The Phoenix: Epicuriousmothering Rising

So I think I did a fantastic job of going over the sour moments of my summer, but I did't quite get to the sweet.  And really, the reason we like Sour Patch Kids is that after the lemon lips we pull, there is a delicious chewy sweetness that has us going back for more.  Now onto the sweet . . . And you know me . . . pictures do speak a thousand words. Girls Camp: Yep, I get weepy even thinking about it, the kind of weepy that makes you feel alive and whole and blessed.  I loved every beautiful, amazing minute of it! Running in the early morning with the dozens and dozens of deer watching me as I passed; seeing a mouse perfectly outlined on top of aptly named Moose Hill; listening of the Brave Moments of my friends and brave young women; eating fresh hot donuts in the wild wind; and most of all sitting in the sun laughing and chatting for hours on end with wise, kind, gentle, hysterical, insightful women.  Best Girls Camp EVER (yes, I say that every year). Evenside Hike

I have eight stitches suturing my skin together where they've taken out a large piece of bone that's gone crazy above my right big toe.   I feel it stretch and pinch whenever I move my foot and at odd moments it itches like crazy.  It makes it impossible for me to move faster than a worried snail pace at any given moment. It creates this insane electrical pulses that tell me to STOP MOVING THAT WAY this INSTANT and I obey. I find I do not like stitches.   But my life, the last 39 1/2 years, have prepared me for this surgery.  For these stitches.  For this week where I am happy when I can sleep with out three pillows and a five pound boot compressing my leg from the knee down.  For the ability to walk to the bathroom without someone holding onto me from the dizziness of the medication.  For this week of love and sleep and time to stop and stare out the window for hours on end.   I think I may have just had the very worst and the very best summer of my life.  I'm not

Today was a good day. Not because of anything that happened (or didn't happened), but because for the first time in four years of having a crazy schedule every day, I decided to NOT plan on anything going according to plan.  And when it didn't (as it always does), I just thought, Oh, I knew that was going to happen and shrugged and went on wondering what new twist my day would take.  In fact, it was sort of like fighting the ripe-tide, a super duper exhausting endeavor when really, the tide is going to pull you out and then, a few hundred yard (or miles) it will sweep you back in again.  Just sit back and enjoy the tug of powers way greater than you and trust that at some point, you'll get your bearings again. Well, it turns out, it was a pretty great ride.  Nothing like I thought.  I got what I absolutely needed to get done (birthday gifts to special friends and dinner made and kids to their various activities).  No cleaning. No errands.  No reading.  I did, however, g