On Turning 38

Today is my 38th birthday. I like my birthday. It is all.about.me. No, not really, but it sounded good. In fact, this morning could not have proven more differently. I did get to sleep in, until almost 9:00, and stayed in bed until 9:20. That's about the highlight of the first part of my day, because it all went downhill after that.

Pal has been struggling with math at school, so the teacher assigned him some math homework for the weekend. Before I knew about this math homework on Friday, I agreed to let Pal have his best buddy over for a sleep-over. And then last night we went to a college hockey game and didn't get home until 11. Those 2 late nights combined didn't do Pal any justice and it was his math homework that would pay for it! And Hubby and I. I wanted him to finish the homework so that we could all go out and do something fun for my birthday, but after 2.5 hours and many crying/screaming jags, my level of expectation for the day had fizzled to almost nothing. I just wanted the damn math homework to be done, and done right. Is that too much to ask? We finally finished correcting the homework around 1:00.

After that, my birthday got better. We decided to use a gift certificate we had for the Texas Roadhouse, and it was delicious! Pal even tried some of Hubby's steak and liked it. When we got home, Hubby had bought me a chocolate cream pie from our old neighborhood bakery, and that was pretty delicious too! No singing, but that's okay too.

And then I went grocery shopping. Hey, it had to be done!

But as I think about turning 38, I realize how lucky I am. I have my health, a great husband, a healthy beautiful son, terrific friends, a wonderfully close family, a great in-law family, a warm home to come home to, a job that I love, my bills are paid, I have food in the fridge, and I can afford to vacation.

More importantly, I am comfortable with who I am. I know who I am, and am not afraid to be who I am. And that is the best gift of all.

Have a great week!

G

Happy 19th Birthday, "C"

This is my niece, C, who is 19 today! I can't get the picture to appear bigger, but you can tell from the little postage stamp that she is a beautiful girl.

C is #3 in line of the nieces, and is the second child of my sister, P. I chose her birth-day. When P had to schedule a C-Section (no pun intended...a "C" section? get it?), she called me and said that she could have it on the 24th or on my birthday, the 25th. I thought that this child deserved her (or his, we didn't know at that point) own birthday. So, P went in for the C-section on the 24th. And ever since then, even though they are on separate days, I've shared my birthday with C. Because when you are 17, like I was when she was born, you are pretty much done with birthday parties anyway. So every year when P threw C a party, I felt like it was for me, too. I always enjoyed watching C open her presents because her whole face lit up when she saw what was inside. She didn't care if it was clothes or a new toy, she just loved opening presents.

C was a funny little kid too. She was terrified of dogs...mostly due to my sister's fear of dogs. One time when I was babysitting there, we watched the dog movie "Beethoven". That night, when it was time for bed, C came back downstairs crying and said "I can see Beethoven in my eyes"!!! We had to check the locks on the doors to make sure that no dogs could get in the house.

Hubby's favorite memory of C is when she was about 18 months old. We were having a cookout at their house and C was eating some chips. As she was toddling away, she tripped and as she was falling, she stuffed the chips in her mouth! Hubby was laughing so hard, and no one else had seen what she did. It was so funny.

Today she is turning 19 and is a freshman in college. I can't believe it. She has turned into a funny adult, too. She loves clothes, makeup and music like every other girl her age. She has a long-time boyfriend and he is a nice kid. My hope for her is that she finds her niche in life and is happy and successful.

So, Happy 19th Birthday, C. I love you.

Love, AG

Happy Birthday, T2

Today is my nephew, who I will call T2, 5th Birthday!

He is the first born of Hubby's sister, and our longtime mutual friend-turned-brother-in-law, T. I call him "King of Diversion" because whenever he's in trouble, he tries to divert your attention to something else. For example, when he was yelling in the house while his brother was sleeping, I went in to say "T2, you have to be quiet or you will wake up J3". (J3 is T2's little brother.) While I am saying this to him, he is smiling up at me and saying at the same time "Auntie G, did you see my new toy?". He cracks us up, and uses words like "cross" instead of "mad", and refers to anytime before he was born as "the olden days".

The funniest thing he did recently was tell his brother that there was just not enough room in the house for both of them to live there, and that J3 will just have to go and live with Nana. And then another time, J3 called 911 when he was playing with the phone, and as you know - they still have to send an officer to the house even though it was an "accident". As soon as the policeman walked in the door, T2 pointed at J3 and said "HE DID IT!". There was no way he was taking the wrap for his little brother!!!

I tell him that I am going to "kiss him all day" and he tells me, "No, today is not the day." I just love this kid. I love all of my nieces and nephews equally of course, but he has a little corner of my heart reserved just for him.

Just look at him. Wouldn't you?


Happy 5th, T2. Be forwarned, there will be a day that I will kiss you all day.

Love, Auntie G

A New Year - 2009 is Here!

Happy New Year, everyone!

I firmly believe that 2009 is going to be a good year. It WILL be a good year, I insist! It's off to a decent start - we sold my Dad's house as of the 6th, and moved him into the retirement community where he has wanted to go since 2001. The move was pretty smooth, last Saturday we moved all of the furniture that wasn't going to his new place but was being dispersed amongst the family. Then we went to the new place and unpacked all of the boxes and hung curtains. On Monday the movers came to the house and moved Dad's things to the new place. On Monday night, I took another van load of trash out of there after cleaning the bathrooms and emptying all the small stuff out of the house, the little things that you don't notice until you have to collect it all - it adds up quickly!! On Tuesday my sisters went to the closing and the house was officially THEIRS. The weirdest moment for me was on Monday night when I was leaving the house, I had to put my key inside on the counter and shut the door - I stood there, in the dark, staring back into the empty house, and realized I would never again walk through that door. At least not without being welcomed in by the new people!! It wasn't devastating, but just a little sad. The second weird moment was on Tuesday...I have to drive by the house on my way home from work and the new people were there, their car in the driveway and the lights in my Mom's old room were on. Just weird. Not bad weird, just unfamiliar weird. My sister-in-law said it best: "It's time for that house to raise it's next family." I thought that was an awesome way to look at it. She had the same experience a couple of years ago when her parents sold her childhood home. I know my sisters are having a harder time than my brother and I are. But that is just typical of our personalities.

My Dad already seems to be doing well at the new place. Yesterday I called him to see how he was doing and I could actually hear the difference in his voice. Some neighbors on his floor invited him down to dinner the night before and he went! That is already a 100% improvement than him living alone in that big old house!! I can not be more hopeful that my Dad will become more like his old self.

The only glitch with 2009 already being a better year is that Pal is having a hard time adjusting to being back to school. We go through this every year, and every year the teachers seem surprised by this, but I am not. I told this teacher that every year we have the same issues after the Christmas vacation - it's like starting school all over again for Pal. And it doesn't get any easier from here on out, because there are 2 more vacations before school is out, and Pal will have the same difficulty after those vacations. Oh well, let's just hope he gets back in the swing of things soon.

Heck, I had a hard time getting back in the swing of things with this last week being a full week of work, plus I worked this morning for 4 hours, so my weekend didn't begin until noontime today!

So, raise your glasses to a great beginning to 2009. I hope all your New Year's Resolutions go down the drain like mine always do!!! Just kidding - stick to 'em!!!!


G

I can sum this up in 6 words or less:

"WHY I HATE REAL CHRISTMAS TREES".

Anyone want to take a stab at it?