I have 409 unpublished drafts languishing in my WordPress dashboard. Most are only a few sentences long. Some are fully-fleshed out posts I will never share. As I was poking through the draft folder, I decided to set some free. Their crime was being too short. The title (often just a working title) is in bold. What follows is unedited and unfinished. Some are quite old.

Query

Why is fat-free half-and-half not called nothing-and-nothing?

I can understand f

Clasp

As a girl, I was a huge fan of Madeleine L’Engle. Aidan recently discovered her books. They’ve captured her imagination.

Madeleine L’Engle died today at the age of 88.

She once wrote this of marriage:

“If we commit ourselves to one person for life, this is not, as many people think, a rejection of freedom; rather, it demands the courage to move into all the risks of freedom, and the risk of love which is permanent; into that love which is not possession but participation.”
(The Irrational Season, 47)

So wise.

Today is our eleventh wedding anniversary. When we joined forces all those years ago, it wasn’t the end of our freedom. It was just the beginning. How much more can two people accomplish? I do not possess my husband. Only God can grip him body, mind, and soul. But I choose to live my days bound to him soley by our fingers gently intertwined.

Meh

Blogging is boring.

Postmodern

I took a post-modern literature class when I was a student at CU. By the time the course was finished and my final paper was turned in, I still didn’t understand what post-modern meant.

I got an A in the class.

That defines post-modernism.

It was anything I wanted it to be, as long as it was self-conscious. It’s all about thinking about thinking, writing about writing.

Hip to be square

Today is 03-03-09.

If I had been on the ball, I would have planned square meals—

Daniel Boone

What is it with my kids and the various United States?

Aidan came home from school on Friday talking about Daniel Boone. I asked what Daniel Boone did to become so famous.

She answered, “He realized paradise is found in Kentucky

Solo

Beatrix is one month old. Today is my first day flying solo with six kids. For the past month I have enjoyed the company of my husband, my parents, and my in-laws. Meals were kindly brought by MOPS ladies. Suddenly, it is quiet. Life has a new look.

Why your kids think you are old

I am nearly 36. My youngest son, Joel, is 3. He thinks I am a contemporary of the dinosaurs and Santa.

The urge to become defensive about my age is easily suppressed when I do a little math. Simple multiplication lends perspective:

I am twelve-times older than Joel.

If I were to meet a person twelve-times older than 36, he would be 432 years old.

I’d dance around this poor person, chanting “You are OLD! Did you know Ben Franklin? Were you born on a pirate ship? T”

Africa

Sam wants to go to Africa to see elephants.

For several months, he has been fascinated with African elephants. He used Christmas money to buy a National Geographic wall calendar featuring twelve months of African elephants. Not many five-year-old boys with money burning a hole through already-holey jeans would chose to buy a calendar. He dreamily flips through the months to admire the massive creatures.

Recently we were at the allergist’s office. While waiting for Sam’s post-allergy shot wait-time to expire, he perused a copy of “Hispanic Business” magazine. An ad featured two elephants. He kept coming back to that page to study every last detail of the trunks, eyes, and stumpy legs. It was time to leave and Sam wanted to take the magazine with him. I told him no, it belonged to the office. He persisted. I looked at the ad and thought maybe we could tear off the page since there was nothing on the other side that appeared to be important. The receptionist overheard us and said he could keep the magazine.

“Wooooo-hoooo!” he shouted and bounded around, the proud new owner of an issue of “Hispanic Business” magazine and it’s elephant ad.

To the west of our house is a lot of open space, featuring rolling hills

~~~~~~~~~

So many unfinished thoughts.

Why Do Birds