Letters Between Two Sisters

Dear Ani,

I hope this letter isn't too soggy by the time it reaches you. It's been pouring rain since about 3:00 yesterday with nary a break. The weatherman says Ida is headed your way. Are you ready? I had no idea we were down to one umbrella until today.

Your date sounds fabulous. Do you know that I never got my date with Gary? I was so excited to send the children off to school for the day with my husband, and the kids were ready too. They were dressed and hair done and shoes on, ready to go. Minutes before we were to load them in the car Zoe announced that her stomach hurt and her "legs felt heavy". She was sick the day before but seemed better by noon and the rest of the evening into the night was fine. She even woke up in good health, we thought. But once I slowed down and took a look, I could see that she was still puny and recovering and needed one more day of rest.

How were the mezzaluna's? I've always been afraid to try them, they look kinda tough to eat.

Chocolate Chip Cookies.... that's something I could sink my teeth into! It's the ultimate cookie.

I hope your date was the beginning of many more. It's hard to figure out what works for your family, but I hope you do.

I have dealt with a heart broken Naomi for the past two days. She is in chorus as school and has a Christmas performance coming soon. While they were working on the songs she had this idea of her break dancing through one of the songs (the part is not in the script). The teacher kept putting off giving her an answer on her idea. Two days ago a boy went to the teacher with the same idea as Naomi and loved the idea, and told him he could. All the while, giving Naomi a great part in the musical that a lot of girls wanted. On one hand, she feels honored to be given the role she was. One the other hand, she's just sick that her idea was taken. As her mother, I have felt like I need to sit back, hug her when she's crying and tell her I am sorry she's hurting, and let her figure it out. What lesson she'll learn from it, I am not sure of yet. Either she will learn to take a stand (or try to) and speak up for what she feels is right. Or she will learn that she can't get everything she wants and life isn't fair. Yesterday as I was pointing out how cool the part is that she did get, she said, "Yeah, but the break dancer will have the stage to themselves and will have all of the audience cheering just for them!!!" I laugh and I know how that sounds, but I remember craving that same thing. The latest news is she wrote the chorus teacher a letter letting her know that she feels honored to be chosen for the role that she got, but that the break dancing was her idea and she wanted it SO BADLY. She ended it with the words, "I am not trying to be a diva." My hope is that the teacher understands where Naomi is coming from and handles it gently. And if she does decide to let Naomi do the break dancing, then I will quickly start praying that she knows how to break dance..... because as far as I know, she doesn't!

Oh, to be 11 again!

Today was meant to be a get-down-on-the-floor-and-scrub-the-baseboards day. However the rain is whispering to me 'today is meant for your head to be on the pillow'. How does rain do that? I must fight it... but I don't want to.

The other thing I am hearing the rain say is 'a pot of Coconut Tres Leches Hot Chocolate for after school snack and a bigger pot of chili for dinner.' I won't fight that!

I hope all is well.
Lorinda