Augie on the farm with the bees and the buckwheat

4-wheelin with Momma

Baby's last day at "school"

Cousins, Spring 2009

Happy Momma's Day, Basil Plant and Baby

Gone fishin

Mother's Day, 2009: Marshmellows, cane poles, and the river

I remember the day your Imagination came in.
Suddenly, the overgrown field of Chinese elms and forgotten apple trees next to us became the
Magic Forest
filled with dinosaurs
dancing dragons with pine cone toys and
Pink Cake.
The underneath of the big red couch became the dragon’s den.
Uncle Ollie became a Giant
who lives and grows out of a cactus along the acequia.
An old wine cork
the key to Outer Space.
Bo Peep’s little bed became the ship, the airplane, the
Magic Carpet
that flew us (dog included) around the world, to Paris, to the Jungle,
and back again
safe and home and
just in time for dinner.

The day your First Steps came ~
after months of scootering and skittering across the brick floors,
your knees toughened up for Toddlerdom ~
that day is all on film, captured in silver halide, on
minutes and minutes and minutes of video maybe no one will ever watch.
The time you got your Molars
oh, we’ll remember that too.
Those teeth tearing through was like a
stray, lit firecracker
jumping all about on the
hot concrete,
sending all away, scurrying.

But the arrival of your Imagination
from someplace deep, someplace far away
someplace beyond and inside and all around,
it arrived like that maddening train whistling at 3 in the morning
closer, closer
like dragon fire breathing, roaring.
It arrived in the arms of the nice T-Rex
suddenly trundling through the backyard,
knocking over pots of Leaf and Stick and Milk Thistle Soup,
glorious
Soup of Life.

Where did this little light of Imagination come from?
Oh, the worlds it shall open up for you.
With it, you are armed. You are safe.
You will
never be alone.
The world is now yours,
and you are the world.
Travel with joy, my son,
through all your Magic Forests.