Butterflies and Sunshine on Sticks.

I hope Dr. Freid, the band teacher, will forgive me when I say that I tried to get out of taking Amanda to the Cinco de Mayo parade today. Do you really have to go? Said mama panda in hibernation. Coffee and pajamas sounded like a better Saturday morning. "Yes, mama, we have to go."

Butterflies and Sunshine coming up, first, some flat out complaining. . .

You know what? I am really tired of carting kids around to practices, rehearsals, classes, and events. It used to be fun. Not anymore. Even after taking the year off, courtesy of the liver expedition, it's still too much. Our soccer schedule alone is like a physics equation that can't be solved.

(Two children X three practices per week) + different start times that change / divided by the square root of respective soccer field locations all over town % rounded up to the nearest mile of who gets dropped off last and picked up first -- minus overlapping swimming lessons and sleep overs and and family dinners squared exponentially by the price of gas that is breaking corporate oil profit records and fueling wars lavished by no-bid defense contracts funded by my tax dollars . . .

. . .and all of a sudden my vertigo and temper logarithms spin outta control. Bob sees the signs and says, "Don't worry about this, don't even think about this, I will handle all the soccer stuff. You just rest. There, there. You just stay right where you are. Don't even move." Like the egg shell that is his wife about to crack. Though I am good to go on the bus schedule into Minneapolis. Now do you see why we need Bob and his liver?

How did I get from Cinco de Mayo to whining?

Oh yeah. . .I didn't want to go to this parade, but when I got there I was transported. It was awesome. The Mayas. The Aztecs. The Energy. The Mariachi bands. The Girl Scouts in those flamenco-like dresses. Red, Yellow, Orange, Green everywhere. Flutes and Trumpets tooting out "La la la la la Bamba!" Over and over down the parade route. La la la la Bamba! A cute little brassy squeak here and there, but pretty darn good I thought. The most amazingly Amanda flute marcher.

And the most awesome Adams Spanish Immersion School with students, teachers, and parents donning bright Butterflies and sparkly Sunshines on sticks. They had worked all week painting and creating. It was so beautiful and I wished so badly that I had a better camera to capture it for you all.

Maybe one of the best parts about this is that I had another blog-meets-real-life moment, whatever that word will end up being. Seems as though one of the teachers had her own expedition this year, courtesy of a fanciful pancreas. Her pancreas + Bob's liver = two families interrupted. We chatted about such things in the fast and loud minutes while the parade lined up, connecting in a way that would not be possible if it were not for the deep dark secret superhighway of the blog. Thank you Señora D.

Friends, again, I thank you so much for coming over to the liver blog. Time for me to go back to my real life and say good-night to the blog life. I hope you and your loved ones are well.

With love, T

P.S. I have a lot more pics but my dog-gone substitute camera isn't quite cutting it.