Spring Break

We're all on spring break these days. We started ours off by flying to visit Shannon & Todd in Chicago. It was windy and a bit chilly but not bad, considering. They live in a nice 3 bedroom place 4 flights up. There's no chance we could have traveled there with Connor and stayed with them. Just getting him up and down the stairs would have taken 20 minutes and exceptional coordination (one adult per flight, maybe?) Of course, if we'd had to, we would have. It's what we always did. He probably would have loved chopped up deep dish pizza. He loved big flavors. But the wind would have bothered Connor too, and feeding him from the hot dog stand by the Field Museum? Impossible. He would have enjoyed seeing some of the exhibits at the Museum of Science and Industry probably. I'm so glad we were able to go and share time with Shannon & Todd, and see about 1% of the awesome stuff we could go see there. Looking forward to another trip there, maybe in the summer time next time!

We went to the nursery today to get plants for this year's memorial garden. The boys selected a yellow jasmine plant, hyacinths, and some orange flowers I've never heard of. Oh, and Gerbera daisies, my favorite. I also grabbed a beautiful (in my opinion) hydrangea bush. I really hope it flourishes. The honeysuckle vine from Megan and Tlaloc and the lavender from Shannon and Todd are still going strong.  The butterfly bush from my parents and the lilac bush from Erin are resurging after a long and weird winter. It's 60 degrees! It's below freezing and snowing for 36 hours!  It's 60 degrees again!

Tucker also wants to try growing corn, so we bought corn seeds. I'll let you know how the garden grows (on the side - no food items in the memorial garden). The cherry trees here in DC have reached their peak, and the air on my block is filled with small white petals floating down in the breeze now. It reminds me a bit too much of snow but the warm air helps...some.

So this weekend, during Easter, we will plant some new life in Connor's garden. It seems like a very good way to celebrate Easter and to remember him a little more than usual. If you get a chance, plant a seed for him. I know he'll rain down, and shine down, on those plants for you.

Snooping

It's a time honored tradition...you snoop in your sibling's stuff...your parent finds something you carefully hid...to snoop is human nature. But beware...you will almost always find something you don't want to see.

Today, I was the parent reader in Tucker's class. I love his class, and I'm happy to have the chance to be with him. Because the younger boys went to a cooperative preschool, we knew their classmates (and their classmates' families) really well and I miss knowing everyone.

I arrived today and waited at Tucker's desk for the class to return from PE. In that time honored tradition...I started shifting through the mess inside his desk. First, I got his reading books all piled together. Then I pulled out his Reading and Writing notebook. There were many pages in a row of what must be work related to classroom materials. I held the book in my hand, and it opened to a page almost midway through the composition book naturally. There, 20 pages beyond his classwork, was this:

I think this is what he wrote:

Connor's Dath (death)

It was a normal day.

my dad got up

he discovered Connor was dead.

He started to cry.

Me and my brother got up.

(Unintelligible) on the floor was my dad sobbing.

My poor littlest man. But what en elegant expression from a 6 year old (who was a 4 year old when this happened!) There was a check-mark next to it, which means I think his teacher saw the work. I'm glad I saw it, but wish I hadn't, also.