The Last Supper

Maternity leave over, Jude goes back to work tomorrow.  I'm sick about it.  Sad, nostalgic and just plain sick. 

I find myself asking, once again, how can it be that time has slipped by me so quickly.  Just a few days ago, it seems, we brought Joey home from Baptist Hospital.  And now, quick as a whistle, three months has come and gone and it's time for Jude to return to work.  Three months of my youngest son spending one-on-one time with his mommy, breast feeding day and night, growing like a weed, learning to smile and learning new sounds to make when he gazes into our eyes.  Three months, for me, of reassurance, knowing Joey was with his mommy. 

Tomorrow, Alison, our new nanny, will take care of our Joey while we're at work and J.P. is at school.  Alison's great and it will be fine, I know, but I find myself transported back in time to when J.P. was three months old and we were leaving him with Carley for the first time.  I felt a little nervous, a little guilty and kind of sad.  That's exactly the way I feel - again - now.  And I know it's natural.  I especially kow it's natural, having been through it before, but I still feel that way.

Tonight, for our last supper, so to speak, the four of us - my family - went to Burger Up on 12th Avenue for dinner.  The weather was perfect and we sat outside on the patio.  We saw some friends there, a reminder of how much I love living where I live.  Dinner was fantastic. J.P. was in a great mood and Joey slept.  At one point,  I stole a quiet moment to look around the table and marvel at my family and how God has blessed me with Jude, J.P. and Joey.  It's more than I deserve, for sure.  PJ3.

While we ate, J.P. flirted through the window of Las Paletas with the girl working inside.  After dinner, we bought some popsicles from her and ate them on the bench outisde, facing 12th Avenue.  Jude and I watched traffic go by, as J.P. ran up and down the sidewalk in front of us, a strawberry popsicle dangling in his hand.  A perfect spring evening with my family. 

Tomato Farmers

Saturday morning, after I ran 5 miles on the trails at Shelby Bottoms, I stopped by the Farmer's Market and bought several tomato plants, strawberry plants, a green pepper plant and a couple of seeless watermelon plants.  It's been a couple of years since I've planted anything in our garden and I thought it would be a fun project for J.P. and I to work on together.

Late yesterday afternoon, J.P. and I took advantage of a break in what had been a weekend of rain to plant some of our tomato plants.  Almost as soon as we started, thought, it began raining again, first a fine mist then a flat out downpour.  Oblivious to the rain or almost completely so, he and kept right on working in the garden.  I dug holes with a shovel and he broke up the larger dirt clods with his kid-size hoe from Home Depot.  I'd given him my Predators' hat to wear in the rain and it was hilarious to watch him so hard at work in the dirt and mud. 

While we worked, he told me he was pretending we were firemen planting a garden at the firehouse.  Vivid imangition, indeedl, which is one of the may things I love about J.P.

As we finished planting the last tomato plant, our guests (Jude's parents, my mother, Alice Walker, Jude's grandmother, Margaret McCutcheon) started arriving for our Mother's Day cookout.  I'm sure J.P. and I were a sight to behold we stood there with our shovels and hoes in a driving rain, covered in mud from  head to toe.  In fact, when my mom arrived, she loooked at us like we were crazy.

It was one of those things I'll always remember, though.  J.P. and I gardening together, side by side, in the rain, laughing and having a good time while we worked.  

  

The Weight

Levon Helm died about 3 weeks ago.  His death affected me - not profoundly - but if affected me.  He was the drummer for the Band, which made some of the most influential music of the late 1960s and early 1970s (at least in my book).  I'm a big fan of the Band in general and Levon Helm in particular.  A few years ago, Jude surprised me with tickets to see Levon Helm and his Midnight Ramble at the Ryman Auditorium.  Especially now, I'm really glad I had the chance to see him play live.

Last Sunday, J.P. and I were leaving Bongo Java before church and I put the Band's "Songs from Big Pink" in my truck's cd player.  J.P. fussed for a minute or two, while I tried to find the song I wanted to play for him.  As soon as "the Weight" started playing, J.P. got quiet, which is typically does when he likes a song.  As the song played, I glanced at him a couple of times in the rear view mirror and he was sitting still, looking contemplatively out the window.  When the song ended, he snapped out of his reverie and said, "play that song again, Daddy."  And I did.  Actually, at his request, I played it three or four more times.

When we got to where we were going and I turned my truck off, J.P. looked at me earnestly and said, "I like that song, Daddy!  I like the Weight!"  I held his hand as we walked inside, thinking to myself that somewhere Levon Helm was smiling.   



 

Stomp Rocket

J.P. with the "Stomp Rocket" on the soccer field at Belmont U.

Jude and Joey at "picture day" at St. Patrick Church.

Box

Here's the thing about boxes.  You don't have to plug them in, turn them on or put them together.  No assembly required.  A day or two after this photo was taken, J.P. turned this box into a pretend spaceship. Go figure.

Smiling Joe