Tag Archives: happy birthday liz

A Week In The Life

It’s been an interesting week. Last Thursday, Scarlett fractured her arm on the playground while swinging with her friends at a birthday party. I wasn’t watching her, because I don’t watch six-year-olds play at the playground when my friends are all drinking wine and facing in the opposite direction. It was truly a lovely party, until the moment when my child was screaming bloody murder that she needed to leave right then, and would stay for absolutely not one moment longer, except for what’s that you say, a cupcake? Yes, I will take that on my way out.

I was planning to just take her home, but something about the way she was carrying on told me that this situation was pretty serious. It’s hard for me to tell if an injury is really an issue or not, as I can’t usually get close enough to see, and Scarlett has enough drama in her personality that it is often unclear what is real and what is pure performance. This time, though, it seemed painful.

We left the emergency room three hours later, and on Monday we got her official bright pink hard cast, which she will wear for six weeks. As I said on Facebook the day after the accident, the worst part about it is that it creates more work for all the people who are helping me, meaning Rob, my sister, my assistants…basically a group of people who are not looking for more responsibility. But such is life, and of course I am also impacted by her fracture, because I now find myself waiting longer for help, because she is the priority. Read More>

You can call her Leroy

Today is my little sister’s birthday. I’ve written about her here. And here. Also here, and sort of here.

So anyone reading this has access to a lot of information about Liz and our relationship, and how I think she is exceptional. I don’t call my sister by her name a lot. It’s usually Leroy, a holdover from our childhood (Lee for short), and other times it’s Shishie, because that’s what Scarlett calls her. Even my nephew Jack, her own son, refers to her occasionally as Shishie. But the best development by far is that her husband now sometimes calls her Leroy. This is how you know that big sisters are in charge of everything.

Since it is Liz’s birthday, I’ll use her regular name for the rest of this post. Liz listens to me whine a lot. I don’t mean to, but sometimes when I’m around her, all of my frustration and anxiety come spilling out, interspersed with stories about bizarre things Scarlett has recently done, like spitting on the dog. I usually do all this while she’s helping me shower, because she’s trapped and she has to listen. Sometimes when I’m done whining, I ask my sister what’s going on in her life, because of course I do care.

My favorite mornings are when Liz brings over her homemade pumpkin muffins, and Liz, if you can’t tell that this is a hint then you’re not reading closely enough. Read More>