Gametes In Love

Today we celebrated the life of my grandmother with a funeral that was planned by her. Several years ago she selected songs, poems, and people to speak. It was a pretty awesome event filled with family and friends.

I drafted most of this post last night. As I listened to two of my cousins talk today about my grandmother, it wasn’t surprising that my thoughts and memories are very much the same as theirs.

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Lorena Hudson Piper – 1915 – 2013

I am grandchild #8 and the father of two of her great grandsons. 

Even though Lorena was her given name I don’t recall ever hearing her called by that name in a casual setting. When I was a child she was ‘Grandma Piper’. Others called her Aunt Teet or Teetie — which as a kid I thought was hilarious. It was only when I was a teenager that I learned that ‘teetie’ was how her younger brother pronounced ‘Sweetie’.

While she will always be Grandma Piper to me, the name I’ve grown to love is just ‘Piper’. It’s such a contemporary name for a woman who lived almost 100 years. Simple. Understated.

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G and I were working on his second homework assignment this week-end. At the end, I asked him to write his own name on his paper… mostly so that I could see him try. Not only did he try, he did a kick-ass job! I didn’t even realize he could. As I watched him shape letter after letter, I was so amused/impressed/in awe, it just took me awhile to realize “I should be recording this!”. So here you go, evidence of him doing his own letters 🙂 Sure his G is up-side down, and his N is really an M, but you know what? MY KID IS WRITING HIS OWN NAME!!!!

[youtube=http://youtu.be/kE-Peu0Uzh8]

(Side note: I worry about his school days. We are getting the assignments done in time, with days to spare, but I really wish I could get myself in order to do them right away).

Boys,

Today Great-Grandma Piper passed away. She was a lovely lady, and I’m very grateful that you had a chance to meet her and she you. She’s loved by many and it’s an honor to be part of her family. Rest in peace Grammie Piper!

S and I enjoy saying “Our kids haven’t taken a bath in weeks!”… because they’re back into their “shower love” phase. We go back and forth on these, and appear to be in another swing of it. This was from our latest bout with the germies for S2 and me. He was a sad little boy watching his bro take a shower: he got up from a nap to find G playing in there.

I started writing this post last Friday, and for some reason I just can’t really formulate my wording to finish it through.

We applied to a public charter school for G to start kinder next year. It was a lottery based system, and we’re far enough on the list that we won’t get in. I’m sad, and ok; disappointed, and still OK.

In my heart of hearts I KNOW this is a good thing. I’ve been torn on sending G to kinder this year. Just ‘cuz he’s eligible didn’t really mean he was fully ready, and I feel like this was the universe’s way to let us know it’s not his time yet. For this I am grateful.

We’ll apply again next year. Our chances then will be even slimmer, but I’m comforted knowing that if we don’t get a spot, our local school options are great too.

I go back and forth between feeling fine with our fate, and disappointed we didn’t get this opportunity. I’m going through my stages of grief ;p

S2 went on a puddle jumping adventure. It was all awesome… until he tripped and fell smack in the middle of the deepest puddle. But did that keep him away from doing more? Nope! Instead he wanted to go hiking and got really, really mad that it was time to go. I had to carry him (kicking) to the car. And carrying a wet/muddy kid is not all that fun. I really should have thought the whole thing through and brought a towel… or a change of clothes. Luckily this was close to home so we weren’t going far.

After Neko passed away, I sent away a small portion of his ashes to create a remembrance stone. It came in on Saturday, and now I get to wear him, in my family necklace, close to my heart every day.

If you’re curious, I used this place: http://www.pet-gems.com/. Their customer service is slow to respond, but I’ve felt cared for respected throughout the process.

For some start of the week cuteness and toddler babble

[youtube=http://youtu.be/7V4a1RzvdvI]

From an afternoon at home, alone w/ S2.