At 10:40 am today we had a little earthquake. Only a 4.3. Enough for us to all look up from our desks, nod in unison, and say, "earthquake."
The funny thing was we had a customer from Australia in the office to be trained on his Magic Planet. The poor guy was ready to get on the next plane! C'mon, he can do poisonous reptiles, but not a little earth shakin'?
Nonetheless, I took a quick look at my 72 hr emergency kit tonight. Looks good.
My son loves to cook. It's great! I'm fostering the talent. He's very creative too - he likes to take a recipe and change it just a bit to see what happens.
Today I put a bunch of food on the counter for lunch and said, "Make what you want!" Fifteen minutes later he shows me his creation. It's a triple-decker sandwich that is toasted cheese on the bottom (cheddar and swiss) and peanut butter, jelly, and pretzels on the top.
"Oh, my." I responded. He took a big bite. He loved it. He ate the whole thing.
But it gets better. My daughter can totally top that one.
Friday night my kids went to a school activity. They were having a movie night and showing, "Twilight".
I got a text from my daughter at 8:00 pm. "Mom, I just swallowed a quarter!"
I stared at my phone. A what??? I texted back, "I'll be there in 10 minutes."
Then I proceeded to get my shoes on, call the doctor, and laugh hysterically at the same time.
When I asked her how a 13-year old manages to swallow a quarter, she wasn't too clear on exactly how it happened. Something about dropping it in her Gatorade bottle and accidentally drinking it. Hmmm.
The good news is that the nurse on the phone had a good laugh with me and said not to worry.
So, I'm not too worried... about raising teenagers... really.
I found another poem. Or rather, it found me.
It's written by Oriah Mountain Dreamer. No kidding.
It's gonna knock your socks off. Hit you right in the heart. Make everything look clear and sharp.
It made me say, "Whoa." And then cry.
Had to share...
The Invitation
It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living.
I want to know what you ache for
and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing.
It doesn’t interest me how old you are.
I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love for your dream
for the adventure of being alive.
It doesn’t interest me what planets are squaring your moon...
I want to know if you have touched the centre of your own sorrow
if you have been opened by life’s betrayals
or have become shriveled and closed
from fear of further pain.
I want to know if you can sit with pain
mine or your own
without moving to hide it
or fade it
or fix it.
I want to know if you can be with joy
mine or your own
if you can dance with wildness
and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes
without cautioning us
to be careful
to be realistic
to remember the limitations of being human.
It doesn’t interest me if the story you are telling me is true.
I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself.
If you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul.
If you can be faithless and therefore trustworthy.
I want to know if you can see Beauty
even when it is not pretty every day.
And if you can source your own life
from its presence.
I want to know if you can live with failure
yours and mine
and still stand at the edge of the lake
and shout to the silver of the full moon,
“Yes.”
It doesn’t interest me
to know where you live or how much money you have.
I want to know if you can get up after the night of grief and despair
weary and bruised to the bone
and do what needs to be done
to feed the children.
It doesn’t interest me who you know
or how you came to be here.
I want to know if you will stand
in the centre of the fire
with me
and not shrink back.
It doesn’t interest me where or what or with whom
you have studied.
I want to know what sustains you
from the inside
when all else falls away.
I want to know if you can be alone
with yourself
and if you truly like the company you keep
in the empty moments.
Yesterday we said, "Sayonara" to our Japanese exchange students. After a whirlwhind two weeks, that went by much too fast, they were heading home.
For our last weekend with them, we went to Monterey. It was a stunningly gorgeous weekend with more blue sky than I remember ever seeing over there.
Here they are posing on top of a cool rock formation.
Of course we went to the aquarium. I LOVE that place. And they thought it was pretty cool.
We all got silver rings at a funky fun shop on the wharf to remember the trip. 
Now it's back to regular life. Only it still looks a little different. That's the wonderful thing about merging cultures and lives.
And my kids will get to go to Japan in three weeks!
Our exchange students expressed an interest in cooking a Japanese meal for us, so tonight we took our two students, plus one more (and her host student) to a Japanese grocery store in our area. (There are actually grocery stores for about every culture you can think of in our area: Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Indian, Australian, British, Eastern European...etc. One of the benefits of living in the Bay Area).
Anyway, the kids had a ball choosing the food and then we all went to my kids' dad's house to cook. There was a whole lot of giggling going on in the kitchen! But at the end, we were presented with a beautiful meal.
They made miso soup, edamame, and a seafood rice dish. Yum!
As they ate, and talked (both languages of course), they began to get silly. They were making visual jokes that everyone was cracking up about.
And by the way, soda coming out your nose is apparently funny in any language!
It seems we just finished the fall play and now we're already into the spring musical! Auditions were last week and the cast list was announced today.
For this year's presentation of "Guys and Dolls"...
My daughter will be playing Sarah Brown.
My son will be playing Nathan Detroit.
I will be in the audience, pleased as punch.
Unless they let me sneak on as a Hot Box Girl. :-)
Sometimes you just have to follow the signs...
(This sign was found while showing our Japanese students around the fun and funky city of Santa Cruz.)
Some have said that love is the universal language. They're wrong. It's video games.
We had nine 12-15 year olds in a room tonight - 4 Japanese and 5 American. What do you do when they don't speak each others' language very well? You break out the Wii.
Actually, the universal language is yelps, high fives, and lots and lots of laughter!
It's been interesting the last two days. I'm driving the same streets I always do. I'm going to the same places I have for several years now. But it all looks different.
I'm seeing everything anew. I'm imagining what it might look like to a 15-year old Japanese girl who has never been to the US before. It's interesting.
Do you ever think about where you live as someplace someone might visit? It's a whole new perspective.
We had a bit of fun this afternoon too. I actually had to deliver two projector bulbs to the Intel Museum because they had ordered them for their Magic Planet. So, while I did a little work, the girls checked out the fun, interactive museum.
Today we welcomed an exchange student into our home from Japan! My kids are part of an exchange program and for the next 2 weeks we have a student living with us (another student is living with my son at his dad's house.) They speak very little English... so it's a lot of gestures and pointing... but it's fun! We took them bowling this evening and that was a ball (pun intended)!
Stay tuned for more on our adventure...
My son got a letter in the mail today. It was from himself. It was written a year ago... at Science Camp (all the kids do this)... and then mailed to him one year later. It's a pretty cool idea.
He loved reading what he had written to himself a year ago on the last day of Science Camp. He re-lived several fun memories of that trip. And reminded himself that the food there was really good (he IS a boy, you know).
It made me think about letters to myself. There's a great country music song about this sort of thing (name eludes me at the moment, sorry.) And I think about what I'd write to myself if I could send a letter back in time. What would I write to my 13 year old self? (High school is going to be a blast... enjoy every minute of dancing, singing, and acting... you won't get to do enough of it for the next 15 years...)
What would I write to my 20 year old self? (Get out of your apartment and go get involved... audition for the dance tour group... get a degree in something you can get a job with :-)... don't worry so much...)
Ah, but hindsight is 20/20 and they haven't invented a time machine yet (nor do I want them to, for that matter).
So, what could I write my future self? (Wow, this is a crazy place to be... how did I survive this job... is the economy ok... is it still just me and the cat on Friday night...)
I guess I sort of do write letters to my future self every time I write in my journal. I love reading back over what I was doing exactly one year ago. It helps me to see that I really am making progress in my life (even though at times it feels very small). I see that I am learning. And re-learning. And teaching.
So, dear future self... Don't tell me anything, I want it to be an adventure.
And by the way, the food is good.
Well, I only got through four books this month (you think I would have read more being down and recovering from wisdom teeth extraction but I guess not.) Three of the four were lovely love stories... perfect for the month of Valentines.
1. The Queen's Soprano - Carol Dines - I've really been into historical fiction lately and this was one that caught my eye. It's based on the real life of a young woman who lived in Rome around 1670 when the Pope decided that it was illegal for women to sing in public. It was a fascinating glimpse into the time period and a great story.
2. Palace of Mirrors - Margaret Peterson Haddix - A clever fairy tale type story that keeps you guessing what the happily ever after will be. (Also loved her version of Cinderella, called Just Ella.)
3. The Smile - Donna Jo Napoli - Again... historical fiction... this time the story is created around the woman in the Da Vinci painting, Mona Lisa. The story is fiction, but the historical events surrounding Florence and the Medici family are all based on fact. I thought it was very interesting!
4. The Gollem's Eye (Book 2 in the Bartimaeus Trilogy) - Jonathan Stroud - This was my one non-romantic book this month! But it was such a fun read. This author writes the most amusing asides from the djinni.
By the way, it's Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss Day! So go read, Fox In Socks, or your favorite Seuss book!
