The Lizard Chronicles: Part III or It only took 1 week and 4 days.

At 5:15 a.m.this morning, we experienced the death of a dream. Skitters puffed his last breath, sloughed off a little more skin, and closed his eyes. There will be no more skittering by this little guy. Around bedtime (of course), Ben noticed Skitters seemed still. His breathing was slow and the little guy wouldn't, you know, skitter.

An uncle I have claims the internet is a world wide waste of time. Here is where he and I part ways. How parents survived without vats of knowledge at their fingertips is beyond me. With impending doom, we culled the masses of information regarding anole lizards. Who knew many lizards are color blind and may not see their food or be able to find their water dishes? Another factoid expressed concern over the unknown origins of your lizard. If by chance it is "wild caught", it may not adapt well to captivity. Lizard forums (yes, there are many!) provided all sorts of nuanced caretaking ideas for your particular lizard. None of this research was done prior to the purchase, of course. I just spent $4.99 on certain heartbreak because I was ignorant.

My suggestion to you is to not mess with the heart of a boy and stay away from lizards. Heartfelt tears at 9:00 p.m. as your kid lies sentinel next to the lizard's home are hard to take. Even harder is watching a grown man attempt emergency lizard resucitation at 10:30 p.m. when it is clear the critter is going down. Just so you know, Big Man's batting average for humans is way better than anything he's tried reviving from Petco. Finally, the 5:00 a.m. cry of "He died! Skitters died!" is not a great way to begin the first Friday of summer break.

There will be favorite movies playing today, treats offered if his appetite returns, copious snuggle time, and a promise for Skitters II after summer travels are complete.

Yes, we are dumb. But love...it makes us do crazy things.

I have been up to something.....

Ever since I heard a radio interview with the owner of a restaurant who won a prestigious James Beard Award for being the best place to eat in the United States, I have been pondering the owner's comments. Some of them may surprise you. They did me and I have been stewing over them, bad pun intended, ever since.

One of my favorite parts about writing is that it takes you to places you never intended to go...and then often right back to where you began.

Another thing I like about writing is finding ways to link things that may seem incongruous on the surface. Often, I will read something, tuck it away for later, drive the kids somewhere, hear someone on the radio discuss something else and then think, "Well, isn't that kind of the same point so-and-so was trying to make? " So I have to scavenge for a scrap of paper and a dull pencil because I forgot my journal again. I come back to it in an hour, a day, or even a few weeks, and suddenly it seems to work. I really don't think I am comparing apples to oranges when bringing together David Brooks and Danny Meyer, but I guess you can let me know what you think.

Thanks, Winona360 and Kate Carlson, for giving me time and space for my voice.

And here is what I came up with:

http://www.winona360.org/winona360/article/op-ed-going-gold

Let the games begin!

It's over- the school year is done. We now have 217 stubby pencils with well-worn erasers, 32 dried out markers and the equivalent of 2 reams of paper culled from 5 notebooks. Yesterdays promise is tomorrow's recycling.

With equal parts excitement and uncertainty,we will cruise through mornings where precision is less important and personal desires finally win out...mostly.

The break will be good for all of us.

A mirror image

I embarked upon a work out class that has me out the door at ten minutes to six (a.m.!) and this means the kids and Big Man are on their own to ready themselves for the day. With the number of school days rapidly dwindling I knew that if it was rough, it wouldn't be for long. It's felt weird not being around for the bulk of the morning rush hour, but there is one thing I like. I get home and they are dressed and visibly relieved that I get to see them before their bus arrives. I get smiles and yelps of "Mommy!" and big hugs. I was gone one hour. But it's funny how little tweaks to your day can throw you off...or on. Long ago (nine and half years), my mother-in-law described how I phsically 'lit up' in the presence of my new infant daughter. It's fun and humbling and over-whelming to know it works both ways. I am soaking it in. Thing 2 has some time, but the ten year old is brewing a much different pot that will spill over at any time.