Irene

Whenever I hear the name "Irene", I think of The Princess and the Goblin (George MacDonald). Has anyone else read that book? When I was in elementary school in Cameroon, we would have Library period, where all of us kids would troop to the library, sprawl out on these long, mustard yellow bean bag cushions, and listen to the librarian read aloud to us. We would also have a few minutes to check out our own books for the week. Library time was the best right after swimming/PE, because the library was cool and air conditioned, and it was nice to lie down and be still after running around or being in the pool. I don't remember what year she read The Princess and the Goblin, but it has been one of my favorite books since.

I love that my teachers and librarians read aloud to us. It definitely helped instill a love of reading and an appreciation for the well-written word in me. Some of my favorite children's books/authors (Roald Dahl and Corrie Ten Boom, for example) were first introduced to me through these read-aloud sessions.

Well, this Irene is of a different sort entirely. Our area is under a severe weather alert for flooding. Our apartments sent out a notice yesterday telling us to fill our bathtubs with water for flushing the toilets, to make sure we have plenty of batteries and potable water, to secure everything on our decks/patios, and to keep our windows closed. That last one made me laugh. We folded away our deck furniture last night, brought in the cushions and breakables, and stacked everything else against the wall. I'm hoping my little herbs survive in their planter (which is too cumbersome to bring inside). I did bring my little cherry bomb pepper plant inside; after all, it was my anniversary gift this year.

Thanks for the cool "100th Day" shirt, Aunt Jessica!

This morning, we woke up to lots of gusty wind and consistent rain. Brennan and I stood at his window, watching the trees waving back and forth against the gray sky.

We went to wake up Nich to show him, and the first words out of his mouth were, "Is it Christmas? Is it time to open my stocking? Brennan's a little elf." I suppose that's what happens when Mama dresses him like this.

Anniversary

Nich and I celebrated three years of marriage on Monday. Three years seems measly, especially compared to most of our same-age friends, because most of said friends are Christians who went to Christian colleges and got married soon thereafter. So while many of our friends are going on 5-10 years of marriage, we're on our third.

But they have been three wonderful, eventful years of growing, challenging and being challenged, stretching, changing, and now, we have Brennan to add to the very long list of blessings that this marriage has brought to both of us.

I was just telling a friend this morning that if anything, this season of few in-the-same-zip-code friends has cemented our marriage firmly. As cliche and typical-Christian as it sounds, Nich is my best friend.

We weren't going to do much to celebrate this year, because we didn't really know if we wanted to leave Brennan with anyone in the evening (when he tends to be fussier). But then, on Sunday, a friend asked us what we were doing to celebrate and then offered to watch Brennan when we told her that we didn't have plans. So we took her up on her offer last minute and enjoyed a nice, leisurely sushi dinner downtown. We kept looking at each other and marveling at the fact that we could

1. Take our time eating, and
2. Eat at the same time.

After dinner, we strolled hand-in-hand (another thing that doesn't happen nearly enough) up to Broadway, got ice cream at Coldstone, and walked back to our car through the park.

Brennan was fine, although apparently a little mad that we left him (asleep) without telling him. :~) He was very excited to see us, and as much as I enjoyed my date with my husband, I was glad to have my baby back in my arms again at the end of the evening.