Tuesday, October 8, 2013

A Little Fall Update

Things have been busy around here.  Here's a little update...

- Went to the eye doctor yesterday for my regular check-up.  Now I need reading glasses. Yuck!

- I am about a month away from my 900th day of running. 

- I just turned 40 (see previous post) and it wasn't earth shattering!  It was a very sweet and perfectly orchestrated weekend trip to the beach by my family.

- Let Me Run starts next week.  I cannot wait to see the boys from last year and all of the new faces.  We had so many sign up that we were able to have two teams!  I have to admit...I love being called Coach Kat!

- My boss just quit.  Yep, she quit...  There is lots of whispering going on at work and I am staying out of it completely.  The rumor is that I will be either offered her job,or my job will be terminated, or they will hire someone for her position and my job will remain the same.  I am hoping for the last option!! 

- Got the house decorated for Halloween for the very first time!  The boys have been bugging me about Halloween decorations for years. The most we ever do for Halloween are a couple of pumpkins carved with goofy faces.  This year we have SPIDERS!!  Big fuzzy spiders.  The boys love them.  I may even put Santa hats on them and bring them back out in a couple of months....

Thursday, September 26, 2013

Birthday Eve...

Today is the eve of my fortieth birthday.  I have to admit I am trying to turn 40 quietly.  No cake. No balloons. No shenanigans. Just another day, right?

Don't you remember as a kid 40 being so old?  Parents were 40.  Teachers were 40. Anyone in authority was 40. Forty always seemed so...well...old.

I remember when my parents turned 40.  I just couldn't believe they were THAT old!  Now they are turning 70ish and they seem so young!  I am completely confused about turning 40.

Each day I know I do something that my 20 year old self shakes her head at, like knees popping when I stand up, lecturing my boys on proper dinner time etiquette (always ends with someone burping followed by laughter), or getting excited when CBS Sunday Morning come on.  There are also days that my (almost) 40 year old self shakes her head at my former 20 year old self.  The poor decisions I made (I had fun, but hey...), the people that I allowed to take advantage of me, or even (what seems like a good idea at the time) the regrettable tattoo.  I guess that is all part of "growing-up".

As the sun rises tomorrow I will put the kids on the bus, kiss the husband good bye, and go for a run.  I will shower, eat breakfast, and then head to work.  I will, throughout the day, be thankful for another year here on Earth.  I will look back and see what wonderful people I have had the privilege of knowing.  I will look forward to all of the amazing places that I have yet seen.  As the sun sets I will be so grateful that I am old and that I am 40.     

Thursday, July 11, 2013

Are We Being Unfair?

Yesterday our oldest son came to us with a proposal.  He wants a dog.  He REALLY wants a dog. 

Tod and I are not really "pet" people.  We have had several fish over the last 10 years, but you cannot snuggle up to a goldfish. Who am I kidding...fish are truly temporary pets.

It is so hard to say no to him.  He's a good kid.  He gets good grades.  He is just a sweet kid who has never given us any trouble.  How can you say no to him?

My mom tells the story about when I was three years old and crawled on to the floor for days and acted like a cat because all I wanted was a kitten so very badly.  After a few days my mom gave in and got us a kitten.  A little black kitten with white paws, chest and a little white mustache.  His name was Buster.  I loved Buster.  I would follow him around everywhere.  I would put him in the basket of my bike and ride round and round in the driveway.  I would carry him and hug him and try to get him to sleep with me every night.  Buster hated me.  I looked like a battered child because I was so scratched up from head to toe.  I didn't care.  Love is blind, right? 

In middle school we got a little Shih Tzu puppy.  Her name was Buffy.  Buster hated Buffy too. (It wasn't just me!)  Buffy was a good dog except for meal time.  We couldn't keep her from begging...couldn't blame her.  My mom's a pretty good cook!  Buffy lived for a long time.  I remember planning our wedding with Buffy laying in the living room.

Aren't all little boys supposed to have a dog? 

Explaining to him that we don't have a big yard, we travel so much, and dogs poop...a lot, and listing all of the reasons why we just cannot get a dog was reasonable and truthful.  Looking at his little sad face was heartbreaking.  Are we being unfair?  Unreasonable?  Cruel?

sigh.

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

The Next Chapter

This week a very special package arrived on my doorstep.  A new book!  My friend actually wrote her first novel and I cannot wait to read it.  I may not just read it...I want to escape into it!! Devour it, chapter by chapter.

Lately I have been looking at life as a series of chapters in a very long book.  The first few chapters are a blur because they happened such a long time ago.  The next few chapters are kind of bunched together because memories are tricky sometimes. I remember going to the beach every summer with the Clay family.  In actuality it was maybe 3 or 4 years in a row but we had such a fun time my memory of all of our beach trips gets mixed together.  These beach memories make my childhood such a long and happy chapter.

Some chapters I wish I could erase.  I know these chapters made me grow and learn tough lessons.  Still, I want my life to be written like a romantic comedy.  Doesn't everyone?

Other chapters are not even about me.  They are written about those major characters in my life.  My sister getting married, my parents moving twice since I have graduated from high school, my Dad having and beating cancer about twenty years ago (that was a terrible chapter), my brothers-in law and sisters-in-law making me an aunt  many times over (I gotta tell ya, being called Auntie Kat is the most wonderful thing!), my father-in-law being confined to a wheelchair, my mother-in-law having the strangest of health issues (really!), my oldest son getting into the gifted program at school, my youngest son having to get glasses and realizing he was truly seeing for the first time.  All of these chapters are very important chapters and have overlapped into my life story.  Good chapters and bad ones.

As I move forward and on to the next chapter in my life I must admit that I am anxious for it to already be written and over.  On Friday my Mom will be undergoing surgery to remove a lump from her breast.  Yes, cancer has reared its ugly head....again.  I will be positive that this chapter will be a short one.  One that will result in health and happiness.  This chapter will be one of those that I wish to erase but I will be glad to have the closeness and love of my family when it is over.

I am thankful to have all of my long and short chapters in my life.  I recognize that I need to have the good chapters as well as the bad to make life worth reading.   I am also grateful to have my friends new book to lose myself in while sitting in the waiting room trying to get through this current chapter.