Splitsing

Yeserday I met Duyvken and Kim, in real life. We met at Duyvken's house, and here they are with their youngests - JW and Grover, keeping calm and carrying on.

I arrived first and immediately went into Aunty Eleanor mode. I can only go into that mode now that my own kids are teenagers, and it involves sitting on the floor and playing cars, playing mini-basketball, admiring new shoes, giving the baby her bottle and loving every single minute of it. Duyvken's eldest was in school, but I got to play with Master J, Miss C and Baby JW, and I can honestly say that they are fabulous and delicious kidlets of the very yummiest and most adorable kind.

Then Kim arrived with two more delectable morsels of baby goodness. My cup runneth over!! Jasper and Grover were wearing the cutest little button-up shirts with collars, and it reminded me of my own son at around the age of two who used to call those shirts "handsome shirts" and would run away when he saw one yelling "Not the handsome shirt! Not the handsome shirt!" But Kim's two young ones (older two were in school) were proudly wearing their handsome shirts and it was all I could do not to eat them up right there and then.

Duyvken set up an awesome cheese platter and Kim brought home-made iced biscuits in animal shapes for the kids and chocolate gingerbread cake HEAVEN with lemon icing PARADISE on top (Nigella's recipe apparently). Here is a picture of Grover showing how Aunty Eleanor ate everything on her plate (she had seconds too) as Kim talks to JW.

Here I am in Aunty Eleanor mode:

Here I am kissing Kim. I know....I don't know what came over me....I was overcome with the allconsuming fun of meeting two more bloggers in real life....and Duyvken said "Let me take a picture," and I said "Let me hold JW," and Kim said nothing and just smiled and smiled so I kissed her.

But this is what really happened:




Colours blue

And green

And brown,

Four plus four plus two.

This is the

Colour-by-number

Day

Which I have spent with you.

Arithmetically

The four and four

Is really more than eight,

Relationships and

Earthbound souls and

Followers of fate.

The two is different to the four,

But four are sure to grow,

And bring to life

Their mothers' dreams

In eyes of green,

Blue,

Glow.

A ball for rolling,

Steps for falling,

Plastic toys and running.

Beds for sleeping,

Sofas dreaming,

Pink, blue biscuits,

Smiling.

Ruby lips

And fingers quick,

And crying,

Hugging,

Laughing.

With thankyous,

Loveyous,

New shoes,

No shoes,

Scissors,

Danger,

Watching.

I watch and listen,

Wonder dreaming,

Nothing's done in vain.

Sweetly changing,

Cunning trick

Of long-gone

Birthing pain.

For there is a higher order

To this madness women know,

And I believe in that great power

Which all children come to show.

Before

I often doubted it,

And cried it out in bed,

And said to one

About our two

"It must be in my head."

But I now know,

And I have seen,

And I have felt the warmth,

And women two

With children

Four plus four

Look sharp and new.

The new is that I stand aside

And see a different light,

And feel the softness of a skin

Survivor of life's fight.

The skin that's more than mass and look,

that's more than numbers too,

Beyond all measure

And dimension,

Knowing not

The scales

Of war,

It's four and four and two and one and many

Many

More.