diana donna-kaye palmer

6 years ago diana and i met at her birthday. i surprised her by taking her to the room where we met and gave her a photo album of our 6 years. she didn't think it was anything special. that's the problem with always being so romantic--she's never impressed. just kidding. and now a tribute:
one of the things i admire most about diana is how unselfish she is. as a husband i appreciate that so much--if i do things right i can get my way every time. just kidding. she's very unselfish and meek in the way she responds to people being mean. and it's not for lack of being quick or witty.
one thing most of us probably don't know about diana is how unsatisfied she is with mediocrity. she's always talking to me about being a better mother, a better photographer.....
also about photography, there were plenty of times when she could've given up and now she's been recognized by some of the most successful and established kid/family photogs for being outstanding and genuinely talented, and she's made dozens of clients very happy. as i've worked to become yan photography's 2nd shooter, i've learned how disciplined and dedicated she has been to do what she has in a year and a half. she's still a dreamer, but she can back it up with some results. i mean she got me to marry her didn't she? unlike me who decided i could build a pool table in the shed with plywood and tennis balls. no one be ashamed, please. but enough about diana, i mean me.
also diana is very disciplined. she has a lot of style and she could spend even a modest amount to satisfy part of that style, but in 6 years she's spent very little. she is not self-indulgent. she's made her own clothes out of saved apple skins and toothbrush bristles.
there's a lot more i could say. i hope it's obvious to people who know us that i love her a lot. and she makes it very easy to love her.

some help with lyrics

she realized she didn't want to sit down by me after all.

maybe "show me, show me, dad" and "no sit down!"

good luck with the lyrics. sincerely, the management

you requested it. and here it is.

myra in open d.

a parade

one of myra's favorite activities.

seasons

the song stuck in my head right now is so wonder years: "for everything, turn, turn, turn, there is a season, turn turn turn...." whoever thought of putting that bit of scripture to tune, was brilliant, or inspired. there are many seasons of life, an endless number, than makes the idea of 4 seem so rudimentary. some of my life's season's, good and bad, have come and are now closed. sometimes it is hard to accept that some of those wonderful, blessed seasons are over---but its better to realize the importance of living well within the present season. this season of life is about being a better mom. about placing value on time spent with the girls and my husband. about learning how to love them in the ways that they need--- the ways that will benefit them and turn them into better people. its about figuring out what business means. what a house of order is. it is a season to discover what it means to balance, and hopfully that discovery will serve us in years to come that will undoubtedly bring more challenges to juggle. sadly, as much as i want it to be, it is not a season to acquaint myself with yoga. there is just not the time. and i will have to tell emily i won't be able to attend the tuesday, thursday class with her. but i know that season will come and i'm planning for it.

i'm not embarrassed by you, i just feel your pain.

recently my mind has been flooded with embarrassing moments of my past.  but as i sit down to write a few of them, i can't do it.  i'm just too embarrassed.  i guess i've been thinking about it because myra has started her legacy of social awkwardness and although i'm not embarrassed by her, i can't help but feel her pain.

but please, back to my glory days...

one

there is a period of time in most people's childhood (notice how i'm trying to make my abnormal childhood seem normal) when their sense of humor begins to develop.

and for some of us more awkward children, that sense of humor sprouts up all gnarled and too ugly to write a motivational story about.  and then to everyone's relief, it is squelched, dried-up.  it withers and dies.  thankfully, the painful "jokes" stop coming.

but in the meantime a whole slew of painful memories can be created.  and what's more is they are first experienced in real time!

i must have been about 7 or 8 years old when it happened.  that fateful afternoon when my loving, but unsuspecting parents sent me off to a friend's birthday party.  everyone was having so much fun, bantering with witty little quips and the occasional political joke.  such sophisticates.  said friend's mother brought out some little confetti packets shaped like champagne bottles--i believe they came out on a silver platter and the room fell silent.

they were those things where you pull the string and like alcoholic foam out of a bottle, confetti shot into the air.   

a little (7 year-old, maybe 6 or 2 year-old) voice broke the silence, "oh great, now my mom is going to think i've been drinking."

the silence continued, even after that gut-busting, almost manipulatively funny joke.  to my horror, i realized the voice was mine.  and it wasn't a funny voice.  it was the nerdy kid's voice.  to more of my horror, what i said didn't make sense and worse, wasn't funny.

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.   but at least i learned what wasn't funny.

two

then there was the time in high school when i was 'breaking' in a circle (come on, nobody else ever danced the circle) and for the grand finale did a front flip, but pretty much landed on my back.  then i did it again.   

what?!!! you tried it again?!!

well, i had done flips all the time.  i know because i distinctly remember spending my lunches practicing that stuff on the front lawn of the school.  well, when i wasn't playing hacky sack.

oh man.  but at least i can dance now.

let's spare us all the pain and make that number three and be done with it

 ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!   

but then i think, how could a sense of humor ever develop if i didn't say all those things, so awkward they caused the people i loved physical pain?  and why would i want to live a conservative life where nobody got the wind knocked out of them in front of all their most-respected peers?  

________________

the other day we took myra and wren to see pixar's "up."    myra was laughing and laughing and well, she was the only one.   other people laughed at certain parts, but myra laughed when no one else did.  it was really distracting for other people, but at least she'll be unique.

well, both?

myra's favorite song.