Cream in my crevasses
I put cream
In my crevasses
The dark ones
Under my eyes
And I’d never share this photo
With anyone
Not even my mother
Or my best friends
In fear of enormous worry
Or blackmail (Who am I kidding? What is there to blackmail?)
That I may never make it out
Of this chapter
Of Mothering the Haus of Sinus Infections
While keeping up with everyone’s birthdays
(Definitely not my looks)
Oh hell
Here’s the photo!!!!!!!!!🫣
I LAUGHED!!!!!!
When Matt sent me this photo
After we sang him
A pitifully lovely rendition
Of happy birthday
Over an OREO PIE
That was on sale
Down the street
At the not so premium
Grocery store
Where the baker confirmed
Good choice—
And ate Hibiscus Mint Sorbet
Out of the pint.
The next morning
That’s today!
I declared
As I cascaded
I imagine gracefully
Down the stairs
“Honey!
You’re about to see
The decidedly—key word—
Alive!
Version
Of your wife!
He took one look
At me
While wiping boogers from Morgie’s nose
“And what’s that?” he asked
“What’s what?
I put cream under my eyes!
Can’t you tell?
I am decidedly looking alive today!”
So he offers
I want to give you
Your mother’s day gift
Early.
Can I? He asked.
(We can never wait
to give our gifts—it’s a thing.)
You know when you said yesterday
“I’ve aged thirty years
in three weeks!”
Well, I got you a
Facial membership
for Mother’s Day.
I told the lady
My wife
She was a model
She thinks she looks
Like she’s aged
A few years
In a few weeks
She used to be an influencer
Here’s her Instagram
(HE DID NOT SHOW THEM MY SUBSTACK🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣)
She has a bad sinus infection🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Do you do face
Massages?”
When he told me they will massage my face
I thought
There is no greater gift
Thank you sweet Jesus
For my thoughtful husband
Who has seen me in the best of times
And in the….thick of it!!!
They’re going to love me, aren’t they…?😬
Ollie’s got a concert coming up
for Grandparent’s Day
and they’re singing
Old Dan Tucker
He asked Alexa
to play the Bruce Springsteen version
this morning
so he could practice his song
and I must say
Alexa kept throwing out some
very Emily weekday morning vibes after that
So I’m sharing a few songs
in the event
any of you
like bluegrass
classics
and Americana music—
Like a Sunday morning
One hundred+ years ago
At my great grandparents
Small home
They built by hand
On the prairie
In Missouri
Where someone might bring a banjo
And people stomped
And dust jumped
From the muted and scarred floor boards
(Which as it turns out
Is the style du jour!!!)
That bounced
And groaned
With the people
Singing
Praises!—
And
and storytelling
through music:
Bad Moon Rising - Creedence Clearwater Revival
Old Dan Tucker - Bruce Springstein
Keep On The Sunny Side— The Whites — from O Brother Where Art Thou?
Don’t Be Shy - Yusuf and Cat Steven’s (Tea for the Tillerman album)
The Weight- The Band
Leave The Light On - Chris Smither
Coyotes-Don Edwards
Turns out
When you listen
Everyone’s
Been worried about—
Faces wrinkled and burnt deep by the sun
(or sinus infections)
Paying attention to time passing
Like water
It runs right through our fingers
Acknowledging the darkness in life
And still
Choosing the sunny side
And
Love is where all of us belong—
The same things
For a long time.
