A promise for my birthday

I'm a little bit older and a lot less bolder than I used to be. I used to shake 'em down but now I stop and think about my dignity.  And now sweet sixteen's turned forty-one...  Yeah yeah, I know Mr. Seger's song actually says thirty-one but that doesn't work for me, seeing as how I'm turning forty-one today and all. 


I have the same big plans this year as last...back to back baseball games.  Little League games here take place on Tuesdays and Thursdays and since this is a leap year, I'm leaping right over a baseball-free birthday.  But it is all good because while I'd rather have a fork stuck in my hand than watch a pro game on t.v., I actually really do enjoy watching my babies boys play ball. 

I even occasionally give little shout outs like, good play!, good hit!, or good catch! even when it was not my child who made the play.  And to know me is to know how uncharacteristic such behavior is for me, the die hard introvert. I mean, I'm never going to be one of those moms who hoots, hollers, or grabs hold of the fence in order to yell insults at the umpires or coaches (because yes, I have seen it happen y'all, and it ain't pretty) but a supportive baseball mom, I am.


I haven't really given much thought to turning forty-one.  I mean, it seems like a pretty insignificant birthday when I think about last year's forty, the BIG 4-0.  But no birthday that grants us another year of life is ever really insignificant, is it?  I read a quote once that really struck a chord with me...Do not regret growing older. It is a privilege denied to many. I don't know who said it but oh how true it is.  


Each birthday we are blessed with, every age and page we turn, is a gift from God and a reminder that our mission on earth is not yet complete, that life has not yet molded us into the person we are meant to become, the one we came here to be.  


So on this day, the same one God saw fit to grant me life on forty-one years ago...


I promise to pause for a moment,


inhale the clean, fresh air he has given me to breathe,


hug the beautiful souls he has so carefully and purposefully placed in my life,


stroke the soft fur of the beloved four-legged, tail wagging friends he has entrusted me with,


drive down the road with my windows down, my hair in the wind and my radio up, while belting out the words to my favorite songs with the imperfect voice he has given only to me,


smile and encourage as I watch those ever-growing, ever-changing, ever-challenging, hard-headed boys he so graciously allowed to be my sons as they swing their bats, run the bases, and dirty up their ball pants, whether they strike out or hit a home run,


and just be grateful, be happy...content, yet open for his usefulness,


because today I have once again been blessed with a privilege denied to many...


Sweet sixteen has turned forty-one.  

Spring Break...Chocolate, Battlefields and Farm Country

 Aside from the arguing and fighting between the boys, our trip did have its good moments and I learned some things I did not know, like what a good-hearted and generous man Milton Hershey was.  I had no idea that he had left his entire fortune to the school/home he and his late wife, Kitty, had started for orphaned and underprivileged kids since they could not have any of their own.  

During our little trolley ride tour of the area and the school, I was almost brought to tears a few times hearing our tour guide (who was a teacher at the school for years) speak about Mr. Hershey's life and all the good he did with his success.  He was the real deal and after hearing his story, it almost makes me not want to buy any other brand of chocolate since that school for underprivileged kids still owns 80 percent stock in the company.  Pretty amazing.  

And speaking of the chocolate, they were not stingy with it at Chocolate World.  Every time we turned around someone was handing us another chocolate bar, Hershey kiss, or Reese's cup.  It was my kind of place.  And the store?  Oh.my.word.  I had visions of diving headfirst into the endless rows of milk chocolate and 
mountains of Twizzlers.

I could not, however, as much as I love me some chocolate and some Twizzlers, wrap my mind around the idea of chocolate Twizzlers.  I had to say no to those...

But the boys and I did buy this bag of extra long Twizzlers that were long gone before we ever got back to North Carolina.

How this child of mine is not smiling while holding up a super sized bag of extra long Twizzlers while standing in the middle of Hershey's Chocolate World is completely beyond me.  I guess he's smiling on the inside.  


When we arrived there, we had to decide what things we wanted to do.  We all agreed on the trolley ride tour and the chocolate tasting but Dracen was the only one set and determined to design his own chocolate bar creation.  I thought we'd all be able to go with him and watch but no such luck.  You had to have a ticket to go in.  I asked him if he wanted me to go buy myself a ticket but Mr. Independent was completely fine to fly it solo and have us wait outside in the store for 45 minutes.  

And here he is after he came out holding up his very own chocolate creation complete with its special tin box sporting his name and everything.  But still...the smile remains on the inside.  


Oh, and just when I thought we were going to make it out of there without one of those five pound chocolate bars, Mr. Independent aka Money Bags reminded us that was the whole very reason he wanted to make this trip so against my better judgement, I got out of his way and watched him make his way to the counter with it. 

Later that night, without my knowledge, he and his brother took all the packaging and wrapper off that thing and now it sits in big chunks in a plastic bag on my kitchen counter and believe me, it takes every ounce of willpower in my body not to inhale it through a straw.  


I don't think I could ever possibly grow tired or sick of chocolate.  


Charlie though, it turns out, is a bit of a lightweight when it comes to chocolate consumption because while I didn't think we ate all that much (just some small samples) that day, he went into some sort of chocolate hangover later and had a headache for hours.  And there I was still trying to resist the urge to eat another chocolate bar or two. Or three.


I did begin to run out of steam about halfway through the Hershey Museum later that day, however. Here is Dracen and I after we first arrived searching for the answers to his scavenger hunt they gave him at the front desk. This was not too long before Devin drove him into the fitful rage of breaking his pencil tip off on his chest in the middle of the museum while I was taking a breather on a bench somewhere in a quiet corner. Oh, how I wish that were an exaggeration.

While Hershey was probably my favorite part of the trip, what with me being a chocoholic and then learning of the goodness of Mr. Milton Hershey, Gettysburg, although cold and windy, was pretty amazing to see as well.  I had hoped to get more photos but I am a straight up wuss when it comes to cold wind, especially while under-clothed. 


Some of the stories our tour guide told us about what the troops went through and about all the lives lost, were just heartbreaking and just like the Hershey tour, I found myself with tears in my eyes a few times.  I was surprised to learn, however, that with all that fighting that took place there, only one civilian life was lost. I thought that was phenomenal.


And Amish farm country?  Was absolutely beautiful but I really could have done without the reek of manure in the air.  I guess you get used to it after awhile.  


Here are a few random shots from those areas...

on the tour bus

There is fire coming out of the top of this monument though it didn't show up in this photo.

Devin's photography... he caught me blinking

typical Dracen

He's almost smiling!

Nike, the goddess of victory

Mr. Lincoln, himself

We climbed to the very top of this thing though I decided at the last minute to go after they were already nearly to the top.  So I practically ran all the way up, as if I was some sort of G.I. Jane type and my poor leg muscles trembled for a good two hours afterward.  

The horse and buggies on the highway with all that traffic tripped me out.  No way would I have the courage.  I, the champion worry wart, could not stop worrying about these Amish people and their horses out there amidst all that traffic.  Out of respect for them, I refrained from taking a photo of any persons though we did see a man pulled over on the highway and standing beside his car taking photos of them straight on with no shame in his game whatsoever. Dude, how rude.

Oh, and so as not to leave out the Darlings (Y'all didn't think I left them at home, did you?), here they are crashed in the hotel room in Hershey and taking in the sights in Harpers Ferry, WV...

I need a vacation in order to recover from my vacation

What is it that makes me think an eight hour road trip followed by tight quarters in a hotel room for four nights is going to be a good idea with the likes of those two strong-willed boys of mine? You'd think we would have learned our lesson last year over Spring Break but nope, we did it again.  Only this year the fighting was worse.


How many hours until we're there?!  


Tell him to give me my ipod back!


HE GRABBED ME BY THE NECK AND CHOKED ME!  ARGHHH!!!!


How many hours until we're there?!


I'm hungry!


I've got to pee!


I HATE YOU!  I WISH YOU WERE NEVER BORN!!! 


Can we stop at the fireworks store?  Mom-Mom-Mom? Can we stop at the fireworks store?  Please, pu-leeez!..I have 10 dollars left! 


How much longer?


Can I have some quarters for the game room?  


I'm going to get a drink.  Can I have some more quarters?  How 'bout a dollar?  A five?  I can cash that in at the change machine.  


Will you take us swimming in the indoor pool?  


Get off me!  


STTTOPPPP!!!!


HE WON'T GET OUT OF MY FACE!!!


He just BROKE his pencil off on my skin!!!  I'm gonna KILL him!!!!


Will you take us swimming again?  Please?!  After while?  Please!  I swear we won't fight anymore.  We won't.  We promise to be good!


How much longer until we're home?  


I'm starving to death!  


I'm about to pee in my pants!  


And trust me, that's the short, watered down version.  We spent two nights in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania followed by two nights in Hershey and then decided to stop off in the old historic town of Harpers Ferry, West Virginia on our way home Friday which put us getting home close to midnight Friday night and let me tell you, I was pretty much past my wit's end because they had grated my very last nerve down until I had zero patience left and their little tails went straight to bed without passing GO or collecting a flippin' dime of their two hundred dollars.  


We then had to get up Saturday morning because they each had a baseball game at the same time, on neighboring fields.  I managed to catch most of both games by standing on the hill in between the fields and craning my neck like an ostrich. 


And as a reward for being such a good baseball mom, they broke out into a massive fight in the car on the way home because Dracen was playing catch in the backseat with a small souvenir block puzzle he got in Amish Country when he accidentally busted Devin's lip, drawing blood, which prompted him to kindly pay him back when we got home by kicking him in the hand while still wearing his baseball cleats.


But the good news is, everyone is still in one piece and without (as far as I can tell) any permanent injuries or emotional scars.  And this morning?  The house is quiet because they are back at school, only after a good fight over the bathroom sink before they left, of course.


I did manage to get a few good pictures, aside from the fighting and the fact that is was extremely windy and only in the 50s most of the time we were there.  I will share more later, after I've had time to properly reassemble my nervous system, but I think this one (taken on one of the battlefields during our tour) is a pretty accurate depiction of the trip...


You have Dracen climbed up on the cannon, while appearing to stare off into the wild blue yonder but is really, no doubt, concocting his next big action plan while Devin stands off in the back clearly peeved that he is being forced into the harsh act of posing for a photo and then you have me pretending not to be freezing my arse off and longing to get back on the tour bus asap.  This was day one so I've still got a few nerves left yet.  

   
More Later,