10 years...

Today marks 10 years of wedded bliss for Hubby and me. I would probably be way more excited if I wasn't coughing my lungs out and feverish. And if Hubby and I were closer together than 2 ferries and hour's drive. Apparently in our absence from the island, enjoying some girl sickness time, Hubby felt left out and decided to get sick himself. He is so thoughtful that way! I did manage to get him a gift this morning...Sudafed and 10 different kinds of lottery tickets. I know, I'm so thoughtful like that too!

Stumped!

This is the big week of "the move". It might be more exciting if our apartment was sold though. Ah well.

There are a few things still left to be done before Thursday's moving day, like more painting, cleaning etc. But I've been filling boxes from the old place to bring to the new place, mostly kitchen and bathroom stuff. So, I'm standing in our new kitchen staring at the sheer amount of cupboard space...and I'm stumped! I can't figure out where stuff should go! Does it make sense to put the oatmeal here or there? Spices? Kid snacks? The reality is that for 5 years, I've had 2.5 cupboards in my kitchen. I used a closet as a pantry and everything was stacked on top of each other to maximize space. So if you really wanted that specific pot, you had to commit to taking everything else off of it. Now with so much kitchen space...I'm at a loss. Trust me. I saw the funny/irony too...

Conversations with a 2 3/4 year old

As a disclaimer, I'm not really sure if this counts as a conversation...but it was hilarious!

Bear - "Attention everyone, attention"
Us - "What?"
Bear - 3 big farts accompanied by 3 simultaneous claps
Us - laughing our heads off, but trying to hide it "Bear! What do you say?"
Bear - "Thank you!"

Conversations with a five year old.

I was telling Pookie the story of how as a 2 year old, she took my wedding ring and "lost" it. So now I wear a simple silver band that I bought myself as a 21 year old as my wedding ring. Hubby had let it slip that he had been shopping around for a new band, but the one he like was $1000, which is about $989 more dollars than we have! My point to Pookie was that we didn't have that money to spend and that we could wait till we did. This conversation followed:
"Mom, why do you say we are poor? Look around you at all this stuff we have!" (Picture mounds of princess stuff)
"I didn't say that we were poor, I said we didn't have money to buy a ring. God has always provided enough for us to take care of you and Bear."
"Well of course Mom, He loves us..." (complete with eye roll and sighing)

Ahh, the wisdom of a five year old!

Hospital epiphany

Last night I spent hours in an ER waiting room with a set of parents of one of our camp staff.  'L' had taken a wicked fall during wake boarding and had been airlifted off of Hubby's island by helicopter to the city.  She was on a spinal board and had some numbness in her legs and little movement in her neck.  The fear was that she had a major spinal injury.  I had been on a ferry home when I got the message of the accident and headed straight off the ferry to the hospital to sit with the parents.  As I met the parents and sat with them, I realized something...

Being a parent is so much more than birthing, feeding, changing and playing with your children.  It is the willingness to let them go to explore, learn and play on their own with the knowledge that you cannot protect them from this world.  That you have now made yourself so vulnerable to the possibility of loss or hurt happening to your child.  That one day you could be sitting in a ER waiting room feeling the sharp pain of worry and grief....Yet, we do have children for the greater possibility of the love and friendship of a child.  Of the possibility of memories and family, laughter and love.  Because even though you may have to sit in an ER, you know it has been completely worth it just to have this child in your life.

I feel like I've always try to guard myself from getting to emotionally attached to people for fear of getting hurt.  But once you marry, but even more so, once you have children, that is gone.  You are attached, sometimes almost painfully so.  You are vulnerable in so many ways.  It is that stripping down of walls that make life so much more vivid and real.  The ability to love freely and unconditionally happens so much easier with children.  To me, it also gives me a glimpse of God.  Watching 'L's parents last night, you could see the love on their faces.  You knew that they would have traded spots with her gladly, borne her pain and worry themselves if they could.  That is a reflection of God.  His Love for us is so much more than we can imagine...but we can catch glimpses of it when we watch a parent and their child.

At 1 am last night 'L' was released from hospital to go home and rest.  She already wants to be back at camp with her kids...Her parents have different ideas....

Random thoughts while painting

Here is what goes through my mind after hours of painting and inhaling fumes:

• I wonder if I'm the only one who think Janet Jackson's best music was the Rhythm Nation Album?
• Hand cramp! How do painters do this?!!??
• Oh crap...am I painting this wall mint green? Great, now the house looks like an ice cream shop.
• Hand cramp! Again!
• I'm too sexy for this paint...too sexy for this paint...
• Skittles and root beer is the ultimate painting snack...actually, its all I've eaten all day...shoot, that can't be good.

There were many more, but probably totally inappropriate for this blog. However, the bedrooms, kitchen, hallway downstairs are all painted. Just the upstairs hallway/den to go!

Hello? Anyone home?

I'm pretty sure I blinked and June and July were gone...

Sorry friends ( all 2 of you who read this blog!) I have been remiss. Absent. Gone. Have I mentioned that I am sorry?

OK, here is the deal. June was what I like to call, " Single parent - Oh my gosh, I can't do this" month. That was the month Hubby moved to his island and only came back on weekends. Yeah, much respect to the mothers who do this full time. I am not that good of a person, I need Hubby...otherwise the 'crazy mama' switch flips in my brain! July has been the "could I travel for work any more?" month where I was gone 17 days out of 23! Then promptly came back and spoke at the single moms camp on Hubby's island. Both these months also included the stress of our apartment NOT selling, a monstrous amount of painting and trying to figure how I'm going to move all our stuff! Ah, life...gotta love it.

On the bright side, the girls are thriving at Hubby's camp. We have a 'super' nanny who loves them along with the staff of the camp. We had 3 birthday parties for Pookie who is now 5,( which needs to be a whole another post) a visit from Hubby's parents and a bit of time with my parents. I think I'm still married to Hubby, we just don't see each other much. However, when we do hang out, we like each other!

Please be patient with me, I now live on a island that lacks the Internet. I will try and be better in August. Now, off to finish painting the new place!