, that I bisected the bed diagonally with my body.  As I awoke, I remember my eyes flicking open and staring, upside down, at a wall painted turquoise, bathed in the late afternoon light--slowly remembering where I was and what I was looking at. My eyes rested on that spot for several minutes while I soaked up the feeling of being truly rested. I was exactly the right temperature and feeling awake in a way that I had not for many months.  I felt a seam in my world open. I stood up and walked right through it into a new life.  There was my life before that nap and the new one after.  I was held aloft for hours by its elegant perfection.It must have been good, since I can remember it so well 4 years later.  I live in a quest for another nap just like that one. In the meantime, I practise as much as I can.

Let the spring begin

The first day of spring is one thing, and the first spring day is another. The difference between them is sometimes as great as a month.-Henry van Dyke

Weightless tongue

"Right after I landed, I could feel the weight of my lips and tongue and had to change how I was talking," he recalled. "I didn't realize I had learned to talk with a weightless tongue."-Chris Hadfield

If you have not seen this version of Space Oddity, you should. It is special because it was sung with a weightless tongue.

Pedal through the wobbles.

Last night, as I was teaching my kid to ride her two wheeler, I kept saying over and over: "Don't think about it, pedal through the wobbles.  The wobbles are normal. They do not feel normal but keep biking. Don't think about it."

I am wondering why I feel so sure about this advice when it comes to biking, but not so sure at all when it comes to anything else.

Price of Admission

I read this beautiful article this morning by my column writing idol Mary Elizabeth Williams.
It moved me so much I thought I should share it with you.

I spent my mother's day taking turns with my husband napping.  I was so tired.  Like many holidays, I'm always a little leery about mother's day.  I am conscious that it is not always a day of celebration for many women. I am also conscious that it might not always be so sweet and uncomplicated as it is right now.  For now, I am savouring the waffles my daughter made me, and the sweet little "doll show" that only cost a stick of gum to get into and the beautiful card that my son made me.  Inside his card, he wrote (with his teacher's help) "I like to catch raccoons with my mom."  Me too, honey, me too.

Use your words.

Dawdling

Dawdling has many benefits.