3 birthday parties

life here is almost too full and varied. just popping at the seams with interactions with all kinds of nouns.

saturday after dance class the kids and and i went to a birthday celebration and memorial for the brother of one of miles' classmates. he was shot and killed five years ago, and part of the idea behind the celebration was that we need to heal and love ourselves first in order to become a more peaceful community. the other big part was about creating unity. we arrived at the park in the bayview and people were milling around the rec center, but soon there was a call for everyone to hold hands in a circle. brother clint poured libations and said the word "ashay" each time he poured the water and mentioned brave people who had died. he asked us all to think of people who had died. then a young boy poured the water into some earth under big trees. a healer came and led us all in an exercise where we repeated her words about loving and taking care of ourselves. then the family released balloons and shouted happy birthday to their child who had been killed. much food was cooked and there was a storyteller as well, telling african folktales. it was a pretty amazing display of positivity. later maya joined in painting a mural with miles' classmate. this event has been held every year since the murder.

this morning miles went to a birthday party in the marina and maya and i waited while he celebrated his friend's birthday by bouncing on trampolines and playing dodgeball. as we watched all the tourists and kids riding expensive bikes and adults walking briskly with purebred dogs i felt a million miles away from where we had been the day before. we sat in the sand and watched a blimp move surprisingly quickly across the sky as we made a little sand and stone village. later we went to yet another birthday party in brisbane for an old friend's little boy, just a normal kind of park and a mix of brisbanians hitting pinatas and jumping in jumpy castles.

living here is sometimes not very grounding. time seems to pass so quickly when we can move worlds away by driving across the city.

i guess i should mention that adding the this feeling of being in many worlds last night was the monthly mom's night and we were out pretty late at el rio, watching bands rock hard until way after bedtime. the bands felt close to my age, one all ladies with a stripper who was almost bare, one a mexican punk rock band with close to a cult following shouting along, and another a devo-type band, the phenomenauts, super silly and awesome. at the end of the night i found myself talking to a young guy who had just come back from the military, where he had been for five years since he turned 17. he seemed pretty lost.

tonight at story time maya picked a book about two friends who are separated into different classes when they go to first grade, and a book about martin luther king. after we read both she got the first grade book and found a picture of the two friends holding hands and said "it's like in this book, she is white, and she is black, and they are like BEST FRIENDS!" which may sound trite as you read it but which seemed perfect coming out of my five-year-old's mouth tonight.