Giving Thanks

Tonight, after getting dinner on the table and Eleri to bed, I ran out to the car to retrieve a bottle of wine that Dave left behind after his return from Costco. It was raining, and Dave insisted I put his gortex jacket on over my own wool one (plus some velour "inside pants" and rain shoes- hot stuff); the sleeves are about a foot too long, and as I flopped the visored hood up over my head, I jokingly asked, "how do I look?"

Clio turned around from the table and said, "Mommy, you look beautiful."


Dave took this picture today, and when I looked at it in the camera viewfinder, I said I looked funny; I didn't recognize myself.

"Maybe because your smiling," Dave said, "we haven't seen that in a while." I wish I could say he was kidding.

This refreshed Mommy is a result of the reprieve I received over the weekend. My office was closed on Wednesday, and while I did go in for a while, it was on my own time, and I had the place to myself. I also saw my Doctor for a long-overdue physical. Had lunch with a friend. Shopped (picture of me in my fabulous birthday present to myself, coming soon). Met with students about their final projects. It was a pretty low key day. And on Thursday, we continued what has been my primary Thanksgiving tradition since my freshman year at Vassar, fifteen years ago, and went out to Jim and Missy's. Because it was a perfectly laid back weekend, in which I did very little at all (but was subject to the most fabulous full-body massage on earth, thanks to Jim and Missy's masseuse), there's not much to report, and not many pictures to share. The big news is that when I returned to Brooklyn last night, refreshed, I felt that I had gained a little perspective, and found myself ready for this last stretch of "doing it all" before the holiday break. And for that, I am thankful.