A Few of My Favorite Things

• The Snooze Button -- Even though I'm a morning person, I hate to wake up to an alarm. I like to hit the snooze button and get up before it goes off, feeling like I'm in charge, not the bloody clock. (Am I a control freak??!!)
  
• A Full Night's Sleep -- a rare event. I tend to worry about the world and things I have no control over like could Sarah Palin really get elected President? Or what will happen to Africa? Why don't middle-easterners participate in the Winter Olympics (could it be they have no snow?)?
• Weather Events -- I love snow -- I feel like a kid on Christmas when I wake up to a fresh snowfall and the world is white, the road is unplowed, and no cars have left their mark. On the other hand, people who fuss about their untrammeled snow and don't let the kids play in it annoy me. I love downpours, watching the rain from a snug smug place like inside my warm and dry house or my car sitting on high ground. I like to watch the river rise and am amazed when the dam becomes swamped. Tornado warnings thrill me. I don't wish harm to anyone, but I get very excited hunkering down in the cellar listening to the stormcasts on the radio, daring to go out every once in a while to check on the storm's progress. I'm thrilled by thunderstorms with lightning strikes so close the house shudders, and lightning so constant you can read by it. Sometimes I go outside and randomly click away with my little point and shoot camera hoping to be able to catch a photo of lightning bolts in the sky (so far, no luck). I even like ice storms. I stay well-provisioned with food, batteries, flashlights, and blankets so we can remain house-bound for several days if necessary. I follow the weather reports religiously and try to read the sky. Along with the weather, I love watching the seasons unfold -- Missouri is a great place for all of this.
• A Sandwich Made by Anyone Else--doesn't matter how simple, what kind of bread. Plain peanut butter and jelly on white bread, bologna, stuff I would never crave or fix for myself somehow becomes gourmet fare when presented to me ready to eat.
  
• The "A" Vegetables -- asparagus, artichokes, and avocados. That would be my favorite birthday meal (you could toss in Dungeness crab, fresh San Francisco sour dough bread and a nice glass of white wine and finish it with strawberry shortcake made with homemade biscuits and real whipped cream).
• My Birthday -- no matter my age, I am still a little girl on my birthday. Presents no longer matter, but I feel like a princess all day long. I thank my mother for this -- she had five kids, but she always made a big deal of each our birthdays. She told me in later years that she felt the mother should also be celebrated on a child's birthday. I agree. After she was widowed and we were both single women, we alternated the responsibility for celebrating my birthday. One year I would choose the restaurant and pick up the tab and the next year it was her turn.
  
• Our Local High School -- astounds me. Many extra-curricular activities involve bringing kids in on buses from other schools (or busing them out if the event is held somewhere else): Basketball (girls and boys) volleyball, wrestling, football, band, choir, speech, ROTC, and I'm sure there are others. Every night of the week (except Sunday -- after all, this is the buckle of the bible belt) school buses from all over southwest Missouri idle in the parking lot. These activities call for a tremendous commitment on the part of the teachers who sponsor the events. Teacher salaries are very low here (of course, employment opportunities are fairly limited, too) so support of these activities is a real sacrifice and there are some very special people involved. Parent participation is extremely high as well.
• Textiles -- I love fabric. The texture, the colors, the feel of it, the smell, the way it drapes, folds, cuts, takes the needle, everything about it appeals to me. If I had it all to do over, I would follow a path paved with cloth. I'd weave, spin, dye, and have my hands on the glorious stuff all day long.
• Having Ben and Logan in my life I grieve for Robin every day yet I am so grateful for the wonderful children she left behind. Life without them is unthinkable. The rhythm of our lives gives me peace. I love morning when I wake them up so they can go to school and I realize anew they are with me -- we are a family. Watching them grow astounds me -- I suppose it would be more surprising if they didn't, but I still marvel over inch they add to their height, each increase in shoe size, that their pants become too short on a regular basis, etc. Nothing is ordinary -- all is extraordinary.