Write My Life

This is what summer is all about…

The girls being carefree, dressing up in costumes and pretending all sorts of adventures. I can hear them making up character names, taking on a variety of personalities and working out differences of opinion.

For 2008 they added to it all by endeavoring to make a movie out of their adventures. They even created a movie poster - all on their own!

Jennifer and Elizabeth sat together on the subway to Boston. As the train rolled down the tracks Jennifer turned to Elizabeth and said, “I am trying to defy one of Newton’s laws of motion.”

Elizabeth, surprised that a 9-year-old would make such a statement, asked Jennifer, “Which law is that?”

“An object in motion tends to stay in motion,” she said.

“How’s that going for you?” Elizabeth asked.

“Not well at all,” Jennifer asked as they bounced down the tracks.

One of Mike’s favorite movie lines is from Finding Nemo. It occurs when the Ray says, “Can I help? I am a Scientist.” He uses that line a lot with the girls, sometimes replacing Scientist with Mathematician.

Mike loves helping the girls with their math homework so he will often ask them, “Can I Help? I am a Mathematician.” The girls are not as gleeful about math help from dad, partly because he likes to explain in detail the concepts and doesn’t let them slide with just “getting it.” He will often add more information than what they really needed. They roll their eyes. I think its great that he can give them extra help.

When the girls DO need math help, it is will trepidation they ask Mike for help. He smiles and gets that “oh this will be fun” look in his eyes.

I asked, as I always do, “Do you want to decorate eggs this year?” Jennifer said yes, but Jaclyn hesitated and agreed without as much enthusiasm as usual. I thought, “My little girl is growing up.”

Time passed and between our vacation the week before Easter, Jennifer’s birthday party Easter weekend and the Easter play at church, we never got to decorating the Easter eggs. On Monday after Easter I asked again, “Do you want to decorate eggs this year? We could still do it.” Jennifer said yes, but Jackie now said no. She explained to me that eggs have nothing to do with Easter and how it didn’t really fit in with the real meaning behind Easter. I agreed about her thoughts about Easter and eggs. There was a spring/new life aspect to it, but it wasn’t technically about Jesus.

When Jennifer heard Jaclyn wasn’t decorating eggs, she declined. That made me sad - losing both of them to the egg decorating tradition in the same year seemed sad. I told Jaclyn about her sister’s lost interest and Jaclyn agreed to decorate eggs with her sister.

So, I look at these freshly decorated eggs and wonder if this will be the last batch. I think about them growing and changing. I think about how I like some of it, but not other parts of it. I think about how time doesn’t stand still.

This is it…at least for one more time.

Here are a few samples of the questions and answers:

What gifts do we give on Christmas that do not come in a box?

Jackie - Love

Denise - Time together

Mike - Playing games

Jennifer - Things in your stocking

The birth of Christ is a story that has been told for centuries. What is an important story from your family’s history?

Jackie - the story of how the “Gormish” name came to be recognized in the United States

Denise - the birth of both our daughters and how God took care of us. Jennifer’s middle name is “Grace” because of how God was gracious to us in their births.

Here is a sample of a few of the highly decorated cards. The answers are on the backside in my handwriting. These cards feature flourishes and flowers, two of my favorites things, and Art Warehouse stamps.

As we walked in Yosemite, I overheard Jackie exclaim, “Oh my gosh! I can’t believe I care what kind of rock it is!”

We’ve been to Yosemite numerous times, but the girls haven’t paid too much attention to the rocks. This time was different. The girls have been positively influenced by their school studies. In 2nd grade, Jennifer is studying rocks. In 6th grade, Jackie is studying geology. Both girls found it interesting to look at the rocks and minerals book I had brought along. They searched for all the igneous rocks they could find in the area including granite in Yosemite, pumice and basalt in Devil’s Postpile and obsidian at Mono Lake.

Mike and I were thankful for the interest in rocks as it saved us a few times from children on the brink of losing interest and whining to children who were interested in what they could find.

Q: What kind of rocks are the Gormish family members weightlighting below?

I hear this question every day and sometimes multiple times in a day. Jackie and Jenny love knowing what we will be eating in the evening.

When I answer, I often get an immediate reaction like “Yes!”, “Oh” or “Ugh.”
In July I tried several new recipes. When they asked, “What’s for dinner?” I often replied, “Something new.” These new recipes were often pasta dishes with foreign objects like broccoli or asparagus. These made the girls apprehensive. Then, there was the addition of garlic and other spices, which proved to be a bit strong for the girls. They did try everything, though.
Now when they ask, “What’s for dinner?” and I reply, “Something new” they just sigh.

Hot and dry.

That’s the typical July weather report for Colorado. In fact, as we arrived in Colorado, they were experiencing a drought. During our visit some relief came. It rained Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The temperatures were also much cooler than usual. Fortunately the rain only altered our plans a little. The Colorado natives kept telling us the rain and temperature was unusual but they were also glad for it.

July 6-8, 2006

Questions:

• What are your horse’s names?
• What do you feed your horses?
• How often do you ride your horses?

Jackie’s current fascination with horses led her to ask my friend Chris many questions about her horses. Usually shy with strangers, Jackie’s current horse interest enabled her to put that aside. She asked good questions and learned some new things.

July 6, 2006

Prayer is an important part of our dinnertime routine. One member of our family will always say a prayer before we start eating our dinner. Most of the time it is Mike, but sometimes the girls or I will volunteer.

Jennifer recently volunteered. It had been a happy day and she was feeling good. Earlier she had been looking at my scrapbooks and commenting on the pages. Most of the pages she enjoyed but some she did not. On one page she said, “Why did you have to write that?” It was about a time she didn’t get along with a friend. In the end, they had become good friends so I wrote about how they overcame their problems. She couldn’t see that. She just saw the conflicts and she didn’t want to remember those early problems.

I have always tried to be honest in my scrapbooks. Not only in the topics and events but, also, to include some moments that aren’t the best. Believe it or not, we do not live in a perfect world. Not all our stories are peaches and cream. On the other hand, I don’t excessively dwell on the hard times because our scrapbooks should also be fun. I try to be honest and balanced.

The evening of all of this Jennifer showed her own sense of honesty. When she volunteered to lead the prayer her mind still remained on those scrapbooks. She prayed, “Thank you that my mom scrapbooks even if some of the things make me sad or angry.”

How’s that for honesty?