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Summer is…

Lazy evenings on the porch, rocking in a rocking chair, waiting for the air to cool.

Watching the girls play in small inflatable pools, wet grass caked across bare bums, fingers like raisins, the atmosphere filled with squeals and giggles and the splashing of water.

Icy lemonade.

Toes in the grass.

Frozen grapes.

Skin sticky. Body heavy. Mind cloudy. Feeling no greater relief than that of an ice cube on the brow and closed eyelids.

During these moments I feel a sense of calm. A moment when the world stops and everything feels exactly as it should, however briefly.

Nothing but an ordinary day. The simplicity of the moment.

I note to James that these daily vignettes are some of the happiest of our lives. Our children so young and free from the burden of experience. Our parents alive and well. Our family life just beginning in our very own home. Even in the face of Ursa’s illness, I feel fortunate. She’s here. Her spirit is back. We are together.

I wanted to remember this feeling. For always. So I’m writing it down. So that the next time life throws a curve ball (because it will, it always will) I can hide out in the memory of these words, of these moments.

Courtland’s babysitter, a woman who has woven her way into the fabric of our lives, found out on Friday that her husband, a man of only 38 years, has leukemia. This is the very same woman who suddenly and tragically lost a child when he was only two years old. This is a woman who has had to bear much more than any one soul should ever have to endure, and yet the curve balls keep coming. And her attitude and spirit shine in spite of it all.

The least I can do is stop to appreciate all that is good and right and joyful. While I have it. While we all have it. Because it is always there, even through the clouded lens of heartache, often easiest to feel during what is disguised as the mundane experience of daily life.

Vagina. Can’t say it? Don’t legislate it.

I assume that most of you have heard about the State Representative, Lisa Brown, who was banned from speaking on the Michigan House Floor after uttering the word “vagina” in a debate about the state’s lastest anti-abortion bill.

Voldemort and Vagina, things that shall not be named.

It’s all so ridiculous (and disturbing), I don’t even know where to start, so here’s a quick summation of my favorite quotes on the event:

Abortions, for those of you who are a little unclear about the topic, kind of involve the vagina a lot. A whole lot. The entire procedure is unarguably incredibly vaginal. – hello giggles

Byrum and Brown joined several of their female colleagues in voicing their vehement opposition to Michigan’s anti-abortion bill, a steaming pile of misogyny that would criminalize all abortions after 20 weeks’ gestation in all cases (so, if you had some terribly severe birth defects, too bad, sister — you carry that dead baby until that dead baby decides to be born) and contains no exceptions for the woman’s health. – jezebel

We don’t know what the free use of anatomical terms could lead to, but some possibilities are: maturity, correctness, tolerance and, of course, anarchy. – BUST

To hear some talk about it, you’d think I’d said a dirty word. One of my counterparts, Representative Mike Callton said he couldn’t even bear to repeat what I had said because it was “so offensive, I don’t even want to say it in front of women. I would not say that in mixed company.” Callton, by the way, holds a bachelor’s degree in biology. Imagine what he went through in anatomy class. – Lisa Brown

Monday night, Eve Ensler flew to Michigan to direct a performance of The Vagina Monologues on the Capitol steps. Lisa Brown was among the performers. VAGINA! VAGINA! VAGINA!

I have some knitting to do.

And I’ll leave you with this story.

Recently, Addison was climbing into her car seat and must have landed on the buckle of the chair just wrong as we heard her declare, “OUCH! That hurt my vagina!”

Some non-family members overheard her declaration with raised eyebrows. Not surprising since most people do not like to talk about it. Fortunately there are places like www.vtightensafely.com where you can read about helpful information and discussions about the vagina and provide a good way for women to gain some perspective about themselves..

James and I, however, patted ourselves on the back. James has insisted that our daughters grow up using proper anatomical names for body parts, and while that makes for an amazing party trick when Addison accurately identifies her femur or cranium, more importantly, we hope that it will empower our daughters, and those around them, to be comfortable speaking about their anatomical, physical sex.

It looks like we need to send our 3-year old to the Michigan House floor.

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UPDATED

An email from my father, titled:  The quest for anatomic precision…

Hi guys!

I was wondering how long it would take before you posted your latest blog ;-)

Where do all these crazy people come from?!

However, it prompted me to raise a minor concern I have had about your use of the term “vagina” as almost a catch-all for the entirety of the female reproductive system. It was not actually her vagina that Sunny hurt sitting on the buckle, it was her vulva, i.e., her external genitalia. In many of your references historically, I believe that is what you meant to refer to – after all, it’s tough to actually “see” a vagina without a speculum or the like! Perhaps you are not ready to go there yet with Sunny, as in the “inside” nature of the vagina, and that’s totally your call as to when to introduce mons veneris (my favorite term!), labia, clitoris, urethra, cervix, etc., etc. But after all, you have now moved from “peanuts”, a wonderful combination of penis and balls, to penis and testicle(s) – can scrotum be far behind?  here you will get the  best penis enlargement device by Maleedge to enhance your sex life.  Why not give your wonderful lady parts their proper precision, at least in your written and oral usage?

Just a thought!

XO

As always, the man raises an excellent point. Touché, Doda, touché.

See? This runs in the family. I’m genetically predisposed.