In Which We are Introduced

Cottleston, Cottleston, Cottleston Pie
A fly can't bird, but a bird can fly
Ask me a riddle and I'll reply
Cottleston, Cottleston, Cottleston Pie
-- A.A. Milne

I remember when I was in elementary school, our guidance counselor came to the classroom and told us kids a thing or two about our futures. We were destined, he said, to be just a social security number; the only way to stand out from one another was to compete academically. According to this man, the future held a world in which only the best and most successful students were destined to live a life worth living!!

...A fly can't bird...

I remember closing my eyes and wishing hard that I was growing up instead in the mountains of North Carolina in the 1920's...and specifically as best friend to my Granny when she was a girl. (If you are going to wish, may as well get down to the details, I say!) I smile at the childish sweetness of that. I really did long to be there with her. The stories she told me filled my mind with images of simple joys. One in particular was how she and her best friend would run to the field to meet one another. When they saw each other from afar they would start waving and calling to one another in all their joy and excitement.

Often as a kid, when I closed my eyes and wished I had been born in a different time and place, (which was often) I would be there in that field, waving and calling and running toward that sweet person who I so dearly loved. That image stays with me still. I guess somehow, somewhere, I am running in that field.

...but a bird can fly...

My childish desire to live in a different time has continued to be a presence in my life. Though we are a modern family, I tend to remain skeptical of much of what modern culture offers. I lean heavily on the "good ol' stuff", especially when it comes to advice... and equally especially when it comes to children's literature.

I am a mama... a good ol' fashioned mama (who happens to decide to blog,but never mind) who tries hard to encircle her children with a fierce love and protection with a good dose of humor and heavily laden with kisses and books. Good books. And I am a wife... still happily in love with the man I was fortunate to marry. Oh, and we live in New Hampshire... and I love it here!

My bright eyed boy, aged 9 & a half, has brought the sunlight into my life as I had never experienced it before.... ever since the day he was born. Lordy, lordy there have been hard days. But somehow that boy has a light in him that shines right out of those big eyes and drips right off his lips that can make the hardest day turn back into gold. I am not sure if  his feet have truly touched the ground yet. I think he still floats a bit in the spirit world.

My dear lil 'un, a girl aged 5 & a half, has two feet planted firmly on this earth, and delves her hands right into this thing called life with unfettered glory. She plans on not missing a single opportunity to live each precious moment, and can just about be counted on to be good at anything she tries to do. She has a light that shines from her eyes as if to say-- "dare me!" But there is a fragile heart and spirit underneath all that fire for life, and despite her willingness to charge forth, she is oh-so-grateful for this mama who she can run back to when things go wrong. (As unfortunately they often seem to do.)

The hub is a wonderful soul who loves his family more than life itself. He occasionally scratches his head at how he landed here with me... and good naturedly accepts and often adopts my crazy ideas. He works so hard for us, that dear man, and doesn't get nearly the accolades he deserves for truly taking good care of us all. He still has a smile that knocks me off my feet and a kindness that is just envelopes my heart.

And so We are Introduced...again... or for the first time.

Cottleston, Cottleston, Cottleston Pie.