Evie – “Ain’t no sunshine when she’s gone”

I think anyone who as met Evie would agree about this. She’s such a ray of light that it’s just not the same when she’s not there. She hits the room like a whirlwind of energy, and bubbliness, and sound. She can’t help but dominate any social situation.

Oliver – “In the midnight hour, [he] cried more, more, more! / With a rebel yell, [he] cried, more, more more! / More, more, more!”

This one is perhaps more literal, but I sing it to Oliver all the time. When he wants something – particularly food, but it could be more book, more mama, more anything – he just says, “MoreMoreMoreMore” in this rising and falling klaxon voice and he doesn’t stop until he gets whatever he wants. Oliver must bring out the hidden Billy Idol fan in me (I hate Billy Idol!), because we’ve also co-opted White Wedding into “Hey, little Mister…”

If Sara wrote this one about Oliver, she might pick something different, such as The Cure: “Why are you so far away? [he] said / and won’t you ever know that I’m in love with you?” The boy loves his mommy! Two inches is too far away, as far as he’s concerned.

I decided to extend this a little and do Sara too. This was a lot tougher, but I finally settled on some lyrics from Ben Folds:

Sara – “You’re really good at all that stuff / The nuts and bolts of living”

I’m not saying I couldn’t survive without Sara, but she is certainly the force that keeps me sort of upright and moving in the right direction. Whether it is finances, cooking, scheduling, being a responsible citizen of the Earth, or raising children, I think it can be said with great certainty that Sara is very good at the nuts and bolts of living.