Hello

While Bobby's been communicating with me since the day he was born, he has really started to verbalize his thoughts and needs over the past few weeks.

Something drops and he says, 'uh oh.' He likes something and claps his hands (which simultaneously means 'yeah!' and you better do that again.) He clinks his cup to say 'cheers!' He sticks out his tongue and makes an angry face for comedy. He whines and says 'nom nom' when he's hungry and says 'ahhh' when he wants my water. And his wave is now accompanied by a little greeting.

The greeting started as 'haaaa' but with two new toy phones we received as Christmas gifts, and all the iPhones that circulate around him on a daily basis, he has started to say 'hawo'

The enthusiastic salutation came at a perfect time too. Last week we ventured out West to meet up with my side of the family to celebrate the holidays and my Mom and Dad's 40th wedding anniversary.

Although he didn't say it specifically, I'm thinking his ever present wave in Park City, meant something like hello mountains, hello snow.

Hello Mom and Dad. Nana and Opa.

Hello aunts, uncles and cousins.

Hello skiers. And snowboarders. 

Hello apres ski. And apres dinner.

Hello vacation. Hello fun. 

While on holiday we also celebrated my parents saying 'hello' to a lifetime spent together. 40 years ago on January 3, in the South Hills of Pittsburgh, my Mom and Dad said hello to marriage. They said hello to shared hopes and a shared faith. They said hello to a shared living space, car, bills, and responsibilities. They said hello to kids, school uniforms, ballet recitals, ball games, and ski lessons. They said hello to dad jokes and punch lines centered on mom. They said hello to kids first and them second. They said hello to significant others, grand kids, and more chairs around the family dinner table. They said hello to Nana and Opa's day care and extending the sleeping arrangements in a rental house to the laundry room. They said hello to love and the potential it created.

As I iced my Grandma's New Years Pretzel on the 2nd, I wondered if 40 years ago they envisioned the extent of their hello; how many people would have been touched by it and how many memories it would have created. I wondered if they imagined getting to this milestone, slicing off a piece of the massive pretzel to celebrate, a photographer documenting the smiling leaves on their ever growing family tree, and a vacation house filled with as much noise as love.

My parents have obviously taught us well. We are really good at hellos, despite the awkwardness of our hugs at times. What we're not good at is goodbyes. 'Bye bye' is not part of Bobby's vocabulary yet. Hey, we just got Mary to say night night. One step at a time.

Goodbyes always come with some emotion in my family. One teary eye affects the next. Text messages with a ;miss you already' follow. And it's usually my little extension of the family that has the saddest parting as we live so far away from the roots of it. So instead we focus on the next hello. The next celebratory come together on the calendar.

Until then, as Bobby says hello to our routine again, I'll say thank you to my parents for saying hello to each other. And in it, saying hello to my life and all the love and joy in it. Including yet another wonderful vacation. 

Lo. 

Back to Work

This morning, Mary came downstairs, peaked into the sun room and said with alarm, 'party all gone!' After I started explaining that our Christmas Tree had to return to the North Pole, I realized she was talking about her new tea party set, which I had packed up and put in her room last night. I told her that she could go have her party upstairs and up she went.

Her omen was true though; the party had ended as of this morning. When I woke up, the house seemed quieter, cleaner, and colder than it's been in a while. Partially, because last night another arctic blast descended on Chicagoland and our prewar insulation doesn't fare well against temperatures hovering in the negative digits. But mostly, because the soft glow and verdant warmth from our Christmas tree are gone, along with all the other Christmas decorations, music, books, cookies, and parties.

Looking out the window, I could see it was a sad morning across the neighborhood. Trees once loved and trimmed with shiny ornaments, twinkling lights, and cascading amounts of presents under them were at the curb. Bare, chilled, and alone. It inevitably made me a little teary.

Beyond just a religious celebration, Christmas and all that it brings to a household seem to symbolize the culmination of one year and the transition to another. You blow out one and ring in the other gilded in grandeur.

My grandma used to say that whatever you do in the New Year, will follow you through the remainder of it. So naturally, I took her counsel to heart, and put my best foot forward. I cooked and baked. I nearly reached senior status with the amount of times I went to Church. I read and relaxed and answered the call to 'Mommy, play' as much as possible. I celebrated with family. Again and again. I welcomed friends to partake in a hunk of good luck twisted into the shape of a pretzel. We took Mary to museums, went sledding, dressed up, danced, and found one more reason to throw a party with Christmas as the backdrop.

The one thing I didn't do throughout my holiday staycation, was think about work. Until last night as I tried to ease the transition back to burger land by getting my creative juices flowing on the griddle once again. I smashed chuck; cooked it on steel; stacked it up per Jamie Oliver's recipe; and bit into one of the reasons I love my job.

After my somber parade of abandoned Christmas Trees / commute to work, it took me all of one hour to get out of my seasonal fog and back into business today. And it completed my stellar start to 2015, affirming my resolution or rather ongoing solution for finding happiness in life: balance - between work, play, parties, and being the best mom and wife I can be.  

Lo.