After finishing perhaps the juiciest pear on the planet (seriously, you SHOULD be salivating) when one of your kids walks by, looks down at your plate and hollers:
"DON'T MOVE!!!"
[eyes go WIDE, slides teeth over teeth, checks for creepy crawlies]
"Let me get your camera!!!"
Aaaaand, after nearly 9 years of hitting the publish button, proving once again that old school bloggers never die, they're just busy trying to remember where in the h.e.double hockey sticks they put their camera, as said nearly-grown kids continue to provide you with some really gosh-darn good blog fodder.
A few of my favorite photos taken (yes, BY ME!) on our spur of the moment, sure, we'd love to come and stay with you guys at the beach, New Year's weekend family getaway to Cape May, NJ:
(Feel free to click on any of the photos for a closer look!)
Enough said. With many thanks to our very dear friends, Cheryl and John, for putting us up (yes, ALL OF US) and helping us to create such wonderful memories, because they roll like that!
Seeing as my eyes can get a little schmutzy (stupid allergies) and vision boards are so 2011 (SNORT!) I love this idea of reflecting on the past year through images.
See, we are so raising killer dust bunnies AND oh man how they shed (the nasty little buggers) no worries, we've sort of grown used to living with each other and you can't even really notice they're around, once the sun goes down.
One of our most favorite places and yet we haven't been back since? Perhaps I can convince Garth (NHRN) for one last road trip before the oldest goes off to college, next fall (SOB!)
Oh, and I almost missed seeing my youngest, way over there on the right, she was so, so tiny (double-SOB!)
I'm NaBloPoMo-ing it, this month (first time NaBloPoMo-er) feel free to check out what I've NaBloPoMo-ed, thus far (PHEW!) and let me know how I'm doing (I mean, 30 posts, in 30 days, really?!?) when you have time, of course!
My oldest daughter is a senior in high school…hang on, while I allow that to sink in or, at least, until I stop shivering…okay, that's better, thanks.
Aaaaanyway, there is nothing…and I mean ABSOLUTELY NADA…that will bring even the most light-hearted of parental units…crashing back down to earth…faster than a high school graduation and/or college looming over your head.
Aaaaand, the perverbial glass ceiling being…I am her mother.
"I need a baby picture for the year book!"
You've heard of Manic Mondays, right (Bangles, 1986, look it up on Youtube, youngster!)
"Um, okay, when do you need it?"
Well, at our house, we celebrate Frantic Fridays.
"Deadline is today."
Of course. Why not? Never mind that her father is in the car, waiting, or that she should have been at school, 10 minutes ago, OH, and I have absolutely NO CLUE where her baby book is OR if it's even finished.
Luckily, my youngest (a.k.a. The Informer) pulled this pic pretty much out of nowhere (a'la Houdini) and, well…hang on another second…or 60,000…as my mind begins to race:
Was she EVER that little?!?
Did I remember to pack away those adorable baby shoes?!?
What in the world possessed me to get rid of that hat?!?
I am SUCH a bad mother!!!
Oh, look, how she's smiling, that's a good thing, right?!?
The simple act of holding a photo and ALL this (and, MUCH, MUCH more) goes through my mind (it's a gift!)
Revisiting stuff, like, maybe I should have done [insert stuff] differently.
Or, stuff I didn't do, in the last almost 18 years, like, take her to Disney (I mean, really, every kid SHOULD go to Disney, right?!?)
"Oh, look how cute I was."
Still is (are?) albeit, frustratingly flighty at times and perpetually late…hey, wait a minute…apple, meet tree!!!
"DUH-DUM..DUM-DUM-DUM…DUM-DUM-DUM…DUHHHHH-DUM!"
Holly snatched the photo from my hand and I turned, a little too quickly (I suffer from severe internal bedhead, too) but, managed to grab my camera in time for the second chorus:
The leaky roof, cracked ceilings, busted water heater, renovation projects that have gone unfinished for, well, uh, did I mention, we've got a kid, turning 18, next month (I think?!?)
NOPE, wouldn't trade ANY of it…NADA!…at this very moment…for all the dry wall and/or spackle mud in the world.
The fact that my 10-year-old even knew the words to Eye of the Tiger (Survivor, 1982, shuddup) which came out the same year I graduated high school?!?
[shiver]
PRICELESS and more than just a little freaky, right?!?
Now this, THIS IS EXACTLY what my dining room looks like, here at home.
Minus the nice walls, finished ceilings, those wickedly awesome French doors and fancy furniture, that rug and gorgeous light fixture, WOW, oh and, at second glance, uhhhhh, our floor may or may not look a little less, you know, finished.
Ummmm, did I mention, we have the same color pallet, tho?!?
