Dec 19. 2010

LaDonna Austin

For not being afraid to extend a
short notice invitation.

I WILL BE RIGHT THERE!

xoxo

Dec 18, 2010

Valerie McQueen

For knowing that you can't get your
whole life together just because you
get one snow day.

xoxo

And for calling me on the telly phone.

Dec 5, 2010

Brenda Downstairs.

I don't have a picture of Brenda right now,

but didn't want to have to delay this post until morning.

Brenda lives on the first floor

and whenever I pick up a call from her she says,

"Hello! This is Brenda Downstairs."

I have her programmed into my phone as such--

first name Brenda, last name Downstairs.

So I already know who is calling.

I'm not sure how old Brenda Downstairs is.

She has been a widow for a long time.

Her sons live far away.

She calls me if there is high wind.

Or even the threat of high wind.

"Are you okay up there?

You know that you can come down."

Once, I told her that I loved the shoes she was wearing.

Brenda Downstairs called me a couple of hours later

and told me that she got the shoes at DSW,

she had a coupon that she would probably not use,

and that I should knock on her door and get it.

She called me on Thanksgiving morning

because she saw my car out front,

and wanted to make sure I was okay.

Tonight, she heard my bathwater drain

and Brenda Downstairs called.

I don't know what the original reason for her call was.

But we ended up talking about love, loss, snow,

and Christmas.

On this December Sunday, it's Brenda Downstairs.

Dec 2, 2010

I really don't want to have to re-name this blog
One Person. Every Day That I Get Around to It.

Sorry I have been remiss.

I promise to do better.

Nov 29, 2010

Nicole Krauss

"It's in those places...those fissures...those very fragile and quite dark places...abysses that people find themselves in...I think those places give up this opportunity for revelation, for transcendence, for transformation.
I'm attracted to them not for their darkness, I think in everything I write, it seems strange to say, I feel hopeful about all the potential, about the magnitude of life and all that we are given to feel. I'm not shy about touching and talking about how painful it is, but I have this hope that somehow in dwelling in all of that there is an opportunity for some kind of enhancement."

Nov 28, 2010

Mary Daisy Dinkle

Nov 27, 2010

Phone Call From Madeline

HI MADELINE!!!!

Hi, Amy.

What are you doing?

Driving to swim lessons.

How is Daisy?

Fine.

Did you have a good Thanksgiving?

Yeah. We had ham. What were you for Halloween? I was a fairy by day, witch by night.

I wasn't anything. I went to bed early.

Oh.

You know what we forgot to do when I was in Denver? We forgot to make a Christmas list.

I know.

What could I send you for Christmas?

You know. You know. You know. Not clothes.

Toys?

My mom and dad made my Toy Story 3 list and Santa is bringing me ONE Toy Story 3 thing.

Who do you think you'll get? Woody? Buzz?

Probably. But Dinosaur, Potato, Jessie, Woody, they are all my favorite.

Do you think they have Jessie at Target?

Probably they have Jessie at Target. She's twenty cents.

*****mumbling from what sounds like Madeline's mother in the background****

Oh, Amy? Jessie's MORE than twenty cents.

Okay. I will make sure I take enough cents for Jessie.

Okay. I love you.

I love you, Madeline. Have a good swim lesson. Call me again. Soon.

Nov 26, 2010

Lynn.

A little birdie told me today that
Lynn reads my blog.

Oh, the pressure!
When you (I) can write with the knowledge that
no one is reading,
you (I) can write anything at all.

At least it's Lynn,
who teaches second and third grade,
and is used to a lot of trial and error
in writing.

xoxo

Nov 25, 2010

Nathan Alexander Dickerson McCracken
To me, simply Buddy.

For a hundred reasons that everyone knows,
and for many, many reasons that
only I know,
today it is Buddy.

During the middle of a night
23 years ago, my heart broke with
the knowledge that the tiny person I
was holding would grow up and
leave me one day.
*Poof*
Gone.

But it doesn't really happen like that.

There's mercy in the way children go.

They leave you a little bit every day.

And we celebrate it.
When they learn to feed themselves.
When they walk.
When you change the last diaper.
When the school bus pulls away.
When one day they have body odor.
When you can't breathe because you see tail lights fading up the street.
Then there is the tassel on the mortarboard.
And the goodbye on the curb outside of the dorm room.

A little bit every day.

Until they really are gone--and all grown up.

But, if you're lucky, as I am, your child will
do or say something that makes you
realize they'll never forget that you
held them in the middle of the night
and that your heart broke.

And everything will be okay.

Buddy Nathan Alexander Dickerson McCracken,
I love you.

xoxo

Nov 22, 2010

September 2008, New York City
Eeyore shirt.

November 2010, Denver, CO
Eyeliner.

I've been with my family for the last 4 days.
It's been impossible to pick only
one person, every day.

Flying home tonight to face the next couple of days
without them.