Shallow Hal

I had planned to write about something else. But I love this movie. I love how it explores how we see in people what we want to see. And how there is someone for everyone. Have you ever thought about how the longer you know someone and the more you like them, the more attractive they appear to you?

If only we could all go through life seeing people as they really are inside. If you are a beautiful person inside, loving and giving...then people get to see you as beautiful. If you are ugly and hateful to people, unforgiving and unloving.... people would see you with a giant nose and big warts and really bad skin with greasy hair. Oh- and you'd have bad breath and terrible B.O.

Glimpses of Things to Come

This weekend I'm at a swim meet with Heather- from Friday to Sunday. We have a hotel room and it's mother-daughter weekend. Today she asked to take a walk on the beach and I decided that was the time for the talk I've been working on in my head for a couple of weeks. And surprisingly ,I was able to get a glimpse of the woman she will become some day. Life with teenagers is hard. But sometimes, if we're lucky, they'll let us see the person they will become some day. And if we are really lucky, we will see a strong, wonderful person that we will enjoy spending more time with someday. I worry myself sick over how she's doing now, how she will turn out, will she have the right values, will she talk to me about the important things, will we have a relationship when she grows up, will I be a grandmother before I'm ready, will she crash a car and kill herself or someone else??????? I don't know the answers to any of that stuff. But I see hope that she will turn out OK. Today was another one of those days that I will remember forever.

Calzones and Crosswords

Here I am at 30,000 feet (on Word, not the internet!) reflecting on my day yesterday. It was the first time in about 20 years that I have spent with my brother and parents without any spouses, children, girlfriends, or extended family present. I’ve been at a class all week (more on that some other time) and had a half day at the end before I needed to head home. The class was just 90 minutes from my parents and they are just an hour from the airport. So I checked out of the hotel, saving the government about $200, and spent the afternoon with them in Venice, FL. Chris is in Tampa for pilot school and he came down for the afternoon as well. We chatted and caught up and then went and had a ginormous calzone at Luna’s. This thing was HUGE!!!! We all had a couple of pieces and there was still some left over. Then we went for ice cream and I had a scoop of some kind of raspberry chocolate ice cream with raspberry chocolate chunks inside a chocolate and chocolate sprinkle covered cone bowl thing. Oh my word, it was good! We went home and reminisced about when we were kids and my dad threw Chris’ boomerang into the pond and broke our Bat Mobiles by taking them outside when the instructions CLEARLY said “Indoor Use Only”. He will never live that down!

President Obama gave his State of the Union address. I wonder if the current SOTU speeches are what the Founding Fathers had in mind when they put that requirement in the Constitution? I wonder if the idea was to tell people how the Union actually is, or how the President wants it to be or how he wishes it had been over the last year? Actually, there’s a lot that happens now that I wonder what those old smart guys would have thought about!

My mom had this big, 2 page crossword puzzle sitting on the counter. I normally hate crossword puzzles. I think they are tedious, hard, and relatively pointless. Only one rung up the ladder from Sudoku. That game really is pointless! I have never once actually solved a Sudoku puzzle. Well, I took a glance at it and knew an answer. Big mistake! That caused me to look at another one. After getting a few right, I couldn’t stop! Mom and I worked on that thing for an hour, standing at the counter, coaching each other, fixing some stuff, giving up on other stuff and puzzling over things like a town in India and a river in New Hampshire (3 letters- anyone????). But we solved other ones like Tophi (bumps, as in gout), Dali, and netizen. Mom learned a few new words, and I learned she’s pretty smart in some areas I have no clue about. I finally had to call it a night at midnight, because I had to get up at 4AM. Ooooh, but it was hard to tear myself away. It wasn’t just the thrill of solving the puzzle. It was the joy of doing it together with my mom.

It was a great day with the family. One of those rare, special days you know might be a one time good deal. One of those whose memory will stick for years to come. One that we will be talking about in 20 years….. “Remember that time……”
Too bad those days are not more frequent. As we age, I realized that these moments with family are special and that there will be fewer and fewer as time passes. Have you called your mom today?

Newest Blog on the Web

Not sure how this is going to go, but a lot of people have asked how they can stay updated on the Afghanistan deployment. The Support Ho's are out there and I love them! Thank you for all your support. And i was trying to think of a way to keep the diary of my deployment and travels. The family website is out there, but I often feel like I have to write a big long article to make it worth the while. And Facebook is often a bit to constraining to get my thoughts out- sometimes it takes 2-3 posts- I don't think that's the point. So anyhow, this is probably a one way street. I really don;t know how to blog, but we'll see how this goes.
If you like it- let me know. If you have ideas about how to make it better, let me know.