What a week...

Not done yet, bunny...get moving.  

Which story do you prefer?

We are just back from a quick spring break trip to Phoenix.  We left Friday night and returned last night.  Kind of a whirlwind trip full of a bit of travel adventure (delayed flight, long security line, delayed bag, etc.)  Even with that we managed to escape our standard routine and were reminded how warm weather and sun feels.  We swam, floated on the lazy river, hiked up Squaw Peak and sat outside for as many hours as possible.

While we were there we also got to experience young Brandon losing his first tooth.  This thing had been nagging him for awhile and he became a bit obsessed with it.  Bottom front so it hurt to eat his bagel, pizza, any regular food - except ice cream - ice cream slid right down.  Outside of embracing a full on liquid diet I watched him become determined to get that thing out.  He wiggled it with his tongue, finger, napkin, anything that would move that little bugger.  We joked about "in the old days we tied a string to the tooth and a door knob" legends and all had a good laugh.  We reminisced about the tooth that seemed to hang by a thread in Cameron's mouth for what seemed like a good six months. Then, while sitting at dinner, Brandon just started yanking on it and didn't stop until it came out.  We celebrated, he swished with some water and we secured the tiny little tooth in my sunglass case for safe keeping.  

Discussions quickly turned to the tooth fairy - is it a he or a she?  How big is he/she?  Would the fairy find us in Phoenix?  Get the right hotel and room?  Much debate and the final decision was that the tooth would travel back to Chicago and be placed under Brandon's pillow where the fairy would know exactly where to find him for future tooth collecting.  He asked to see his tooth almost hourly and I knew that I could lose my entire purse, luggage, all electronics on our trip home but I COULD NOT LOSE THAT TOOTH!  

We arrived safely at home and soon after I heard, "Mom, I have my tooth - I'll be upstairs" at bedtime.  His grin was ear to ear as he placed the tooth under his pillow and couldn't get me out of the room quickly enough so he could fall fast asleep.  He awoke this morning to a crisp one dollar bill and was thrilled that the fairy really came like he hoped he/she would.  He believed and it worked, just as he believed.  

The subject of this post is tied to Cameron and I watching Life of Pi on our return flight yesterday. I am a bit embarrassed to say that I have never read the book so I only have the movie to reference.  A pretty amazing story which has kept me thinking.  The question, which story to you prefer? can be applied to so many circumstances.  I, personally, want to believe the animal version but critical thinking tells me that isn't possible.  Still, that's the one I want to believe.  

Then I find myself applying that question back to the tooth fairy with my kids - which do you prefer?  I even find myself applying it to my personal relationships and things that may or may not be true.  Is it ok to believe the version you want to believe is true or does critical thinking prove that isn't possible?  I could go on - we have Easter coming up, again, what's true and what's possible?  

I do know that life and perspectives change every day and how we see things can vary a great deal based on what we believe is true.  So my little boy's mouth landscape is forever changing which means he's growing up.  Just like each day, what we learn and how we change prepares us for the next day.  

Thanks to Pi and the tooth fairy for prompting this reflection.  

Patience - a lost art?

We are a few months into our bathroom/closet remodel project and the timeline seems to be draaaagggggiiiiinnnnnggg.  John, our contractor, is making progress, albeit very slow progress. We hire him for these jobs because he does fabulous work.  However fabulous work comes at a cost beyond the monetary investment.  Sometimes I think he might work in reverse.  Almost a Benjamin Button type scenario.

Each night we peek our heads into the room to see if we can notice any progress.  This week we started to see some walls come together and dry wall being installed in the new ceiling.  Both Jim and I are overly anxious to get this done and have to work very hard to remain patient.

So that got me thinking about patience in general.  Basically I think we live in a time where people don't have to be patient anymore.  As much as I embrace technology, and trust me I love it, I know it has changed my expectations and perspective.  Instant message, Facebook, Twitter, On Demand TV, texting, on line shopping (specifically sites like Open Table, StubHub, Orbitz) etc allow us to essentially get anything we need with a few clicks.  I can check my son's grades on a day by day basis instead of the old fashioned way of waiting for the printed report card and maybe a call or note from a teacher mid quarter if things weren't going well.  It's a a blessing and a curse because nothing seems to be much of a surprise anymore and anticipation is short lived.  For things like our remodeling project we have HGTV where two guys remodel an entire house in an hour.  Ok, a little bit longer but they certainly do a lot of work in a short period of time and I, as a viewer, can see the entire project in 60 minutes, including commercials.

All of these modern conveniences have skewed our expectations on how long it takes to complete something.  We have come to expect and demand instant gratification and are inundated with resources that feed this need.  For someone to say this is going to be a good 6 month project almost seems unacceptable.  But in our case it will likely be that, although those words haven't been specifically spoken.  It is a ton of work to completely gut and restructure two major rooms in our house.

Another factor that is trying our patience is that we have moved everything from our bathroom and closet into our bedroom.  Attempting some sort of organization by using clear plastic crates and a hanging rack we purchased from a clothing store that was going out of business, our room is chaos at best.  I want to go work out, ok where did I put that drawer with my workout clothes?  I need to dress for a work meeting, let me check out the clothing rack and crawl underneath to fetch some shoes - hopefully two that match.

When we lived in Boston Jim and I often laughed as we walked through a store called Ann and Hope.  It was  a unique store that had everything from toothbrushes to boogie boards - and it was not uncommon at all to see the two placed right next to each other on the shelf.  There seemed to be no organization to the store whatsoever.  It seemed to have everything, but good luck finding it. That is now our room - the Midwest version of that goofy store right in our home.  I need a Q-tip, oh they are right next to my jewelry, socks and some math flashcards.

On a positive note, when you haul everything out of a space you find things you thought were lost forever, and can take conscious note of things you can clearly do without.  (See previous post re: purging).

So I will continue to make a conscious effort to try and remain patient with this project, dreaming about how fabulous it will be once complete.  It's worth the wait, it's worth making sure it's done right and that means there's nothing instant about it.

Gotta run, my instant oatmeal is ready.