Wordless Wednesday

Spring Break

We've been on Spring Break around these parts and the weather has been rainy, windy, cold, snowy and blustery, exactly what every child and parent wants from a two-week break in March.

Although the weather didn't cooperate, the timing was great for Rea, she really needed a breather from middle school (and so did I). She spent a couple of days in Nashville with a friend, then I picked her up and we drove north to the Bluegrass state, where she got loved on by both of her grandmothers. She may already be 5' 6"and look all grown-up and act happy-go-lucky most of the time, but she's still part little girl (and even has feelings) and lately some things have really cut her to the core and nothing quite soothes the soul like a grandmother.

Instead of blogging I've been caught up in March Madness – we had tickets to the Final Four and were bound for Indianapolis but after Kentucky lost to West Virginia those babies went on eBay. It was a tough loss, but what a season…I'm not going to complain (unlike someone else around here). I haven't watched Wildcat basketball in forever and to get to enjoy this incredible year after such a dry spell was wonderful!

I've also been reading – my old addiction before blogs. In the last week I've read House Rules, by Jodi Picoult. The Girls from Ames: A Story of Women and a Forty-Year Friendship by Jeffrey Zaslow, The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein and am nearly finished with Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout. They've all been good reads and I'd recommend every one of them.

Today found us back to our usual grind; Danny to work, the girls back to school and me back to being a scullery maid. I also spent a good bit of the day wondering how Rea's day went and hoping upon hope that it was better than before the break, when she learned the hard way that "no good deed goes unpunished" and that pretty girls don't know that "pretty is as pretty does".

The Blue Mist

I grew up immersed in Kentucky basketball and really thought I knew the depths and breadth of what their loyal fans would do for their team. I was kidding myself and was totally blown away at the SEC tournment this weekend - the Sea of Blue completely took over the city of Nashville and it was something to behold.

The thing that I most enjoyed about the tourney was the camarderie among the fans. Since we had tickets for the entire event we sat in the same section from Thursday through Sunday and got to know our seat-neighbors quite well. We greeted each other each morning, one guy was the offical jacket holder, another was dubbed the official section "cheerleader", Jacob, who was 6, hung in for the entire 4 days, high-fiving all 3-pointers and enjoying ice-cream from a certain fan for being such a trooper.

We shared cabs from the hotel with fans from Somerset and Fort Thomas; had our bar tab picked up by fans from Louisville and parts beyond. We even made friends with Missisippi State fans at the hotel. Every line we stood in, be it the bathroom, the popcorn or drink line UK fans alike would say "Where are you from?".

Best of all, we spent the weekend with two really special people that we don't get to see very much. It was a great time and I'm ready for next year!

Wordless Wednesday

Dano

I'll admit - occasionally I wonder why I still shack up with this guy. Especially after he shot me in the ass with that gun you see him holding, let me tell you it smarted.

But, after twenty-eight years we're still clicking along and he still makes me laugh more days than he doesn't. When things are going downhill in a hurry, Dan is my go-to guy - I always know that I can count on him and so can my girls.

I'm a lucky girl and I don't tell him that often enough.

Happy Birthday and belated Happy Anniversary...

So

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcQUFHYNBg0&feature=related

For years I watched my Dad do this funky little deal with a broom – I have no earthly idea who taught him to do it, could be he learned it as a boy. I've never asked, but maybe I should have. He taught me to do it as a kid and I thought it was my parental duty to pass this skill down to at least one of my children.

After I taught Rea to do Ronald's broom trick, she wanted me to show a friend – so I did. And all was well. Or so I thought. Around Thanksgiving my arm started hurting at night, but I believed that I was just sleeping on it wrong. Then on New Year's Eve, once again a broom trick demonstration was in order and that was the coup de grace, I felt a distinctive little pop that I thought was a bad muscle pull and my arm and shoulder haven't been the same since.

I found out on Monday that I have a torn ligament in my shoulder (and not just any ligament, one that only 4% of patients manage to screw up) – not exactly what I expected or wanted to hear. I was keeping my fingers crossed for a cartilage tear or some such thing; a repair that could be done with laproscope, but it seems that this will have to done with open surgery and that will add to my recovery time. Oh, goody.

Needless to say, after having arthroscopic hip surgery three years ago, I'm not looking forward to this. I thought they'd fix my hip right up and I'd just bounce back to my old self within a couple of weeks, but it was a sweet forever before I felt human again and I hobbled around like an old woman for six months; it was as if my whole body had been completely insulted. It was after I found out they had actually cranked my hip OUT OF SOCKET to fix the cartilage that I understood why it took so long to heal and finally feel like myself again.

I've been trying to find the bright side to this surgery – the silver lining, if you will and I'll tell you I haven't had much luck, but I have come up with a couple of things. It's not life threatening, and that's such a blessing, secondly, there won't be a walker or crutches involved this time (just let me say for the record that a walker is so humiliating) and lastly, the thing I'm holding on to most of all.

At least I'm not in middle school.

Growing up is brutal - especially for Mom

I had a friend in Nashville who described her high school years as hell – so bad for both she and her Mom that each afternoon they went shopping for a new outfit for her to wear just so she could face the new school day. She was beautiful, smart and charming and I just couldn't fathom how someone like her could have struggled so with her peers.

While my middle school and high school years weren't always smooth sailing; I don't recall them as one of the hardest seasons of my life. During that time, I forged a few lasting relationships with people whose friendship I value above all others. Those days were not perfect and had their share of ups and downs – which are inherent while kids are learning to navigate their way through life.

Those ups and downs don't hold a candle to what my girls endure today – and I'm totally feeling my friend's mom's pain and could jump on that shopping band wagon to soothe myself and possibly gloss over some of the hurts Syd and Rea get handed each and every day. My girls are not always innocent parties in the daily kerfuffle's that go down – but during my school days, I always knew who had my back, and who didn't, loyal friends that I could trust in the trenches of war; no matter what.

But, things don't seem to work that way now; expectations for loyalty only seem to apply to dogs.

I never expected my girls to always be on the outside looking in – excluded for being who they are; not accepted for being unique, beautiful, funny and different in her own way.