I have finally finished the first
draft of my memoir, stories about our family as our children grew up. I’m now
working on the second draft (Who knows how many there will be?) and I am having
a lovely time.
I’ve been working on this book for
more than four years. I had so many pages of notes and memories to look through
and choose from. Here are a few nuggets I found. Maybe some made it in to the
book but surely not all.
November 1, 2007: This morning I went in to hug Benjie good-by
in bed, and I accidentally bopped him in the face. I leaned down by him
and asked, "Can I tell you a secret?"
He smiled and said calmly,
"You hit me in the face." "I did. that's the secret
-- I hit you in the face." The secret is actually always, of course,
"I love you."
What is Benjie doing?
Oh! There goes a loud crash of
thunder, and Benjie goes jumping down the stairs, out onto the porch, saying
“Cool!” I’m cowering in my room,
wondering where this weird kid came from.
September,
2005: Benjie and Kathy were playing space craft the other day. Benjie asked Kathy if she wanted to play
space poker. Before she could object, he
said, “It’s not gambling. Instead of
money, they use pancakes.”
August 18, 2003:
Murray tonight told everyone about a kid he heard about on TV who got
into a shopping cart, road out of an alley into a roadway, and was hit by a
car. Sarah said, “Oh my goodness. What color was the car?”
Last week, Benjamin was talking to Rebecca about how she
should learn Grade II Braille (which has a lot of abbreviations, and so is more
efficient.). Benjie told Rebecca, “You
should work with Mrs. D. (his Braille teacher last year). Or, you could work with Mommy – she’s a good
teacher.”
May 10, 2003: Rebecca
and Caleb both have school concert performances next Thursday, in different
places at different times. Murray asked
Ping-Hwei what we should do about the situation, curious what solution he might
come up with, asking, “Ping-Hwei, should we go to Caleb’s concert, or
Rebecca’s?” Ping-Hwei said,”
Rebecca’s.” Murray asked, “But won’t
Caleb be sad if we don’t go to his concert?” and Ping-Hwei said, “I will give
Caleb a hug.”
July 7, 2003: Today
Rebecca played in her second softball game of her first season. In her first game, she didn’t get on
base. Today, first time up, she hit it
toward third base and got to first safely, and the next few players knocked her
around, until she made it home. She sat
on the bench next to a friend, and Murray heard her say, “That was my first hit
ever. I’m so proud of myself.”
September 28, 2003:
Tonight at dinner, Sarah spilled something on her sleeve, and then said,
"I hate having a wet sleeve.
There's nothing I hate worse than having a wet
sleeve …. except … when people are talking and they need to
clear their throats and they don't clear their throats, I just want to say,
CLEAR YOUR THROAT!"
December 19, 2003: At
5:30 this morning, Sunday, Murray was hurriedly preparing a salad for a potluck
at church. Ping-Hwei saw him doing this,
and said, "I told Baba to make the salad yesterday, but he didn't
listen."
Monday,
October 10, 2005: Yesterday we were
sitting fairly quietly at breakfast, when Benjamin spoke up and said, “I
haven’t puked in four or five years.”
July 11, 2006:
Recently Kathy told Rebecca about a Bible verse she had read from Psalm
119 that said the writer praised God seven times a day for His ordinances. Rebecca said, “Only seven?”
July 31, 2006: Recently, when Caleb was coming home from the Christ in Youth conference in Pennsylvania, he called at about 6 in the morning to say they were on their way. Murray asked him, “Where are you?” Caleb responded calmly, “On the side of the road. The bus turned over.” “Really?” Murray said, believing him. “No,” Caleb replied. (So proud of Caleb.)
Congratulations, Kathy.
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