Alison Hodgson

Expert on the etiquette of perilous times.

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“Do you know who the first Top Banana was in our class?” Eden asked, referring to the title conferred upon the children in her class, usually near their birthdays, playing on the Curious George theme in place.

“Who?” I asked.

“Alex.”

Alex is a mischevious looking boy with blond hair and sparkling blue eyes who, despite appearances, is very sweet and, most importantly, Eden’s beloved.

“Mmmm…” I murmured and looked at her meaningfully.

“He was six…but now he’s six and a half.”

“Time flies.” I said.

“Do you know what actually flies instead of time?”

“What?” I asked.

“Jack.”

“How’s that?” I was really curious how she was going to explain this.

“Well, there’s Jack in the movie “Hook”; our dog, Jack; the Jack in Lydia’s class and TWO Jacks in my school. That name is just flying around everywhere.”

Of course she’s right.

Too soon she’ll know that I’m right too.

https://alisonhodgson.com/2009/02/320/

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Last night I came home from an errand to find everyone in the living room watching a movie. Christopher was on the couch snuggled under several quilts holding a giant bowl of popcorn while Paul and the girls were in chairs around with more modest bowls.  They were all quietly watching “All Creatures Great and Small” from the BBC based on the James Herriot books.  I pushed my way under the covers at the opposite end of the couch and helped myself to some popcorn.  Eden ran and got me a bowl and then cuddled in beside me.  Being there I thought of “Little House in the Big Woods.”

Eden and I recently finished it and I had forgotten how it ended.  Not surprisingly, to readers of the series, it ends with Laura and Mary in bed listening to Pa play his fiddle and sing “Auld Lang Syne.”

When the fiddle had stopped singing Laura called out softly, “What are the days of auld lang syne, Pa?”

“They are the days of a long time ago, Laura,” Pa said.  “Go to sleep now.”

But Laura lay awake a little while, listening to Pa’s fiddle softly playing and to the lonely sound of the wind in the Big Woods.   She looked at Pa sitting on the bench by the hearth, the fire-light gleaming on his brown hair and beard and glistening on the honey-brown fiddle.   She looked at Ma, gently rocking and knitting.

She thought to herself, “This is now.”

She was glad that the cosy house, and  Pa and Ma and the fire-light and the music, were now.  They could not be forgotten, she thought, because now is now.  It can never be a long time ago.

Last night, smooshed against Eden and Christopher, I thought of that, how right now is so real and yet, before I know it, the kids are going to be grown and gone.   There is such a strange tension in the passage of time while raising children; the days can crawl and the years fly.
It is what it is.  This is now, and I know that amazingly soon it will be a long time ago.  
May we cherish the time.
  

https://alisonhodgson.com/2008/05/457/

Biker Girl

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We bought Eden a bike yesterday. Tonight, after dinner, she was trying to ride it around the driveway. She looked so cute and big-eyed it seemed worth it to go inside, grab my Mac and take her picture. This is her waving to her fantastic self.

You might think it is just a matter of lifting the laptop and and clicking on the “mouse” (what’s it called?) but it’s not. The sun was shining, my subject was moving and it was pretty stinking challenging getting my subject in the frame and not myself.


I love the way she’s getting down and checking things out.

And yes, for those who care about such things, I will be buying another digital camera, Monday.