Sunday, May 28, 2006

Growing up with sisters

"Courtney, how do boys get skinny?" my five-year-old brother asked me. "Do they exercise a lot?"

"Well, yes. But why do you want to know?" He looked down and was silent.

I guessed: "Do you want to be skinny?"

Very ashamed, he replied, "Yes. I want my tummy to be so flat it looks like it was smooshed."

Oh dear.

Saturday, May 27, 2006

Four teenagers

When we were little, the summers were vast expanses of emptiness. The glittering void stretched farther than our childhood eyes could see.

Then we grew, and each summer adopted its own distinction. Two years ago we passed through The Summer of the Cows, in which the neighborhood families journeyed to islands all over the world, leaving the neighborhood empty for a time. This summer is The Summer of the Teenage Sisterhood.

Yes, my friends, this summer holds the remarkable distinction of being the only summer in all of history when all four of the "C" girls will be teenagers (13, 15, 17, and 19, respectively).

In the week since I've been back from college, we’ve been playing music and swimming and driving around town with the windows rolled down and the music turned up. We’ve gone to the theaters and to a water park. We’ve helped a sister graduate and watched her last high-school play. We’ve played sports and had a tea meeting with the neighborhood girls. We’ve welcomed friends returning from college and watched other friends graduate. We’ve played with little brothers and visited with grandparents. We’ve fought, and we’ve laughed. In short, we’ve done an awful lot of living in a week.

Upcoming, we have a trip to Europe, violin camps, children's camps, Broadway at Dallas Summer Musicals, a possible visit to WA to see our grandparents, and, sandwiched in between all that, plenty of crazy teenage moments.

Let the summer begin!

Wednesday, May 10, 2006

Don't forget to say "please"

I’m back at school for another two weeks, and, while I’m tempted just to rest and try to hide from the phantoms lurking all over this empty campus, I would hate for these weeks in my life to be wasted.

So today, I learned to drive a stick shift. Spork was a patient teacher, but I figured the trick out all on my own: the car needs words of encouragement. When it sounds like it’s going to jerk, just start talking to it. That works every time.


What should I learn tomorrow?