Sometimes You Just Have to Laugh to Keep From Cryin'...

Yesterday was just one of those days.  You know the kind I'm talking about... Nothing tragic or life threatening...just one of those parenting days where you feel mentally exhausted and drained to the point of locking yourself in the bathroom for a few minutes in order to have yourself a good old fashioned pity party in God's honor.


You ever have a day like that?  


Well, I have them from time to time and yesterday was one of them.  But instead of going on and on about it here today, I've decided to talk about some of the little things that made me smile or laugh this week...


1. Yesterday when Dracen and I were pulling into the garage after I picked him up at school, he announced to me that he has decided for sure what he wants to do for his ninth birthday this July. And I had to ask him to clarify three times because I could have sworn he was saying he wanted to go to the Y (as in the YMCA) and I could not, for the life of me, figure out why.  


But no, that was not at all what he said.  He said, after I asked him the third time, "I want to go to Ha-Wa-ii!"  And y'all?  He was dead serious.  I laughed (which he did not appreciate) and told him that yes, I would like that too, very much, but that he would have to aim a little bit lower this year.  


2. We are living in the small town that Darin grew up in and lived in all of his life.  A town where pretty much everybody knows your business...even the people you don't personally know because well, most of them, and their parents, and their parents' parents have lived here for forever and ever, amen.  


Anyway, I thought I had heard all of Darin's stories (and he had quite a few) but Charlie heard one from one of Darin's friends that he grew up with, whom we also go to church with, when he went over to help him with his heat pump the other day and he was still laughing so hard just thinking about it that he had a hard time getting the words out.  


I knew that Darin had lost his license (as in had them suspended) once for a little while when he was in high school and I remember him telling me about how he had to paint the fire station that year as part of his punishment/community service but somehow, I never heard this part of the story...


Apparently a few of them (Darin's friends/fellow students) were standing around outside the school on this particular chilly morning when they heard this really loud sound coming up the street and turned to see Darin pulling in the school parking lot on a riding lawn mower while wearing an aviator hat, complete with the loose flaps flying in the wind.  And he pulled up right into a parking spot with no shame whatsoever in his game.  


All I could think to say was, "I told you Dracen gets it honest!"  


3. When these pillows that I ordered from Joss & Main arrived, I was so excited that I actually produced an eeee! as I tore open the box.  To know me is to know that I do not typically say eeee or anything remotely like it but it's not every day that you find yourself such a grand treasure as not one, but two wiener dog pillows!

4. Things that made me laugh on Pinterest...

Ain't that the truth!

I'll never do it wrong again!

Amen, sister!

I can relate!

 5. And ones that made me smile...

Thank God, It is Friday...

Captured: When A Photo Gets It Right...

As one of Mama Kat's writing prompts this week, she asked us to share a photo of ourselves that we think really captures who we are. I thought long and hard about it and went back and forth between the other prompts, flipped through my photos from the last few years, went back to the other prompts again and finally decided on this photo taken by my good friend Michele on my and Charlie's wedding day in 2008...

I had already changed out of my wedding dress and we were getting ready to leave the church for our honeymoon and would be gone for eight nights.  


Dracen was four, almost five, at the time and while I can't remember exactly what we were talking about here, I'm sure it had to do with how long I'd be gone, what day I'd be back and what I was going to bring him upon my return.  


I'm pretty sure I did not know this photo was being taken and I suppose this is the reason I believe it captures my soul so well.  Aside from the fancy jewelry and the curls and birdseed in my hair, this look on my face and subtle concern in my eyes as I reassure my child is, well...it's me.  In a nutshell.

I know I was excited...about finally getting the chance to relax with my new husband in the tropics for a full week, about this new beginning...this second leap of faith and reopening of my mended heart that had been shattered by grief less than five years earlier...


But I was also a little concerned and worried (as always)about leaving my babies behind for over a week although I knew they'd be in the excellent care and hands of grandparents who loved them fiercely.  


I can see clearly on my face (that probably appears calm and collected to most) that my thinking wheels inside my head were spinning out of control with thoughts and concerns that most likely never made it to my lips, much less past them. 


But I also know that my heart was smiling, happy, grateful and filled with love and anticipation for the beautiful, yet to be lived life that lay ahead... 


And unlike my first time as a bride, I now possessed the insight and wisdom to know that while life will not always be easy and that the road will get bumpy, and sometimes even downright treacherous at times, that it must always go on and be cherished as the imperfectly beautiful gift that it is...



   

With Reckless Abandon...

I finally broke down and got myself a Kindle Touch a few weeks ago. I was rebellious about it for awhile because I just simply love having books around me.  Sometimes the shallow side of me breaks that old rule about not judging a book by its cover and buys old books at antique shops based on good looks alone.  


Because, you know?  I'm reckless like that.  


But I finally decided that I should just get over my rebel self, get with the times, and buy myself an e-reader, reminding myself that I can still buy books from time to time if I desire.  


I have not yet regretted my decision. In fact, I think I now have myself a new addiction that goes by the name of Kindle because it is just way too easy to touch that screen ever so delicately and order myself another book.  I've always been one to read one book at a time until it's finished, but now?  I am currently reading five books on there and one paperback I already had.  


So that's pretty much what I've been doing instead of blogging...


Except for yesterday.  Yesterday I had a dermatologist appointment and then went to Target and loaded my cart with everything from a five dollar clearance pair of fuzzy slippers to a 24 pack of fruit snacks. I think it's a really great thing that the nearest Target is a good 25 minutes from my house because what is it about that place that makes me want to buy sh*t with reckless abandon? 


The dermatologist appointment was just an annual check for spots thing that I've had to do since discovering that basal cell carcinoma on my chest in '09 that was so kind to leave me a little white scar to remember it by. Wear your sunscreen, kids, and don't bake yourself in baby oil or Crisco...Yes, I was once an idiot but I think most all of us were when it came to the sun back then.


I knew I didn't have any new spots because the anal side of me is diligent about checking myself for them now but I like to be reassured that the flat brown mole on my leg that has been there forever and ever is still the same ole harmless mole it always was.  And plus, she gives me drugs.  For fever blisters.  I call them magic pills.  I start feeling that dreaded tingle on my lip, pop that pill, and watch that mother disappear before it ever gets a chance to turn me into an ogre with its own phone number and zip code right there on my top lip.  


The worst part about the visit is sitting there in nothing but my underwear and giant paper napkin and then rolling around on that exam table in those godforsaken fluorescent lights, exposing every ounce of cellulite on my bare arse.  Not my idea of a good time.


But speaking of a good time, Dracen had him one Sunday afternoon down by the creek.  I'm not sure where winter went but it sure has been layin' low around here...

 

Happy Hump Day!