Rowan's Chut-tol (first birthday)

You are a Blue Germ

Kiki walked up to me while I was working and said, "We ate chook (Korean rice gruel)."
I said, "That's good. Did you eat it all?"
"No, it's in the fridge."
"Oh, OK. That's a good place to put it. Do you know why?"
"No."
"If you leave it out, germs will think it's dinner time and start to eat it. But, if you put it in the fridge, they won't."
"I don't like germs."
"I know. That's why we put the food in the fridge. We don't want the germs to eat it. We want to eat it."
"You're a germ!"
"No, you are. You're a Kiki germ."
"You're a daddy germ."
"What color germ am I?"
"You're a blue germ."
"What about Rowan?"
"He's a purple germ."
"How about you?"
"I'm a blue germ. Mama's a black germ. Uncle Steve is a white germ. Halbi (grandpa) is a black germ."
"Are you a hard germ or a squishy germ?"
"I dunno."
"Here, lemme check and find out." I picked her up and started tickling her. She squealed and squirmed loose, then ran off to the kitchen yelling, "Maaama, you're a germ!"

Germany & They Call Me Lucy

These last few weeks have been a whirlwind of getting bad news, mobilizing the pep squad and then visiting Germany. My dear friend/mentor from my childhood, whom I recently reunited with via Facebook, found out she has advanced, aggressive stomach cancer. The news hit me hard. I can't even imagine what Karen's going through, but she seemed to be taking it as well as could be expected. Mentally, she seemed healthy, and her attitude was positive and constructive. She gathered her forces, her "Team Karen" of online friends who'd become her support team through the magic of email and skype.

Oh my God. Skype. It's so awesome. Talking to her on Skype has made a world of difference for both of us. Plus, I've gotten some good family photos that way.




But nothing replaces seeing someone face-to-face. So with the amazing support of Scott, who offered to watch the kids, I was able to go to Germany for a few days. It was an incredible experience. Memorable in its absolute comfortability, the natural-ness of it all, to spend time with Karen, hang out, chat, do some creative projects together, watch movies. As if I was visiting a dear friend who happened to live next door. Like old times, 27 years later.


She loved the drawing I made for her, and both she and her husband, Peter, wore them all weekend.
But I left out a very important member of the team -- her husband, Peter. So we spent the weekend figuring out how to add him into the drawing, through the magic of the computer and a kick-ass printer (go Epson, who knew the possibilities!). I added Peter in the middle with Fuzzy the cat on his shoulders. And it made the drawing complete!


Here's another Team Karen project -- all of us team members (6 of us) wore shirt that Kati created. Then she made a collage with all of our pictures for Karen


Next project: "They Call Me Lucy" will be recording a very special song of encouragement and love for a very special person.