Graduation!!

After nine years, six colleges, four degree programs and 120 credits (and one husband and two children), I finally finished college this last weekend. It was an incredible push at the end to finish and I'm so glad I put every last ounce of effort on the line, so I can finally be completed with formal education - and now I can write without requirements and research without boundaries.

Joshua finished in December, so he participated in Commencement with me and since we both shared the same degree program, we were able to sit next to one another at Commissioning and Commencement. Which I thought was particularly handy, since I really like his company.

My parents flew in from Hawai'i, my best friend came up with her son from Texas and friends from the university and town joined in the celebration with us, making it so special! After having worked for the university during Commencement season, I remember the joys of graduation day and had such high hopes for the event - which were all completely as I imagined!

It's such an immense joy to be completed with something that has been a part of my life, in front of me (and in the back of my mind) for almost a decade. Chipping away each semester as we transitioned into married life, carefully planning our new life as civilians, then welcoming Aoife into our lives and finally the ongoing learning of the tasks and delights of being a home-mama.

It was in the late evening hours after Aoife was asleep, or while she napped that I read through texts, wrote posts, challenged other students and learned the full value of Sabbath. There were weeks when the homework didn't fall into my cute grid timeline and it all ended up on my lap at the end of the night while I pushed out the last assignments before my clock dinned the midnight hour.

And for the first time since my second trimester with Aoife, I had to reintroduce my glasses into my studies, since hours of studying, reading, typing and editing my thesis had brought my green eyes to see naught but blur on the computer.

But: it's all over. I'm all done. In a couple of weeks, I'll be opening up my mailbox to find a hard envelope much like my husband's several months ago. I'll rip open the cover, pull out my degree and frame it just like my husband's.

Then I'll tuck it away somewhere safe so I have plenty of wall space for all those great family

pictures and artwork my daughter creates.

Little Girl Love

Aoife's 21 months old... she's getting so old so fast. She signs, she dances, she laughs and twirls, and she's a delight.

Aoife, I love the way you:

• answer to just about anything: Love Child, Love Bucket, Snuppy Head, Snuggleupwithus, Aoiffers, and AOIFFENADEENABEDADAVIS!! (but only in emergencies).
• have favorite foods my friends don't even eat: lentils, capers, kale juice, quinoa, & Swiss chard
• beg me for more green lemonade
• talk to me in the morning while you are still half-asleep
• are such an outdoors-junkie. I can't wait to take you camping again this summer
• start pretending to cough when Daddy talks about making a cup of coffee
• are suddenly crazy in love with your Uncle Taylor - where did that come from?
• you are completely obsessed with the brushing your teeth
• still nurse to sleep... it's my favorite time to cuddle with you
• steal *all* of my jewelry
• fit in the clothes you wore when you were 6 months old
• make your dad and I turn our faces away when we're disciplining you to keep from letting you see us laugh
• blow raspberries and kisses to the baby in mama's belly

5 Years of Mayonnaise

*I was realizing lately I write/blog/think about my daughter a lot... but not nearly enough about my husband. So, this is the culmination of some recently ruminating thoughts following our 5 year wedding anniversary.

Name: Mayonnaise, Roomie, The Crunchy Daddy, the Listener, Papa or Joshua (depending on which blog you read or who you ask).

Age: "Just a baby", but much older and wiser than me

Occupation: He gets paid to write books for the government, but he does dishes, folds laundry, and chases around a delightful little person who only stands half-way up his leg.

Passions: Anything that he can strum a chord on, most recently his dulcimer but always his Taylor. He is emphatically attached to books, preferably hardcover, and requires thought or imagination. Favorites include Tolkein and Lewis but he's been known to scroll through an online reader of local and national politics and economics. He's dramatically changed in his tastes since we first met but he loves SOLE food, especially if paired well with a 15 year or better Scotch.

Guilty Pleasures: Hiding a stifled laugh at our misbehaving and mischievous daughter (who is our carbon copy in demeanor, attitude, and sass), sneaking chocolate chips from the freezer, listening to the Car Guys on Saturday morning on the way to the farmer's market and stealing a kiss in the morning from his sleeping wife.

Interests: Learning. Always learning: Sustainable agriculture, foreign policy, economic and political futures, bicycling or anything that maintains his reputation as a walking encyclopedia.

Reasons I love him: Well, I think this is one of those questions that has too many answers to list here, but I think it's remarkable that he's completely different than the person I married 5 years ago and in that time we've grown so remarkably similar. We discovered a route together that leads away from the mainstream and draws us closer together as a family off the grid. What I find is so stunning is his shocking way of still surprising me - I love surprises, but I love the thought he offers it all.

I think I'll keep this mayonnaise at least another 5 years.

Begging Spring

Something changed in me since I birthed my sweetie daughter. I used to be completely partial to autumn. I have more autumnal decor items than I do Christmas. It drives Roomie bananas when August comes to a close and though we are weeks from the cooler weather and autumnal equinox, I will beg him to pull out my autumn boxes and let me start rummaging through all the orange and brown fabrics, leaf plates, twig pumpkins and fall foliage table linens.

Two years ago, during the beginnings of summer, my sweetie little babe was born. I had my hands full that summer and the autumn boxes didn't even come out that year. Over the winter I learned about SOLE food and dug deep into pick-your-own farms , started my own deck garden (which actually grew!) and really found I enjoyed summer for the first time. Autumn came last year and we were completely in love with our farmer's markets, foraging in the wild and camping that we were actually disappointed when summer drew to a close.

This winter was amazing. Aoife is growing in ways that teaches me daily about myself, but she loves the outdoors and with so many freak snow storms this last winter, we both have been begging spring to come. It's been weird for me. I love jeans, Birks, long-sleeved t-shirts and a worn sweatshirt with a ball cap. I cannot wait to go swimming with Aoife. Yes, warm sun, swimsuit, sand, the whole bit.

We joined into a local organic farm that houses our long-eared goat, through which we will be getting all our summer produce and we saw the little starts of seedlings that will soon become the heirloom and heritage varietals that will move farm-to-table to the waiting fork and fingers of my daughter.

Sharing baby goats, growing plants, warm earth, salty spray of the ocean, harvesting our own food and teaching my family about food, how to eat and how to love one another makes each season such a joy. There's so much for her to learn, experience and be excited by that I look forward to sharing it with her...

If only spring could come just a little faster!

December Photo Project:: 12/06/09

Winter finally came this last week... with rain. It's been chill-to-the-bone kind of weather. Rainy and dreary without the possibility of jumping in puddles. No hope of snow or even friendly frost to entertain us... just "stay-in-the-house" weather. Which, as it turns out, is perfect for coloring, baking, and sharing memories with your daughter. Maybe Winter in Virginia isn't so bad.

December Photo Project:: 12/05/09

Over her shoulder

I can see something new,

something fresh.

~~~

When she smiles at me,
I feel something
brimming over with love.
~~~
Just watching her
sitting at my architect's desk
holding a crayon
for the first time.

December Photo Project:: 12/03/09

Congratulations, indeed! Roomie just got accepted into a joint-graduate degree program: a Masters of Strategic Foresight from the School of Global Leadership and Entrepreneurship and a Masters of Divinity in Practical Theology from the School of Divinity. Yay for Roomie!!