A rich and beautiful life

A book I was reading at Farley's used that line-- "a rich and beautiful life"-- and doesn't it just sound tantalizing? It's gotten me to thinking about how one goes about living such a life. How I might go about living such a life. So that, at the end, that is what people will say about me.

Here are a few ideas that have come to me since we've been home:

1. Keep the kitchen very very clean. OK, so there is nothing "rich" about that but I do think it makes life more beautiful. I have to thank the fruit flies, waiting here for us upon our arrival home, for this inspiration. As we work to combat the annual infestation, we have been trying to keep the kitchen scrupulously clean. Turns out life is better when I walk into the kitchen and my heart doesn't sink. That's all I'm sayin.

2. Drink wine, look at photos, and laugh really loudly with old friends. Sublime evening of doing just that on Saturday, thanks to visits from Deb and Meg, joined by Melinda and Tiffany and Camilla. Lots of raucous, inappropriate conversation out on the deck after babies were put to bed. Remembering stories from our inglorious, shared pasts... Thanks, Hiram. It was totally worth the exhaustion the next day when my children refused to understand how late I'd stayed up, and woke at 6am...

3. Get out into the summer evenings. Do not pass go, do not collect $200, do not wait, just go. We headed out as soon as Jack awoke from his nap today, and spent a deliciously relaxing hour at the pool. Jack splashed and "swam" with his hands on the bottom of the wading pool and was really ridiculously cute, prancing around with a watering can in one hand and a little boat in the other. Ivy was pleased as punch to be laying on her back outside, looking at trees. Memories of the lake for her, I imagine. We picnicked on sandwiches on the grass and it was lovely to have Jack really eat, no nagging, and just sit there and enjoy the evening together. The icing on the cake was when Jack peed on the potty right there in the changing room... I do believe potty training is on the horizon (he's staying dry while awake about 80% of the time recently!)

We came home, changed into dry clothes, and realized it was only 7. So, back out. We walked as a family of 5 to Starbucks and the kids were just so good. Ivy enjoyed the baby bjorn, facing out for the first time. And Jack was just so excited to go to Starbucks, he sang a song to himself about it as we went in. He climbed himself into a purple chair and noshed on a granola bar while Ivy bounced on my knee and Nat and I enjoyed iced beverages. We joined the dog at an outdoor table when one opened up and we sat and drank in the temperate weather and our time together while Jack narrated the progress of traffic at the intersection for us. If that isn't rich and beautiful, I don't know what is.

Except maybe this: Jack got a "backpack" style shopping bag at Joseph Beth (where, incidentally, we purchased his new favorite book, Richard Scarry's Bedtime Stories). He loves this bag. He loves wearing it, with it dangling down so that it bumps the back of his knees, carefully adjusting the strings on his shoulders. So that's pretty cute, right? Well, today on our trip to the pool Jack wanted to carry his bag. So we put his towel in. And then he proceeded to pack 3 Capri Sun (his new favorite drink) in the bag as well. "So there are all for us!" On the way to the car, his backpack on and bumping into his legs, he turns to me and says, so seriously, "If anyone wants a Capri Sun, I will drop my bag off my back and give you one." Oh how I love him.