Leap Year Lovers - Feb. 29, 1988

Although they have been married for 24 years, this is only their 6th wedding anniversary. I am continuously impressed with their faith and commitment to one another.  Just like the date of their anniversary, their relationship is special and unique. Watching my parent's love blossom and grow over the years has been one of the great joys of my life.  




Happy Anniversary!

 

Coach Mommy

A new page of this adventure in parenting has begun. SPORTS. I have always sworn I would never coach little kids. I always said I would focus on my own kids and help develop them into athletes ... God willing. Well, somehow or another I got suckered into coaching 5 and under soccer for our local rec league. It is the team of twins - 3 sets. So far so good. SCORE - 5 practices, no injuries, very few tears, only one crazy parent. Games begin next week.
Once word got out that I was coaching soccer I somehow got suckered into coaching 5 year old softball. Coach pitch ... no tee. CRAZY! It starts the week soccer ends. After the draft of course. Yes, they have a draft. I've been told to pick the kids based on their parents .... if the parents look crazy ... don't pick their kid no matter how skilled they are. I'm following this advice. Parents scare me. Chances are good that I'm going to discipline their kid or hurt their feelings at some point in the season. But I strongly feel that I can teach them some basic fundamentals if the crazy parents stay out of my way.
It will be interesting to see how my girls athletic careers turn out. HC wants to play anything and everything. She is fast, furious and darn good at everything she does. The problem is that she doesn't listen and is hard to coach. Quinnie on the other hand is slow, meticulous and natural ability doesn't come as easy to her. But she is the most coachable kid I know. It will be an interesting journey for sure!
Quinn decided she did not want to play softball because she doesn't hit the ball well. I worked on her for over a month trying to encourage her and tell her how much fun it would be. Her Dad attempted to persuade her. This child has her fathers bull-headed stubbornness and she was adamant that she didn't want to play. On the day I was signing up to coach and signing up Hassie Clare for softball, Quinn overheard me talking to the team mom about snacks after the games and practices. Quinn chimed in, "Ohh ... there will be snacks after practices and games? I'll play."  Hey ... whatever it takes ... right????
One of the little boys on our soccer team calls me Coach Mommy. I could butter him up and eat him he is so dang sweet.  My girls say I'm nicer to the boys on the team and harder on the girls. The fact is that the girls on our team are capable of listening and running drills. They need to be strong and tough and they will probably carry our team. The boys are still sweet little love muffins that just need a little TLC. Plus ... they call me Coach Mommy. Okay ... maybe .. just maybe I suffer slightly from gender discrimination on the field!

What holds up these dresses Mommy?

The girls and I stopped into this new little boutique by our house to see what they sold and to look for earrings for my girlfriend. The girls ohhh'd and ahhh'd at all the formal dresses as we walked into the store. The lady behind the counter gasped when she saw the girls had red heart sucker rings on their finger so I quickly reminded them to keep the sucker in their mouth and not to touch anything. The boutique was not what I expected but we browsed around looking at all the sparkly "grown up dress-up dresses."
Hassie Clare and Quinn had on their sweet little Catholic school uniforms and they behaved like little angels. As we were leaving the lady behind the counter said, "Ya'll come back." Without missing a beat, Hassie Clare said, "We'll come back to shop here when God grows us some boobies."

HELLO CRAZY LADY ... its been awhile

I've been having hip pain on one side for a few weeks. It feels muscular and it is probably a hip flexor. It hurts during Spinning class and a day or two after Spinning class ... which I do about 3 times a week. Last night I crawled into bed and my good hip locked up or did something crazy. I was paralyzed with pain for about 20 seconds. The intense pain subsided but I still feel discomfort. Feels totally different than muscular pain. This is where my crazy lady syndrome kicks into HIGH gear.
The lights are off, I'm laying in bed with a gazillion thoughts running through my head. And suddenly I remember years ago my oncologist asking me if I ever have hip pain. And then my mind starts racing more. I've been tired a lot lately, both hips are hurting for no apparent reason .... oh lordy ... my cancer must be back. I try to rationalize with myself, pulling statistics out of the back of my head - the chance of recurrence after 11 years is less than .05%. But still .... my freakin hips are killing me and I'm so dang tired all the time. Gotta be cancer. After a few hours of worrying about everything known to cancer, motherhood, kids, my will, work, etc. I finally drifted off to sleep.
As the years have gone by, the fears of my cancer returning have diminished. At the 5 year cancer free mark, I decided I would not let that ugly disease control my thoughts. And for the most part, I only think about it twice a year when I visit the cancer clinic. I know the culprit of crazy lady coming to visit me. One of my dear friends wrote a book. It was recently published and sits on the selves of many book stores. I got a copy hot off the press but it sat on my night stand for 6 weeks ... until this week. I could not bring myself to read it even though I read the pre-edited version a few years ago.  I knew reading the book would mess with my mind and crazy lady would show her ugly face. Anyway, I read it cover to cover the other night. It is a beautiful story about a young woman battling cancer while falling in love. It is her memoir. While our stories are different, there are several similarities and many things we went through together. I'm totally flattered that she thanked me in her acknowledgments and that she mentions me a few times in her book. I love her and my boyfriend her smokin' hot hubby and I have not doubt that we will be BFF's until the end. But her book brought the crazy lady out in me for sure!


This is my girlfriend Michi's (short for Michelle) book. This is her on the cover ... isn't she stunning?

 So back to me and my self diagnosis. First thing this morning I planned on calling my Oncologist. I woke up a little more clear headed and decided I would rationally think about what is going on with my body. I googled hip pain and concluded that my pain is most likely coming from exercise and not stretching adequately. I'm tired all the time because I work full time, have young kids, coach soccer, in RCIA class, a volunteeraholic, I'm room mom, I'm re-financing our house and the list goes on and on and on. My daily schedule is NUTS and it is 100% my fault. I should just focus on my work and family and say to hell with the rest. But I can't. Obviously I thrive on staying crazy busy from 4:45am until 8:30pm at night. When I'm rested, I realize that I love it and I would not have it any other way. Now .... if I could just get crazy lady to stay away so that I can get some rest at night!!!

PS - Just for grins and giggles, I called my oncologist and had them add some scans and extra tests to my next appointment. Damn you Michi and your good book!

PSS - You can get a copy on NOOK, hard back or soft cover. http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/how-i-lost-my-uterus-and-found-my-voice-michelle-l-whitlock/1108056659

Heart Love Heart Love - 10 years

My beautifully romantic husband wrote this to me in my Valentine's Day card:

10 years ago today, there was a nervous young man in a hotel room waiting for the love of his life to enter. He fought back tears of joy as he lit candles, placed balloons around the room and made sure everything was in the perfect place for her arrival. He had sent her on an adventure through the city, picking up clues as she went, to lead her to the hotel room where the man nervously waited. Then ... it happened! The door slowly opened and there she was ... nervous and fighting back tears herself as she entered the room. His body felt a rush of emotions that he had never felt before. He knew, from that moment on, his life would change forever. He knew that this beautiful, intelligent, loving and extremely sexy woman was going to say yes to his proposal. He then got down on one knee and asked her to marry him. She said yes! They kissed and hugged and cried for what seemed like hours. It was one of the best moments of the young mans life (the best up to that point). He couldn't imagine the joys and happiness that were in store for him, but he knew, with this woman by his side, that his world would be an infinitely better place.

Thank you for saying yes!!!

I love you,

Jamie

Lordy, lordy ... that man still makes my heart jump and flutter. The girls and I decided that we are going to make our Prince a romantic dinner tonight. They came up with the menu - pizza, salad, olives and chocolate covered fruit. Although it won't be as romantic as it was 10 years ago, the room will be full of love and laughter. We will tell our children our wonderful love story and they will ohh and ahh. And, as always, I will feel like the luckiest woman in the world!   

 

Monster Truck Madness

Hassie Clare LOVES monster trucks ... just like her Daddy. So when Jamie's BFF from childhood comes to our area with his monster truck every Jan., which is on or near his birthday, our lives stop. Jamie takes the day off work to go "play" and Hassie Clare counts down the days until the big show. Quinn and I don't get it. I'll go ... if Jamie really wants me too but only cause they serve beer. Quinn hates it cause its loud and the smell burns her nose. And the mean looking trucks give her nightmares. Hassie Clare told me the smell that Quinn hates so much smells like "fun" to her. Its gotta be in her blood!

Quinn and I decided we both wanted a bowl of good soup to warm up our bellies. We also needed to do a little shopping for the birthday boy! The topic of conversation over our dinner: how much we loved one another. It was cheesy, delightful and warming .... just like our soup.

The next day we loaded up and went to a local car show where the "Monster Truck" was making an appearance. Fun stuff I tell ya. However, seeing Jamie so happy makes me all warm and fuzzy inside. He loves this stuff and he loves teaching me and the girls all about it!

HC had a chance to ride in the monster truck when he paraded it around the arena and she passed. Could not believe it! She said maybe when she is 6 she will ride in the truck.  

Afterwards we headed south to a little cheesecake place I've been dying to try. Jamie picked out a caramel, chocolate cheesecake. That sucker was $55. And worth every penny. This is my new favorite picture ... I wish I had taken it with my camera and not my camera phone!

We ended the evening with a nice, big steak at Jamie's favorite steak house. Some loved ones joined us to celebrate. It was uneventful to say the least ..... exactly what we needed! So far 41 is being much nicer to him than 40!!!