May Madness

Okay, okay, I know that I have been sporadic (to say the least) with the blogging lately, but in my defense, May has been a month chock full of graduations, two trips to New Haven, one to Presque Isle, a new baby to see, a job offer, then a major screw-up (not mine) with grad school, another job offer, and, on top of it all, a month full of behaviors at school. Which was lovely. So! I'll be back soon, I promise.

But in the meantime...a story. This came to mind today for some reason (I think because the CONSTANT rain lately has made me miss Ireland). I am working at Griffin's sometime in early 2000. It'a a Saturday, which means nonstop craziness, not even a pee break until well after noontime. One old biddy was being the customer from hell - you know the type; nothing was done right, she wanted this this way and that that way, and in the meantime, the line is out the door and down the street. One of my co-workers, Lily was unlucky enough to be free when she stepped up to the counter. She (very politely, under the circumstances) spent about 20 minutes getting this woman everything she asked for, and after the biddy's grand exit, Lily slapped her hand down on the counter and put the other hand to her forehead.

"That woman," she said with disgust, "stresses my ovaries."

So the trip to Connecticut was fun, albeit brief. Shawn's play was wonderful; I think the entire Long Wharf theatre was in tears. It was about civil conflict, linking the research they did in Northern Ireland to our own Civil War and the Red Badge of Courage. They ended the production with a poem I had never heard before; it made me cry...

For the Children of the North

I dream of the day

When by the coal fire

Your great-grandchildren

Climb onto the laps of your children

And beg not to be put off to bed

"Grandma, Grandpa, tell us again,

How did the Troubles end?"

-John Paul Lederach

The Butterfly Princess

I was working in the second grade when one of the sweetest little girls in the school asked me if she could read to me. I sat down next to her and she started in on a story she had just written about a beautiful butterfly princess. She always dressed in pink and had wings all the colors of the rainbow. On her birthday, her dad (the king of the butterfly world) threw her a party, where she got a new silk dress, a new set of shimmery wings, a tiara and some chocolate. And she lived happily ever after in the castle in the clouds.

After I left the room, I started thinking about the little girl and her story. I think the last thing I penned was a letter of complaint to me cable company for screwing me out of deposit money. At what point did we stop writing about butterfly princesses?

In other news, you can check out the newest addition to our family over on littlefrost. I get to see her this weekend on the way back from Shawn's final college performance at the Long Wharf.

Baby!

The latest addition to the family - Elizabeth Joyce Frost, born this afternoon. Ten fingers and ten toes, mom and dad are both doing fine! Check her out at Josh and Susan's link below.