7 Quick Takes: Volume 30

7. Quick. Takes. Here we go.

~ 1 ~

My sister has a friend who is a breast cancer survivor. This women, when comparing having teenagers to having cancer, said that having teenagers is definitely harder. No wonder I feel like barfing most of the time these days.

~ 2 ~

If I didn't have my little ball and chains (two balls, three chains), this is what I would try to do this Fall: The Transom Story Workshop. But I'm not bitter. Really. Even though Ira Glass and Elise Spiegel are living the life I'm supposed to lead. Enjoy, guys. Do great things. Which, of course, you are already doing.

~ 3 ~

Saturation: the point at which a substance cannot absorb any more particles, matter, liquid or additions of any kind. I reach that saturation point earlier and earlier these days. When I get there, I eject small children from my lap like I'm launching missiles, I swat small hands away from my face like I'm battling horseflies, and my threshhold for MOMMY MOMMY MOMMY is knee high to a grasshopper. Poor kids. Then again, it is their fault. Poor me.

~ 4 ~

Recommended reading: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. I love the way this writer develops her characters. They do small, stupid things and fall far short of virtue, but the girl who watches their every move loves them completely. Her love for them serves as a good reminder to trust in the basic humanity of people, to be patient and forgiving with the people we love who disappoint and frustrate us.

Not that I have anyone like that in my life.

~ 5 ~

I have a friend who works at The Paper Source. This isn't about her, even though she is awesome. It's about the store's tag line, which I saw as I drove by the other day and which I probably would have missed if I didn't always try to peek in and see if Nicole is working. "Do something creative everyday." I think I'll try it. I have a gazillion creative ideas that I never get to act on, and my kids hardly even know how much I like to make art: they think my relationship with art consists pretty much of being their biggest patron. Not true: it's time to bring out the inner artist. First up will be the ceramic mugs I've had for a year and a half and have been meaning to paint for the kids. They have stopped believing that it will ever happen.

~ 6 ~

Why do I feel such intense animosity towards places like Six Flags Discovery Kingdom? Anyone else out there spiteful towards amusement parks? I didn't have any amusement park trauma in my childhood. I just hate them. Curious.

~ 7 ~

Life moves too fast. Sometimes, I get overwhelmed just by watching people and life go by on a busy street. Sometimes, I feel like I can't keep up with the crazy pace of life, the new restaurants opening and then shutting down in the strip mall, the politicians getting caught doing dumb things, the inches children acquire over night. I see the way things are ever changing and sometimes, it makes me a little panicky.

All we can do is get up each morning, cleave to the ones we love and do our best. And each day I get a little older, I realize how difficult and powerful it is to do just that.

I'm holding on and hoping for the best. Finding things like this helps:

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Visit our host, congratulate her on the recent birth of her fifth child, and check out the links of the other Quick Takers.