Good Things, May 2011

• A giant bunch of lilacs on my dining room table.
• The happy return of the favorite babysitter, home from college for the summer
• Relatedly, an impromptu date night of Thai food and beers outside at The Meanwhile just in the nick of time, after a few long weeks of too much communication-by-text-message and falling-asleep-on-the-couch-without-talking-at-all.
• Watching the Last! Episode! Ever! of Oprah yesterday, wine in hand, friends sniffling right alongside me while we bribed our kids to stay in the basement with popsicles.  It's been YEARS since I've watched the show regularly, but I'll always carry with me her message that everyone just wants to be seen and heard, as well as a single episode I saw with Tracy Gold in 2004 or 2005 that has effectively prevented me from ever driving while even the teeniest, tiniest, only-had-two-glasses-of-wine way ever since.
• Jemma's preschool teacher's prediction at her last-day-of-school picnic (WAH!) that she will read Jemma's name in the paper someday for academic excellence, which does help my fear that it is not normal for her to still be asking things like, "Is it yesterday?" and "When is it lunch time?" at 7:00 p.m.
• Portfolio Night at Annie's school, wherein she proudly showed me just how far she has come this year in first grade by way of drastically improved writing samples, amazingly creative art projects, increasingly complex math skills, and an actual PowerPoint presentation that she and a partner created themselves, complete with animal classification and corresponding pictures.
• The garden, freshly tilled and ready to plant tomorrow (if it would only STOP RAINING).
• An actual close date on the South Haven house (!) and subsequent Big Dreams about a family cottage in our future.
• Celebrating my dad's 65th birthday tonight with a family dinner.
• Plans to see cousins this weekend.
• The outdoor pool opening in two short days!