September 1st – Listening to our new little reader entertain her sister with a Seuss classic.
September 2nd – Getting treated to an exclusive performance of The Best Circus Show EVER!!! with the world-famous ringmasters (and tightrope walkers and clowns and trapeze artists and magicians and unicyclists) Natalie and Sophie.
September 3rd – Watching the follow-up to the circus show: The Best Puppet Show EVER!!! (It was.)
September 4th – Finally checking out the local library that looks like a pink spaceship—to the girls’ delight—and bringing home a stack of storytimes.
September 5th – Appreciating how this week’s preacher included the Sunday-schoolless kids in the sermon and kept it short and relevant… as opposed to last week’s long droning discourse about Tamar and Judah. (The mind, it boggles.)
September 6th – Getting a fresh burst of excitement about this fall when Sophie exclaimed, “Natalie and I are about to go to school, and Mommy’s going to write and write and write! And make lunch!”
September 7th – Trying very, very hard not to giggle at the dinner table as the girls seriously discussed the perils of pooping.
September 8th – The usually horrible Festa dell’Unità playing Stevie Wonder through our open windows just when I needed a dose of happy.
September 9th – Watching a marathon of the girls’ baby videos with them, no matter how desperately it makes me want to cry.
September 10th – Introducing the girls to the magic of Totoro.
September 11th – Ending a full day of shopping with… more shopping, and speculating about all the fun memories the girls will make in their new fall clothes.
September 12th – Turning a failed picnic into an afternoon of games and relaxed conversation with one of our favorite families.
September 13th – Sending two thrilled little girls straight into the arms of their favorite teacher at school.
September 14th – Meeting the words I’ve been trying to find for years as they tumbled out of my fingers onto the page; mornings like this are why I write.
September 15th – Seeing evidence of my sweet girls’ care for our family and each other in action.
September 16th – Enjoying roasted tomato soup with a supersized helping of friendship.
September 17th – Snuggling up for a movie night with my favorite husband.
September 18th – Taking Natalie out for a mom-daughter shopping date and chatting up a storm.
September 19th – Indulging my inner heathen and taking a much-needed day to relax and watch the clouds blow by.
September 20th – Squelching my fear of failure and utter hatred for running to complete nearly three kilometers with my longsuffering Dan.
September 21st – Easing back into teaching English and remembering how much I really do enjoy it.
September 22nd – Accepting a last-minute playdate invitation and getting to know the warm and bubbly woman who is Natalie’s future mother-in-law.
September 23rd – Kissing my girls goodbye and watching them gallop hand-in-hand to their classroom, giggling all the way.
September 24th – Discovering an entire group of friends who share my background and are working together to forge a future full ofhope.
September 25th – Baking illegal chocolate cake with plenty of sticky-fingered help.
September 26th – Cracking up with the rest of the church band after an increasingly awkward list of song selections, including the same one called twice in a row.
September 27th – Being treated to the most delicious pretend picnic of all time by my dear Sophie who came home sick from school.
September 28th – Having a little dance party with myself to this song while putting on my makeup.
