Hair, tea

Hooray, my pinched and pulled ponytail is helping someone. It's such a very small thing, donating my hair that was going to fall out anyway for wigs for other cancer patients (I didn't even do the mailing myself...thanks, Mom!), yet I feel a spark of true gladness in my heart at doing so that I did not when I donated my hair last year. I count this spark as another gift of having Hodgkins.

It's 8:36 a.m. on a Saturday morning, and I find myself with a rare few minutes to myself as all the men in the household are asleep*. I've already enjoyed the mark of a truly luxurious morning in my estimation: two cups of tea. Bliss! What's even better, they've been from this china mug, sent from my parents-in-law from Broxted, England:

How cool is that! The Queen's Diamond Jubilee mug! I nearly like it too much to drink from it for fear of letting it slip and drop. Inside the mug it says, 'Presented by the Broxted Jubilee Committee.' Queen Elizabeth II has now served from 1952 - 2012. 60 years. We listened to her annual address to the nation at Christmas in which she so simply and honestly articulated her care and admiration for her people, and how their true hope is in Jesus Christ. Simple as that. The bishops of the Church of England have been struggling to articulate so basic a truth lately, but not the Queen! What an awesome lady. 

Both guys are up now. Julian is chewing on a frill from the rug, and Sam has found his way to the couch beside me. Happy Saturday.

*Well, Sam at least is asleep. I can hear Julian knocking around in his crib, having had breakfast (defrosted mother's milk (only a few servings left!) and salmon mixed with baby food) and then acting cranky like he wanted more rest. Periodic thuds echo from the bedroom as he rolls around and knocks his head against each side of the crib. This used to worry me, but he persists in his cephalic form of exploration, and I haven't seen any marks on his head, so I let him be.