feelings – Page 84 – Abigail Mumford

newton’s third law

January 13, 2012March 1, 2012 abby mumford

i happened to be in the kitchen when my mom was reading about the cookies. hearing when she laughed (and when she didn’t) was illuminating. i was sort of disappointed when she failed to laugh at my favorite pic (the one of bro-in-law T’s cookie) until i asked her why and she informed me she had skipped right over it. it wasn’t because she didn’t like it, but rather because she’s still learning how to work her new iPhone.

watching a reader’s reaction while they’re reading my writing was new to me. people have commented to me post-read and i LOVE that, but it’s not quite the same as witnessing it firsthand. probably because the latter is more raw. the reader doesn’t have time to form a politically correct opinion or decide which words will soothe my writer’s ego. i am thankful for the chance not to have smoke blown up my arse even if the reaction wasn’t 100% what i wanted.

it means i have to work harder.

and then, later, i came across a reaction i wasn’t expecting, nor do i think i was supposed to see. i picked up sister E’s phone (to try out Siri) and was blown away when i saw her background picture. it was of a page from THE SCORPIO RACES, which is one of my favorite books from 2011. she had read it over the christmas break (because i gave it to her) and i gathered that she wasn’t in love with it like i was. that’s fine and dandy and that’s why there are a jillion books out there in the world, each for a separate kind of reader.

but i can’t help but think that she tried just a bit harder to like it because i did. that she took a picture of the page in an effort to find out what made it so irresistible to me. maybe it’s egotistical of me to think that. maybe she really did love it like i did. but maybe she just loves me, and that’s some kind of wonderful.

feelings

happy birthday, sister J

January 10, 2012March 1, 2012 abby mumford

january is a big month for the mumford kids, as we ALL have our birthdays this month. (don’t even think about making an inappropriate joke about my parents here.)

TODAY happens to be sister J’s birthday.

she’s two years older and light years wiser, so there’s no way for me to wish for her what i had on my 33rd birthday because i’m not 33 yet. i don’t know what that year will hold for me, nor do i know what this year will hold for her. sure, i can guess at a few of the big events, like say, introducing bubba mac to the family in march (or february or whenever he decides to make his appearance) or moving to a new location, but the small, daily events that shape the days that make up the year?

i don’t know what form those will take.

i certainly hope they’re full of laughter and love and baby steps and no allergies and cards and holding hands and hugs and phone calls and family dinners and siblings who get along and darla and patience and tough love and independence and snuggling and giggles and growing up and quiet moments and loud bursts and tears of joy and quick recoveries and prayers and books and sunshine and mommies and daddies and new faces and familiar voices and kisses and journeys and learning.

because those are the moments that force their way into your heart so that you are never the same, but better, bigger, stronger, and more capable.

i guess this year’s version of “happy birthday, sister J” is a wish that year 33 reshapes her heart.

feelings

H2O deprivation

January 3, 2012March 1, 2012 abby mumford

water deprivation is a serious thing because it leads to dehydration and crazy brain. i think (unofficially, of course) water deprivation is said to be a particular form of torture.

on new year’s day, the water stopped running at my parents’ house.

it was due to the wire in the well or something technical like that. i, of course, missed the texts from both my mom and sister J warning me of this fact and that perhaps i should take a shower at the friend’s house i was staying at before heading home and so i showed up tired from a late night of new year’s revelry / an early morning wake up call and wanting nothing more than a hot shower.

there’s nothing like beginning the new year with an unclean start.

the power and the internet and the TVs and the fridge still worked, so we were only deprived of running water. it was sort of bizarre to have all amenities except water because usually it’s that the power gets knocked out, taking all forms of modern life with it.

with this water-less hurdle in front of us, mom and dad ran out to the grocery store to pick up more gallons of water and made use of the bathrooms at the grocery store. sister J and bro-in-law T took baby mac shopping and they made sure to use the bathrooms at the outlets. sister E and i traipsed to the neighbor’s house to use their facilities and to borrow two gallons of water (for flushing toilets) because who really borrows cups of sugar? water and working bathrooms are the way we roll.

and later that night, we went out to eat for an early birthday celebration and it was then that my mom revealed my birthday gift.

the 2.5 jug of water.

simple. clean. efficient. funny. timely.

that’s how we roll.

and the birthday cake tasted just as delicious served on paper plates and eaten with plastic utensils.

(in case you were worried, dear reader, the next day, about an hour before i left to return to boston, the well was fixed and so, on the second day of january in 2012, the mumford family experienced the marvel of running water.)