24 September 2009

lucky me...

hey, you. i sort of suddenly realized that i haven't told you something sort of important that happened while i was away from you.

it's esmé. she's...amazing. {i would very much like you to pronounce amazing with five syllables or more, please. because she's that good. thank you in advance.}






gone is that esmé who didn't particularly enjoy anyone-other-than-herself. the one who cried all day and all night and spit up white on every piece of black clothing i own at the beginning and end and all through the middle of every across-the-world flight we've ever flown.

gone is that toddler who didn't particularly enjoy my mother-in-law's tone of voice. the one who marched right over to her nona. and apologized to her, you might be thinking. and you would be right. if, by apologized, you meant that esmé kicked her. in my mother-in-law's bad leg, even. but then? then came the apology, you might be thinking. and you would be right. if, by apology, you meant that esmé followed up her kick by throwing a cup of water on her nona.

that esmé is long gone. lucky me.

my esmé now finds double rainbows. gets a kick out of walking all hunched over like an old lady. cleans her room and hops nonstop until we notice. dances a genius robot. runs fast and smiles about how fast she's running. loves to hunt for bugs, but somehow manages to peer-pressure me into catching them for her. even though i am dizzy-afraid of anything smally and crawly, and also even though i am not. her. peer.






she still almost swears. a lot. {any of you - besides richie - remember her huh? what the feck stage? lovely. a tear, running down my cheek.} like, she'll yell what the clucking? and i freeze. gasp. almost start apologizing to the neighbors. almost grab her and almost hissper in her ear you are in major trouble now, old lady!

but then i see the odd little neighbor boy. walking around in an odd little squat. with his odd little head jutting forward. then back. then forward again. with his odd little arms winging it. and my first thought is what an odd little person. my second thought is i wonder if they're moving soon. my third thought is they need to bathe him more. or, just, bathe him. but my fourth thought? probably definitely something very much almost exactly like what the clucking?

i can't say this about many people, but...man...i look forward to every and any moment i can spend with this old lady fairy of mine.

and if she ever saw you? she'd tell you the first most beautiful thing she sees in you. usually something shiny. like your beautiful baubles or your beautiful eyes or your beautiful hair. to esmé, pretty much everything is beautiful. except that odd little neighbor boy.





i got two compliments last night...

one from uncle sugar: she is you.

and one from esmé: your breath smells like crickets and love letters.

lucky me.

i've been wacko-fascinated with flickr since last week. i'll tell you why tomorrow. until then, look at jennipenni's photos. i'm wacko-fascinated with them. and i found her after seeing this brilliant shot that made me laugh for at least ten seconds. try it. that's a long time. but. but. but. she has an etsy shop. which is so brilliant it makes me laugh for at least ten seconds. try it.

16 comments:

Natalie said...

Ahh, I've missed your writing! At least she's not exactly saying the word, I mean, at least she knows that a bad word should not be spoken, right? Feck is definitely not a bad word. Nope.

LOVE the butterfly picture, but I am completely jealous of the legs!

Also, THANK YOU (Kirtsy)! You brought a little bit of sunshine into a somewhat crummy day. :)

Melissa de la Fuente said...

OH good god.....how did I not know you were back effervescent one? Huh? How?! If you could see me right now, besides looking like crap, you would see that I am all choked up....at this post, at your being BACK, at Esme, at the phrase" old lady fairy" and the phrase " your breath smells like crickets and love letters" Good god, that is genius and I adore you both!
xoxoxoxox
Melis

ginevra said...

welcome back, crickets, love letters, and all.

Krissy | Paper Schmaper said...

love the photostream!! thanks for sharing that.
the crickets and love letters breath sounds fascinating!

Unknown said...

i came here by melissa loves and boy, i love the way you write. the way you write about your daughter is darling

Jessie said...

Can you tell how much we've missed your words?!

Esme is a gem... sounds like a little lovely (and I still say "what the feck" every once in a while - I owe her thanks for that one.)

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

Yay! You are back! I missed reading your posts. Amazing! Amazing!

Robin said...

What the feck?! Oh, yes I remember and I smiled at reading it again. Crickets and love letters? Oh, I love that girl, too!

Anonymous said...

and how lucky are we to read about this lovely Esme?! still so loving seeing you here.

caroline duke said...

your girls are such a riot. especially this esme.

Richie Designs said...

damn. I forgot how your writing makes me choke up EVERY SINGLE STINKIN TIME!

I. LOVE. IT.

and esme?

the line about crickets and love letters is killing me right now. Not to mention my uterus is saying hello? are you appreciating the cute overload yet we want one too.

Sara said...

I can't even begin to tell you how happy I am that you're back. What a treat!

Mrs.French said...

perfect...just perfect..."crickets and love letter"...a perfect example of why I can't get enough...xo t

Relyn Lawson said...

How do you do that?? How do you find such wonderful, wonderful art, images, words. Especially the words. Color me happy to see you, my cricket-breathed friend. Or? Maybe you'd rather be known as my love-letter-breathed friend? Yeah. I bet that's right.

Miss B. said...

Crickets + Love letters? Yes, indeed lucky you!