silence

the house is silent once again... the parents are safely on their way back to their "home" and i am enjoying this quite time...

i am here once again... safely esconed in my forest... where the darkness is soothing and the silence is deafening... and i like it...

these quite moments where all you can hear are little creature sounds and the occasional birds... but most of the time the creatures are still... respecting my need for all to be silent... for the only sound that i want to hear silence...

i wish for more moments like this... where i can feel the cool breeze dance over my body but it makes no sound... it caresses my skin and leaves me wanting more...

congratulations... you're leaving?

so of course everyone is up and about... and it's ooh, 4:45a... hello?!... some of us need our beauty sleep... lol... but i know... today is a big day... the little el's big day... woohoo...

so everyone is getting ready and bumping each other in the hall... "who's in this bathroom?" "fine i'll use the other one"... "have you seen my brush"... "how about my clips"... aii.. utter madness... in a house where the women still outnumber the men... lol

finally, finally everyone is packed into the car and we're off... first we drop off the "little el" and the grandparents... as we pull up to the school everyone is walking around in their "best outfits"... some of them have been planning for months for the day and others are just glad that it's finally here... smiles everywhere... we barely stop the car and the little el is instantly greeted with a group of her closest friends... and as girls do they're all talking at once... "oh my gosh, i love your dress "little el""... "did you see her shoes? where did you get them little el"... "you have to come and see what corey did to his hair"...

i give the "little el" a hug and tell her we have to go and get her flowers... we head to the flower shop to pick up the leis and hairpiece which i had ordered a month ago... we arrive at the flower shop and it's just our luck that someone is leaving and we easily find parking right in front of the shop... great, i think, this is going to be easy...

i walk into the flower shop where i'm a pretty regular customer and i tell the guy that i'm there to pick up my order... well of course the shop is bursting with women all wanting to pick up some leis before they head out to their graduation ceremonies... meanwhile i notice my guy is looking a little flustered... he's going back and forth to the different refrigeration case moving boxes around all of which i can see... i will myself not to panic...

he comes back to me and asks what my order is again and at that point i know i'm in trouble... i tell him that i ordered three different leis and a hairpiece... he heads back into the case to look again... he comes back and says the thing i dreaded the most "i can't seem to find your order" and heads back to the case again... aii... snake-dragon rolls down the car window and asks what's wrong... i look at him and i just can't help it... i start to cry... oh i'm a pitiful sight... lol... tears streaming down my cheeks as the guy is forced to pull leis that have probably been hanging there since yesterday... he apologizes again and says that he's not going to charge me the full price because he knows that he saw my order earlier that morning...

at which i say nothing... i can't... my throat is tight and my hands are shaking as i hand him my money... he apologizes again and all hell breaks loose... i'm crying as i walk to the car with my wilting carnation leis and brown-tipped pikake comb... i have failed the "little el"... but snake-dragon reassures me that the hairpiece will be fine and he would help the "little el" with getting it in her hair...

snake-dragon tells me that the ceremony was great... the "little el" loved being able to wear flowers in her hair... and now it was on to the celebratory dinner... woohoo...

so with just two hours before the "little el's" flight we decided to make it a quick dinner so that we could get to the airport in time... when dinner was over we headed out to the airport once again...

when we got there we found her group easily as they were a sea of red tee shirts... who's great idea was that... lol... she found her friends and they immediately picked up their conversation from where they left off just a few hours ago... their chatter and whispers made me giggle... and finally it was time for them to go... but not without a few last minutes instructions from grandma, which she politely yelled at the "litle el's" retreating back... "don't forget to drink lots of water "little el"... "and be sure to use the bathroom before you leave the hotel"...

aii... grandmothers...

mayhem i tell you

just when i thought i could let my hair down and put my feet up... madness... aiii... now it's the "little el's" turn at dash and pack... why did i think that sending them on trips leaving within days of each other would be a good idea...


luckily for me the "little el" is always prepared... she had actually been pack for a couple of weeks... what a lifesaver... phew... but there was the issue of tomorrow... graduation... aii...


we did a final "fitting" of her dress at which she whispered, "i feel pretty."... lol.. of course you are "little el"... and final shoe fitting complete with the "little el" walking cautiously throughout the house from the kitchen all the way back to her bedroom... lol...

oh tomorrow will be fun for sure!

what day is it?!?

what??! wednesday!?! it can't be... too much to do... still so much to prepare... when is the madness going to end... aii

just when i thought i could relax and let my hair down... we actually have to pick up the pace and go-go-go... aii

planes, trains and euros...

Oh, the Places You'll Go!
Congratulations! Today is your day. You're off to Great Places! You're off and away!
You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You're on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the guy who'll decide where to go.
You'll look up and down streets. Look 'em over with care. About some you will say, "I don't choose to go there. "With your head full of brains and your shoes full of feet, you're too smart to go down any not-so-good street.
And you may not find any you'll want to go down. In that case, of course, you'll head straight out of town.
It's opener there in the wide open air.
Out there things can happen and frequently do to people as brainy and footsy as you.
And when things start to happen, don't worry. Don't stew. Just go right along. You'll start happening too. ~ Dr. Seuss

so the "bad el" is off on her two week adventure... this is the first time that she will be going on a trip... let alone without either of us there to "protect" her and i think snake-dragon is a bit concerned... but we're sending her without a cellphone because we don't want her calling her friends here... running up the international charges... but more importantly, we wanted her to enjoy herself over there and not worry about having to check in with us every day...

what a great experience she'll have... and not once in a lifetime... because i know that she'll find her way back there again...

freedom here i come

we had been planning this trip for two years... and now the day had finally arrived... it was weird because up until this point we didn't think she was excited at all about this trip... in fact i don't think she even opened any of the books relating to the places they were going... guess she's going to wing it, we thought...

the "bad el's" luggage had already been packed weeks in advance but she decided, six hours before she left, that maybe she should check again to see if she had everything... aii... disaster... she questioned whether she really needed three pairs of jeans... "would it really be that hot?" she asked out loud... "do i need more tops?" she wondered... back to her room where she checked the weather one more time to make sure that she was prepared for the next two weeks...

"how about a brush?" my mom asked.. "check" she replied... "and your contacts?" questioned my mom... "i have a pair on" she continued... "but what if you lost it" panicked my mom... "geez mama, just say "bad el, put an extra pair of contacts in your luggage"... it went on like that for the rest of the night... i chose to tune it out and go to bed...

in the morning, luggage situated and stuffed we were ready... off to the airport... and onward to adventures... and hopefully she comes back with lots of great pictures and fantastic stories...