5/1/1999
Saturday

Listening to: Jethro Tull, Songs from the Wood in honor of today's being the first of May. "For the May Day is the great day / Sung along the old straight track / And those whose ancient lines did lay will heed the song that calls them back."

May Day

A delicate fabric of bird song
          Floats in the air,
The smell of wet wild earth
          Is everywhere.

Red small leaves of the maple
          Are clenched like a hand,
Like girls at their first communion
          The pear trees stand.

Oh I must pass nothing by
          Without loving it much,
The raindrop try with my lips,
          The grass with my touch;

For how can I be sure
          I shall see again
The world on the first of May
          Shining after the rain?

               --Sara Teasdale

Daniel was supposed to have slept last night at Stephanie's, and today she was going to take him to a play, but since he came home sick yesterday we canceled both the overnight visit and the play for him, to his great disappointment. Stephanie decided to take the twins to the play instead. The Off-Broadstreet Theater, a community theater group in nearby Hopewell, performs a different play for kids each month in addition to their repertoire of musical-comedy dessert theater. Stephanie's been taking Daniel to these plays for the past several years, but this was the first time for the twins. Daniel was particularly put out because the play this time was "Rumplestiltskin," one of his favorite fairy tales.

I don't normally dress Stephen and Matthew alike (though sometimes they choose to wear matching outfits) but I knew Stephanie likes to show them off in identical clothing, so I made an exception. She picked them up around noon and brought them back at 4, raving about how wonderfully they behaved. I was glad to hear it; they usually are pretty good, but Stephen's curiosity and impulsiveness can make him a handful. She said they sat quietly during the performance, though they didn't quite understand the play. Afterward she proudly introduced them to the theater owner who knows Daniel. Then they went out for ice cream and then to Tab's Aunt Pearl's house, where they impressed Aunt Pearl and Uncle Joe by saying "please" and "thank you" without being prompted.

Reading over what I've just written I realize I sound like a gushing parent, but... OK, I'll admit it: I am a gushing parent. The boys exasperate me often enough. I'm glad when I get a chance to brag instead of complain about them.


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