She Laughs at the Days

Do you remember when Ethiopia was dying? I was a in elementary school during those famines. The news was full of images of wasted skeletons walking through a barren landscape.

I remember raising money to send food to Ethiopia. The school I went to put down huge lengths of masking tape in the gymnasium and we brought in all of the coins we collected and laid them out on the tape on the floor. It had something to do with seeing how much we could raise.

Anyway. It's about to happen again. Only this time it's because aid organizations can afford to buy less than half of the food they could last year, because of rising food prices.

I wish I was reading Owlhaven last week. Because Mary was raising money to send to Ethiopia to help Dr. Mary feed people. I would have sent you all there. While her deadline for donating has passed, you can still follow her link and donate directly to Soddo Hospital.

But while we are talking about this...
Last week my husband met again with Scott Saben, the …

This is my little sister.

But really, as silly as this commercial is... she got paid really well to make it, so I don't think she cares in the end.

And she did play at my wedding. And she doesn't have a degree, and doesn't want one. And she does play to, well, not sold out crowds, at least really happy to be there crowds that are pretty big.

Thanks to Carlos for finding it for me.

I thought it was time to lighten the mood a little around here. And since my first post about SoCal living gets a lot of traffic, here are some more.

You know you live in Southern California when...

...you start to realize that whenever your children take their stuffed animals to the "Doctor" it's to have cancerous moles removed.

...you hear someone nearby you say, "Oh look it's only 102F now. It's finally starting to cool off."

...your first instinct when you smell your neighbors lighting up their grill is to rush inside and check the news for wildfires.

...you think it's too cold to go to the pool when it drops below 90F and there's a breeze.

...when you want to dress up a little and try to find a pair of sandals that aren't flip flops you suddenly discover that you no longer own any shoes that aren't flip flops. And your work out runners don't count.

...you work out. But not outside. It's too hot to run outside. You need to go somewh…

Thanks Jesse at 3littlebirds for telling me about this.

Correction: Her husband didn't make this video. But he found it and posted it. Oops

Watch the others too.

I stand in my kitchen this morning mixing up another batch of muesli. As I pour out the oats I can't get the image of Fatima out of my mind. She lives in Afghanistan. Her parents are so desperate for food that they promised her to a wealthy man to marry for $6000. She is 11. One of my several credit cards has a greater credit limit than that. Her family doesn't have that kind of security blanket. We've needed to pay rent on the credit card before, and groceries, but we've always been able to pay it off again.

In India children live in slavery to pay off a debt of less than $30 that their parents needed to borrow. They may never be free.

I measure in the dried cranberries and think of the families who live on less than a dollar a day. They aren't eating cranberries with their millet. I grab handfuls of millet and toss it in wondering how many children have less than this meager handful to eat every day.

I watch my baby stuff spoonfuls of muesli and yogurt into her mout…

Dear God,

I try not to complain very often. Well, we both know I'm failing miserably at that, and fail often, but you know I'm trying, and that's something isn't it. And I'm deeply grateful for these children you gave me. Without them life would be an empty and desolate wasteland. They are the joy of my days.

Do you think that it's asking to much to pray that for just one day this week I don't have to clean up their pee? I don't know what's happened to them. On top of the night wetting, which one or the other has done all week long, they keep missing the toilet. Lord, only thou knowest how this is possible. They've been potty trained for years, they sit upon the toilet, and yet spray upon the floor. It is a deep and unsearchable mystery to me, and I'm getting rather tired of cleaning it up. I know, I just got an 11 day vacation from all things pee and poo related, except for the Baby's diapers, which I'm not counting. See how I've…

It is lovely to visit family. Often. Sometimes it is trying, but this time it is lovely. It is fun to hang out with my musician sister in her cool loft in downtown artist subsidized housing spaces. It is great to get to go to one of her gigs and then sit down and have dinner with her and my brother and their significant others and talk about things besides parenting while the Baby runs around making herself the center of attention. It is fun to say things like, "My brother is a fight choreographer/stunt man and my sister is a musician." I remember the sheer bliss of jamming with talented musicians; how fun it is to play and sing with other people. It is sweet to see my aging grandfather who's vision has begun to fail as he holds my child and the look of proud tenderness that softens his craggy face. It is joy to speak to my grandmother about the things that we now have in common, the business of marriage and family. It is good to be with my mom and watch the Baby know he…