my literary boys

yesterday was the awards assembly at wyatt and seth's school, and during this assembly, The Unfinished Jigsaw for 2010/2011 (an anthology of literary and art work by students from c'ville city schools) was released. the children who have literary or art work chosen to be in the publication are mentioned and presented w/ a copy of the book. well, both collier boys had their work chosen! seth wrote a story, and wyatt a poem. i’m including them below:

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The Fire-Breathing Dragon
by seth collier, grade 1

There was a boy who saw a big, green dragon. The dragon woke up and saw the boy. He got out of the dark cave and chased the boy named Seth. Seth saw a sword and a shield. He picked it up and the dragon breathed fire at Seth. Whoosh! The dragon broke the shield. Seth put the sword up and stabbed the dragon. Uhhhhh! The dragon fell down and died.

Trapped, a haiku
by wyatt collier, grade 3

In the cell with bars
You start to cry for some help
No one comes for you.

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now, if you’re like me, you are delighted by seth's story--so like him to be the hero of a dragon story, ha ha--but you might start freaking out about wyatt’s poem: “wow. such a stark, powerful image. . .but oh no! why does wyatt feel trapped? why does he feel like no one is going to come for him?” because of course this poem surfaced from the depths of his subconsciousness. you might assume that here, in written form, is finally the proof that you are a terrible parent. (unless you are not his parent, in which case you think “oh dear, something has gone terribly wrong with the way miska is parenting her child. here is the proof in written form, published no less.”)

this must be investigated--or "gently explored"--with this 9 year old child. last night as wyatt was playing his new keyboard in his room (he has memorized swan lake, the one-handed version, and we hear it repeatedly), i walked in as nonchalantly as possible and asked him if he would tell me about his poem. he said sure. i asked how it came about and what prompted him to write about being trapped. he told me his class went outside and sat under the covered sidewalk while it rained and wrote their poems and that his friend gave him the idea. “oh, really?” i was still so casual with only a tiny bit of hysteria creeping into my voice. “but do you feel that way, wyatt? like you’re trapped and no one is coming to help you?” (so subtle.)

“huh?” was his initial response. then he looked up at the ceiling to think about it, and said, “hmmm, i don’t think so. . .nah, i don’t feel that way.”

we can only hope, people. we can only hope. that boy is deep and God only knows what goes on inside him.

he was finished with the conversation after that, ready to move on to something else, and i was summarily dismissed from his room.

sawyer all american family tour

last week was the boys' spring break, and we ventured up to d.c. for several days to see the sights. now, i am not good at sight-seeing, and the city completely whipped me (it is possible that having 2 boys with the energy level of young chimpanzees may also have contributed).

but the great thing about our trip was seeing some good friends, the sawyers and 1/2 of the scotts (sadly, justin was at a funeral), and my favorite experience was walking around the monuments at night with everyone. and my very, very favorite thing was listening, while we walked, to michael and wyatt talk. wyatt's constant "what ifs" and "would you rather have this experience or that experience" and his desire for me to engage in mathematical equations and whatnot leave me feeling dizzy and exhausted on my good days. michael, on the other hand, played with wyatt conversationally in a way that was just beautiful. michael is one of those unassuming geniuses, and wyatt finally met his match. he actually had to walk away at one point in the conversation because he was so frustrated that michael had bested him. (if you don't know wyatt, you might not understand why this is such a good thing, but trust me, it is.) here we are (i'm behind the camera): wyatt, winn, michael, baby max, amy, erin, and seth (who, incidentally, commented a number of times about how much fun it was to hang out with erin. he's had a little bit of a crush on her for years.)


if you are able to make it up to d.c., i highly recommend the sawyer all american family tour. they know all the sights to see and how to get around, but most importantly, they know where the best food is.

continuing with the category of "things that make me happy"

i just spent the last week cruising around the bahamas with my sister. this is sooo my natural habitat. will you look at that water?!

and the time with my beautiful sister was priceless.

yay amy

my bff, the fabulous amy walker, flew in from denver for the weekend. we were strolling along downtown when we spotted this license plate and snapped a photo with our stealth powers before the car drove away.

if you strip it down to its most elemental form, "yay amy!" is what my heart says when i think of my friend's presence in this world and in my life. she makes me want to jump up and down and clap my hands and even do a cheerleader high kick. yay for a beautiful, alive, hilarious, open-hearted woman. yay for the kind of friend who makes me feel at home. yay for a friend with whom I can laugh, cry, and eat a shocking amount of chocolate, all in the space of 15 minutes or less.

yay amy indeed.