My SOOC Saturday photo circa 2008...

What Southern boy buys a watermelon with no seeds? Huh?

Where is the fun in that?

What the heck are we suppose to spit for our watermelon seed spitting contest?

Tell me, please.

I'm Southern born and raised and every year of my life on July 4th I have spit watermelon seeds...until last year.

My husband bought a seedless watermelon.

The boys were livid.

Me, too.

We flogged him...lovingly.

I know those itty bitty white seeds are in there, but you can't spit those. You gotta have the big black seeds for spittin'.

Being an assertive Southern girl, this year I took charge of obtaining our Fourth of July watermelon. Yes I did.

Arriving home from market, I proudly placed our Fourth of July 2009 watermelon in the frig.

Yes! Thanks to me, we will spit seeds this year.

[so pleased with myself]

Then I saw it...

this image obviously not sooc

Have a safe, happy Independence Day

and

please share a SOOC [straight out of camera] image this weekend

that will help me forget the payback coming my way.

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Recently peace came while making lemonade with the boys.

Well actually the boys made lemonade.

They consulted the 33 year old Betty Crocker cookbook gifted to me by my maternal Grandmother.

They gathered lemons, a bag of sugar, a Pyrex measuring cup, a vintage strainer, a cutting board, a knife and their Great Grandmother's reamer...

and proceeded with the task at hand.

The boys gave the endeavor their undivided attention.

Gosh, how I love them.

The summers spent with my Grandmother and that same reamer flooded through me.

Good grief, I thought, it's just the boys making lemonade.

But not really.

I was a little girl...there again. Her voice. Her gestures. Her smile. Her hands.

I inhaled the comfort of memories.

Only now the hands of my boys were squeezing and twisting lemon halves on

my Grandmother's reamer...

...making their memories.

The moment was happening on our well-loved kitchen table

and there was beautiful sunlight.

When it seemed squeezing sour lemons could not get any sweeter, I looked beneath our family table

 and saw Ursula lying at the feet of her boys.

I know that even though all is not well...

...all is good.

We have family

and

lemonade

and

love.

Memories seem to blossom in the sunshine of summer, don't they?

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What is genius? - It is the power to be a boy again at will.
~~ James Matthew Barrie

The very moment I felt my heart would burst at the thought of

how quickly he is growing up...

I found him in the bouncy castle.

What SOOC photo thrills your heart this weekend?

SOOC Saturday,

but it's really a weekend sharing thing

which means Sunday sharing is as good as Saturday.

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I walked upstairs to announce that breakfast was ready

and smiled at the sight of Legos before breakfast.

I embrace simple everyday moments,

and our family is hugging your words of hope.

Do share a favorite SOOC [straight out of camera] photo this weekend.

Saturday and Sunday sharing welcome.

Wishing you happy days.

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 I long to live inside the pretty bubble

full of cheerful color,

hope

and

dreams yet to come true.

But I don't.

Life

is

fragile

and

complicated.

Real.

Our family is holding tightly to love

and

breathing deeply

and

sobbing

and

praying

for answers

and

peace.

I just want to save my child.

FAS is a preventable tragedy.

If you don't live it

you have no clue

as to the

total devastation

FAS releases upon

a child

and

his brothers

and

his parents

who love him completely,

unconditionally

and

though they did not give him physical life,

he is their life.

Physical death is not the only way to lose a child.

I don't think I can do this.

How do I let go?

God, hold him.

with tears

and

broken heart

i curl up

and

a part of me dies.

melody