Beneath the Wraps

          Tossing and turning because I was hot.   It isn’t right for the weather to be so warm on my birthday – especially when you consider the start of the month was always overcast – sometimes raining.               The wind has been blowing – even though it’s been warm.   The winds have been cool – but not cool enough to keep us from turning on the A/C.             I finally left the room at 3:45.   Jenna said “Happy Birthday, mommy!”   quite loudly.   I’d forgotten it was my birthday – even though I had been reminded of it last night when I called the RS pres.  My stomach was growling.   I had a glazed doughnut as Roland had brought them home and we have to eat them before they go stale – right? Jenna bopped into the living room about 15 minutes later bearing gifts wrapped in Christmas paper.  I ...

She seemed fascinated with the toilet.  I thought she’d train early.  She didn’t. She took off after she turned one.  How cool to move herself with her feet, to go from room to room.  To explore.                                                        She collected balls and rocks. Whenever we’d go out walking she would climb on fire hydrants and pick up anything she found in her path.  She loved roly-polys.  They resembled small balls.  She did attempt to put one in her mouth.                                             She collected whatever she could carry. She started preschool when she was thr...

            My daughter LOVES arts and crafts.   In school she made a paper mask of a female skull.   She is quite proud of it and so wanted me to have my own skull, which she tried to make identical to her own.             She decided that when we boarded the bus this morning, we would hold up our masks over our faces.   She made up lyrics on the way to the bus stop and sung them to the tune “Carol of the Bells”             She made me learn her song before the bus came so that we could sing the song before we held up our masks.   I learned the song but told her that we would not be able to sing its entirety before boarding the bus.   And so she sung only the last line as we held up our masks.   Our bus driver laughed.        ...

--> --> When Jenna was three she discovered some blue gravel that had been dumped by the shed.   Biff had left it there after cleaning out a fish tank.   Jenna thought that they were beautiful seeds and wanted to plant them.   I tried to explain that they weren’t seeds – but she was insistent that we bury them so that they would grow into a beautiful flower. Everyday she would check the spot where the “seeds” had been planted – impatient that the flowers had not bloomed overnight.   Again, I tried to explain to her that even if the seeds had been real seeds – flowers do not spring up overnight.   It takes time.   Especially in our family, it seems. Jenna did not stop checking.   She was determined that her flower would grow.   She watered the area.   She talked to it.   She was certain that a flower would grow.   I really did not want her to be crushed and so devastate...

After the pathetic attempt of a yard sale, I loaded the trunk of my car with a few items that hadn’t sold.  Two of the items I brought home with me were: the practical bread box and the fun cup full of memories. When I was younger, I remember getting bread out of a white tin box with copper trim.  The box could hold up to four loaves and then some.  Mom also had two canisters that held sugar and flour.  I don’t know if the three came together, or if it was just coincidental that there was a very similar appearance. I don’t remember what happened to the tin bread box, but I remember it had to be replaced.  I remember mom and I had to hunt hard to find one – and then the only ones we could find were less than half the size and made out of wood.  This one holds only two loaves at best. The bread box is quite a practical item for me as we live in this cracker box house in which all the furniture and appliances are squashed together...