Surprise! You are going gray for a reason....

Molly, with the scheming help of numerous people, pulled off an amazing surprise 40th birthday party for me on May 16th. On the day in question, my job was to help my mom trade in her Dodge Astrovan for a more manageable car... one that gets more than ten miles to the gallon and alerts her when she is about to run over the neighbor's mailbox. Turns out that was all a twisted lie. I didn't suspect a thing when the pig roasting delivery guy showed up in our driveway in the morning before we left to car shop. (My mom pointed him to Moore Street saying he was lost. Moore St. is a pig roast type of area so I bought it unequivocally.) I didn't suspect anything when Toni Seaberry happened to be in town babysitting (as all Comcast financial gurus are wont to do) at the Lawrenceville School and wanted to spend an afternoon with my mom and me. I didn't even suspect anything when I came down Linden and saw our driveway full of people... I thought our neighbors were having a family reunion. Then I saw Mr. Bracken's bald head... still not much of a clue as he could be in town for a McCarter show... then I realized I knew just about all the people in the driveway, including those from Pennsylvania, Virgina, DC (taxation without representation! they get listed separately from the Virginia folks due to this movement), Connecticut, North Carolina and NYC. Countless people with whom I owe tons of unopened e-mails, unreturned phone calls, unsent thank you cards, "hey, I got married" notices, etc. I thought it may be a procrastination intervention. Turns out the chalk mural on the driveway told me that it was just for my birthday. Relief. We had an amazing time and I was blown away by all the well-wishers and the spectacle of awesome people packed into our shared driveway and weed-choked backyard. It was our disciplinary dean's children (both well below pre-teen) who were pushing the beer on people like they were fraternity pledge-masters; that is always a sign of a good party. We all enjoyed great food and Molly gave this amazing, heartfelt toast and all I could follow with was some garbled "thank you for coming." Very lame but I was still in shock. It was great catching up with people and seeing people who I love connect and meet each other. It felt like a mini surprise wedding reception, and I was the bride. And I am too pale to wear white. But I managed nonetheless and loved every minute of it.

We followed up with a post-party celebration at The Yankee Doodle Tap Room. I don't recall much other than some broken glassware. On our way home, my sisters, nephew Harrison and niece Moira were hungry so we stopped at the only place in town open at 1:00am, Hoagie Haven. The place was mobbed with students and they didn't miss a beat seeing an eleven year-old girl in line with them... although to be fair they may not have even been able to focus on her or anyone else for that matter. Harrison is the size of a college kid so he stuck out less; he ran into his drunken AAU basketball coach who taught him how to throw an illegal elbow on a rebound a la Karl Malone. Not sure that is in the coaching manual. Moira was perplexed as to why so many kids were eating in the middle of the night (never mind the swaying) and she finally arrived on the theory that they had all been home for the weekend visiting their families and the Haven stays up to feed them after a long day of driving back to campus. What a positive spin on the late Saturday night crowd in Hoagie Haven. I think she has a career in the Development Office awaiting her.

It was a good week before I got around to opening my gifts... for me, parties are about the people and the comraderie man, not about the materialistic/capitalistic trappings, you know what I am saying? I waited a week to let the memories breath pure and free. I received lots of alcohol-themed presents, which I feel speaks to some terrible Irish-American stereotyping that is latent in my peer group. I also got some I-tunes cards which make me feel young and hip, and a particularly amazing gift from Molly where she collected comments and birthday wishes from my friends and former colleagues. It was a very moving and thoughtful gift; I am in real trouble when she turns forty in a few years (OK, more than a few, six to be exact. She is like a trophy wife without the trouble of a first marriage and alimony. I could have babysat her. Creepy.) Also in the pile was an unspeakable gift... to the sick bastard(s) who wrapped up what I am hoping against hope was the leathered, withered tail of the roasted pig, please get yourself some therapy. And to think this happened at a family party. For shame.

In the end, I don't feel forty. But, every morning I confront my eyebrows and they tell a different tale. I've always thought of myself as a very masculine eyebrow equivalent to Brooke Shields, nice shapely thick brows arched with a touch of mirth and mischief. Lately I am getting all Andy Rooney. No more Brooke, even on a good day. It's a bad sign when you see your eyebrows in the morning and the 60 Minutes clock ticks in your mind. Morely Safer's skin is next... I am on the slow arch down. Time marches on...

Mamma Mia Molly

We celebrated Molly's first Mother's Day in Leesburg, Virginia with Kelley and Tara Dunne and the Dunne clan. It was a beautiful Sunday morning and Finn and I got up early in order to let Molly sleep in. From the porch we watched some deer make their way across the fields in front of their house. Then Finn ate some boxwood and I couldn't remember if they were fatally poisonous or not-- damn, there was a point to the whole Boy Scout thing besides the unnerving too tight flesh colored uniforms with the knee-high socks. Tara is a nurse so I figured I would be covered. When Molly woke up I caught a picture of her giving Finn a kiss in celebration (pictured above. Yes, she has preppy pink pajama pants.) I had changed a few diapers and made bottles by this point in the day. I am just saying something for the record. It was Mother's Day but Finn still was doing his business.

We later went for a walk through the golf course area and took a ton of pictures. Finn loved holding center court with all the cousins and I think he felt he was finally getting the attention he deserved. All his cousins played a version of "Simon says" mimicking his every move. I think Mussolini and Stalin's siblings played the same game with them, so we will see where this ego-enhancing exercise takes Phineas. Tough name for a dictator, Phineas. A little too artsy to really bring domination/pillaging wider than a district level. Wow, how did infamous 20th century genocidal dictators work their way into this story? Let's get back to Mother's Day. It was fantastic to celebrate such a milestone with Molly as she is an amazing mother. She even mothers me (lucky lucky). Finn is truly blessed to have someone like Molly looking after him and giving him unconditional love through all his adventures big and small. And, as a bonus, my mom was visiting so I got to hang out with her as well. Lots of family, motherhood, sunshine, & BBQ. It was a great Hallmark After School Special moment. No complaints.

Katie's Big Day

Katie was next in line in the great Virginia Dunne/LeMay annual parade of first communions. Katie joined cousins Harrison, Patrick, Delaney, Moira, and Kylie as bread winners. It was particularly moving and special because one of Katie's closest friends passed away while preparing for communion. The ceremony was bittersweet because they were all missing their friend. who had fought such a long hard fight against a terrible disease. The daughter's mother attended to support the girls and wish them well; it was a beautiful gesture which spoke volumes about the character of the family to the importance of the sacrament. I can only hope I would be as gracious, loving, and poised as the mother I met at the church and the party following. It meant the world to Katie and the other girls to have their friend's mother with them on this big next step in their lives.

After the communion, we had a big party back at the LeMay house, one of Finn's favorite spots in the whole world. The cousins line up like planes at Newark airport waiting to hold him or play with him... finally all the attention he feels he deserves! The Grandmas were there, tons of neighbors and close friends, and a surprise visit from one of my closest friends Karin Weidemann of Urban Yoga (please patronize to get centered). She is also a certified life coach, which may explain why she is holding a Captain Underpants novella in her picture... perhaps that series lays out a blueprint for happiness and fulfilled relationships with others. Let us all go out into this brave new world in our tightie-whities. I don't know exactly how to spell tightie-whities, which I actually find reassuring. The house was crazy the whole time, but at least we all come by it honestly. I think the genetic well-spring for all of this comes from nonother than Grandma Jer Bear Dunne. What other 76 year-old sees some crazy split-pedaled scooter thing and hops on and goes around the block?

Preview in Paradise

,On April 1st (yeah, the blog is THAT out of date. Sue me.) Princeton and a bunch of other schools sent out their admission letters. I find it an ironic choice for PU to send out 2,ooo odd admit letters and more importantly 20,000 rejection letters on April Fool's Day. Then the tide turns and the students who have a bunch of great choices for college are in the catbird's seat. All the schools host admit weekends to encourage students to pick their school... at Princeton these weekends are called Princeton Preview. Basically, the whole campus is having parties to convince admitted but not yet matriculated freshmen that everyone at Princeton is cooler, smarter, and more empathetic than the next gothic academic wonderland. Since Molly and the admission office is all hands on deck, and since our office is involved in tons of events, we dragged Finn off and pretended like he was the newest iteration of Doogie Howser and we were picking a college for a six month old. We liked to say to other parents..."Really? It took your child 17 years to prepare for Princeton? Ours did it in five months. And he is going into a PhD program." I think PU should get ahead of the wave and host embryonic weekends... or double-helix DNA hosting weekends. Why wait?

That aside, Finn loved the chaos and spit up on himself multiple times. Just like a regular student. His favorite event was the Black Student Union block party... Finn is in a hip-hop phase. There we met two of my favorite students... Alex Barnard (with mohawk) and Connor Diemand Yauman (student body president and more importantly faithful native Ohioan). We also have a picture with Auntie Toni Seaberry, an all star alum panelist. She is still upset we didn't accept her name choice of Jabarion Dunne... it was tempting but I had been holding onto Phineas as a name since I was 12. Next kid... she has LaDonna (her middle name) picked out for a girl. Cornel West showed up and started dancing with the students... we told the prefrosh that always happens and that is how Toni Morrison injured her hip. We also went to the Asian Night Market which is a huge event. No one thought it odd that we had a baby in the market at 10pm. I have to move east! Finn also took a picture with some awesome alumni panelists who came back to drop some knowledge on the prefrosh and their question-asking parents.

The day it ended Molly flew to Naples, Florida for Jen O'Neill's bachelorette party. Apparently guys and babies are a bit of a drag on the party plans so we were left to fend for ourselves. In response, Finn rocked a new ride and we made more rides up for Hoagie Haven contraband than I care to admit. Molly should go away more often. Damn, #14 cheese steak with lettuce, lots of pickles, hot peppers, salt and pepper. Happiness in a paper bag.

Here Comes Finny Cotton tail....

Hopping down the bunny trail. And by bunny trail we mean I-95 South to the LeMay's in Washington D.C. We had a quick trip down at the last minute, which turned out great because we saw all the Dunnes and also got a bonus visit from Matt B. and Lisa...they drove Jerbear up from North Carolina and stayed over one night. Kelley and Tara came down the next day to completely fill the house with sugar addled kids. In response, we handed out more chocolate. We also went to a BBQ celebration at John and Monica's (they are good friends of the LeMays). John became a Catholic over Easter weekend (congrats, John!). Molly and I didn't attend John's Mass because we needed to babysit the younger kids...and we thought watching one was hard. It was like a triage unit.

The next day we went to Mass and just made it inside the door...it was crazy. It was like seeing Easter Mass in Penn Station...people pushing and shoving, talking in a dozen different languages, we even had one woman faint and be carried out. Finn found his Easter basket and enjoyed (sort of) a peep. He was more interested in the grass than the candy...I am starting to wonder if he is actually my son. The good news is that even though Finn only eats bottles we got enough candy to feed a couple of teenagers -- and it all gets added to Dad's basket. Thanks, Finn. We also did an egg hunt out on the front yard and had some great meals. All around a great trip and an awesome time hanging out with family. Heck, we even Skyped with Godfather Kevin and Uncle Joe Cron out in California. It was fun to get together with everyone and we look forward to the next get together.

March Madness

Slowly but surely, Phineas has recovered from the profound disappointment of BC's first round loss to the University of Spoiled Children (USC Trojans). There was a night of tears, followed by the begrudging admittance that the Big Least conference is having a very good tournament. We did love the Villanova game. The only thing that interrupted our non stop parade of basketball awesomeness was hosting some great visitors this weekend.

First, Hosana and Grandpa Bracken stopped by on their way to see Twelfth Night at the McCarter theater. They got to have a pre dinner meal with Finn before heading out to see what is supposed to be a fantastic, hipster staging of the Shakespeare classic.

On Sunday, Bill and Wendy drove down from central New York to kick off a week in the city. We had a great visit with them and walked to Shanghai Park to get some pork and crab meat soup dumplings...love those. We were pleased to provide Bill with the first Guinness of his vacation. Wendy does a really cool "Photo of the Day" blog and although I tried to compete with some "artistic" shots of our lunch, she says she is going with a shot of Finn to represent the day. Check out her blog at:

http://wide-angle-lens.blogspot.com/

She has some really fantastic photos on her site. I am also put to shame by her ability to successfully do a post a day on her blog. That said, I am getting better. Baby steps, baby steps....

Bananas for Bananas

Finn took the plunge and moved up the food pyramid from a bottle diet to solid food. That is if you consider pureed bananas solid food. Since it did involve a spoon and a bowl we will give him the benefit of the doubt. It took some selling; he was definitely against the rice cereal - so much so that he became ninja-like in his spoon swatting abilities. After a few failed attempts with the rice mix, we gave the bananas a try. We really had to sell it and I ended up eating some puree as a "role model." I have to say I now understand his reticence... it was nasty. After some animated chewing and talking up how tasty it was, Finn decided he would follow my lead and take spoonfuls from Mom. He ended up having a blast. I hope to be planning our first trip to Hoagie Haven by the end of the week. Who doesn't want a cheese steak? He needs the protein, I think.