May 28, 2009 at 12:46 am (BLENDED FAMILY, family and life, infidelity, life in our world of insanity, marriage)
Tags: children, economics, Family, humor, kids, Life, marriage, memories, news, RELIGION, thoughts
I am a great aunt….again. For the third time I have been blessed with a great neice. It’s amazing to me, with how many boys there are in this family, that so far I have only great neices. It is also telling me how old I am getting. No longer am I getting news that I will be an “aunt” again. Nope…all my neices and nephews are now having babies of their own. Strange how that works. It’s given me a few things to think about.
First, I am realizing that my own children are hitting that age when they could be getting married and having babies of their own. I have seen how fast time flies and that my mom was right when she told me to cherish every minute with my kids because that time is so precious and goes so fast. It seems like just minutes ago they were toddlers, babies and needing me for everything in their lives. Now, they don’t need me much at all. I like to believe they do, but the reality is that they are pretty grown up…and I am so proud of them.
I am also realizing that the older I get the harder it is to deal with a disease or anything physically that goes along with that disease. I don’t recover as quickly. And, I am so much more tired so much more often then I used to be. I am trying, like we all do, to cling to my youth, to try to believe I am still sexy to my husband, attractive enough for a man on the street to take a second look, that I could swim 50 laps in my pool like I did just a few years ago. I sit back and think to myself “what happened to the girl who did 500 sit ups every day, did tae bo, ate healthily and weighed much less?” Now some of that I could get back. I could eat more healthy and probably should. But the situps? No way. My back, my joints, just wouldn’t take the abuse to my body. Occassionally I drag out the yoga mat and stretch and work my muscles. But even that is getting more and more difficult.
I really don’t want Lupus to make a mess of me, but it is one thing, another thing, that I have had to face up to. I can take steps to make my life better, I can take my meds, go to the doctor, stay out of the sun and do all the things that I am supposed to do but the reality is that like it or not I have a disease that is eating away at me. I could live to a very old age with this disease, but, each day that passes I count as a blessing and a gift. And the older I get the more I cherish that gift.
My daughters are so young and beautiful. My son is a handsome and loveable young man…so funny, so smart. And my step kids have all left their mark on my heart. I have grand children thanks to them, much earlier then I anticipated having grand kids….and for that I am grateful. I hope and pray that they all take each day, remember the moments that fill them, hold them in their hearts. I hope that they realize how quickly time flies and that they only have this one life and they need to make the most of it!
I am a great aunt! And for me…that’s a very remarkable thing!
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April 8, 2009 at 12:34 am (family and life, life in our world of insanity, marriage)
Tags: dances, Family, highschool, Life, Lupus, medical, memories, news, prom, relationship, thoughts
Do you remember your prom? I remember both of mine. I went to a private highschool…a christian highschool that believed dancing led to sex so..we didn’t have a traditional prom. We had a Junior Senior banquet…it was called simply JS! At the banquet was great food, hangin with friends and an always comical skit done by the teachers mocking all of the students! Then after the banquet someone always opened their house for an after party, no booze, no drugs, just being with friends and having a good time. I don’t remember a lot of the details of JS but I do remember I went my senior year with my best “guy” friend in highschool. Neither of us were dating anyone and it seemed like a great idea for a fun end to senior year (shout out to Troy Nelson!)
I remember wearing the dress I had worn as a bridesmaid in my brother’s wedding…it was actually a dress that you COULD wear again, and being with my best girlfriend. But the best part of our prom came the next day when everyone set out for Taylors Falls to picnic and hang out. The girls would pack a huge picnic lunch and we would drive to the falls and spend the day. It was a blast.
Well, this past weekend was my daughters prom. It made me a bit nostalgic and it also made me wonder where some of the creativity has gone that used to surround proms and dances in highschool. The theme of her prom was a “rocker” theme…not 50’s rocker or 60’s just rocker. Basically, it was a dance that no one really had to get creative to make memorable. What happened to masquerade balls and huge formals and things? Now kids just want to dance to music where they can “bump and grind” on each other and not have to be creative about any of it. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to diss my daughters prom, this actually came from her…they don’t even have sadie hawkins dances anymore…what’s up with that?
Anyway, my daughter looked amazing. Her date was truly a lucky guy to have gotten to spend the evening with her. So, here are a few pictures of my beautiful daughter….
My daughter (in silver) and friends
my daughter and her best friend
my daughter and her date
Some of you know that I have been having some tests done on my heart this week. It has been a stressful week but two of the tests are done. And while Idon’t have results yet I am thinking positively knowing that God is gracious and that no matter what the outcome is I am sure there will be a solution to the problem. I have found that if I keep my focus positive I feel better and can cope with what lies ahead! Thanks for the thoughts and prayers!
Life is going to be busy the next few weeks with graduations and things. It’s time to celebrate all the hardwork my kids have put in to getting where they are. I’m so proud of them! This is when the whole parenting thing starts becoming worth it all!
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December 24, 2008 at 6:19 pm (BLENDED FAMILY, family and life, life in our world of insanity, marriage)
Tags: childhood, Christmas, Family, health, holiday, kids, marriage, memories, politics, RELIGION, santa, thoughts, world
Here it is another christmas already and, well, it just popped up so fast that I feel like I haven’t had time to really enjoy the season. Everything has been so chaotic it seems. The economy stinks so working has taken a priority and its toll on our life. Health concerns with family and myself is an ever looming problem. And kids activities and just life in general has caused life to be so busy that just sitting down and enjoying the holiday has been put on the back burner.
I remember when I was a kid my mom went all out decorating the house for Christmas. There was “christmas” everywhere and in every room. We even had one of those color changing wheels in front of the tree to make it change color. (I’m sure some of you are way too young to even know about those things). How I loved sitting in the living room with all the lights out except the tree and just watching the changing colors and seeing the sparkle of christmas in our house. It seemed like a magical time and I never wanted it to end. Then Christmas eve was spectacular in our family. It started mid afternoon going to church, often we sang or played our instruments in the service, and celebrated the coming of Jesus. Then we went to St. Paul…mind you it didn’t matter how much it snowed or how blustery it was, we went all the way from our little suburb to St. Paul to my great Aunts house for dinner.
There were presents to open, carols to sing and always the kids had to sing or say our “peice” by the tree. As we got older I remember getting the giggles with my brothers over different things, and trying to hold in the laughter until we couldn’t breathe.
From there it was on to my grandparents little white church for the midnight candlelight service. Grandpa would preach every year, and more often then not all of us kids sang. It was a big deal for us all. As grandpa got older I remember my mom always saying, “remember kids this could be the last Christmas that Grandpa preaches here!” After about 10 years of hearing that it became a joke for us all. But the day did come that was Grandpa’s last time to speak at his little white church. That seemed like the end of an era for us all.
After Church it was off to Grandma and Grandpa’s house for “santa’ to arrive. Grandpa would sneak out the back door and jingle these bells, and we would hear his booming radio voice say “ho ho ho” and we knew it was THAT time! Santa had pulled up. And man did he deliver. There were so many presents every year…even the years when we didn’t have much money, mom and dad always managed to make it seem like we had hit the mother lode with gifts. After Gifts grandma would serve what she called a “Little lunch” before we headed home at about 3 AM to go to bed. The best part of that was the herring that she had…we only had herring at christmas and I loved it! (it’s a pickeled fish…delicious) Man, that was Christmas. It had it all….the true meaning of Christmas was brought forth through that whole day for us! And Santa with the gifts was the bonus!
Now, it seems like that childlike wonder, that magic has disappeared from my life. This year especially it feels more empty. But, inside I know that the true meaning of Christmas is about the Baby that came down to save us all! And that is a truth I carry with me all year long.
In the hustle of this season and through the next year I hope that you remember, as I will, that Jesus has come, to bring Joy to the World no matter how unjoyful it may seem sometimes. He is the hope that guides this world.
Merry Christmas to all of you.
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November 25, 2008 at 12:19 am (BLENDED FAMILY, family and life, life in our world of insanity, marriage, the life of a lupus survivor)
Tags: family blended family, Holidays, kids, memories, random, stepkids, thanksgiving, thoughts, traditions
As a blended family you have to come up with some creative ways to make up traditions to bring the family together especially during the holidays. It’s hard to keep the holiday spirit because the kids are pulled from this parent to that one and often the holidays are split up or spent with one parent one year and the other the next. So, we have had to be imaginative in order to keep things festive around our house.
One of the things we do is called “fakes-giving”. And this year my “real” family incorporated it into our family without even realizing that it was something that we have been doing in our “blended” family for quite sometime, and we look forward to it. Because all the neices and nephews have grown up, gotten married, have in laws etc it is hard to get everyone together on the actual “thanksgiving” holiday so this year we had thanksgiving dinner at my brother’s house on Saturday. So, in a sense, my family had “fakes-giving” dinner without even realizing what they were doing. I wasn’t feeling very well, another attack of lupus at a very inconvenient time, I think I may have even broken a rib coughing, which is a little funny in itself. But it was a great time, with great food, fellowship and family.
The real odd part was that a bunch of my kids were not even able to be there..ironic huh?? So, this year, on the real thanks giving, we are having thanksgiving dinner at our own house. But, again we won’t have all the kids with us. A couple of my step kids will be with their mom, so they won’t be with us for thanksgiving dinner. So, the game plan will have to be that a “fake’s giving” dinner will have to be planned when all of us can be together again to enjoy it.
Another tradition we have is giving money to the “hey ho ho ho guy” at the safeway/walmart stores. This started because we just loved the man who stood outside the Walmart and in a monotone voice, with no emotion whatsoever said “hey ho ho ho” over and over for hours on end. It gave us the giggles and we couldn’t help but give the guy money. He was there one year and then two. When we looked for him the third year he wasn’t there but the tradition had begun and stuck. So, now, wherever we see the person with the bell and can we give money, even if its just a little, we give and it gives us joy and brings back a great memory for all of us.
I encourage you all to make some traditions of your own, no matter how strange or small. If they make your heart happy, if they make you smile and bring joy to your family, those memories will be what remain with you and your family for a lifetime and beyond. happy thanks/fakes-giving everyone!
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