month of beauty: in sickness and in joy

Well, it had to happen.

After getting through two weeks of colds in my house, first my boy, then my girl, then my husband,

then going hard for two straight days (yesterday being a 10-hour-marathon of being out, today going  eleven straight hours—half of them spent driving!),

plus all my enthusiastic calling out, of games and instructions, over the voices and laughter of 20 + drama-happy kids yesterday, and yep,

I'm sick.

I've totally (well, almost totally!) lost my voice. I keep trying to speak, and this wild husky crackle comes out.

My chest is sore from coughing,

and I'm coughing all this interesting censored up! Not a pretty sight!


So this post will come at you at a whisper. If you can't hear me, just lean forward… There, is that better?

We went to the Blue Mountains today (an almost 3-hour drive!) for a picture book workshop with this guy Tohby Riddle. I've been a fan of his for 20 years. I got to actually do the workshop with my kids. We worked on our stories, drew illustrations, story-boarded our stories, and for the ones who really had it together (not me), began creating an actual mock-up of a 32 page picture book!

It was awesome. I got to ask heaps of questions. Tohby was incredibly kind and gracious—full to the brim with helpful suggestions and a whole lot of wisdom. I loved that I got to learn alongside the kids. Just loved that. That is homeschooling, for me, at its absolute best.

Now.

Did I take a single picture while we were there, like a normal person would (and should)?

Did I take a photo of Tohby with my kids?

Did I get his autograph like the super-savvy and very cool teenage homeschoolers there?

Um.

No.

Afterwards, I decided the total lack of documentation of one of the coolest things I've done, like, ever, is because I was savouring the moment. I was living it, taking mental photos, actively participating in my Now.

Yes. That's why!

Anyway, he looks like this,

credit

he's the guy with a bird on his head

credit

and he is as great as I thought he would be. Everyone in the world should read his books.



Afterwards we got to go to Rubyfruit, the divine vegan cafe just down the road. You know, the one I've mentioned before and am totally in love with.

Double-plus yummy!

And then we got to go to a toy shop that my girl has been asking, and asking (and asking) to go to for months.

So. Much. Fun.

I mean, look at this place.

a wall of Webkinz! Look, Kei! 

One of the things in this picture was sold for $4000. I wonder which one?

My girl got to reunite with a toy that she'd left long long ago, in a car in Samoa.

My girl had scoped out this store on the internet, told us about it, then told us we really must go, because there, waiting for her, was a long-lost Storm!

But as it turns out, a toy can't actually ever be replaced. You didn't know that? Now you know. Storm was a one-of-a-kind kitten, after all. So this dear, identical kitty is called Echo. She is Storm's sister. (And I just found out she's French! Can't wait to hear her speak). Isn't she lovely?

Anyway, then I drove all the way home. As I drove, my voice gradually disappeared. In the end, I had to signal to the kids when I needed to speak, so they could be very quiet and listen!

I've come home sick and totally out-of-voice.

It's been a long day and I'm physically done.

But wow, it was beautiful.

I'll be sitting back tomorrow in serene silence, remembering the day, coughing up all that  censored, and smiling from my toes up.