Ode to Bubby Joe

This past week marked the birthday of son #2.

He's gone out of state now, so we didn't get to celebrate it in a proper manner.Thanks to the miracle of Skype, we did get to see and talk to him though - isn't technology wonderful?

I've been trying for a couple of weeks to get an idea for a hand-made card to send him, but I just do not have an idea in my head.

Why, you ask? (I'm assuming here.)

This is not your average run-of-the-mill child we are talking about...

This is the boy that at the age of three was stunning people and sending them into fits of laughter with his sharp wit.

This is the boy who spent a week constructing a bridge using not just Legos, but every building-type toy in the house. The bridge spanned his entire room, and was not only an engineering masterpiece, it was a visual curiosity.

This is the boy who, when asked to set the table creates a table-scape to rival the one in the "be our guest" scene of Beauty and the Beast.

...Are you starting to get a picture here?

My son is now an Art Major at Seattle's Cornish School of Art - there's nothing I could do that would impress him anymore. ^.^

So, apologizing for the belatedness, but I'm trying to find some other way to dazzle him...

~*~

In other news...

I mentioned before that my daughter is trying to teach me some meditation techniques to help me focus and get over my creative blocks.
She tried to teach me how to relax and focus on my own intuition, and (supposedly) get the answers to my questions from my own 'gut' reactions.

Her lesson came with a warning - "this technique may open you up to some interesting dreams."

I was feeling lonely and frustrated the other night, so I decided to put her instructions to the test.

I sat on my bed and focused on what was bothering me, and asked myself the questions that I have been wanting answers to.
I sat listening for several minutes, until I came to the conclusion that I am not capable to answer these questions - if I had the smallest clue - I wouldn't have to ask in the first place.

I just don't know.

So, disgruntled, I drifted off to sleep, thinking about the next day's duties, and how and when I was going to be able to make that long drive to take my daughter back to school.
As I lay there thinking, I felt the strong desire to just keep on driving after dropping her off. I would love to just keep on going and going southward, and get lost in the desert somewhere...

True to my daughter's warning, I was taken away by a fantastical dream.

I was at the home of my paternal grandparents, and as my grandmother lay dying in the hospital, her entire progeny was gathered at the house trying to decide what should be done with it. There were more relatives there than you could shake a stick at - but only one or two who I actually recognized.
Every time I looked at my mother, she was rubbing her hands and chattering with glee.
(Not the case, by the way - I don't know what that was about...)

I took a tour of the house with my family, because it has been decades since I've been there. The main level was less than remarkable (even though it was filled with amazing antiques,) but as we went down and down and down the many levels below, the place was a wonder...

Included was an ice cave, child sized playrooms, a pretend mine for the boys to play in, complete with slides, large gathering rooms, and winding stairways that at some points were so narrow that you literally had to pull yourself through.
At the very bottom level - the place opened up to a huge man made lake. There was a beach and a pier, and dolphins swimming in the lagoon! (As well as some giant frog like creatures *shiver*)

I woke up as I was trying to go back through with my grand daughters - they just had to see it!

The dream left me with some very strong emotions which linger with me still (and which I have yet to identify.)

Interesting dreams? No kidding.

It's Monday now - and I'm trying to adjust to my new schedule. I'm working lots more, which means that leisure time is no longer leisure time - it's get-all-the-weekly-chores-done-in-one-day time.

So what am I doing here?

*Sigh*

Happy Monday.

*Epilogue*
Just a little footnote here - My grandparents have both been dead for decades, as are my parents. Their home was a simple one-level home. Very small, very average. Period.
.