Small Things

What would you see in Harry Potter's mirror?

I can hardly believe how long I've left the blog! The countdown to deployment is always busy, busy but life is settling back down, and as if they knew I needed it, ABC Family is having Harry Potter weekend.

Watching The Sorcerer's Stone tonight, I was fascinated by the Mirror of Erised. Harry wanders into a room to hide and finds a mirror. To use Wikipedia's summary:

On it is inscribed, erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi — which, when reversed and correctly spaced, reads I show not your face but your heart's desire. Harry, upon encountering the Mirror, can see his parents, as well as what appears to be a crowd of relatives; Ron sees himself as Head Boy and Quidditch Captain holding the Quidditch Cup (thus revealing his wish to be acknowledged out of the shadow of his highly successful older brothers, as well as his more popular friend, Harry). Dumbledore cautions Harry that the mirror gives neither knowledge nor truth and that men have wasted away before it, entranced by what they see.

I wish I had the book to quote correctly, but Dumbledore says it shows "nothing more or less than your heart's deepest and most desperate desire." And adds that it's not good to waste your life dreaming and forget to live.

I sat and wondered what I would see in the mirror. Would I see myself with a successful writing career? Would I see my children grown and healthy and happy?

If you consider the "desperate" part, that changes things. I think the idea is that it doesn't neccessarily show your true aspirations, or what will truly will make you happy, or your noblest desires.

And suddenly I knew what I would see. I would see my husband coming home after a regular, predictable workday to have dinner and be with us as part of our everyday routine. That is my heart's deepest desperate wish.

Desperate because I know it's not to be. And I've made peace with that. Mostly.

Deepest because I try not to think of that too often. I understand clearly what Dumbledore is saying about wasting away longing for a dream and forgetting to live.

Sigh. J.K. Rowling is a genius.

Chinese Wisdom

Yesterday was a beautiful, breezy Southern California day. We put on our new gear from REI and took the kids for a hike around Sweetwater Reservoir, and had a little picnic of apples, cheese, and carrots.

Later, we finished our dinner at a Chinese restaurant, and we all got fortune cookies. Katy's read: "All things in moderation, even moderation."

Our 6 year old wanted to know what that meant. I explained that some things are good if we have just enough, but bad for us if we have too much. I asked if he could think of something like that. "Candy," he said. Exactly.

"But I can think of something that you don't have to have in moderation, something that is always good and you can never have too much!" I said in a sing-song mommy voice.

Jimmy said, "I know! Carrot cake."

If we stay home, the swines win.

I've never been a panicky type. No one's ever accused me of being a hypochondriac, I hate going to the doctor, and I'm not easily scared. (Unless of course, the lights are off and a scary movie trailer comes on during Leno.)

No, I'm more the whistling-in-the-dark type. When the threat is somewhat real, that's when it's time to sing songs and tell jokes and act like everything's fine. Wash your hands, of course, but go abut your business. We're supposed to wash our hands anyway, right?

I was amazed to find out that city schools were closed for two days in Alabama, where there have been no cases of this flu.

We live 5 minutes from the border, there have been 5 cases of H1N1 in our county, and yet my kids are in school, we go to the Y, the grocery store, even the Chic-fil-A playland.

I have been much more vigilant about hand-washing, and one mom in my son's kindergarten greets her son at pick-up time by wiping him down with antibacterial wipes. Even though there's a big bottle of hand sanitizer for everyone to use upon entering the classroom. Another mom kept her son home for a couple of days, but came back today.

I'm just not that worried. As far as I can find out from the CDC and other sources, this flu is really no more dangerous than ordinary seasonal flu. Rather than keep my kids home from school, I think it's more important to make sure they sleep well, eat and drink well, get plenty of juice, water, and vitamins, and stay generally healthy so that if they do catch it, they could recover quickly.

Hmmm, too bad Biden couldn't add that to his advice about staying out of planes and subways. (Maybe he meant that, too.)

With that, I'm off to get some flu-preventing sleep. After I take my vitamin and drink my water, of course. (Can you hear me whistling?)