Saturday, September 14, 2013

Superheros

Spiderman and Firestar have recently moved in with us.

(If you are unsure of Firestar's identity please refer to 'Spider Man and his AMAAAAZZZZING friendSSSSSS!' circa 1981 Full episodes available on Netflix and YouTube)

They look like a typical American brother-sister duo but when superhero duties call they have costumes to identify themselves as who they actually are. Spidey-man, as he refers to himself, has a back pack and a T-shirt. Firestar has a green necklace with a big yellow star.

Recently Firestar and Spidey-man plotted together to save the day. To save Cinderella from her mean step sisters who ripped her dress.

They were going to go over there and say to those mean sisters: 'I'm FIRESTAR! I'm SPIDEY-MAN! THAT IS NOT NICE! That is Cinderella's dress.' And then do some cool superhero moves like throwing a punch (like a girl) into the air with an aggressive lunge to help add some power to the punch and growl/yell 'FIRESTAR!!!!' or like throwing both hands up in the air with a little half jump half step because this superhero has not quite figured out how to jump with both feet coming off the ground at the same time and exclaiming like the lottery has just been won 'SPIDEY-MAN!!!!!!!!!!!'

They totally saved the day. It was epic.

There is also a villain that visits our house on the regular. His name is Daddy-rex. Daddy-rex comes to seek and destroy with tackles and kisses and tickles. This is Firestar and Spidey-man's greatest nemesis thus far. He is probably 5x bigger than our resident superheroes and has been around the block quite a bit longer. He has some amazing tricks. (i.e. the fake-out. That's a really good one that gets the superheroes every time) But F & S have their amazing jumps, yells, kicks, fake-punches, web-throwing, fire ball making and their names backing them up.

It goes down like this. Daddy-rex shows up unexpectedly, while F & S are coloring let's say. He roars and grabs. They scream and giggle and run over to the woman responsible for cooking and cleaning and say 'It's Daddy-rex!!! We have to save the day! I'm Firestar. Ok? I go save the day!' 'ok, mom! I spidey-man. Get daddy-rex!' They run screaming into the living room where Daddy-rex is waiting. They run right into him and an amazing, equally matched battle unfolds. Right in the living room. There is a lot of roaring (One can only imagine how intimidating this must be for daddy-rex) and fire-ball throwing. Daddy-rex seems to always just dodge those nasty suckers. There is some spider-web throwing and only occasionally does the villain get caught in it but he pretty soon tears himself free. More roaring. More jumping. More giggling as the villain gets his victims in a tickle hold...It looks worse than an arm bar! But somehow they manage to roll/wiggle/scoot out of it. And before you know it F & S have outlasted Daddy-rex. He is on the floor. Spent. They taunt 'Come on Daddy-rex! Get us!!! Get us!!' But he can't move a finger. He isn't going anywhere. They have saved the day again!

Lately Batman has been making an entrance several times a day.. Firestar and Spidey-man really enjoy being Batman's sidekicks as he hops into the Batmobile to catch the Joker who has done it again. They are so good at helping Batman: they start his navigation system, and tell him how to get into the Joker's Fun house. They are Batman's eyes and ears as they walk through the fun house following the Joker's laugh and picking out the REAL Joker amongst some fakes and most importantly by helping him find the stolen diamond. Batman really could not do it without their help and they know it. They are an integral part of the super hero community.

And we love having super heros bunk up with us. Makes us feel safer.

And also makes us fall in love a little more with our posse every time because their imaginations are taking off and it is freaking amazing.


PS Batman shows up in a book that Spidey-man received for his birthday...this is how is able to show up several times a day solving the same crime over and over.

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

This week I'm grateful for...

the moments when I am outside myself.

What?

Let me explain.

Things have been stressful around here. Transition everywhere. No routine...and we all know how I love my routines. Changing jobs, getting a job (!!), moving (a few blocks down to a three bedroom place!), having visitors, etc.

No one in this family does change well, even the good kind. We all get a little crazy. We try to be calm and kind and understanding that the others are not feeling so hot but its so easy to get carried away with our own kind of crazy and forget about everyone else's crazy.

The grown ups in this family have kind of, sort of, sometimes got this figured out. But the little people-the members of our posse have not. They get overwhelmed and can't sleep. They get overwhelmed and can't form a sentence without screaming. They get overwhelmed and I get overwhelmed  but I'm already overwhelmed because I don't like transition. And then everything feels like a train wreck.

In the midst of all the screaming, and not sleeping, and moving, and 'do we take this job or this job' my cousin who is here for an extended visit and I went out. We got ourselves some dessert and some red wine. We sat outside. We watched the people. We enjoyed the air. I enjoyed enjoying my dessert without having to share it. Not a single bite. It was all mine.

We both really loved our dessert. We really loved our wine. It didn't feel like it was quite time to go home yet though because I was just starting to feel the tension leaving. Sometimes it takes awhile of being in a relaxing place doing a relaxing thing before you realize that 'OH! I can relax now' and it starts happening.

Good thing we didn't feel like it was time to go home yet because at the restaurant/bar next door we heard some beats. And we both really love dancing. And this song was playing 'We found love in a hopeless place' You know. Rhianna. And really, I just love that song. There is something deep and profound about that one lyric for me. On all kinds of levels that are not the point of this story. When I hear this song I feel hopeful and excited and inspired. Which is funny because its  a pop song and I don't think many pop songs do that.

We decide we should head over and find out what's going on...A DANCE PARTY.  With glow sticks and everything.

We immediately joined. There was no question this was how we wanted to spend the remainder of our evening.

Young 20's mixed in with 50 year olds all moving with whatever rhythm they have. No one really paying attention to anyone else. Everyone feeling their own beat and moving to it- glow sticks in hand.

We found out later that we had totally crashed a wedding weekend event...but no one cared that we had. And there were no signs saying it was a closed party, no one checking our names on a list at the front door. We just danced our way right into the middle of it.

After awhile the crowd thinned out. And we became this crazy group of individual dancers. What I'm trying to say is that no one was being inappropriate and also that everyone was just letting in loose in their own way. And owning all their moves. So everyone looked cool. And also, did I mention the glow sticks?

What I will remember and am so grateful for about this night was being able to step outside my role was mom. As wife. And just be. Be lost in the beat. I closed my eyes. There was a freedom in that. A feeling of taking a deep long overdue well deserved breath. Here in this place, there are no expectations. No one needs me. I don't have to think. I don't have to talk. I don't have anyone touching me. I just feel the music in my bones and move.

What are you grateful for this week?