The Secret Life of People

I was just laying there in bed just now having an epiphany.

Dave and watched The Secret Life of Bees tonight. I had the book on my shelf, I just hadn't read it yet. It was alright. The acting was good, the plot was good. But the thesis of the movie really spoke to me.

I've finally put my finger on my one most passionate belief (or creed, or view, or principle, or whatever you call it).

The thesis of that movie was that we're all like bees. Bees live a life that we don't know about. They have their own little world. It's important. It's complicated. It's full of ups and downs that we don't know a darn thing about. And each individual is exactly the same way. We have worlds inside of us. We are multitudes.

That's why I love Walt Whitman. He writes poems about people, who they really are. And he loves them because he's able to embrace the fact that all people are complex, rich, misunderstood souls. All beautiful and all valuable. No Matter What.

That's why I love the book Things Fall Apart. That man's life was something significant. The horrible tragedy wasn't when they killed the boy, it was when the man's life was dismissed as trivial. Simplified into a steryotype that didn't fit, because it's impossible to know another world adequately enough to know it's true value. (An arguable statement, but we can go there later.)

In The Things They Carried, it shows us that war pastes a mask on everyone. When you see the complexities of each man holding those guns, it makes war all the more obscene. So much more tragic. Shows us that so much more is at stake than we realize.

And what about East of Eden? Even the "stories" that keep showing up throughout all time: man vs. nature, man vs. man, man vs. self . . . Cain and Able, good vs. evil, Hamlet. All these story lines just repeat and repeat and repeat. Trust me. They do. And yet WHY do we still have such a vast outpouring of new stories being written. BECAUSE we are all so immensely different, we see things differently, we think about things differently, we convey things differently, we have different things happen to us, we make different choices. All these things combined, make our story unique. I think that East of Eden is an example of taking an obviously known and used recurring plot (Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel) and showing us that with real, complex people, it's a whole new story. That's the beauty of it. That's why there will never be an end to new poetry, new art, new books, new music. That's the secret.

And this knowledge effects us how? If you apply this paradigm to everyone you know, as well as strangers, you'll be a much more sensitive, considerate, compassionate, open, enlightened, lovable, understanding, generous, charismatic, fulfill person. I could go on and on. You'll really love people. You'll have true charity. You'll make better decisions. You'll work harder. Things will take on more meaning. Life will become more vivid.

In Catcher in the Rye, Holden swore a lot. He was pretty rough around the edges. But he was a very good person. He was a great person. In Les Miserables, Jean Valjean was able to rise out of the sludge of who he'd been labeled as and became who he was meant to be. Some of the people I love the very most are horribly mis-labeled. God sees us all how we are. The whole spectrum from our very best that we haven't even come close to achieving, to our very awefullest worst . . . that a lot of us have uncovered a time or two.

Maybe I get this from my parents. My dad hired ex-cons from the local prison to work for him in the pallet yard when a lot of them couldn't get jobs anywhere else. Yeah, sometimes they took advantage of him, cost him money, ruined or stole things, called him mean things, swore and talked dirty around the shop, didn't show up for work, didn't follow the rules. But one day he saw one of those men falling back into his old mistakes; making a stupid decision that would put him back in prison, and Dad put his arm around him and helped him understand that he doesn't have to be that guy anymore. That's what I think he was trying to do with all of those guys. Helping them break away from the label that got slapped on their forheads the day they made their stupid mistake (or multiple mistakes). With that view, it made those guys who did work hard, clean up their act, followed the rules, and had integrity start to have a little hope too. And those other ones, a lot of them changed for the better. They were all sons of God too.

Anyway, that's just what I believe. It seemed important enough to wake up and write down.

I'm sure none of this will make sense in the morning . . .

Jane's Pearly Whites

And, yes, she tries to bite everything.

Our House

It's a little bit like visiting a zoo. But not a really cool, fancy zoo.

More like one of those zoos that depresses you a little bit because it's a mess and the animals live in very small spaces. I'm sure it doesn't help that the zookeeper's vacuum just broke down.


I was just looking through some pictures I wanted to post today and I'm so embarassed about how disgusting every surface in my house is that I'm not sure if I want to post them.



But I'm going to anyway.





Note: I'm still learning how to take pictures in low light. I'm not very good at it. Our apartment is so darn dark (curse you, Cornell, for not putting in overhead light fixtures--lamps just don't light things up well enough). So most of my pictures are blurry or dark or obviously edited.




Either some aliens came into our house and left pictures of themselves all over the walls and fridge, or Audrey found a permanent marker.

If the aliens are to blame, we can safely deduce that they like to eat bananas, because they left banana goop all over everything.

My guess as to what happened is this:

I put Jane down for her morning nap. Audrey and I were playing peacefully up in her room. I laid down on her bed for a second to rest while she played with her dolls. I woke up to find that she'd been abducted. She was no where to be found. I came down to the kitchen where I must have interupted the aliens writing on the fridge because a marker flew out from around the corner when I called out for Audrey. Poor thing. She was hiding her face in the corner. Those little buggers had even made their marking all over her hands (a couple more little alien faces.

Darn aliens.

Poop

Ok, just to set the record straight . . . I don't really love poop. In fact, I usually hate it since it seems like my house smells like it all the time . . . I just loved it in that moment. I'm not some weirdo who likes the smell of poop or something . . .

Princess Poop

I love it. I love seeing it. I love smelling it. And I LOVE giving treats to little girls who do it in their potty chair. And I love giving those little girls princess stickers to put on their bellybuttons. I've never been happier about poop in all my life. Princess stickers for everyone!!!

Potatoes

And I'd like to add that these couch potatoes were both grown in Idaho. ;)

Toothpaste

Add to this list shampoo and hand sanitizer before the week was up . . . she is a sneaky little devil, that one.

Ladies and Gentlemen, "Gearl" Jam

You must have been a beautiful baby . . .

Gettin' Busy

Every time Audrey dances or wiggles vigorously or does something that exerts her, she says enthusiastically, "Mommy, I'n getting BUSY!!!!" I'm not sure if she means "dizzy," but it sure is cute.

Feb. 14th

Today was an absolutely ordinary day. We have been up to our ears potty training and doing our routine without Daddy this weekend. He's in NYC doing something fun. I hope he gets me a belated Valentine's Day gift that turns out to be a t-shirt that says "I hate moot court competitions." Every year they have them on Valentine's Day. Next year is my year. And if the firm sends him away from me next year on Valentine's Day, they'd better have fire insurance . . .

In other, less threatening, news . . .

Potty training is going ok. I have been using this book, some garbage about potty training in one day. It's got a lot of really awesome concepts that have helped a ton, but the one day thing just hasn't worked for us. We've gotten lots of really good advice from the Grandmas that has seemed to be doing the trick. I'll fill you in on the details later. Why? Because every time I think we've gotten something mastered or figured out, I'm proven wrong. BUT she's doing alright. And I'm holding up. Jane spends a lot of her time lately playing with toys in the dry bathtub while Audrey sits on the potty and I read stories, sing songs, and blow bubbles . . . and beg. And distribute stickers and treats.

Latest cool thing: Carabiners! I grabbed two of them at the store today, and they do work wonders.  I use them to carry a lot of groceries in at one time without killing my hands.

I've been eating a lot of cake lately. NEVER. I repeat NEVER make a cake before you're about to spend the weekend by yourself . . . it's just a bad idea.

I've been keeping busy with other things, but I'll post about that later. You should be looking forward to it though, because it's a big deal and you're going to think I'm a genius. ;)

Happy Valentine's Day. I love you all. (But not as much as a few of you . . . ) :D

My People

My little red-headed family. What cute cute faces. I just can't get enough.