There are several recent happenings that you may be aware of if you follow “messymom” on instagram, but even then there is more to the story then one little square photo with a short caption. Let’s start with the 5K. SJ’s school participates in the Flying Pig Marathon in Cincinnati every year. Many runners raise funds in support of the school and I volunteered to work a booth the day the races began. Traffic was terrible. All the roads were shut down for the run. This Flying Pig thing is a BIG deal. Think Boston Marathon, only Cincinnati. So J dropped me off as close as he could and I called to figure out how SJ and I could make it to the booth on foot. It sounded like we weren’t far and I was told that they were set up near the finish line. Easy enough. I started following the hundreds of people that were running because I knew they certainly couldn’t be headed anywhere other than the finish line.

 The further we went the more I wondered how far into this run I had begun. A half an hour of walking alongside the masses, much of the time carrying my 4 year old, I started to get fatigued and was almost ready to give up. I saw a police officer across the street so I did my best to cut through the thick crowd of runners to get to the other side. I arrived panting and asked the officer if he knew where the finish line was. He unfolded his little map and asked for the fastest route. He looked up at me and I quickly explained myself. I am not in the race. I said defensively. I wasn’t supposed to be! I am just looking for one of the booths and well… He laughed and pointed to where I needed to go and eventually we found it. I don’t know how far we walked, I even stopped to sit down for a bit at one point. As someone who hasn’t trained for this kind of event I can tell you I was sore the next day. It was a successful day nonetheless.

The next weekend was Mother’s Day.

Z brought home the customary fill in the blank book about mom. It was really sweet. He literally had me tearing up, but one part did catch me off guard. For the “things that mom likes to do” question he wrote watch TV.

I am not try to be all defensive about it, it’s just that I watch TV less than anyone I know. I am all about down time, believe me, but I tend to veg out with my smart phone or computer, not television or movies. At the end of the book it said “My mom and I like to _________ together” and again the answer was watch TV.  So I asked him why he said that when it’s not what I like to do and he said it is what he dreams that we would do. Apparently his dream mom is ALL about TV. I get that, but I make no apologies. He also said my favorite food was hot dog. Another thing his dream mom is probably into. Anyway, it was a lovely book, I will try not over analyze it. So when picking out clothes for Sunday morning I came across a “Team Mommy” shirt that Ezie has and then I realized SJ has an “Awesome Like Mommy” tee. Both shirts were birthday gifts by the way. I thought they would be cute for mother’s day, but I didn’t want Z to feel left out. That’s when we came up with the idea to modify his I love Paris shirt.

It was a collaborate effort and it made this mother’s day extra special.

Then last week Z had his first ever field trip.

I got to chaperon and we had a lot of fun. We went to a farm and our 79 year old farmer guide was a hoot! She had more spunk then probably the whole group of overly anxious 30 something chaperons that I was a part of. At one point she was demonstrating how to milk a goat and squirted some of the creamy goodness right into her mouth.

No disclaimer about don’t try this at home/pasteurization safety speech! I know some of you are supremely grossed out right now, but that’s my kind of granny! The whole trip was informative and very interactive.

Not only did we get to milk an animal, but we also fed them, brushed them, and collected some eggs.

Oh yeah, and at one point I had a chick on my head. I miss farming and it is my dream to have a small farm one day. In due time friends.

Lastly we went to a park as we often do to get the kids some fresh air and room to run.

One particular park tends to have a lot of Hispanics, which is cool. Z and I are trying to learn Spanish. That night I noticed two little girls mixed in with the bunch who were not speaking English, but it wasn’t Spanish either. Their mom had a head covering so that was a clue right there. I decided I would just walk straight up to the parents and ask what language they spoke (hoping they could understand me enough to respond). Because the funny thing is when I am talking to someone who doesn’t speak much english I tend to sign out of habit. I forget that although gestures maybe universal most signs look like complete gibberish to a person that doesn’t know them. Anyway, the figured out what I was asking and it turns out they spoke Arabic. They were a really friendly family and they even asked to take a picture of Ezie and I with their daughter. I obliged and thought I’d get some pics of my own.

What made this evening so memorable, besides how gorgeous the sunset was,

is that out of the small group of families that were there the children were speaking Arabic, Spanish, English, and Sign Language.

 And they all played together as if there was no language barrier at all. Another beautiful example of how our differences do not have to keep us from reaching out. It was very cool.

I’ve rambled enough, but I just wanted to catch up on some of the past months highlights. Because sometimes even the memorable memories can fade.

I will stop now though before I break into the 1980’s contemporary Christian hit Love In Any Language by Sandi Patti. “Once we learn to speak it, all the world will hear. Love in any language, fluently spoken here…” Ahhh!!!