“In the chilly hours and minutes of uncertainty,
I want to be in the warm hold of your loving mind.”

“To feel you all around me, and to take your hand”

“We may as well try and catch the wind.”

This song goes through my head all the time, when I think of the moments of things we do everyday, that are not so special really.  They blow by and more moments blow by after them, and if we don’t stop to notice, they blow away.  We can’t catch the wind, but we can be conscious of every breath, with every tear, every whine, every daily kiss good-bye, that the gift is that we’re here together.

Since the boys turned 8 we’ve slept with lions in Africa,

Conquered the Rocky steps in Philadelphia,

Said good-bye to an old life,

And started a new one.

In the last year we visited one of the greatest waterfalls in the world,

Went tubing on Lake Chelan,

Rode a merry-go-round in Slovakia (not yet too old for merry-go-rounds!),

Lit fireworks in Seattle,

Made Christmas cookies in Vienna,

Climbed over cannons in Salzburg,

Visited the Library of Congress,

Agonized over how to fairly split a huge doughnut,

Made our first summer lemonade stand,

And moved from one hemisphere to the other.  The weather is a little different here!

Daddy, can we make planets and hang them up in our room again?

It has been an amazing year.  And the wind keeps blowing, the time keeps moving, leaving us no choice but to blow along with it.

The other day I realized that this year, turning nine marks being halfway through.  That in another nine years if they follow the trajectory of normal kids, we will be facing a birthday that brings with it a different transition.

But that is a thought to be filed away for later.  For now, we are busy enough.

Trying to catch the wind!