This should be my motto for the next few years...

I cannot take credit for this. Posted by a high school classmate on Facebook:


"Enough is enough. This is the year of rippled abs and buns of carved stone. I will burst into my 40s on a chariot. Prepare the gladiator, 2010. You are a number that not only am I able to divide, but conquer."

We are all facing down our forties.

Even better, one of my other classmates responded:

"My 40s are going to make my 30s seem like my 80s."

LOVE IT!

"Breaking" the seal

We broke the seal on a new childhood milestone today.  Our oldest child broke his arm while sledding.  How, you may ask?  He sled down a hill that had cars parked at the bottom.  He slammed into one of the cars.  We were not there, because this was a Scout trip overnight.  My husband, when he dropped our son off, said to the adults that were there that they should move their cars before they start sledding.  He was assured they would. They had even brought straw bales specially to place at the bottom of the hill.

Even so, I would have expected one adult to monitor the goings-on.  There wasn't one.  Andrew wasn't doing anything unusual or goofy, he just chose a sled run that had the bad luck of sledding down, missing the hay bale, and hitting a parked car.  He hit it backwards, arm slamming the car first.

Here's the odd thing.  We took him to the emergency room and they splinted it, but didn't put a cast on.  That won't get put on until Tuesday.  Why do they wait so long?  Maybe for swelling to go down, or for the orthopedic person to be at work?  I just don't get that.

His pain, for now, is manageable with ibuprofen, so I guess we can handle it.

Little known fact

"A LITTLE KNOWN BASEBALL FACT: The first testicular guard (or 'cup') was used in baseball in 1874 and the first helmet was used in 1934. Soooo ... it took 60 years for men to realize that the brain is also important."

Taken from a friend on my Facebook home page.  That was hilarious.

Embarrassing

My in-town friends who read this blog are going to razz me good.  Probably my out-of-town friends and relatives too, but I just have to get it out.

So, in one of the local grocery stores, there's a kid.  And, yes, he's a kid, I am positive he's in high school, I am almost sure of this.  To me he bears a resemblence to Robert Pattinson.  You know, the Twilight vampire Edward?  The kid has a similar square jaw and bushy eyebrows.

I feel so weird around him, the clerk, almost like I'm seeing a celebrity.  Which is even weirder, because I don't particularly think I'm crushing on Robert Pattinson.  I don't particular care for Edward in the books, and I don't think I have that much interest in him on-screen.  Yes, I will admit, he's a good looking young man.  YOUNG, I keep telling myself.

So is the grocery clerk.  He's young.  So why do I feel all silly and girly?  I find myself forcing myself to act like a normal mom, in her thirties, but trying to avoid too much eye contact, though, really, I would just like to stare for a bit, but I don't want to weird him out.  I also wonder if the girls at the high school are all falling over him because of his looks.  I hope so, because he is good looking!

For heaven's sake, I'm ALMOST FORTY.  Somebody make my hormones act their age!




PS-if any of you tell my husband, you will totally feel the wrath of Wild Child, because I cannot bear having him make fun of my stupid young man crush!

Wow...

I know the pundits out there are just going crazy over it, and it's been overdone to death, but I have to ask it.

What in the world was Pat Robertson thinking?  And the people who watch his crap show, do they really buy into what he says?

I watched news coverage and read bits.  There were prayer groups and the Roman Catholic archbishop was killed and almost all the churches and the cathedral were leveled, news reports say.  Even Fox News reported this.

So, I'm thinking if there are churches and a cathedral, at least some of the people are following the Roman Catholic religion.

Though, I suppose, perhaps Pat Robertson thinks the Roman Catholic Church is the devil.

The cutest things kids say-NOT!

Trip to Culver's this evening.  Me, Andrew and Willa are having a perfectly ordinary Culver's meal.  (Well, mine was pretty tasty.  I tried the prime rib mushroom melt.  Available for a limited time only.)  Then Willa blurts out, "Mommy, why does my vagina feel like it has bubbles in it."

I think my jaw dropped.

I am sure the couple the next booth over heard that.

Andrew didn't bat an eye.

Incidentally, after discussing what was appropriate dinner table topics and perhaps discussions that should be done in private, she did finally get some answers from me in the privacy of our car.

Dealing

The holidays are supposed to be joyful.  This year was a little harder.  My grandmother passed away just before Christmas.  I've been on a roller coaster of emotions.

I've had three other grandparents already pass away.  The first time I was eight years old.  I didn't realize it at the time, but she was only 60 years old.  I remember fleeting images and the situation being hard on the family.  I was sad, but I didn't really feel its impact on me until I got older.

The second time was sudden when I was fifteen.  My grandfather was in his early 70s.  It was a shock and more difficult to deal with.  I was old enough to appreciate the gravity of the situation.  I remember missing school and I remember telling my mom in a restaurant after the funeral that I didn't feel like I could go back to school.  I did go back.  Life goes on.

The third time I was twenty and in college.  My other grandfather had been ill for a while.  We knew it was coming.  We visited him in the hospital and I remember how awful I felt seeing him not as his strong tall self.  I was sad, but he was 80 and I remember being comforted that I felt that was a pretty long life, especially for a man.

Why is it that this time, my life feels really blue, even though my grandmother was 91?  That is, by all logic, an excellent length of life.  I should be comforted by that.

I'm sure the time of year makes the feelings more magnified.  Everyone else around you is joyous and spending good times with family and friends.  We did get to see family, but it was such a sad occasion.

I wonder, too, if it is the realization that the older generation is gone.  The oldest generation in my life now is that of my parents' generation.  Maybe deep down I realize I am not a grandchild anymore.  Maybe I'm mourning my childhood.  I shouldn't be, it is still there in my memories.  Some of it is in my parents', aunts', uncles' and cousins' memories.  But a little bit of that long ago time is gone.

Grandma kept us all together as a family.  The last 10 years we've had yearly treks to Grandma's on Memorial Day weekends.  Not every cousin made it, but the aunts and uncles usually did.  My cousins brought their kids and our kids know their second cousins like they were first cousins.  Grandma, though, is who we centered around.  Maybe I'm worried it won't continue.

I guess if I want it to, I should help organize us together.  But, will I let my life and work and excuses get in the way?  I don't know, only time will tell.  My cousins on the other side of the family haven't seen each other much.  I always put it down to us being more worldly and farther flung than perhaps the other side, making it harder to gather.  But I think there's something to be said about the oldest generation providing a place where we can all gather on a home turf.

Life goes on.  My son was pretty perceptive.  Some of his concerns after the funeral was about him understanding that we might not see his second cousins on a yearly basis and he told me as much.  They all had a nice time swimming at the hotel together.  They were really sweet playing together at the luncheon after.  I hope they enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed watching them have their little adventures, like us cousins used to do on the farm.

In the meantime, I won't berate myself for continuing to feel a bit blue in this cold, wintry season.