Poetry Friday: A Noun List

Today I am sharing a poem I wrote five years ago...the year I was 25. This poem is sort of a word game I challenged myself to. I decided to have a go at writing something personal and slightly vulnerable that included the top 25 most common nouns in the English language. All the nouns are in capitals.

I've included a few shots of my circa 2005-6 for your enjoyment, give you a little image in your mind of the "me" that is speaking.

My Uncommon Experience

I have found my PLACE in the spiral of TIME
My niche between WOMAN and CHILD
I am hovering in this 25th YEAR
Breathing in my fully fragrant LIFE
I savor the WAY I fit snugly with this MAN,
Our love a snapping, tender THING
But just broken-in enough to leave a
PERSON feeling warmed at the sight of us.
I cherish the pizzazz of youth under the
GOVERNMENT of a new womanly knowledge.
I love this DAY when I cup them both in my HAND.
And, I am pausing here, at this comfortable POINT,
Young enough to still have a robust NUMBER of elders
But old enough to have developed a mothering EYE,
Respect, keeping COMPANY with
A cozy amount of irresponsibility.
I am suspending animation for just this WEEK,
Just long enough to WORK this GROUP of moments
Into that fat CASE of files marked “Great Feelings,”
I will chew slowly, nourished on the delicacy
That is this minute PART of my life in the
WORLD distilled into a fleeting seasonal dish.
The great PROBLEM is: The FACT of Time's moving on.

If you would like to see more Poetry Friday participant posts, head on over to Random Noodling for the full list.

Packing Everything, But The Diapers.

Well, folks....it feels amazingly good to be able to tell you that I met my goal of potty-training Dee before we left for California. Tomorrow we take off in a plane bound for the "other coast" and in our suitcase will be a lot of training pants and 2T underwear but just enough diapers to serve us at nighttime. Boy, is victory sweet!

I am so very proud of myself. I think I was a much more level-headed and kind potty training coach this time around although I'm not sure how much of that I can take credit for and how much of it is just his personality versus Ru's. He's less confrontationally stubborn and I feel like he is easier to work with. That said, I know I've grown and become a better mommy since I went through this stage with his big brother. How can you not grow? For one thing, I'm just older and more mature and for another, experience of course, is a wise teacher. There were not tears on my part this time. There were very few floor messes and there have been no meltdown shouting matches over "sitting right down on that potty young man, right now!" Whew.

It is positively mind stutter inducing to pack bags for our first trip with two potty trained children. I keep looking at their suitcase and alternately thinking "What's missing?" and "Where will I put all the diapers though?"  Then I catch myself and have one more good laugh about it and give myself a mental slap on the back. Nothing like reliving your own glorious success accidentally!

I have even stopped putting him in diapers at naptime because he doesn't want one on and most of the time manages to stay dry anyhow! I'm so proud of him I could bust! What a big boy! And can you believe my extreme luck? I will have only the baby in diapers in a month or so! WOOHOO!!!!

Tomorrow, our plane flies out and we'll haul all those triaining pants (and of course everything else we're bringing to the check-in desk) and head to Medford, Oregon where to adventure begins. I am bringing the laptop and plan to photograph and blog our way down the coast, thus to stay in touch (like a good blogger) and more clearly remember our exciting journey. I'll see you on the other side, wherever I get a chance to sit down with the keyboard and unload in the next 24 hrs.

Bon Voyage to us!!