Sean took this picture of these adorable puppies the other day. They are somebody's pets. That's right...this is what I tell myself so I can sleep at night. The other day at language school, one of my classmates was sharing a story about seeing a dog get run over by a guy on a motorcycle. He was telling the story (in his limited Indonesian) to one of the sweetest little Indonesian gals that I've met. She's kind and thoughtful and polite and a good teacher. As the story went on, Ibu Tasya was smiling and nodding. We were all waiting for her to exclaim, "Oh, the poor puppy! Was he okay?!" But guess what she said? "Oh, I LOVE dog meat! It's my favorite. I don't like the small dogs, but the big dogs are so tasty!" We all sat there speechless, waiting for her to laugh and say, "Just kidding!" She did not. We went on with class as if she'd just proclaimed that she really enjoys eating a good salmon fillet when she can get one....
I realized over the weekend that I'm busy. I'm not trying to be snarky or even funny. I honestly just realized this. Oh, I know we throw the word "busy" around quite often (and we usually mean it) but I realized that I am BUSY. And I kind of foolishly thought that I wasn't all that busy, for like a split second there. Because honestly, with all this busy-ness, I don't have much to show for it. Well, other than a family that is fed and kids that are somewhat educated. And the thing about my busy-ness is that I'm never really, completely done. It's a never-ending cycle. Cook, clean, teach, cook, clean, enforce the rules, cook, clean, give baths, go to bed, start again. I spend hours and I do mean hours in the kitchen. I cook everything from scratch. I've always enjoyed cooking and baking and I've done my fair share of cooking from scratch. But we have even less available to us here than we did in Latin America. ...
Brooklyn turned six last week. It was a happy occasion. I decorated. There were plenty of princesses and pink stuff. She got a special birthday outfit to wear. And plenty of other gifts too. Of course there was a party - well, as much party as two sets of grandparents and one set of parents plus two baby sisters can provide. Her cake was strawberry, just as she requested. This is the same cake Mom made my sister and I for years (and still does, actually). It looks terrible (always does) but, trust me, it's awesome. Actually, mine didn't taste as good as Mom's...wonder why. And did you notice those sparkly things in here ears?! Yup. Got her ears pierced for her birthday, too. She looks more and more grown up and I can't stand it. I love this little girl. I'm proud of who she is. I can't wait to see all she becomes. But I'm not handling things so well. This growing up stuff is for the birds. Today, we went and registered her for Kindergarten. Kinder...
Absolutely positively precious.
ReplyDelete