Break Time Flashback (or the blog I forgot to post)

Spring break is in full swing.  Our little castle has a revolving door. Just as one kid comes home for spring break, the other one leaves to return to school.  Sisters passing in the night.

We started M's break with a night out for Mexican...where we drank and laughed equally--while gorging on chips and salsa.

The next day it was D's sorority mom's day while M was home, all the Avery girls (you know it is the trifecta of the double sisterhood so why not have all the sisters together) loaded in the car.  I took to the back seat of my own car, let Princess A drive, M ride shot gun and I was Miss Daisy for the day, and headed to D's college town.

We went to the worst winery!  I couldn't refrain as I sampled the reds, from letting the word "horrid" whisper out of my mouth.  We settled on the only drinkable wine--a rather sweet white.  The more we drank the more we regretted paying $17 for something that was more of a $6 bottle.  Anytime someone tries to create a label by blending their cat's picture with Van Gough's Starry Night you know it's not gonna be good!

  As usual we made the best of it--sisters together

 

   After the winery we all went back to D's room where the silliness continued

While D has no plans except to lay on the couch, watch TV, have hourly feedings, and take a voice lesson.  M kept herself quite busy.  M was busy working on her practicum, and was lucky to return to the place that sparked her interest in both business and education: her Alma Mater.

It wasn't that long ago that M and her favorite teacher looked like this. Rocking twin day with there matching curly hair, breast cancer awareness shirts and animal print shoes.  Teacher and student.

Flash forward a few years and they look like this--mentor and wanna-be-teacher.  

They sport different hair styles and glasses, both with a shared passion for business education.

Then M took to the front of the classroom and taught the students about investing early.

When the two weeks were all said and done, we all return to school.  To which I say-- let the count down to the end begin!

Monday's in the Bag, Bring on Tuesday!

Last week I had a few of those--"it's been a day" kind of days! with winter lingering on and on.  In the office I freeze in the morning and sweat to death in the afternoon.  Tweens fill the chairs that line my wall.  When I feel like falling to the floor...I let my mind drift to Lin's advice of having a mai tai.  The kind of cocktail that takes you from the office to tropics in a few sips.  I went directly from work to the grocery store to fill my cart with rums and juices and fruits for garnish.  Then I came home to fill the shaker and pour out the nectar of deliciousness, till I had this baby in the palm of my hand.  No drink umbrella required.  Half way into my second mai tai I was beginning to forget all the "friends" that filled my chairs.  The phrase "you go Glen Coco" was drifting away.  Dr. Lin knows exactly what to prescribe!  Prescription: repeat as needed.

Imagine the glee I felt at the constant chatter of an impending winter storm.  A chance snow day.  A chance I was crossing my fingers (toes and legs) to have happen.  I so badly wanted a quiet-interruption-free start to my week to get that feeling of being accomplished had.

Saturday the Post-Dispatch posted this weather report



Being in the "go crazy folks" section I immediately started a pot of gumbo and mixed a mai tai.  And I waited. Waited for the ice. The sleet. The snow.  But mostly for that text from work saying "snow day."  Some time between Ellen's twitter crashing photo and the Oscar presentation for costume design, that text came.  I have never wanted a snow day so badly.  My wish came true.

I left work today with that feeling of accomplishment.  A calm that every week should start with, easing into the crazy.  And so I say.

I'm ready. Bring on Tuesday! 

"You Go Glen Coco!"

Lately my days have been filled with so many "friends" desk-side I have resorted to calling my four chairs club seating for my fans.  I actually tell students to have a seat in my fan club area.  They look at me with this queer sort of gleam before they get it. When I returned a text to my daughter telling her I had lots and lots of friends one day, she replied "you go Glen Coco."  So here I am thinking for the last week that my nickname could be Glen Coco, when today I discovered it is "bay-bee gurrrrl." Yes only in a middle school can you enter a classroom and have a student blurt out, "hey there, how's it going bay-bee gurrrrl?"  Snarl.  Bay-bee gurrrrl doesn't exactly having it going on lately.  (Except a few times last week when a glass of Pinot Noir eased my influx of "friends.")  Some kids are just too cool for school.

Working in a school means there is always that "one kid" that can turn a smile on a face, on even the worst of days.  Although today was far, far, far from being a bad day, that "one kid" for me not only made me smile, he made me giggle--in a happy kind-of-way.  This kid loves everything about weather.  I swear one day we may all see him on TV and I'll be saying I knew him when...  Last week I got a seven slide power point on the weeks severe weather...today I got an email  

 The Weather Service says we have the chance for significant snow SUNDAY NIGHT. Believe me, I am NOT looking forward to more snow, but I must be honest.

"There are model-to-model and run-to-run differences with
thermal profiles impacting Ptype with the later system, but this
one has the potential for significant amounts IF all stays on
track."

SNOW!  Please let this weather prediction be an absolute hoax.  I truly can not take another flake.  I can't stomach pulling my snow boots on my feet, or putting a shovel in my hand.  I could however enjoy a quiet friendless day in the office while wearing my workout clothes.  Either way I adore that "one kid" to pieces.  Bad weather forecast or not.

----------------

When I got home from work I made it my mission to call a neighborhood trustee and voice my opinion.  Lucky for him he wasn't home so I left a gentle nasty gram voice message. 

Let me paint a picture for you.  The date is February 24.  Since, say, January 6, we've had several spring-like break out days.  The kind of days that had folks strip their homes for glistening colored lights and green wreaths.  I almost have to believe that some neighbors froze their tukhuses off striping the Christmas holidays off their homes. 

Not. Our. Subdivision. No!  It is a week from the start of the Lenten season and this is how I would give directions to my house....make a left at the hideous bell tower that is the subdivision entrance, oh ya, the one that has all the Christmas decorations adorning it.  Grrrrrr! Red jingle bells. Pine wreaths that light up at night.  Candy canes.  Really?!  Where is the lazy prick who hung that holiday cheer? 

So in my gentle nasty gram I offered up King Ralph and I to de-Christmas the hood. I sit here waiting to see if the trustee returns my call or sends the decorating committee to clean up. 

And that my friends is how bay-bee gurrrrl works it!

They Came. They Went.

Every time the girls come home from college this scene dialog is played out
as we say our good-byes and bid a safe trip back to campus. 

President's Day

It's not just Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln day.

  It's.  President's.  Day. 

So let's take a minute to remember this guy, who wasn't too popular, but lowered the price of postage.

Happy-paid-day-off-work!

Puppy Love

D came home for 24 hours.  M is home and begged her sister to come home to hang with her.  While M gets to enjoy a President's Day holiday from classes, D does not and made the best of her time home before departing this afternoon.  D is completely fine with the lack of holiday because SEMO had four and a half days of canceled classes due to ice and snow.  Monday is college class catch-up day. 

There was no one living thing happier to see D than her puppy dog.  D squealed when she greeted Uli, and Uli rolled over to have her belly scratched.  They have been best pals since we gifted D with Uli for her 12th birthday.

This is how D and her best furry pal spent three hours of their day on Saturday.

 Puppy Love.

Day Interupted By Love

Valentine's Day.  The day King Ralph asked me to marry him twenty-seven years ago.  One of the best things I ever did in my life!  While he always gives me a sweet gift on this day, usually in a small box, I write him a love note--that has a romantic movie connotation. This year's note was a reflection on King's Ralph famous saying "I say black, you say white"...because he will never accept, no matter how many years we are married, that I'm usually the right one [in this relationship]. (excuse me while I giggle) We bicker like Al and Peg Bundy, and love.  A love that will live way past the test of time.

They didn't agree on much

In fact , they rarely agreed on everything

They fought all the time

and they challenged each other everyday

But, despite their differences,

They had one important thing in common

They were crazy about each

 

--The Notebook

 

 

Happy Valentine's Day! xoxo

  

To top off this day of love King Ralph and I decided that we didn't want to fight all the young lovers in restaurants, opting to create a magnificent meal of love in our own kitchen...well me in the kitchen, King Ralph in the frigid-icy-outdoors grilling.

MENU

Biltmore Mansion Century Red Wine

Rum and Coke

 

Shrimp Cocktail

Morton's Steak House Salad

Sister Shubert's Rolls

Bacon Wrapped Beef Tenderloin

Red Wine and Garlic Mushrooms

King Crab Legs w/ Clarified Butter

 

Bailey's Hazelnut Chocolate Martini

   

The happy-loving-couple was stuffed with food and love!

 

THE END

 

A Night at the Opera

I have to admit that when D left for college, and my castle was emptied of princesses, I had a bit of an emotional break down.  It caught me off guard.  I mostly cried because I had dropped M off to live, three hours away the week before, in a house that I like to call a shanty shack--that faces a building that looks like a crack house.  (Reason to SEE for one's self where your kid picks to live before co-signing a lease.)   But having my baby D gone meant my job as a mother had taken a big turn in the road.   A turn that had me eat a half of sheet cake in three days.  No joke!  I shit rainbows for a week.  No joke!  Icing dye does strange things to one's system. When I flushed the toilet it hummed Judy Garland singing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow."  

Taking time to reflect on why I was sad meant accepting the voids of the very things the girls each add to our home. Princess A has a calm balance.  She is a voice of reason in the house.  M it's her constant humor.  She just has a way of making just about anything and everything funny. D is her music.  Her voice is always in song  (a radio you can't turn off Princess A likes to refer to her as) and the tinkering of the piano adds to the musical joy that fills our castle.  When they leave--silence.

So it is pleasing to my heart that D is attending college so close to home that it allows us to enjoy her musical moments.  Sure most of them are in the middle of the week, which has me rushing home from work, collecting King Ralph and jetting 100 miles down the highway, leaving me sluggish at my desk the next day.  All worth it!  So imagine our glee when the opera was on stage on both Friday and Saturday night.  I took the Saturday option. 

It was D's first college production and her first opera. D studied all summer long for this moment.  She studied a woman who works with mature, seasoned opera voices.  She was thrilled to be the only freshman cast...not only in the ensemble but as an under study for a main role.  She viewed the understudy as a learning experience. 

D had fun sending Snap Chats to me from back stage during dress rehearsals   

 

 

 I have to say, regardless of the confused, choppy nature that The Magic Flute is sometimes reviewed as presenting...I think its whimsical and humorous staging was a good place for an opera maiden like myself to start. 

 

D models her costum Turkish costume



     

It has always been custom that we give D flowers on show night. 

 That will never change no matter how far from home the stage is.

 

When the curtain on the opera came down we were waiting in the lobby to give her hugs and kisses and high fives for a job well done!

Where she accepted another gift of flowers from her dorm roommate.

 

It's these moments that keep me from eating sheet cakes. 

Breaking Up Is Hard To Do

I sent this text to my friend:

February 5, 2014

Dear Snow Shovel and Snow Boots:

I wanna break up with you!  I just don't want to love you anymore.  What do you say?  Maybe we can get back together in a year, but for now I think we really could use a some time apart.

With warmest affection,
Jodi

She told me to let her know if I heard back from my snow shovel and boots.  Imagine my surprise when yesterday I did.


February 9, 2014

Dearest Jodi:

I beg of you, don't say goodbye
Can't we give our love another try
Come on baby, let's start a new
'Cause breaking up is hard to do

Fondly,
Snow Boots

Dear Snow Boots (and Snow Shovel)

I call "uncle!" You win!!

Regretfully,
Jodi

That's right folks, shoveled another two inches of snow.  Uhg! 

Say No to Snow

Winter seems to have grip on us and I am tired of it!  I swear I am developing a case of SAD.  I feel like I have no oomph.  I feel lackluster. I just want to curl up under a blanket in the corner of the couch, looking at King Ralph holding fort in his leather recliner.  I feel like going to work is a huge chore.  I'm tired of freezing in the office, wearing my winter coat at my desk.  I feel like...like I am pinned under the blanket of snow that, if it melts returns just as quickly.  A matter of fact it's snowing again.  Enough!  Enough I say!! 

That first big snow--the one that called off school for the first three days returning from the holiday/winter break--didn't seem so bad.  Well driving home from New Orleans through the storm seemed pretty bad, but the no school the next day, going to work in a quiet building, finishing up those loose ends that had been sitting on my desk since December 23, 2013, that didn't seem bad. 

Our sweet abode glistened in the 12 inches of snow

 

I made it to work despite the snow

 

I entertained myself at work by writing on the white board

 

With D still home on her college winter break she played in the snow after work with me...

 

We made snow angels

 

and built a big ole' snowman

 

The snow melts and returns

 

and school is called off.  Yet I still have to keep going in. 

Which causes me to have a bit of a temper tantrum...

until I calm down and reflect on the fact that on these days

 I can wear comfy work out clothes to the office.

 

 I'm going to go out on a limb here and predict that I will have a few more days of workout wear to the office this winter.  In the meantime I will continue to hash mark my calendar to the day I get my summer hall pass again.   

 

I'm Back!

I can't believe it but its been since July 3, 2013 since I last blogged.  I have a billion reasons why I quit on my blog...so here goes.

TOP TEN REASONS I STOPPED BLOGGING
1. Someone--who won't fess up--shattered my laptop screen IT'S REPAIRED FINALLY!!
2. I have to work snow days while every kid in town gets to sleep in for an extra week plus...with more to come I am assuming
3. Shoveling snow. Shoveling snow. Shoveling snow! And building snowmen.
4. Blogging from an iPhone is more challenging than I have talents for
5. Was busy painting M's bedroom and unearthing delightful treasures
6. Recovering from the November eyebrow wax job I got on Mom's weekend in Springfield--the petite Vietnamese gal turned them into quotation marks 
7. I've been busy trying to conquer Candy Crush level 70
8. Busy drinking Pinot Nior, lots and lots of Pinot Nior...and chocolate martinis
9. Someone revoked my summer hall pass and sent me back to work
10. Went on an RV vacation to Maine

Here's to what tomorrow and every day after has to bring!

Holiday Road

I have been spending my "summer hall pass" time doing the exact thing I neglected to spend time doing last summer—connecting with my girl friends that get neglected during the school year.   I have had long lunch dates and longer morning coffee dates.  I have had long, long distance phone calls with some of my best girl friends who live far away.  I still have my usual super long breakfast date on the calendar…the kind of breakfast where you sometimes tip more than the bill as an apology for taking the table for endless hours because you fear the dinner crowd is starting to roll in.  I have babysat my co-workers babies (because when you don’t have babies other’s babies are a joyful novelty).  I've taken the time to lie in the sun bronzing my skin.  I've read lots of books.  I've had the traditional family night of dinner and a movie at the drive-in.  I have just about solely supported the existence of the Redbox at the gas station at the top of the street. But summer is just about to get a whole lot better!

King Ralph and I are soon setting out to explore this great country of ours in the camper—minus the offspring. (It’s all part of the leaf turning over that we both have to learn to accept.)  We are going to cross a few things off our bucket list.  We are getting packed…maps and books on tapes (to which the girls have proclaimed seems a little geriatric, but I think seems like a great idea that won’t cause me car sickness and keep my summer reading list in check), hiking shoes and camelbaks.  We are going to sit by campfires in the mountains and sip blueberry and raspberry beers, or few glasses of pinot noir and grill yummy foods while talking about the girls we miss that soon will all be gone from the house.  We are going to eat Maine lobster, in Maine and cups of New England chowder.  We will walk the footsteps of our fore fathers and eat great Italian food. I will sing solo to King Ralph as we fly down the highways and he will play the air guitar on his leg, while steadying the steering wheel with his other hand.  We will not worry about if the trash gets to the curb or if the dog is being fed.  We will be a carefree couple.

It’s still going to be our usual Griswold style vacation, except this time it’s just Clark and Ellen on the open road.     

The Fall Back Plan

Our humble castle feels a bit empty since M has been gone since June 5, living the upstate New York life of water ski instructor at a posh "Parent Trap-esque" camp.  Being a ski instructor doesn't come without hard work and study.  M is now Red Cross lake guard certified; a mere 24 laps in the pool as one of the qualifications for the certificate.  The snap chat she sent, post-test, was titled "never so happy to pass a test!" with a wearied child in the picture.   Then there was the standard CPR and life guard certifications--passed, of course.  However knowledge of the best certification M needed came in the text form to her sister...the conversation was a good laugh for the family.

Princess A asked in a text "what have you been doing today?"

Then Princess A came up with the fall back plan: M will drive the tour ferry, she'll be the tour guide and D will provide entertainment.  Certainly the only ferry tour boat with a singer who sings Italian arias...and Japanese songs as well.  My friend added, "Princess A can sell her baked goods as well."  Ooooo yes, she is quite the baker!

And so we waited and waited and waited to hear about the test.  Finally this past Monday the NY license dude came to camp to administer the test.

I pleased to announce that of the six water front counselors that tested three passed the NY public vessel exam--M is one of those three!  That's my girl, she was not about to settle for a spotter in the boat.  She excels as always!

So if anyone out there knows of a good place to buy a captain's hat, we were thinking this girl needs one.  She may not be driving a ferry boat (yet) but she sure as hell is licensed to do so.  Which calls for the fashion to celebrate.

Captain Maddi Phyl.

The Famous Cousin Name Sign

Over the last decade plus we have spent holidays snapping pictures of the cousins—holding a sign up with “Charley” written a sheet of paper (for years his wife’s name was on paper too and then no more) then posting it on Facebook, texting it…so that the one missing cousin knew he was missed. So goes the life of an Air Force pilot. 

 

 

Since Charley joined the Air Force right out of college he has been home with us for one Christmas; one Christmas in over ten years that the cousins were all together…and it was recorded with the snap of a camera.

Last Thanksgiving M was gone with the MSU marching band performing in Florida and she asked “did I get my name on a sign?” I replied that we reserve that method of record for Christmas only.  (We've never had to do two names on signs before and honestly that might have really set in the feeling of absence.) 

Until Father’s Day. 

Charley moved home last weekend!  Okay, well not home but as close to home as he has been in the last decade plus.  When you are stationed four hours from St. Louis we are going to go ahead and call it “home.”  Which called for a change of rules.  We weren't just snapping that famous cousin picture at Christmas only because it is so rare that AF pilot Major Charley is ever pictured with the cousins.  And so our family gathering of celebrating fathers called for the only photograph I took the whole day.  Oh ya, and a name change on the sign. 

Charley said "for once it isn't my name on the sign!"

Nope that would be upstate New York Maddi's name on the sign this go-round.

Let's cross our fingers that we can repeat Christmas 2011 and photograph the six cousins together once again. 

I'm feeling very hopeful.

Turning Leaf

This moment is a bridge between
Past and Future -- carefully cross it.
This moment is choice -- Make it.
This moment is life -- live it.

-- Pum Sandhu

This summer hall pass, all this home alone, has me remembering what it was like when I was a SAHM--minus the thundering roar of children’s voices echoing throughout the house.  (The house is still and silent; only the noise I create vibrates the walls.)  The days when I washed floors on a Tuesday at noon, ran to the stores at ten in the morning and picked up, continuously, after the entire family.  Answering the phone ten times a day to King Ralph’s calls of what are you doing; never believing my answer of “laundry”, still, on the sixth call.  Because contrary to his male belief system; it actually took most the day to crank out the laundry for a family of five…in between loads of laundry and dusting furniture, packing in a few chapters of a great novel. Oh, and blogging.  Aaaahhh; the good ole’ days.

When it isn’t my summer hall pass season I feel it a literal chore to wash floors on a Saturday.  Running to the stores is an after work obligation to feed the family or secure toilet paper and laundry soap.  Laundry is done mostly when King Ralph announces to everyone that he is on his last pair of underwear and will forced soon to wear his cleanest dirtiest pair.  The only phone call King Ralph shares with me each day is the one I make on my way out of work.  Often I am so tired from answering phones and talking to preteens and teens that I make my calls short in opt for silence.  How life has changed.  The changes keep on coming, no matter how much I try to stop them.

This year King Ralph and I will take a summer vacation minus the offspring.  We have been awful lucky that we have daughters that treasure family vacation time—road trips, long camping trips cross country, singing in the car while memorizing the words to all those “best of” albums from the days-gone-by; albums that savor what really good music was all about.  This year it’s different.  Not that the girls don’t want to be with us, they just have chosen different paths for themselves.  M is off in New York (I have a good story coming soon), D has taken a full time job this summer in hopes of stashing enough cash to join a sorority.  The one thing as parents we refuse to pay for…not mention I so don’t think D is the sorority kinda girl, but wants to be “like” her sisters.  This in a sense is endearing.  But college is a time to figure out and learn who you really are, and figure she will.  Princess A was offered to join in on the vacation fun, only to inform us that she is not an only child and at twenty-three does not want to see how it tastes.  Really I think she prefers to save her vacation time for jet-setting to California to visit a particular (remaining unnamed) young man.  A girl with a real job savoring every day of her earned time off.  And so the leaf of life takes a turn.  Question. Are any of us really ready for the leaf to turn?  I say no.  Maybe it’s because, we are all so nostalgic for “what was”…because our children defined who we were for so long it is hard to imagine being “just a couple” again.  As romantic as a couple is there is certain romance to family—a love of time shared like none other.      

    

One day the leaf will turn yet again. 

My Summer Hall Pass

This is one of my favorite times of the year, the time when I have my summer hall pass.  Eight weeks of unpaid leave from work to play with friends and family, sleep in, do laundry and wash floors in the middle of the day on a Tuesday, and for the first time in my parenting life be home alone with my thoughts.  The girls are all off working full time.  

First let's take a minute to reflect...

 

about best friends excited to have graduated high school

or that M is off in upstate New York working (first getting trained and certified) at an elite girls summer camp, making new friends from across the oceans and building her teaching skills, all while taking in this view.  A matter of fact that lake is her office--M the water ski instructor.

Well I suppose I better churn a little more laundry and then read my book.  The life of a girl with a summer hall pass. Tough life!

Then they walked out the doors...

"When all's said and done, all roads lead to the same end. So it's not so much which road you take, as how you take it."

Road traveled by way of Lawrence University. Road traveled by way of Missouri State. Road traveled by way of Southeast Missouri State. Road traveled by way of William Woods University.

And, will remain friends!

Go Confidently in the Direction of Your Dreams! Live the Life You've imagined.

Tomorrow my D will walk out the doors of Lindbergh High School and her life will take her on a new journey. So I write to her with love and pride in my heart.

 

As this chapter of your life is about to come to a close and you embark upon the next great chapter of your life—college—it seems only fitting to reflect a bit…with a joyful heart.

You came into this world a wee bit before expected with haste and a challenge.  Your strength to persevere started the moment you struggled to take those first breathes of life and has continued.  Although you have tested the waters of every ounce of patience I possess—I came to see clearly that was your way of showing that you wanted to come out on the top of every adventure you tried your hand to.  That the bar you set for self achievement was above what others expected of you—always the consummate (over) achiever. 

Like all those with fire in their soul; bumps and disappoints along the way were no stranger to you.  You were blessed to, and chose too, surround yourself with people who taught you to pull yourself up by your bootstraps, never blowing sunshine up you tail and to carry on.  Whether it was dad teaching you to ride your two-wheel bike—with every crash to the concrete or wobbling jumps to the grassy easement, you took to the task over and over, slapped a band-aid on the scuffed knees and elbows and persevered till perfect balance was acquired.   Of late it has been Mr. Hutson who has insisted that the marking of one judge should never be the mark of your overall talent—to just warm up those God given vocal cords and sing, sing, sing! All the while I stood close by cheering you on…your best cheerleader, your believer!

I knew you were destined for all things musical as you rode through the grocery store at age three singing Peter, Paul and Mary’s Lemon Tree for all the shoppers to hear.  I knew the moment you starred as Scrooge, bellowing out song in the fifth grade Christmas musical. I knew it when you played the piano.  I loved when you mastered playing the Charlie Brown theme song, or my favorite, the theme song from Pride and Prejudice.  Your musical gifts melt my heart (even if I bought you a piano with a headphone option for silent practice playing).  I should have known when Mr. Hutson named your seventh grade solo/ensemble quartet, “The Diva Quartet”, which garnered a one rating, that you were  good, even in middle school…so good it repeated itself in eighth grade.  Vocal music was calling your name.  I learned over the years to grit my teeth (and occasionally lose my patience) to your crabby self on recital and competition days, knowing it was your inner beast trying to fight the nerves and your personal high expectations.  I learned to accept if your nerves where to strung to allow me in the room to hear you perform—listening ever so contently with my ear pressed to the crack in the door. I’ll never forget your college audition day, the GPS talking us to the unknown, your dad frustrated as he drove in the wrong guided direction and you bellowing out a song in German in the back seat while a CD piped out the piano music at ten thousand decibels.  I guess I should have known that crazy moment would have offered you the confidence boost you needed and your acceptance into the School of Music. 

While this final year of high school has been [what you viewed] as the test to your self esteem and talent…from the part you were overlooked for in the school musical, to the two rating you received on your solo at Solo/Ensemble, never let those moments be the breaker to the many accolades you did receive.  You managed to show that you DO possess talent of great measure.   The trio you put together for solo/ensemble reaped a one rating and a Japanese song that quickly has become your “party trick.”  The State Thespian quartet earned a superior rating and took you to the state capitol to be honored—you my child are one of “MY Nine Favorite Things!”  On May 28, you will be draped in cords to show all your academic achievements and that is nothing to sneeze at either.  There are so many more moments of pride which outweigh the disappointments.

Demi, as you set out on a new journey life is sure to have more bumps along the way and sometimes it is hard to see past one’s own tear filled eyes to see all the light shining through the dark tunnel, but remember when moments in your future don’t seem to go as you hope—that stars shine only in the dark sky.  You my child are destined to be a star!  As you sang to me on Mother’s Day—you are “Never Far from Home.”

Pick the lyrics for your life and SING! Sing for all to hear.

Dear Lin

Dear Lin,
In case your fire tower gets crowded or maybe the party just needs to move on to new towers...there is always my favorite, Mt. Cammerer Lookout by way of the Low Gap Trail to Appalachian Trail.  It's all enclosed in case it should rain or get to nippy outside.  Which in that case we can sip warm spiced wine to heat our bodies.  ;-)

Love,
Your Pallie

Mr. President I Couldn't Have Said It Better Myself

 

Pick Me Up A Pack Of Smoke On The Way Home

There is nothing that makes me happier than watching my daughters grow in women.  Sure I sometimes long--in that nostalgic way-- to cuddle them, all swaddled and cooing in my arms, but watching them grow and foster their passions and talents brings me the most joy!

My sweet baby who entered this world in a struggle, was once tom boyish, scruffy, dirty little girl who hated lip stick (okay so she's progressed to Baby Lips tinted lip gloss), nail polish and hair product...well, my D now paints her toes and fingers funky colors, mouses her extra long tresses, steals my eye liner and loves a great pair of six inch heels as much as her sisters...it took a lot of years to come into and embrace her femininity,but she has arrived--WELCOME BABY GIRL!  

On the eve of D's 18th birthday I have decided to share her confirmation faith statement.  It is a beautiful reflection of the young woman she was in the process of growing into four years ago.  A young woman of faith who has been achieving her dreams and goals ever since.  Who sets a high bar for herself, that sometimes causes stress, but in the end brings her a sense of great accomplishment (and King Ralph and I great pride).


Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you," declared the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." 

This past Christmas break my sisters and I decided to watch old home movies.  In the mix was a video my parents took of my birth I had never seen.  It was in watching this video that I realized God must have had a plan for me--a plan with hope and a future.

You see I came into this world a little early, my tiny body discolored from not breathing.  In the video you can see my mom lying quietly still only breaking her silence for brief moments to ask the doctor repeatedly, "is she okay?"  My mom said her silence was consumed with prayer that the Lord would see fit to let me prosper.  Then my dad and my grandfather followed the ambulance I was put in to Children's Hospital.  While I was at Children's Hospital our pastor came to visit.  He had just walked in when a nurse was telling my parents a test they wanted to perform and the lengthy stay that would be required if the results deemed so.  That is when Pastor Schmidt looked at my parents and said he could baptize me in the hospital.  My parents a little shocked by the offer of such an option, had never considered anything else but to bring me to the water, not the water coming to me.  They believed the Lord had plans for me, to prosper me and not to harm me, plans to give me hope and a future.  The Lord heard my parents' prayers and on January 7, they gathered with my godparents around the water so that I could be feed with the promise and hope of God.

It is through confirmation I have come to have a better understanding of what reaffirming the vows my parents and godparents took for me at my baptism and the meaning of God's promise.  That the water and God's promise connect us all with the death and resurrection of Jesus--the HOPE we all long for, the HOPE we all need to fill our FUTURE.

But, it is not just my desire of hope that I have gained through knowing Christ but learning that I can share that same hope and a future to others.  Service is a huge part of confirmation, and our lives, so many different opportunities to show others God's miracles and great wonders that work through us.  Like the times we have gone to Sunshine Ministry, a shelter for homeless men.  As a teen I had a picture of homelessness that usually shows itself on the street as I pass by.  Sunshine Ministry opens our God filled hearts to realizing homeless has a different definition; and the definition looks like so many of us that fill the pews of St. Thomas/Holy Spirit longing for the foods to suppress our hunger and fill our souls.  We served these men a hot meal and then a loving helping of God's word through a simple worship service.  So while these men may have entered the shelter hopeless, hungry, tired and tattered--my confirmation classmates and I were able to show them, to tell them what the Lord declared "for I know the plans I have for you...plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

When we teens wonder about the future you would assume we would be thinking about what we want to be when we grow up or where we would choose to go to college.  But really, shouldn't we all be thinking about how our relationship with God will prosper?  And how we will cross all those faith stepping-stones that are yet to come.  So I guess what I am saying is that by making this faith statement, choosing to be confirmed, recognized as an adult in the church is that I want to have a life filled with... because, truthfully, a life without God would be empty and lonely.  I believe the Lord has plans for me, plans to prosper me and not to harm me, plans to give me hope and future.

I stand here today as the proof that was at my birth and am now the Lord's plan.  You see my future has just begun as well as the never-ending journey I am taking in my faith.  So with the new stepping stone that awaits me and knowing that there are many more waiting for me in my future I realize I will not take this journey alone; for I have the people of this church and God walking beside.

Now my sweet (and spicy) D, as you go about to prosper and to find your future...as you throw those two college choices on the scale weighing which is the best fit for you to reach for your dream of being an educator...as you prepare to sing your classically trained heart out on November 3, with the All-Suburban Mixed Choir (a goal you decided to strive for just this school year), as you conquer AP/IB Calculus and your other four AP classes, as learn to like that boy  love life--I wish you the happiest of 18th Birthdays.  You bring joy to mine and daddy's heart! With every goal you achieve, with every chord you play on the piano, with every note of song that belts from your voice, for every theatrical moment you have when you take the stage,  with every crab of late night studies, with every cringe at my fifteen kisses I plant on your yummy cheeks--you are loved more than you may ever realize.  Unplanned by your parent, but so planned from God. Happy Birthday our Freddie girl!

Hey, now that you are eighteen your Aunt Debbie was wondering if you could pick her up a pack of smokes and a lottery ticket on the way to her house.  Don't bother with the rubber cement, diet pills, porn magazines...no need to sign any contracts (and that includes a marriage certificate), but BEST OF ALL you get to VOTE in the presidential election this year.

HAPPY 18TH BIRTHDAY to my baby!  Your journey is just beginning.  XOXO

She Struck A Deal With God

It felt like that one Saturday last March when D was ubber stressed over District Solo/Ensemble, where everything you said or did triggered her because she swore she would fail herself and get a two rating.  No matter how often her voice coach guaranteed her she was prepared she was convincing her nerves that she was not.  She was afraid for her parents, King Ralph and I to be in the room to hear her sing.  We had to stand in the noisy hall with ears pressed to the door listening. The story ended with her getting a one rating and making it to state, where she also scored a one rating. 

So this year she decided she wanted to take the chance at All-Suburban Choir.  We had the same game of stress.  It started out with D just saying it wasn't going to be about making All-Suburban but just about the experience and saying she gave it a try.  To non-stop singing of an Italian arias, to I really want to make All-Suburban, to I know I won't make it and when I don't I will cry.  Since her voice coach is a co-worker of mine he made it clear to me that she was more than prepared.  All her silly jabber and preparation for tears was nothing more than her usual audition stress.  

I went to work for her Saturday morning in that box known as the athletic field concession stand (actually it feels like I am as close to hell as humanly possible, but with a Starbucks spiced pumpkin lattte in hand with made me pretend I was getting closer to heaven) while she auditioned up north.  She finally arrived at her job at 12:30pm.  I decided to stay and continue to help her out as it was the craziest work experience I had ever had and I wasn't about to leave my baby there alone serving hot beverages to frozen children and tired crabby parents.  I think my staying with her quelled her tears that were trying to brew inside her.  She was convinced she did a horrible job at the sight reading costing her a place in the prestigious high school choir.  I texted her voice coach and he relayed that what he heard that day she had nothing to worry about.  

So off King Ralph and I went to our annual October Fest, leaving D at home waiting by her phone for any word of the audition results.  When I get a text from her voice coach that said "Sssshhh D made All-Suburban Mixed Choir."  Sssshhh what is that suppose to mean?  Was I getting privileged information?  When I replied asking if I was allowed to tell her he said "you can tell her".  I forwarded his text and then called D.  The joyous screams as she read the text was deafening.  The sweetest sound.  As sweet as her joy when she got that one at State Solo/Ensemble last spring. And I could hear the stress she had pended up inside her leave her body.   

When we got home from our party D looks at me and says"we are going to church tomorrow!"  We have been so lazy about attending lately.  I gladly agreed but it had to be the 8am service.  She says "fine but we have to go because I prayed to God that if he let me make All-Suburban I would go to church in the morning."  

So the story ends with D and I sitting in our regular fifth pew on the pulpit side of the sanctuary saying-- when one strikes a deal with God there is no going back on the deal.

Guess this means God really does answer prayers ;-) 

Flipping Through The Photo Archives

It is just D and I at home tonight.  King Ralph has been fishing all week (Sssshhh! this regular week long adventure of his is actually my favorite time of the year) and Princess A is out with her new boy.  D has decided that watching a marathon of Family Guy is a good idea...I hate Family Guy. So I am flipping through my photo archives and found this photo of the girls at the drive-in last summer, playing at the ancient-old-rusty-accident-waiting-to-happen playground.

I love these three girls and no matter their growing up they will always be my babies!  And I love that they love me too. I love that they don't mind me giving them tons of cheek kisses and big hugs.  Wait D hates to be kissed but on occasion she lets me--she's always been like that, always!

I love that no matter how big they get they still love family outings and adventures with the parents.

Dog gone I miss that girl in the "Bears" shirt!

September Saturdays

When one is so use to constant noise--sister fights over a sneaky borrow of fashion, piano playing, singing voice lesson songs, rap music blasting from bedrooms, father moans...here I sit on this Saturday night alone. Quiet house.  Silence broken only by the sounds of cricket chirps on a fall night.  Last Saturday King Ralph was home alone and this week it is my turn.  It always sounds so inviting till the moment, but divide and conquer is how we roll these days.

Last Saturday it was my trip to MSU for a college tour for D and to watch M perform for the first time with the college band at the football game.

Dare I reflect on that Saturday?  Let's just say when it rains--slippery when wet...trip to the urgent care center and few bottles of pills to ease the pain of my non-existent elbow, sprained rotator cuff and maybe my pride too (since I hit ground in front of four rather good looking college boys).  I still managed to cook M and her roomies two home cooked meals, so that has to count for super-mom status.

This Saturday it is King Ralph entertaining M for Parents Weekend (or as we refer to it drop a load of cash at Walmart and take the child out to dinner weekend) while I conquered the final high school homecoming dance at our abode.  It was full on glamour in the great room all afternoon--Princess A with the rat tail comb teasing D's hair into a Carrie Underwood-esque fancy ponytail and painting her face up America's Next Top Model style--it's all about the smokey eyes.  Of course I tried to capture a photo of the glam in action but I was snapped at that pre-beauty pictures where off limits.  It is the last homecoming dance her at the abode.  All the chapters of teenhood coming to close little by little.  

Then it was time to get the "Sugar Rush" party started

These three beauties have no dates to tend to for the night.  They are free to mingle and work the dance floor at their leisure.  This is just the way they wanted it to be. No date, no heel height restrictions applied.

And in-case you were wondering how I spent my LHS senior year homecoming...well here you go a snap shot memory to share.  Back in the day if you didn't get asked to the dance you didn't go.  So we beauties of the class of nineteen eighty something had a "Dateless Homecoming Party"

If I recall correctly that Bronx Zoo hat got passed around a lot that night.

Believe it or not most of us in this picture still hang out together.

UHG!

Today is school picture day.  Some things I am just to old to enjoy...this is one of those things!

I know, I know, just smile and say cheese.