eternally chaotic

Getting an answer as to what Violet wanted for her birthday dinner was a challenge.  She has been staying with Grandma and Grandpa the past few weeks prior to her birthday and upon asking her she offered as many different options as there were nights that she was away.  In the end it landed on Corn Dogs and French Fries, one of her favorites.  It is amazing how many corn dogs and batches of yummy fried potatoes a crowd can devour.  It is also great that Costco sells them in bulk.  It was weird for us this time around.  All of the past meals the kids have chosen have required some amount of time laboring either at the grill or on the stoves.  This time the oven and deep fryer did all the work and we got to relax and hang out with the family.

With full bellies we moved onto let Violet open her Gifts.  I think the only way Violet could have been more focused on opening gifts or on the attention she was getting was if an actual horse happened to pop out while she was tearing away layers of wrapping paper.  It would not have matter if it didn’t weigh in at a certain number of stones or wasn’t so many hands tall.  She wouldn’t have cared.  It would have received a huge hug and she would have declared: “It is exactly what I was asking for”.  Now there was no real horse of course unless you count the adhesive in the tape but that did not discourage her.  Violet was quietly excited sitting behind the little table as she received and opened her birthday cards and gifts.

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March 21st marks a very special day for Carol and I, an anniversary of sorts.  The first spark of our relationship which flourished into what we have today.

On this special day I received a gift of life from Carol.  An Oak tree still in seed form that we could watch grow over the years.  Always a reminder of each other.  Excitedly I planted my new treasure in its pot, precisely following directions to help it burst out of shell and start to grow into a sapling.  Thirty days passed and roots started to form.  Sixty days passed and the seed had just started to split open.  Now was the time to take the tree home and expose it to some direct sunlight so that it could flourish.

A few days later I received a message from Carol indicating that the tree was gone.  Our Seed of Life had been cracked open and eaten by a hungry squirrel who selfishly left the pieces of the now destroyed shell littered all over the deck.  I did have a momentary temptation to go hunting.

Carol called and reported our recent loss to the provider and another tree arrived at home a few weeks later.  Now the process was to begin anew.  Special precautions would be taken until the seed properly sprouted into a sapling and we could plant it in a larger pot or the ground.  Since it takes an oak tree forever to grow the idea of allowing it to be mobile seems best until such a time as planting is required.

This time I decided to document the process with a few pictures.  Carol never ceases to amaze me with her love and thoughtfulness.  This Seed was and is, for a second time, the perfect gift.  Attached was a card from Carol:

Love, Two years ago today you asked me to dance.  That simple question has changed my life forever.  I have never been Loved or felt so much in Love as i do with You.  You are my Angel.  Today, Tomorrow & Always I am Yours Eternally.

So Behold!  Our Seed of Life.

May it continue to grow as a reminder of our Love.

This was a flight a long time in the making and well worth the wait.  Last Easter Carol led me on an egg hunt around the house, each egg progressing the hunt and adding clues to what might lie at the end.  After each nook and cranny had been covered and the final egg discovered I found inside one of these containers of delight a pair of tickets for a flight in a biplane from Bi-Plane Atlanta.  The tickets were good for a year, and thank goodness for that.  With all of our time and energy focused on our wedding as well as learning to tango it was certainly something that would be a great distraction later.  Well later turned into the summer and then to the fall.  By then it was to cold to ride and enjoy it – the biplane was an open canopy and the air only gets colder the higher you go – regardless of how close you get to the Sun.  :)

We took off from Peachtree-Dekalb (PDK) airport around lunch time on a near perfect day.  It was a touch chilly, especially at altitude and it was really windy – that was our pilot, Otie’s problem though and only became ours if he wasn’t successful at managing it.  But no complaining from us as it was perfectly clear and sunny.  Our seats were in the front and the view was great.  It was weird taxiing though when you couldn’t see where you were going except by looking out the side or sticking your head out from behind the windscreen.  Otie kept swerving the plane back and forth on the taxiway to see what was in front of us – onlookers probably thought we were drunk, out joy riding.

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With a high level of excitement and glee, Jacob and Isaac, got to go shopping.  They each received a gift card from their Grandma Donna.  We gave them the option of saving it for later, surprisingly an option they have taken in the past, or using it now.  They opted for the latter so we headed out toy shopping.  With a figure in their head, limiting how much they could spend, they rummaged through the toys at Walmart for thirty minutes.  The decision was complex of course.  The selection had to be just right.  Had to feel perfect.  Jacob went patiently from one item to the next, meticulously inspecting its value, Nerf Swords, to G.I. Joe, to H.A.L.O to Lego.  He finally settled on a pair of Lego sets that complimented each other.  Isaac on the other hand created a moderate sized collection of his choices in the middle of an isle (wish I would have taken a picture) and mulled over the ultimate choice.  Back and forth went the decision with the price climbing in to the hundreds of dollars and then back down into teens.  With twenty-five dollars to spend it was a hard choice: does he get one larger toy that is “cool” or get a few smaller ones that offer more opportunity for play.  At the end, with the clock ticking, he panicked and left his gathered assortment of mix matched items and narrowed his focus between Lego and a selection of Star Wars characters.  Opting for the Star Wars route after some counseling from his clock watching oppressors.

Thank you Grandma Donna.  Jacob and Isaac had a great time getting to shop for their gifts.