reality bites

Posted on September 16, 2011 by burpobanter

[Note: I’ve decided to forfeit Flashback Friday for a Current Friday post this week. Why? Well, why not? So, let’s get started.]

The whole time our house was on the market Ian showed nothing but excitement over the prospect of moving to a new house. Recently, after dragging he and Elena around to Sunday open houses had become a bit of the norm, we even found a way to keep him engaged that he seemed to really like: We’d have him rate each house on a scale of 1 to 10. Oddly enough, each house either seemed to be a 1 or a 10. A man of extremes, I suppose. Anyway, the point is that he’s been really on board with this whole moving thing. Of course, that was before September 7. (Also known as the first day of kindergarten.)

Today I picked up Ian from school and when we got home, it was just he and I as Jeff and Elena were not home yet. He was sitting on the stairs having me help him untie his double-knotted shoes when I said, “Ian, you know that as of today this house is no longer our house.” He looked at me. “What??” “Well, Doug and Sara own our house now and we are paying them to let us live here for a while. It’s like we are just borrowing it from them.” This look of grave concern crossed his face. “Oh. Well, do we have a new place to live yet?” “No, not yet but we will.”

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wasn’t it just yesterday…

Posted on September 9, 2011 by burpobanter

It wasn’t until Ian actually hit this big milestone of starting elementary school this year that I realized what a big deal it is emotionally. I mean, to realize that your firstborn is starting a whole new stage of their life and that they are no longer your baby going to daycare or preschool. Wow. This is definitely real and different and, well, it just seems significant.

So, of course you as a parent you can’t help but think, “Wasn’t it just yesterday that I was holding him in my arms as a newborn and now he’s getting on the bus by himself?”

Yes, I believe it was.

Ian Glenn Burpo, January 10, 2006, Arlington, Virginia

flashback friday

Posted on August 5, 2011 by burpobanter

This picture is the view from our room at a bed & breakfast Jeff and I stayed at in Mendocino, California in December 2003. We took this picture as night fell the first evening we were there. Later, in the middle of the night, a massive rain and wind storm blew in and the ocean fiercely pounded that cove just outside our window all night long. We had a gas fireplace in our room that was on while we slept, and it was all bit frightening, yet so cool at the same time. I’m still looking forward to being on the Oregon coast sometime for another big winter storm.

flashback friday

Posted on July 29, 2011 by burpobanter

It’s amazing how being just seven months in to being back at work full time, and I’m already starting to forget what it was like to be mostly at home and not working for two and a half years. (Or something like that. I purposely lost count.)

But, today’s flashback offers a good reminder of the type of activities I engaged in on a daily basis – like cleaning the house. Okay, so maybe I didn’t quite engage in cleaning the house on a regular basis, but here is the proof that I was actually forced to do it for a while. Don’t everyone get out their violins at once.

Life without Maria

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

flashback friday

Posted on July 22, 2011 by burpobanter

I decided a few days ago that Fridays at burpobanter.com would be reserved for flashbacks – or a look back at old pictures or a repost of previous “banters,” if you will. I did this for two reasons: 1) Because I’m guessing it’s rare that I’ll be motivated to write a full post on Friday nights and 2) I thought it might be fun. For me at least.

That said, first allow me to say that today was quite a nice day. And I mean that literally, to begin with. After several days of gloomy, somewhat chilly weather, we had one of those days today that we live for in Portland…high 70s and not a cloud in the sky, and of course no humidity (sorry east coasters). Picture perfect, really. And it’s supposed to be that way through the weekend. This afternoon I was invited to spend some time out and about in the zoo touring the construction site for our new Veterinary Medical Center that is scheduled to open in December. It’s one of the first projects that has been undertaken within the bond program. And, wow. It’s going to be such a great, state-of-the-art facility that, like all else the zoo is planning for the future, is pushing the envelope in terms of how we care for the animals. It’s pretty cool.

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