Thinking of Yeats tonight

...after a former colleague at the Oregonian, whose daughter graduated from high school this week, posted this Yeats poem on Facebook:

THE angels are stooping

Above your bed;

They weary of trooping

With the whimpering dead.

God's laughing in Heaven

To see you so good;

The Sailing Seven

Are gay with his mood.

I kiss you and kiss you,

My pigeon, my own

Oh, how I'll miss you

When you have grown. 

 

"Why did this make you cry, Mommy?" Rachel asked tonight.

"Because I'm going to miss you when you grow up," I said. "Promise me you'll come visit me when you're grown?"

"YES," Rachel said exasperatedly.

 

"PROMISE??" I begged.

 

"YES," she said again. "I can have a sleepover with my babies at your house."

 

I'm gonna hold you to that, kid.

 

***

 

Last night Rachel was playing with a pair of her sunglasses despite our strenuous attempts to get her to EAT HER CARROTS AND DO MOMMY BOOKS SO YOU CAN GO TO BED.

 

"This is a boat," she said, indicating one lens of her sunglasses. "And these are my girls (sailing on the boat)."

"Who's on that part?" Drew asked. pointing to the other lens.

"Valerie," Rachel said. "And my friends, and people I used to know, and we're all sailing to UNICORNIA!"

 

***

 

"Is that a little cold?" I asked Rachel sympathetically as she was eating ice cream slowly last night.

"Ice cream is SUPPOSED to be cold!" she retorted. Serves Mommy right for asking such an obvious question....

 

***

 

"I have something to tell you," Rachel said last night. "This is very exciting for me. Tracy's going to move me from my regular place to a new spot EVERY DAY!" Apparently there are big changes coming at St. James. Friends moving to kindergarten, Rachel's going to be the big girl in the room, a class name change to Jellybeans from Purple Class...it's hard to keep up.