Loss for Words

It seems I’ve fallen off the ol’ blogging wagon recently. I’m not sure what happened; besides being busy, I just feel a loss for words. I hate when this happens. Especially after being overwhelmed recently with too many things to write about, and then boom. Nothing. Like my writing brain has gone and dried up.

Perhaps the problem is I’m waiting for some grand idea to fall out of the heavens and bonk me on the head (BTW, bonk is one of my sons’ favorite words and I’ve adopted it as of late). Perhaps I should just be writing about the tinier things instead. Like Ethan asking the cow at the farm yesterday: How do you turn on your hose? In the manner of many tenacious three-year-old tots, he kept asking the question over and over again to the cow who, obviously, remained unresponsive. After a while, he became so frustrated he was nearly yelling “HOW DO YOU TURN YOUR HOSE ON?” I must say, it was amusing.

That’s one thing I love about kids. They talk to inatimate objects. A garbage truck is a friend to whom we must all say “Bye Bye.” A bus, a good buddy who we see many times on the way to school in the morning, and whose presence in our lives never gets old or  boring, at least not yet. “Hi BUS!” Jonas, my 21 month old screams.  If I did this at 40, talked to a bus or a cow, I’d probably be taken away in a straightjacket.

Today, the trees took precedence. For one, it was a beautiful 70 degree day in the Boston area and we spent much of our time outdoors. But also, we have men working in our trees. They are removing some of the branches from our Mulberry so  our backyard is not overrun with the clothes-staining berries this spring. The Maple is getting a cable put in because it leans threateningly over our boy’s tiny bedroom.  As we closely watch one young man ( who I must say is not difficult at all to look at) gracefully maneuver his way among the branches of our trees I can’t help but wonder: how do you get into that line of work? Does it start as a passion for climbing as a child? While watching I couldn’t help but think of that movie “Man on Wire,” the guy’s obsession with walking high up in the sky. Pretty amazing.

When Ethan woke up from his nap and saw the man in the Maple outside his window , he said, “He must be very brave to be all the way up there.” I had never heard him call anyone brave before. A tiny thing, but worth noting indeed.