So what's the first thing that pops in your mind?
Three day week-end?
Mini vacation?
Sleeping in?
Pool parties?
Cookouts?
Time to get stuff done around the house?
School's out revelry?
All of those things are truly necessary, enjoyable and/or deserved and I shall be engaging in all but the last this week-end!
But this year is going to be a little different for me. Okay, a lot different because of:
Spring Break this year, which included a day trip to Gettysburg. The visual imagery our guide shared, as he drove us around the battlefield in our own car was chilling. I mean chilling to the bone.
Meeting WWII vets last year. Looking into the watery eyes of an 80 year old vet as he thanked me for thanking him was a lesson in humility and grace and hope.
The safe return of one of my co-workers and the shipping out of another for a second tour(he, who on his first tour, was one of the medics who helped rescue Jessica Lynch, remember her?) They are so young and so brave and so scared and so real. And because I have walked and talked and laughed and complained with them, my anxiety and prayers are so much more intense.
So it will be different and much, much more personal than it has ever been in the past.
And as I munch my chips and burger and watch my kids splash in the pool, my silent mantra all day long will be "thank you...thank you...thank you."
I have never faced and taken a bullet for freedom,(thank you God) but I most certainly can thank and pray for those who have, and do and will.
Thursday, May 25, 2006
Saturday, May 20, 2006
The pool, the pool, the pool
No Tattoo, we are not on Fantasy Island.
But we are in Hotlanta and the neighborhood pool, that sparkling, cool, aquatic bastion of enchantment and entertainment opens TODAY!
And there's a Cookout.
I tell you it can't get any better than this.
Kids entertained, happy, fed.
Mom doesn't have to cook.
Hail, hail, let the summer games begin!
But we are in Hotlanta and the neighborhood pool, that sparkling, cool, aquatic bastion of enchantment and entertainment opens TODAY!
And there's a Cookout.
I tell you it can't get any better than this.
Kids entertained, happy, fed.
Mom doesn't have to cook.
Hail, hail, let the summer games begin!
Thursday, May 11, 2006
Service with a Smile
I LOVE Publix
Don't know what Publix is?
I'm sorry. Deeply sorry. Bless your heart.
First of all, my apologies. Cause here in the South we are all about manners.
Even when we are being snarky.
If we say, "bless your heart"???
Trust me. You are being snarked, but in an EVER so polite way.
Back to Publix.
Publix rocks. Publix is a Southern icon, a grocery store that transcends all other grocery stores.
Service with a smile?? Honey, they go you one better and then some.
Case in point.
A few months ago, I went to Publix for a special run. Golden raisins. An essential ingredient in a divinely delicious recipe from Cooking Light. They were on sale. WOOT!
Woot not.
Golden raisins? They be gone.
But who should come to my rescue? Why a dashing Publix grocery manager, that's who.
"Ma'am, how can I help you????"
SIDE BAR You use the word ma'am in the South, even if you ONLY suspect that said ma'am is a mere 15 seconds older than you.
MOI '"Oh dear. There are no more golden raisins. Your special must have cleared the shelves"(batting eyes ever so subtly)
MANAGER That is not a problem, ma'am. Just give me your name, phone number and address (GOD that was FUN!) and I will deliver them to you personally tonight. I'm expecting my delivery truck within the hour.
DUHAYAAAAAAAAAAAHM
Talk about service. I nearly SWOONED.
So Publix...they rock and NOW I have one right next door to my office. No REALLY...right next door. I walk out my building, turn left and BOINK, run right into the store.
Grand opening today folks!
For the past 18 months we've watched various construction workers and machinery throw up this really cool curvy, blue glass, two wing high rise condo complex. Residences with retail below. Wave of the future riding on the back of the past.
So I called in my deli order in the morning. Worked out at lunch, picked up my order, and the latest copy of Scrapbooks, etc, got a really cool black mesh tote as a give away.
Got to love urban renewal.
Got to love Publix!!!!
Don't know what Publix is?
I'm sorry. Deeply sorry. Bless your heart.
First of all, my apologies. Cause here in the South we are all about manners.
Even when we are being snarky.
If we say, "bless your heart"???
Trust me. You are being snarked, but in an EVER so polite way.
Back to Publix.
Publix rocks. Publix is a Southern icon, a grocery store that transcends all other grocery stores.
Service with a smile?? Honey, they go you one better and then some.
Case in point.
A few months ago, I went to Publix for a special run. Golden raisins. An essential ingredient in a divinely delicious recipe from Cooking Light. They were on sale. WOOT!
Woot not.
Golden raisins? They be gone.
But who should come to my rescue? Why a dashing Publix grocery manager, that's who.
"Ma'am, how can I help you????"
SIDE BAR You use the word ma'am in the South, even if you ONLY suspect that said ma'am is a mere 15 seconds older than you.
MOI '"Oh dear. There are no more golden raisins. Your special must have cleared the shelves"(batting eyes ever so subtly)
MANAGER That is not a problem, ma'am. Just give me your name, phone number and address (GOD that was FUN!) and I will deliver them to you personally tonight. I'm expecting my delivery truck within the hour.
DUHAYAAAAAAAAAAAHM
Talk about service. I nearly SWOONED.
So Publix...they rock and NOW I have one right next door to my office. No REALLY...right next door. I walk out my building, turn left and BOINK, run right into the store.
Grand opening today folks!
For the past 18 months we've watched various construction workers and machinery throw up this really cool curvy, blue glass, two wing high rise condo complex. Residences with retail below. Wave of the future riding on the back of the past.
So I called in my deli order in the morning. Worked out at lunch, picked up my order, and the latest copy of Scrapbooks, etc, got a really cool black mesh tote as a give away.
Got to love urban renewal.
Got to love Publix!!!!
Sunday, May 07, 2006
Mommy? Are you and daddy
......going to get a divorce?
(so uttered by my youngest DS today on the way home from the grocery store)
HUH?
OKay, well, in light of what has happened in the past year, maybe not such a weird question.
Rewind.
Exhibit A
Our backyard neighbors got divorced. I am very good friends with the wife. But I tried to take the high road and facilitate reconciliation until the soon to be ex, showed his true colors. I won't go into the details only to say that what I witnessed leading up to the split and the aftermath shocked me and I'm not easily shocked.
Exhibit B
Another couple, good friends, also decided that after three kids, and 10 years, that they were friends, not soul mates. No anger. No finger pointing. No, she said, he said. Very sad. And they are trying to make sure that their mistake doesn't affect their kids ultimate good. It's just so surreal. The marriage... a mistake? Maybe? The kids, never. Never.
Fast forward to Friday.
Hubby and I are having a very "passionate" debate about discipline, specifically relating to the kiddos of course.
Here's the thing. I am not one to wrap my kids in a little cocoon of idealized life and by it's extension....marriage. In my book it is wrong and sets up unrealistic expectations later on in life. I am not June Cleaver.
Two days later, I get the question.
"Are you going to get divorced?"
And a completely logical one, given the events of the past year and my lame brained explanations.
I need to back peddle. Lame brained? That would be because I have told both of them, in the previous two cases, that sometimes mommies and daddies don't get along and they decide that everyone is happier if they don't live together. (Which is an utterly simplistic and abbreviated version of all that went wrong, but do ANY of us really need to know the full details?? NO....moving on)
Fast forward to my life. My husband and I don't always see eye to eye. I'm a flaming liberal. He....is a dyed in the wool conservative.
Needless to say......we have different points of view.
But not a different goal.
After 18 years, we are still here. Together.
I won't sugar coat it here folks. There have been times when I have wept, gnashed my teeth and been about ready to hurl myself into the abyss.
What has stopped me?
1) Knowing that I have a partner in crime and in time. My husband has had the same doubts and fears and despair and has shared them with me on more occasions than I can count
and
2) My boys...enough said.
So to Thumper and his query?
Driving home from the Publix, I said
"Mommy and Daddy, we don't always agree. And sometimes we get really, really mad at each other, just like you get really mad at your brother. But I can promise you this. I still love your daddy, even when he makes me crazy. And he still loves me. And we made a promise to each other a long, long time ago before God and our family and our friends. And we aren't going to break it...EVER.....pinky swear."
post script
I came home, unloaded the groceries and the boys, to my best friend, aka dyed in the wool conservative, make me crazy, husband and went up to our room and cried.
For my girlfriends, whose husband's didn't live up to their pinky swears.
For their kids, who just want to know that everything in their world is going to be okay.
Sometimes...you just need to cry.
(so uttered by my youngest DS today on the way home from the grocery store)
HUH?
OKay, well, in light of what has happened in the past year, maybe not such a weird question.
Rewind.
Exhibit A
Our backyard neighbors got divorced. I am very good friends with the wife. But I tried to take the high road and facilitate reconciliation until the soon to be ex, showed his true colors. I won't go into the details only to say that what I witnessed leading up to the split and the aftermath shocked me and I'm not easily shocked.
Exhibit B
Another couple, good friends, also decided that after three kids, and 10 years, that they were friends, not soul mates. No anger. No finger pointing. No, she said, he said. Very sad. And they are trying to make sure that their mistake doesn't affect their kids ultimate good. It's just so surreal. The marriage... a mistake? Maybe? The kids, never. Never.
Fast forward to Friday.
Hubby and I are having a very "passionate" debate about discipline, specifically relating to the kiddos of course.
Here's the thing. I am not one to wrap my kids in a little cocoon of idealized life and by it's extension....marriage. In my book it is wrong and sets up unrealistic expectations later on in life. I am not June Cleaver.
Two days later, I get the question.
"Are you going to get divorced?"
And a completely logical one, given the events of the past year and my lame brained explanations.
I need to back peddle. Lame brained? That would be because I have told both of them, in the previous two cases, that sometimes mommies and daddies don't get along and they decide that everyone is happier if they don't live together. (Which is an utterly simplistic and abbreviated version of all that went wrong, but do ANY of us really need to know the full details?? NO....moving on)
Fast forward to my life. My husband and I don't always see eye to eye. I'm a flaming liberal. He....is a dyed in the wool conservative.
Needless to say......we have different points of view.
But not a different goal.
After 18 years, we are still here. Together.
I won't sugar coat it here folks. There have been times when I have wept, gnashed my teeth and been about ready to hurl myself into the abyss.
What has stopped me?
1) Knowing that I have a partner in crime and in time. My husband has had the same doubts and fears and despair and has shared them with me on more occasions than I can count
and
2) My boys...enough said.
So to Thumper and his query?
Driving home from the Publix, I said
"Mommy and Daddy, we don't always agree. And sometimes we get really, really mad at each other, just like you get really mad at your brother. But I can promise you this. I still love your daddy, even when he makes me crazy. And he still loves me. And we made a promise to each other a long, long time ago before God and our family and our friends. And we aren't going to break it...EVER.....pinky swear."
post script
I came home, unloaded the groceries and the boys, to my best friend, aka dyed in the wool conservative, make me crazy, husband and went up to our room and cried.
For my girlfriends, whose husband's didn't live up to their pinky swears.
For their kids, who just want to know that everything in their world is going to be okay.
Sometimes...you just need to cry.
Tuesday, May 02, 2006
What's It All About Alfie?
Do you ever feel that you were born old?
That this was not your first time on the pony ride?
NO? If not, either read on because you relate, are intrigued or question or disagree. All are welcome at my round table discussion. Post at will.
As for me, it all began when I was 8 and I decided to befriend the school misfit.
Why do such a radical thing? Why rock the boat? Why? Why? Why?
Who nows? All I know, is that all these years later, in my core, I wasn't having any more of it.
The "it" being what was expected or accepted or demanded.
Yep, at the ripe old age of 8, I basically said "screw you" to the status quo. Although I am quite sure I would never have uttered, nor have THOUGHT to utter such words, although I might have expressed it in a different way.
Two years earlier, I have photographic evidence that I wasn't going to toe the party line. Flashback, Kindergarten, class picture. Everyone's hands are folded as instructed. Mine? Mine are flat on the desk. Where am I in the pix? Front and center.
So back to my point. There is one...really.
My oldest son is in 3rd grade and things are shifting. He was 8 at the beginning of this school year (kharma anyone?) and already I'm seeing all around him the same ponying up to the socio-mathematical "mean".
Do you go with the flow, the majority, the 'in" crowd?
Or do you chart your own course with a true compass, which in my book boils down to the Golden Rule? Are you hurting or helping with your actions, words and/or deeds?
Already I see his conflict.
But I also see his center.
And that.....that gives me hope.
That somewhere, somehow, despite my less than perfect parenting, I am helping him find his way.
And in doing so, he has returned the favor.
That this was not your first time on the pony ride?
NO? If not, either read on because you relate, are intrigued or question or disagree. All are welcome at my round table discussion. Post at will.
As for me, it all began when I was 8 and I decided to befriend the school misfit.
Why do such a radical thing? Why rock the boat? Why? Why? Why?
Who nows? All I know, is that all these years later, in my core, I wasn't having any more of it.
The "it" being what was expected or accepted or demanded.
Yep, at the ripe old age of 8, I basically said "screw you" to the status quo. Although I am quite sure I would never have uttered, nor have THOUGHT to utter such words, although I might have expressed it in a different way.
Two years earlier, I have photographic evidence that I wasn't going to toe the party line. Flashback, Kindergarten, class picture. Everyone's hands are folded as instructed. Mine? Mine are flat on the desk. Where am I in the pix? Front and center.
So back to my point. There is one...really.
My oldest son is in 3rd grade and things are shifting. He was 8 at the beginning of this school year (kharma anyone?) and already I'm seeing all around him the same ponying up to the socio-mathematical "mean".
Do you go with the flow, the majority, the 'in" crowd?
Or do you chart your own course with a true compass, which in my book boils down to the Golden Rule? Are you hurting or helping with your actions, words and/or deeds?
Already I see his conflict.
But I also see his center.
And that.....that gives me hope.
That somewhere, somehow, despite my less than perfect parenting, I am helping him find his way.
And in doing so, he has returned the favor.
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