In June

I think that there are a lot of you out there who are clearly better qualified than I for this ABC-Along project. It's never too late, you know -- you might want to join up. But in any case, thank you for the wonderful 'k' ideas! I forged ahead, armed with your list, and then -- serendipity. First, the 'k' letter form:

Next, at the garden center where I was actually looking for other things, 'knautia' --
Whew. I have an overabundance of 'l' things and am just trying to narrow it down to one favorite (lavender? lady's slipper? lily of the valley? lichen?). And I learned, in chatting with other parents this weekend at our various events that we had it relatively easy compared to everyone else. Maybe other people like being super busy? I don't know how they manage. No question for me, the highlight was Dean's piano recital:
He played beautifully, he was happy to be there, and he was utterly inspired by the more advanced students (especially the two who composed their own pieces!). I went back and forth over whether or not to get him flowers; I remember so wishing after a ballet recital that my parents had brought me flowers (it felt as though everyone else had them), but I reminded myself that Dean is not me and my past needs to stay behind me (after all, I survived). I admit that I also wondered if flowers would matter to a boy. Shame on me. I did make the trip for flowers, hid them until the right time, and Dean was completely delighted. Said heartfelt 'thank yous!' repeatedly, and excitedly chose the place to display them. He's also looking forward to the next round of lessons which we'll start shortly. Our electronic keyboard came with a USB cable and I need to figure out how to record his playing the recital pieces; we did videotape the show but we don't have a digital camcorder.

We told him over and over how proud we were of him -- we couldn't help ourselves. It was that he did it, that he went to his lessons and practiced and then got up there at the recital and played. I talked to my mom later in the day and told her about the recital. She said she remembered going to my ballet recitals (!) and how proud she and my father were of my dancing. I honestly did not know that and was surprised to hear her say it. Was I, at the time, so unhappy about not getting the flowers that I didn't hear the praise? Unfortunately that could be possible. It's also possible that they didn't say it, or didn't say it much even if they felt it -- different times, different parenting styles, different people. I feel I can gracefully move away from that now and just hope we've done it right for Dean. This part, anyway.