The best country

For this week, in early anticipation of Independence Day, the topic choice was: “America”
Since July 4th is coming up the following week (but the next post will be after the holiday), I thought we could write about anything to do with America. Favorite places to go, favorite songs about America, what makes you American/how living in America has affected your personality, favorite presidents, etc. anything goes!

To begin, I was at soccer.  It was one of our last games and Hannah was impressed with my wedding ring.  The other family I was talking with asked what she was saying.  I explained that she liked my ring and that I told her this is the one Daddy gave me when he promised to marry me and this is the one that he gave me when he did.  The husband of the couple laughs and says, "I didn't give her a big ring, I brought her to America.  The best country in the world."

Our soccer team is comprised of many families that have recently moved to our country.  Over half our team is first generation Americans.  These are families, that in some cases didn't even speak english when they moved here.  Imagine, leaving everything you know and moving to a country where you can not even speak the language.  Yet, they do it because it is the best country in the world. 

It makes me appreciate what I was born too.  It really is just luck of the draw to be born to any specific situation.  As the birthday of our country approaches, it is important to remember that many people sacrafic everything to come here for more opportunity and choices for their families.  Think how lucky most of us are to have just been born here.

Want to see what the other ladies have to say on the topic?  Check them out at: Froggie, Momarock, and Merrylandgirl.

RAK

The topic for this weeks post is about random acts of kindness.  I have experienced many random acts of kindness in my life, and have written about them in this space.

I have shared about the time the lady bought us all skittles at the grocery store because I was cranky and the kids were irritating me.  She looked at me with a kind smile and said I had really good kids.  My kids were thrilled with the candy and it changed the mood for everyone.

I have also talked about the many people that sent me things from yarn to flowers on my front porch during the time when Bob was unemployed.  I was given food and Halloween costumes.  My community, be it knitters or school families, pitched in and offered us some sort of assistance.  It was pretty awesome.

So, when I read the topic, I thought, well yeah I have been on the receiving end of such things.  I have randomly done things for people too.  I have shared about a lot of that in this space, so I thought, what new ground can I cover?  Then I remembered....

Mac was my only child, and I was between jobs again.  I was struggling with what my next move would be.  As I was searching for a new position, I was going on a lot of out of town interviews.  This meant I was parking and flying a lot.  The driver on the bus was a skinny man from Jamaica.  He had a good word for everyone and always tried to go out of his way to be helpful.  He always took my bags, even when I insisted I could handle it.

I never really talked to him, but one day I was the only passenger on the bus.  I had come back from a particularly bad interview.  I was not happy with the prospect of moving to work for this company and all the rejection was starting to get to me.  The driver took my bags, smiled at me an I sat down.  We waited and then the radio said that he could return to base.   Before he closed the doors on the bus he turned to me and he said, you know, I have something I really want to tell you... you are really pretty.  He turned and drove me back to the base and helped me put my bags in my car.  As we parted ways, he smiled again and told me good luck.

While it seems like nothing, it was something to me at that time.  I was feeling very bad about myself, and it was so kind of him to say that.  It really made me feel better.  I looked for him every time I parked, but I never saw him again.  I always felt like he was an angel that day, because while his words were few, something about them changed how I felt that day.

Want to see what the other ladies have to say? Check them out at: Froggie, Momarock, and Merrylandgirl.

Letters to Me

This weeks topic is to write a letter to yourself...

Dear High School Graduate:

As you embark on your "new" life, you will encounter many things that you will think you can not handle.  Remember that you can.  You can do anything you want to do.  There will be challenges that seem insurmountable, but no matter how hard things may seem at the moment you will overcome.

Something to keep in mind, as you are overcoming:  What is the desired outcome.  You have a tendency to fight for the sake of fighting without thinking about the outcome.  What is it that you want?  Once you know what you want, then take steps to get it, don't just engage in perceived injustice.  It will make your life easier if you focus on the goal and let the other stuff go, it is just noise anyway.

There will be days that it feels like you will be alone, but you won't.  You will find the right one, it just will take you longer than your friends.  But, shh, here is a secret, they will all get divorced and you will be the only one that is still married.  It is worth the wait, trust me. 

Try and enjoy your time in college, don't worry so much about the social stuff.  If you relax and are yourself, things will go much more smoothly.  I realize that you don't really know who you are, but finding a boyfriend isn't going to change that.  Focus on meeting people, don't put so much pressure on yourself.  It will work out, but you have to be a friend to have a friend.

You might want to study a bit more than you want to... college isn't as easy as high school.  Even though you don't think it is important now, you are actually learning some good things.

Oh, and when you are on your ski trip and the car breaks down... just take it slow and be cool.  You can't keep up with the boys, don't try.  They all like you and won't care that you aren't as "tough" as they are... they aren't really all that tough anyway. 

Be sure and tell Dad you love him every chance you get.  David isn't always an annoying jerk.. Dad was right when he said someday you will be friends.

Hang in there, things really do work out ok.

Your Older Self


The other ladies wrote letters too... check them out at: Froggie, Momarock, and Merrylandgirl.

Summer... the days are easy

Today's topics is to discuss summer.  After a VERY long hard school year, I am thrilled to have the school year be over, but it hasn't always been this way.

When the kids were young, summer was like purgatory.  Having to entertain 3 young kids all day long with no activities, was horrible.  Summer stretched out into the future, days seemed like months, hours like weeks.  I would dread the unstructured days of summer.

My kids are older now.  They don't need me to do every little thing with them.  Summer is the best time ever now!  Sure they go to bed later, but they sleep later too.  We go to the pool.  We play outside.  It is generally a time to just chill.

Our days during the school year are filled with homework, practices, activities and places to be by a specific time.  During the summer, we get to call the shots a whole lot more.  Should we go to the pool today or the park?  Should we see a movie or go to the library?  It is much less hectic and crazy.  Sure my kids still have activities, but they are more manageable when we don't have school.

This year was especially hectic.  We had a rough transition to middle school and I am very happy to have my kids under the realm of my control.  No teachers or principals calling and screwing up my day.  If something happens, it happens on my watch and I get to deal with it.  The school... not involved in my life anymore.

It is a nice break.  A chance for use to recharge our batteries and get ready for the next year.  I am sure that by the time August rolls around I will be ready to return to our schedule, but for now, if you need me, I am at the pool.

Want to see if the other ladies are sunning themselves?  Check them out at: Froggie, Momarock, and Merrylandgirl.

Monkey isn't Dead

The topic for this week is about humor.  I have written this post about a million times, and nothing seems to work.  Humor, it should be an easy topic, but for some reason it has me completely stumped.

I would like to provide for you a bit of a reprise of some funny things we have talked about in the past, but to bring them up-to-date.  In the past, I have written some pretty funny blog posts.  One of my favorites is the story about killing the monkey in Hannah's room. (check it out here) Of course we have always wondered why there was a monkey in Hannah's room... the other day we discovered why.

One of the boys had returned home from his soccer tournament.  It was a very hot and sticky day and after running around all afternoon playing soccer he had taken on an odor.  It was finally time for him to go upstairs and shower and go to bed.  This was a relief to all around him.

Sadly, he did not immediately go to the showers.  He took a detour to his brother's room.  Suddenly, we hear screaming, MOM, MOM, get him out of my room.  I go running upstairs to see what the issue is.  As I am headed up, my other son, says "Mom, get him off my bed, he smells like a monkey."

I finally get him out of my other son's room and he heads towards the showers.  I think ok, crisis averted.  Then I hear the door to Hannah's room being opened.  I yell, stay out of your sister's room, she is sleeping.  I hear the door click closed.  I assume that he has left and is going to the shower.

After about ten minutes, I don't hear the shower being turned on.  I sigh, lift myself off the couch and head on upstairs again.  When I get upstairs I can not find our smelly child.  He is not in the shower.  He is not in his room.  He is not in his brother's room.  Finally, I check his sister's room.  He is standing in his room with his arm pit over her sleeping face.  She is still sleeping.  She was either asphyxiated or very tired.

The next morning, she says, Mom, I smelled the monkeys last night.  I think you need to try and catch them again.

Let's laugh at the other ladies... check them out at:  Froggie, Momarock, and Merrylandgirl.

Astrology: Bunk or Reality?

Astrology is the topic of the week.  We are going to discuss our beliefs or dis-beliefs in the "science" of reading the future in the stars.

Who amoungst us can not say that they do not wish that they had some sort of road map to the future? Some way of knowing how things are going to turn out?  I know that there are times when I wish I knew what was going to happen, how things are going to turn out and when the ugliness is going to end.  I find that I look at my horoscope most when things are bad.  I think when things are not going my way I want to hang on to anything that might possibly give me hope that it will end and things will get better.

One time, oh, about 9 years ago, I read my horoscope.  It said that now was a good time to start an excerise routine, that if I embarked on working-out now, it was likely that it would stay with me for a long time going forward.  I read my horoscope about three days after I had signed up for a pre-natal excerise class.  Fast forward 9 years, and guess what, I am still working out.  Granted there were ebbs and flows in my ability to work out, but my commitment to doing it never waivered.  Was that a fluke or is there some truth in how it all works?

When Bob was "between opportunities" I remember heading back to my horoscope.  It told me that we were in a tough time, but that things were just on the cusp of getting better.  That we would emerge from this stronger and able to reap the many rewards from all the lessons we had learned.  Well, Bob does have a job he mostly likes and they do really like him and in this day of no job security, he is about as secure as you could get.  Again, fluke or an ability to predict the future?

My most recent horoscope indicates that I will have a lot of romance and success in my career this month.  I have been having a lot of romance.  My relationship with my husband has definately improved in recent weeks, our connection is stronger than ever.  Career?  I always laugh about that, because what sort of career do I have?  But, I do have a couple of big meetings about Mac this week and next, and according to my horoscope, they should go well.  I will let you know.

At the end of the day, do I base my decisions on my horoscope?  No.  I don't even read it all that regularly.  When I am looking to find some sort of road map, I have found that my horoscope is just as good a map as anything else.  Hope can come in many packages, sometimes for me, it comes in the form of a horoscope.

Want to see how the other ladies read the tea leaves?   Check them out at: Froggie, Momarock, and Merrylandgirl.

Traveling with kids?

The topic for this week's post is to discuss what type of traveler you are, do you have everything planned out or are you a last minute person.

I grew up in a family that traveled a lot.  When we would go on trips, my Dad would study guide books and research everything.  He would then plan every single day.  We would know before we left exactly what we would do every day.  I still remember his calendars, created on a piece of paper from a legal sized yellow tablet.  He would turn the paper so it was horizontal and use a ruler to draw out the squares.

So, based on that, you would think I was an anal planner.  Ok, also based on the fact that I am an anal planner in my regular life, but in reality, I tend to try and figure out what we are going to do once we are there.  After spending my childhood trying to see everything, I have come to learn that sometimes it is best to leave something unseen.  You can always see it when you go back.  It really is more important to enjoy the time you have than to try and achieve some sort of plan.

My kids have been traveling since they were infants.  We have gone on so many road trips, airplane flights and vacations that travel isn't a big deal for them.  They are pros at the security check points.  Traveling with very small children (18 months old is the pinnacle of horrible on an airplane), requires a certain amount of planning.  When Mac puked all over me and himself on a flight back from Oregon, I was pretty happy to have a change of clothes for both of us.

I was the mom who pulled play doh out of her bag when the pilot told us to put the tray table up and turn off the electronics.  That meant no more coloring, no more dvds, no more video games, what to do with restless kids?  Play with play doh.  I have had more than my fair share of adults ask to play with some too.

Now that they kids are older, they pack their own stuff.  I don't have to plan so much about the getting there part.  In fact, I can pack us up for a trip to where ever in little more than a couple of hours, less for a plane ride, more for a car trip.  We have done it so many times, we have the drill down.  Everyone knows what to do.  We know how to handle what ever might come up.  Delays, snow storms, vomit?  We got it covered.

I travel based on a very simple philosophy, I am never going to see these people again, so fuck 'em if they can't take a joke.

Want to see how the other ladies take off?  Check them out at: Froggie, Momarock, and Merrylandgirl.