on the brink…
by abbienelson
…of a new decade, both for Henry (who turned 30 yesterday) and myself, who will be turning 30 in june. It is one of those birthdays that sits rather heavy in your hand, full of promise and mortality. Feeling young and realizing it at the same time, which is kind of strange.
anyway, we went and celebrated on sunday night by eating a lot of very delicious peruvian food with good friends, traipsing around northwest portland in the rain, having drinks in a dark little bar, and then sleeping here:
hot bath, warm bed, good coffee in the morning, and no Cora in sight. We felt like such adults. It was wonderful.
mmm, what else? Cora is fine, thanks… I know I say this every time, but she’s absolutely hilarious right now. She says and does the funniest stuff. She is pretty good at please and thank-you, says mama and papa, and drops the occasional “oh seet” when she falls down or something, and I’m having a hard time keeping a straight enough face to stop her from saying it. I’m just glad it’s not the f-word. As I’m typing this she is watching (on the other half of the computer screen) what she fondly refers to as the “lala’s.” She’s got one arm waving over her head and is singing along in a monotone as Feist sings “1234 monsters walking ‘cross the floor,” and which she did in church this sunday during the last song. She was (jokingly?) informed by the woman behind us afterward that “we don’t do hand-raising at our church.”
here are the lala’s for your sympathetic viewing pleasure:
there’s not a lot of other news to report, although I realize it has been almost 2 months since I’ve updated this stupid thing. I’ve been sewing a little, mainly stuff for Cora, but I did manage to make myself a pretty cool blouse from scratch… I’ve had this gray shirt from Target for ages that I adore and of course can’t get more of, and had the rather crazy idea to try and draft a pattern. –so, I was pleased about that. Also, we’re now a 1-car and 1-scooter family after the recent demise (totaled by transmission troubles) of my silver car from college. We’ll replace it eventually, but we’re going to try to make it though the summer with me using the scooter to get to work and Henry taking the surviving car. He’s been really busy… he’s joined a group practice and is trying to slowly build up a client load without killing himself… hopefully he will have quit his old job and be fully at the private practice job in a month or so, but it may take a while for some of the insurance credentialing to go through. For now he’s at both jobs, and thus the insane 6-day-a-week schedule. Such a blessing, though, to be finally doing the thing he worked so hard and so long to be able to do.
a few recent pictures of “small madame,” as her crazy aunt maggie has taken to calling her:
poor Scott the Scooter has been complaining about the drastic change in weather from Miami. I told him to get over it.
thanks for the update abs… i about peed my pants with the “oh seet” part… what are you doing teaching my niece profanities!?! hahahaha. wish i didn’t have to miss it.
i will definately be coming up the first week of august tho, so let Cora know that crazy aunt Bonnie loves her and will see her then. 
…unless of course, we manage to video skype first. love you so much.
We have made it through a couple years as a 1-car family. It was a huge challenge, but I now view driving my aging Odyssey as a privilege (usually). I occasionally fantasize about the “privilege” of driving something a little less mama and a little more hip. Then again, I will miss these minivan moments, and they slip through my fingers faster every year.
even though it’s not an official profanity (are there official ones??), it cracks us up every time the boys cry out, “holy crap!” when frustrated at something…we just try to keep those outbursts to a minimum when grandma or church-folk are around.
tell scott the scooter to come back to s. florida for a visit.
tell cora to keep up the arm waving at church. she can come join my boys as they dance in the pews and belt out the doxology.
It is sooo green there. We’re having the traditional muddy Easter. I always thought the green eggs were the hardest to find. Here, the white and brown ones are the challenge. I appreciate the update, glad you are well. My silver sedan just died last week, too. Fortunately, it was at the work of a mechanic…so he offered us 1700 for it and we said, okey dokey…
Loved the update!! So glad to hear that you and Henry got away for his birthday
Cora is adorable! We miss you guys!