Dear You,

Dear Random Runner in Draper this Morning:

I am sorry. I could see your wild gesturing as I passed your crosswalk in my car. I could see that you were trying desperately to show me your excessive disappointment that I did not stop to let you and your skinny little running companion cross. Your animated (to put it mildly) traffic director-style arm waving to indicate that I was crossing your crosswalk before you was not quite enough to make me slam on my brakes and get hit by the guy tailing me for only going the speed limit. But the positive here is that all those jumping jacks and yelling, the exaggerated thank you gestures you made to the guy who finally did stop, and even the continued dirty looks you gave my car's rear end as you were crossing the crosswalk must have for sure burned more calories and ounces off those stick thighs of yours than just running across the crosswalk would have, had I stopped and caused the accident. 

So really, I should not be saying, "I'm Sorry," I should be saying, "You're Welcome."

Love, Kiki

Dear Mom:

I called you this morning and talked talked talked about me me me. And you, as always, acted like it was the best thing in the world you could imagine talking about. You are the best.

Love, Keeks

Dear Weekend:

I do not ask a lot of you. Ever. I know that you will bless me with many minutes of sitting, if not to rest, at least because sitting to fold mountains of laundry is just more logical than standing to fold mountains of laundry. I know that I will get the beloved time with my kids that I cherish and be more wiped out than after three months of WorldFest prep combined, and be soooo happy for such beloved time. I know that at least once I will cave to my kids and husband's expectations that we not eat in when we could be up the canyon or at the park with an unhealthy and deliciously processed-in-the-worst-of-the-"Food, Inc."-vignettes-way, fast (fake) food spread, so I will get out of at least one visit to the kitchen. But I do have a request today and I feel that I can say I almost deserve to ask this of you, PLEASE WEEKEND, BE BETTER THAN THIS WEEK HAS BEEN. I will be thinking of you as I substitute family scripture study tonight for watching "Prince of Egypt" with my kids because I don't even want to read. I will be thinking of you tomorrow as Keo's amazing little internal clock that tells him it's the weekend and he shouldn't be letting mom sleep in when she could be making him waffles that he will poke and lick and throw on the floor, and really do everything but eat them, goes off at 7am. I will be thinking of you as I rush off to Costco to buy the necessities for the week and remind myself as I do every single Saturday that Costco on a Saturday is only slightly more bearable than the Fields of Punishment (we're still reading Percy Jackson - the series rocks but more on that later). I will be thinking of you as my Sunday comes and goes with Keo drawing on the church floor, or the big boys talking (in very audible voices) about body parts or functions as we try to listen to the uplifting and fortifying lessons on how to keep our little family moving along and together. 

Thanks in advance.

Love, Kiki

Dear Bokada:

What's in a mission? ;) I miss you. Come back to our dungeon and fix Extravaganza.

Dear Jordan, or, um, Professor Brame, 

Thanks for opening some amazing part of Kai's little mind and waking him up to the fact that study can be fun. Thanks for instilling yet one more hint of confidence in him, for encouraging him to see the world in his own way. Thanks for my son asking me if he could use the computer, not to play on the cartoon network site, but to look up helicopters to draw for his "homework." I think that may be the first time in his homework-cursed life that he has asked to get a head start on it. Thanks for whatever you did during that (very economical in my opinion) hour of planting seeds that will blossom into an artist's mind like his dads. Wait. Like his dad. Yikes. I am maybe rescinding the thanks here. For an A positive wife, artists' minds are the most terrifying thing, second only to, say, terrorists' minds. Um, I will actually here postpone the thank you until I meet Kai's future wife. We'll see how that turns out and then I will track you down in your awesome other country and tell you thanks. 

And hang with your even more awesome wife for something like a month or so.

Love, Kiki

Dear Percy Jackson:

Thank you for your unbelievably typo-prone series! You have woken the astronomy bug in my big boys, and just seeing the cover of your first book gets Keo to increase his vocab and adorableness by saying things like, "Pershee Jasssson??" My boys want to know which of the Greek gods the planets are named after. We get to add the library to our crazy weekend partying so we can figure out exactly who Uranus was in the Roman myths. Awesome. And thanks for the tiny confusion - it has been entertaining. We went through the planets last weekend and when I got to Earth, I said, "well Earth doesn't have a god," meaning there is no namesake. To which Kai, mildly shocked that I didn't know this, said, "Uh yeah it does! Heavenly Father!" Duh Mom. I had to explain that the Greek Gods thing is pretend and there really is no competition for Heavenly Father. Thanks, Percy. Thanks for your books reading like real myths, where the hero just happens to get help at the right time or just happens to stumble upon the one deadly Monster Donuts shop in all of Virginia. I remember, when I was a kid and loved mythology, thinking that all the coincidences made perfect sense. It's cute how my kids do the same thing. Myths really are perfect for kids. Except the crazy, liver being eaten daily by birds/Athena hammering her way out of Zeus' skull to be born/rampant adultery stuff. That is not so cool.

But really, thanks!

Love, Kiki

Dear C.:

You and your shabbyapple. Why do I read your blog, outside of it being the funniest thing I've ever seen? Now I want want want this and I will have to work to stop coveting it. I will stop coveting it, as I could buy one heck of a Lego set with a freaking $94 and Christmas is coming. So it'll be a passing thought that only reemerges as my children are drawing on the floor or talking loudly about bodily functions in the middle of Sacrament meeting.

But really though, thanks for your blog.

Love, Keeks

Dear You:

I would give anything for you to realize how amazing you are and live up to that. It wouldn't be hard, as you have done it in the past and executed your awesomeness beautifully. I would give anything to take away whatever it is that is hindering your view of yourself and skewing your understanding of how much you can do. I would love to pull that stupid little seed of doubt in your mind that has grown into a debilitating tree and grind it into dust and throw it into the garbage. I would love to find out what you need to treat yourself like you treat others who don't deserve it, or at least don't deserve it over you deserving it. You have been through stuff that I can't even stand to think of and you've survived. You can do so much. I would give up my own knowledge of the truth of our potential in this world if it would help you understand finally that you are a beautiful daughter of God, that He loves you so much and that there is not a thing in this world that can stop you from being happy and safe if you will trust Him and turn to Him instead of that damned forest of doubt in your mind. You have been my example of excellence in so many aspects of life that I don't even know what to do or say when you are stumbling. I don't know how that's possible because I see the real you. I wish I could make everything ok, but I can't. But I know you can so it'll be ok.

He also sees the Real You.

Love, Cristi