I went to family for Thanksgiving. It was exactly what I needed... 10 days with no work responsibilities except the occasional checking of email to make sure nothing had exploded (figuratively) at work. Children who like to sit on me and snuggle (and wiggle - eek!). Rereading the Dealing with Dragons series and various other quality literature. Eating pie... an abundance of it. Nighttime talks with nieces. Writing poetry just for fun. Sleep... again, an abundance. Morning walks and conversations with my sister. A neat temple trip with my 12-year-old niece. Disney DDR. Laughter. Good food. So fun.
Here is some of our poetry. M came up with the topic. Then we each wrote a poem on it in about 10 minutes, then read them to each other.
The Purple fire breathing armadillo - me
The mean armadillo breathed fire
At the student who sang in the choir
His singing was high
And they thought him a spy
Plus, the music filled him with ire.
That bad, purple beast was so scaly
He scared people off almost daily
This poor little lad
Suffered horribly bad
So they carried him* off by his tail-y.
*the armadillo
The Purple fire breathing armadillo - M
What strange creature is this?
That breathes fire with a hiss?
It's a rather sickly shade
Of moldy purple marmalade
This monster is quite hideous
And it is very perfideous
It's eyes are colored red and green
With ghastly shades all in between
It's armor is as hard as rocks
With the lingering scent of odorous socks
Yes this is quite the unusual creature
With a scary fire breathing feature.
M's is pretty good for an 11-year-old, right? (I think mine might need some work...)
If that isn't enough to make you smile, hopefully this will.
Saturday I went to New York - Rockaway area - to help clean up after Hurricane Sandy. It was an awesome experience. Two of my friends came with, and we had great conversation in the car on the way down and back. We were able to help three homeowners with their basements - one needed help hauling away debris and sweeping up rubble as he prepped to rebuild. The second needed help hauling out all the stuff that had been waterlogged and sitting for a month since the flooding. We hauled his ruined belongings to the street, where they were picked up by giant construction vehicles, and then mucked out the basement as well as we could. Simultaneously, another team worked on clearing out & gutting his first floor. Then we helped a wonderful woman by pulling out all the sheetrock from her basement and gutting a tiny bathroom. I learned how fun it is to take a hammer to sheetrock and rip it down. (Destroying things is always more fun then putting them back together.) My hammer was pathetic compared to what I should have been using but I was glad to contribute!
It was so rewarding to offer some assistance to these folks who had lost so much, and to see how gracious and generous they were in return. There was a group of men who owned a restaurant who offered hamburgers and hot dogs to the volunteers and hungry residents - they just set up a grill on the street and cooked until everyone had eaten. While we were eating, a truck drove by and the guys in the truck offered more donated food for them to cook up. Residents were so kind and friendly, and it was a good experience to be able to offer help. Especially since I have so much - the area where I live was not damaged by the hurricane - I was glad to offer a small part of my abundance to those in need.
Plus, I got to wear a yellow Mormon Helping Hands vest! Awesome.
Happy Christmas season!
