Leo Clement

Leo sometimes, is beyond description. I often flounder, unsure of where to start, in those chance meetings at playgrounds or stores. How to explain him? What do people see when they look at him? A kid who just isn't quite right? How to put his remarkable life in a couple sentences? Impossible. One time at the grocery store, the checkout clerk gently touched his cheek and said, "this little one's been through a lot hasn't he?" I was struck dumb, staring at her. What a lovely and perceptive thing to say. She went on to explain that she worked at one point at our hospital in the cranio clinic. She recognized Leo as such a warrior because of his scars and head shape. I felt amazed by the depth of her understanding and her open manner. After those first couple years of Leo's deformity, and my resulting heightened sensitivity to strangers around him, I was blown away by her spontaneous kindness.  In this fast world of hardness and unemotional screens, a...

1. The difference between a tired Momster and a scary-under-your-bed-real live monster is only by one letter you know. 2. There are moments when Momsters literally hit the wall. And it's on purpose. No worries about the bruise on your forehead, thats what cover up is for... 3. Husbands are often foraging the kitchen landscape for dinner and finding similarities to bushmen in the Kalahari, just minus the coconuts. 4. Sometimes, either pancakes or mac&cheese are made three times a day in the before mentioned kitchen. 5. Momsters know at least three, semi-fashionable hairdos, for disguising the fact that her hair hadn't seen shampoo in three days. What the hell, as long as we are being honest, make it four. 6. A true Momster can rattle off several reasons why the tooth fairy missed her date with her kid's tooth, even when rudely awoken in the wee hours of the morning. 7. A Momster sees the visit of a therapist for her kid as a chance to put her feet up and fi...

Justin and some of the other band members Many of you know, and the rest are about to find out, that Justin is a pretty dang talented musician. He is not just talented, but he is dedicated to perfection in sound, and I admire his drive and love for musical expression. Even though there were times when I would rather he come up from the studio and help wash dishes then create musical masterpieces, I am probably his biggest fan. He, and a couple of other musical friends, have been working on a special song for a long time now, one that I asked him to make on a whim, but he took me seriously and golly, I never dreamed it would sound like this! (I mean that in a good way, of course...) It's so fitting that there is a soundtrack now to Leo's story. A song that pretty much sums it all up- goofy, uncertain, but strong and fierce at the same time. Have I told you how much Leo himself loves music? He can boogie with the best of them when a favo...