Happ-eeeee

Last weekend, we celebrated the Fourth of July, fireworks, food, family (those with us, those away from us and those above us), and two new additions to Bobby's vocabulary:
Home.
And ...
Happy.

He first said 'home' when we were bike riding on Friday evening. The outing had gone too long for his rumbling tummy and he was getting fussy. He slowly rounded his lips, huffed out an 'h' and drew out the o-o-o-o-o-me. H-o-o-o-me, h-o-o-o-me, home, he said over and over again, proudly confirming that he had conquered the imperative word that meant food, milk, and his cherished owl named Hoo Hoo. 'H-o-o-o-me, Dadda, Dinner.' (Dinner was a newbie too.) So home we went. 

***

Despite his somewhat serious stare at times, Bobby is generally a very easy going, happy, albeit wild little boy. And there are many things that make him extra enthusiastic.

Like birthday parties.

His daddy. And getting too close to touching his 'hot. hot. hot.' grill.

Picnic Food.

Snack Food.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner food.

Treats. And more, more, more treats.

Company and saying cheers to them.

Water. He loves water.

Hugs and squeezes and most of all the tickle machine. He loves being tickled and laughs for the world to hear.

While his smile and giggles have communicated his contentment to me for the past 17 months, he said, 'happy' to me while we were driving in the car last weekend.

I responded, 'Are you happy, Bobby?'

'Happ-eeee, happ-eeee, happ-eeee.' he said, over and over again, because it takes repetition to own that word once and for all. I wondered if he truly understood the emotion associated with it; his smile told me, yes.

While he's been learning a new word or two each day, he's also been tying together the ones he already has into coherent statements.
Hi Mommy.
Hi Daddy.
Bye, bye, Bunny.

Big bear.
My turn.
Show. Show.
My turn.
Wa wa.
My turn.
No, No, No!

Up airplane.
Up moon.
Nigh, nigh.
Nigh, nigh.

Train choo choo.
Truck, beep beep.
Tunnel, echo!
More tunnel, echo!

Donut. Donut. Donut. Donut. (Thank you, Debbie.)

So I'm hoping it's just a matter of time before he'll figure out that happy and home go together. That despite the crazy, uncertain, complicated, and yes, scary world that we live in, home will always provide happiness. Which in today's society is no small task. It's not easy to strip away the stress of the work day, the grief from the headlines, and the uncertainty of what's next. But you have to try.

Keep it alive through date night, summer reading, a morning run, sleep, more sleep, breaks, more breaks, find the comedy and irony in it all (if you can), grasp onto your faith, share your views of hope and above all love everyone in your sphere of influence as much as humanly possible. Because if not from home, if not from your community, where else are the seeds of happiness and love going to come from?

Lo.

Free

Two hundred and thirty nine years ago, a group of patriots signed the Declaration of Independence, setting themselves free from the British monarchy and their unruly taxes ...

(I was going to go into a little more detail at this point, but after debating facts and figures and an unknown order of events with my husband, I realized my knowledge of American history is painfully flawed, so I'll stop and fast forward to present day.)

... In the Play Pen, a notorious spot for anchoring and partying in the shadows of Chicago's historic skyscrapers, thousands of people celebrated Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, John Hancock, and quite a few other lesser known signatories yesterday. Among the masses, I doubt I was the only one who didn't know the finer details behind the founding of our great nation. Nonetheless, everyone seemed to have good reason for toasting to America's 239th birthday. Decked from head to toe, bow to stern, in red, white, and blue, revelers partied from morning to an hour far past my bedtime.  

There was certainly an aura of life, liberty and an ultimate pursuit of happiness bobbing and floating in Lake Michigan's calm waters. And despite a predominantly foggy understanding of the reason behind the regatta, there were universal freedoms that everyone seemed to be partying for.

The freedom to eat one more doughnut.

The freedom to live a little dangerously.

Freedoms of press and speech.

The freedom to raise the flag.

And wear it if you so choose.

The freedom to party with as many people as possible.

The freedom to take selfies and share them with the world.  

The freedom to bend the rules. Even in the presence of the Chicago Police.

The freedom to eat, drink and be merry.

The freedom to marry whoever you want. Especially if you've found that person who completes you.

In all seriousness, I felt very thankful to be an American yesterday. To live in a country free of war; where my kids can play and embrace their youth as long as possible; where hard work still pays off; and where there's always a pursuit that advances the status quo. Yes, our country still has it's flaws and yes, there are still inequalities rampant within our civic structures, but we have made a lot of progress over the past centuries. And I'm optimistic that my children will see a day and age when everyone is truly treated as an equal. 

A hearty thank you to our founding fathers, to our war veterans, to the brave soldiers who have fought battle after battle for the advancement of civil rights on our home soil, and to the millions of people who make our country work (harder) every day. Thank you for letting my children sleep soundly tonight. 

So they can dream big tomorrow. 

  
Lo.

Hot and Cold

I used my words last night, so today, you mostly get snapshots. Wednesday brought a very fun fourth of July on the boat. And I owe a BIG special thanks to:
Peggy and Jan, for hosting ...
Jeff from Roger's Park, for coming aboard and showing us what's SUP ...
Kate, for just showing up and bringing her A game ...
And Lake Michigan, for cooling us down with your 64-degree temps on another very hot Chicago day.
   
TGIF.
Lo.