Sweet talking Drew

This is me, sweet talking Drew.

"I love your mole. I want to eat it. Chew on it. Grind it between my teeth."

Drew nods, head on his pillow. Closes his eyes and says, "That's kinda gross."

Back

In college I didn't meet the friends you'd keep for life, and one of my biggest regrets is losing touch with the friends I made while studying abroad in Florence. Here's what I remember about Florence:

--a dorm room with six bunk beds but only four of them were filled. I slept on a bottom bunk and Lexi slept above. Late into the night I'd often hear her munching on Special K. She'd bring the whole box up there and eat it dry. Sometimes she'd take swigs from a milk carton in between.

on one occasion she brought a guy back, adude who looked attractive only because he was tall and skinny. they made out and were pretty close to screwing but she stopped him. i distinctly remember the sound of her underwear elastic snapping against her flesh, like he was about to take it off but then let go abruptly.

--sitting in a circle on the floor of justin and jon's room with a bunch of our korean friends. grace was drunk and said a ton of things about each person. her two things for me were that i was very christian and deep. neither apply anymore. or maybe ever.

--throwing up then feeling better immediately in jii's bed. watching pan's labyrinth on her laptop and falling asleep 9 minutes in.

--staircase conversations.

--i never ate gelato there. i regret it deeply.

--but giorgio's panini, yes that i had many.

Where Chloe got her glare

After school

Chloe sleeping

Make the Ordinary Come Alive

"Do not ask your children

to strive for extraordinary lives.
Such striving may seem admirable,
but it is a way of foolishness.
Help them instead to find the wonder
and the marvel of an ordinary life.
Show them the joy of tasting
tomatoes, apples, and pears.
Show them how to cry
when pets and people die.
Show them the infinite pleasure
in the touch of a hand.
And make the ordinary come alive for them.
The extraordinary will take care of itself."

--William Martin

Girl in a Yellow Swimsuit

wish i could be young and free forever.

one of my favorite places to be is across from my mom, chloe beside me, eating taiwanese streetside buffet. feeding chloe fish, her excitement at the sight of fish bones, her proud declaration that they're prickly. "prickly," a new word she's learned in chinese.

wish i could be young and free forever. with all the time in the world, and then some.

wish i could have everything i want: for it all to work out exactly, but with some surprises, too--the good kind.

Torture is

helping my mom with ANYTHING tech-related, namely her macbook. i seriously cannot explain the agony.

Extra Credit

by Emily McDowell

right here

after two years and one month and 15 days, the breastfeeding days with chloe are over. we went much longer than i had ever thought we would, and i'm so proud of my girl for being more or less quite an angel about weening. she handled it much better than i expected. from the first moment i met her, that truly miraculous moment when she latched and my mind went from "huh? how do i know if she's getting any milk?" to "ah, so that's how it feels," to those nights when she was a newborn and needed to be fed every few hours, to later when she didn't really need it but wanted it more for comfort than for anything else -- all this has made up one of the most intimate experiences in my life.

in other news, tonight in bed in the dark, she said "yahng yahng" (itchy). "right here." and she pointed at her chin. so i blew on her chin and then kissed it. "yahng yahng," again she said, pointing at her cheek. i blew on it and kissed it gently, too. "yahng yahng," she repeated a third time, pointing at her forehead, and then later, at her neck, her eyelid, etc., and as i blew on each part and kissed it, i knew i was indulging her, that this was very certainly dragging on and prolonging her sleep, but i did it anyway and couldn't help laughing at that ridiculous litto bear. and then, having received a kiss on her lips she said, "okay! shieh shieh." and that was the end.