poetry and life in community

This afternoon was part of my weekly free time. Free time is very important for creativity. I wrote these:

"Afternoon Off psalm"
The Lord reigns.
The Lord is high above the clouds, above the blue, above the sun.
The Lord filters down through the leaves and the noise of construction and traffic.
The Lord perches on top of Colpatria building, smiling on his people.
The Lord leaps --- and flies over his city; pigeons roaming about.
The Lord reigns; in Bogota.
The Lord makes grass grow beneath my toes in Parque Nacional.
The Lord is with us, took on flesh and lowered himself.
The Lord smiles with me at birdsong and sunshine.
The Lord weeps for the broken ones.
The Lord cries for the teenager searching through garbage, for the woman standing in the doorway, for the addict, for the displaced, for the child who roams and trusts no one.
The Lord aches for the chic of the North, for the bohemian in La Candelaria, for the businessman, for the university student, for the disenchanted.
The Lord is here, and yet they have not seen him, nor heard him, nor asked for whom he smiles and cries.
The Lord smiles, and cries, for us.
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I firmly believe that mankind was created to enjoy nights like these (among many other things).
This evening I walked down to the Thirty with the world.
They, to their homes, or out for dinner, or to the hospital Mederi - by which name nobody knows it - formerly San Pedro Clavel, or to wherever the first bus that passes would carry them.
I, to meet my friend and pick up my child.
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So I had a great afternoon, after a day at work that wasn't bad, but also just wasn't my day. Then I was happy to go pick up J. from Madeline at about 6:30. My plan was that we would go buy chicken pastelillos from the bakery as a treat for us both, then eat and get him to bed.
At 6:45 I got a call that they were still in the north -- at that time of day a 30-minute bus ride at the very least, and I like to have him in bed by 7:30... and they were about to get pizza.
Living in community is difficult. Add a pre-schooler and his routine into the mix and it gets more complicated. He didn't get to sleep until 8:45, and that was when he passed out in the taxi after we left earlier than they wanted me to (because he couldn't get to sleep on the mattress in the office). I am frustrated.

cute sayings of an almost-four-year-old:
while sitting on the toilet, he calls me to the bathroom to tell me, "Emily, I can't go poop in the shower."
while watching march of the penguins, and commenting on how "lindos" and "hermosos" the babies are he stops and joyfully says "Papito Dios, gracias por los pinguinos, amen!" (Daddy God, thank you for the penguins, amen!)
when a visitor to the house asked where the bathroom was, he replied "really far away!" and laughed at his own joke before showing her the way (just around the corner). Madeline and I laughed a lot, too.
Sometimes he makes up his own disciplines. For example, "If I throw the sunglasses I'm going to have to sit in time-out." I probably would have just taken them from him, but he didn't throw them so it's okay.
He often dances and sings (in English) "I like to move it, move it!"

Rebecca, his former caregiver, left a little over a week ago, so we're adjusting to life with just each other (and our remaining 2 housemates, of course).
My birthday is in two weeks... it's strange that it's already here. Twenty-four: the age I felt like I was turning last year this time. I haven't had a spring breaking through winter and then growing into summer to help me comprehend the passage of February, March, April, and half of May... I miss seasons!