Valentine's Day. That single day on February fourteenth seems to make plenty of people for lack of a better word...crazy. When little girls are little girls the only Valentine they want or need is their daddy. When they are teenagers however, it becomes such a big deal to have a Valentine that they spend the next several years hating the day until they too, have a Valentine of their very own.
Well I have have had the same Valentine for the last twenty one years. While I am thankful for such a blessing, for me it's just another day to spend with the one I love. I don't need to commercialize it. I don't need the heart box of candy or the flowers that will wilt and die. I suppose once you've been with the same person for so long, just being together is in and of itself the gesture. If you spend your whole life waiting for gestures you will always spend it wanting instead of spending it living. This Valentines Day I spent at a 4H meeting with my kids. I did prepare a lovely meal for the family and I did get plenty of hugs and kisses. Things I never take for granted and am thankful each day for.
This year was different in one respect. We did go this weekend to a Valentine's Party with our Sunday school class. Twelve couples gathered together for food, fellowship and fun. And fun we did have. I can honestly say that I cannot remember laughing so hard for a very long time.
The meal was wonderful. Appetizers that included a crab dip that I will long for for days to come. Salads, pork chops, cheesy potatoes, green beans, rolls and desserts. I cannot begin to describe the desserts, but I will try of course. There was this peanut butter and chocolate dessert that would make Reese cry. There was this sort of a cookie/brownie type thing that was delightful as well as perhaps a dirt pudding. All of it was wonderful and I will have to walk 10,000 miles to work all that I consumed off.
The best part however, was the entertainment. Minute to Win It! If you have seen this particular game show you know that you have a minute to win it. We were working toward collecting the most cards for the grand prize. Unfortunately this is a game of pure luck not a game of how well you know your partner. As I was sure that we would have that sort of game locked up. As it was we were only able to collect two cards and four cards won. We stacked apples. I kept thinking the entire time of the Dr. Seuss book Ten Apples Up On Top! As I stacked my five apples I kept thinking of that book and was thankful that I only had to stack them on a table and not on my head. I actually thought when I let go they would all tumble down but they stayed. No one was more surprised than I was. Also after twelve people had their hands on your apples, I'd just make sure you peel them before consuming them.
So we all stacked apples, we stacked nuts, we stacked dice on a popcycle stick that was in our mouth. We attempted to get an Oreo from our forehead to our mouth without using our hands. But the most entertaining of all games played last night was this... Take a tissue box put a belt through it and fill it with jingle bells. Fasten the belt around your rear and then with out using your hands get the jingle bells out of the box. Oh and no you cannot simply stand on your head like one tried to do. Apparently that is too easy. I personally thought it was impressive and there is no possible way I could ever stand on my head or hands. So you must bounce. Like Tigger in Winnie the Pooh. Bounce! Talk about shaking your groove thing. Three grown men and one grown woman were all that was brave enough to attempt this fete. It was the funniest thing I think I have ever witnessed. The laughter that this brought about was vast. In fact long after the party, after I was tucked into bed I was till giggling about it.
We then played a version of the Newlywed Game. We were asked questions about which couple would be most likely to do certain things. The couple who got the most votes for each question won. I'm pretty sure the last question was thrown in just so I could win. The question being "Who would most likely be on facebook if they weren't here tonight." Of course everyone chose me. Which will lead to the next blog I intend to write entitled "Facebook, Freecell, and Me" about a woman who can't sit still to watch television but must always be doing something. By the way the Hershey kisses that I won for that question were delightful.
This was our first Valentine party. We had no idea what to expect. We had a great time and are so happy that we went. We are blessed to go to church with wonderfully insightful, charming, warm, friendly people and as we found out last night they are also quite hilarious. So when I think back on the evening for the next few days I will remember not that apparently I'm perceived as the one most likely to be on facebook, because let's face it I probably am, but I'll remember a fun evening among friends.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Monday, February 14, 2011
How Deep is Your Love?
On this Valentines Day, I am feeling very blessed. It does not escape my notice that I have been very blessed indeed. My husband and I have been married for almost sixteen years. We have been together for twenty one. We met our senior year in high school.
I was this skinny girl with the big eighties hair. I went to school and then went to work at the mall. I spent my entire check on clothes at the "cool" store in the mall and gas to get to work and back. I was neither too pretty or too ugly and I was far from popular. I also had the worst self esteem, which I'm trying to this day to outgrow.
He was this cute brown haired, puppy dog brown eyed guy. He was neither too tall or too short. He was just the right height for a short girl like me and his eyes were nothing short of dreamy. They still are. I remember the night we met as clearly as if it were yesterday. I was friends with his next door neighbor. She was dating a friend of his. They invited us over on the same night. He almost didn't show. I am so glad he did. To this day I have no idea where her parents were. We sat around in awkward silence drinking Coke and playing with these little pink plastic bugs that would jump whenever you pushed on their bottoms. My friend and her boyfriend left to go pick up a pizza leaving us there alone to talk. We talked and I always say when he flipped the pink plastic bug into my coke I knew. I waited days for him to call me and ask me out. He eventually did and him spilling water on me and me singing in the car to Janie's Got a Gun didn't scare either of us off.
I remember the first kiss. The first kiss that ever took my breath away. The kind that you feel all the way down to your toes. Our first Valentine's Day he was taking a class at the local college. The snow totals were accumulating and yet he didn't go home after class. He trecked to my house to bring me flowers, candy, and card. My mother loved him. I have always said and still believe to this day that they would trade me for him any day of the week and twice on Sunday. He used to write me poems and love letters. When we were in college they came in the mail regularly. We would write of our hopes and our dreams and how one day we would get married and the waiting would be worth it.
It was. We were together five years before we married. Finishing college was the best decision we made. As we go into this day after all these years we realize that every day is a gift. We know that each day not just Valentine's day is cause for celebration. We were in the store last week and picked out cards for each other. We read them then put them back on the shelf. We used the card money to buy a soft drink in the check out line. I've had the big gesture. Actually if you think about it, I'm living the big gesture. I'm married to the most amazing husband and father. If I knew nothing else other than the fact that he would one day become the father to our children that he is today, it would have been enough.
Isn't that how true love works afterall? My Heavenly Father reminds me daily that with great sacrifice comes great reward. I still have every letter and poem from those early years. I still have the pink plastic bug that he flipped into my Coke too. Those were the beginnings of our love, the greatest gesture however, is in the sticking it out arm in arm up the hills and down the valleys of life. So I guess when the song says "How deep is your love?" I'd have to reply with another great song that says "There ain't no mountain high enough."
I was this skinny girl with the big eighties hair. I went to school and then went to work at the mall. I spent my entire check on clothes at the "cool" store in the mall and gas to get to work and back. I was neither too pretty or too ugly and I was far from popular. I also had the worst self esteem, which I'm trying to this day to outgrow.
He was this cute brown haired, puppy dog brown eyed guy. He was neither too tall or too short. He was just the right height for a short girl like me and his eyes were nothing short of dreamy. They still are. I remember the night we met as clearly as if it were yesterday. I was friends with his next door neighbor. She was dating a friend of his. They invited us over on the same night. He almost didn't show. I am so glad he did. To this day I have no idea where her parents were. We sat around in awkward silence drinking Coke and playing with these little pink plastic bugs that would jump whenever you pushed on their bottoms. My friend and her boyfriend left to go pick up a pizza leaving us there alone to talk. We talked and I always say when he flipped the pink plastic bug into my coke I knew. I waited days for him to call me and ask me out. He eventually did and him spilling water on me and me singing in the car to Janie's Got a Gun didn't scare either of us off.
I remember the first kiss. The first kiss that ever took my breath away. The kind that you feel all the way down to your toes. Our first Valentine's Day he was taking a class at the local college. The snow totals were accumulating and yet he didn't go home after class. He trecked to my house to bring me flowers, candy, and card. My mother loved him. I have always said and still believe to this day that they would trade me for him any day of the week and twice on Sunday. He used to write me poems and love letters. When we were in college they came in the mail regularly. We would write of our hopes and our dreams and how one day we would get married and the waiting would be worth it.
It was. We were together five years before we married. Finishing college was the best decision we made. As we go into this day after all these years we realize that every day is a gift. We know that each day not just Valentine's day is cause for celebration. We were in the store last week and picked out cards for each other. We read them then put them back on the shelf. We used the card money to buy a soft drink in the check out line. I've had the big gesture. Actually if you think about it, I'm living the big gesture. I'm married to the most amazing husband and father. If I knew nothing else other than the fact that he would one day become the father to our children that he is today, it would have been enough.
Isn't that how true love works afterall? My Heavenly Father reminds me daily that with great sacrifice comes great reward. I still have every letter and poem from those early years. I still have the pink plastic bug that he flipped into my Coke too. Those were the beginnings of our love, the greatest gesture however, is in the sticking it out arm in arm up the hills and down the valleys of life. So I guess when the song says "How deep is your love?" I'd have to reply with another great song that says "There ain't no mountain high enough."
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Who REALLY pays the "Monthly Bill"?
From Barbie Dolls to Training Bras, when the monthly bill arrives, who REALLY has to pay the bill. You know what I'm talking about, that monthly bill you can't pay with the checkbook. When I was a kid we always said that our Aunt Flo had come for a visit. She is the worst aunt ever by the way, and at our house she comes three times a month. So we have the pre, the during, and the post which is really just a lead in to another pre for someone else. It never ends... ever.
I have heard an urban myth that when women live together their cycles tend to align. In the last four years the stars have only aligned for this to happen once. Which is why I believe it may be an urban myth. Not even two of us get the same week. Three females with two males living in one house with cycles all out of line. I have told my friends that if you want to pray for someone, pray for the men who live in my house. I am sure there are worse fates. However, when the monthly bill arrives in our house, EVERYONE pays for it.
I have convinced myself that I should buy stock in my old friend Midol. She is a great friend really. She keeps all of our sanities in check. That and of course the numerous cappuccino drinks that I've taken to drinking to give me energy to keep up with it all. Of course the only thing that is doing for me is adding to the ever expanding waist line. This does nothing at all to help with my poor body image. Especially, when that monthly bill arrives and you're bloated and you're carrying more water weight than Shamu.
I sometimes think back to my formative years and remember those early years with my aunt. In the year or so prior to her first visit, I remember being excited and ready to be a "woman". Of course, I also remember after her first visit thinking perhaps it might be better to be able to pee outside. At least that wouldn't be painful or necessarily messy. My mother's best friend had brought me this big box full of necessities. I was prepared. Well prepared in the box full of products that did not include things such as Midol and Pamperin. The box also didn't include a heating pad or warning label as to what all this entailed and how long this thing was going to go on.
When my first child recieved her first visit, she was devestated. Far from the excitement I had. She wanted to know how long this thing was going to last. I said well...for about a week every month till you are maybe fifty or so. She was furious! She said... Seriously? I ask you a simple question and you can't even give me a real answer! I then had to remind her of my age and that mine still came every month. When she realized I was serious, she was even more devestated than before.
While I'm sure that boys have their issues, as I'm sure to find out now that I have a son who in just a few short years will be entering puberty. I have to say even with all the drawbacks that come with the monthly bill I rather enjoy being a woman. The wardrobe is just so much better. Just in the shoe department alone, I would never make it as a man. That and the fact that they pick a hairstyle and go with it, forever.
I guess while the payment in the monthly bill can be high especially in those first few years while adjustments are being made, it's all worth it in the end. If nothing else it is certainly an exercise in patience and learning to be accepting of all people no matter what their mood or yours may be. As I tell my kids, you may not be able to control what is happening to your body at present, you CAN control how you react to it. If all women everywhere acted like crazy people when they had their "special" time it would be the end of the human race. I am sure that if the women didn't kill each other the men would get sick of all the nonsense and off them themselves. Forget dinner being ready on time, the complaining is just too much, they'd all just go back to hunting and putting a pig on the spit for dinner. And really? The words pig and spit and dinner just don't belong in the same sentence. Which is why I believe Prayer, Midol, and the ocassional cappuccino to be the best remedy or payment as the case may be.
I have heard an urban myth that when women live together their cycles tend to align. In the last four years the stars have only aligned for this to happen once. Which is why I believe it may be an urban myth. Not even two of us get the same week. Three females with two males living in one house with cycles all out of line. I have told my friends that if you want to pray for someone, pray for the men who live in my house. I am sure there are worse fates. However, when the monthly bill arrives in our house, EVERYONE pays for it.
I have convinced myself that I should buy stock in my old friend Midol. She is a great friend really. She keeps all of our sanities in check. That and of course the numerous cappuccino drinks that I've taken to drinking to give me energy to keep up with it all. Of course the only thing that is doing for me is adding to the ever expanding waist line. This does nothing at all to help with my poor body image. Especially, when that monthly bill arrives and you're bloated and you're carrying more water weight than Shamu.
I sometimes think back to my formative years and remember those early years with my aunt. In the year or so prior to her first visit, I remember being excited and ready to be a "woman". Of course, I also remember after her first visit thinking perhaps it might be better to be able to pee outside. At least that wouldn't be painful or necessarily messy. My mother's best friend had brought me this big box full of necessities. I was prepared. Well prepared in the box full of products that did not include things such as Midol and Pamperin. The box also didn't include a heating pad or warning label as to what all this entailed and how long this thing was going to go on.
When my first child recieved her first visit, she was devestated. Far from the excitement I had. She wanted to know how long this thing was going to last. I said well...for about a week every month till you are maybe fifty or so. She was furious! She said... Seriously? I ask you a simple question and you can't even give me a real answer! I then had to remind her of my age and that mine still came every month. When she realized I was serious, she was even more devestated than before.
While I'm sure that boys have their issues, as I'm sure to find out now that I have a son who in just a few short years will be entering puberty. I have to say even with all the drawbacks that come with the monthly bill I rather enjoy being a woman. The wardrobe is just so much better. Just in the shoe department alone, I would never make it as a man. That and the fact that they pick a hairstyle and go with it, forever.
I guess while the payment in the monthly bill can be high especially in those first few years while adjustments are being made, it's all worth it in the end. If nothing else it is certainly an exercise in patience and learning to be accepting of all people no matter what their mood or yours may be. As I tell my kids, you may not be able to control what is happening to your body at present, you CAN control how you react to it. If all women everywhere acted like crazy people when they had their "special" time it would be the end of the human race. I am sure that if the women didn't kill each other the men would get sick of all the nonsense and off them themselves. Forget dinner being ready on time, the complaining is just too much, they'd all just go back to hunting and putting a pig on the spit for dinner. And really? The words pig and spit and dinner just don't belong in the same sentence. Which is why I believe Prayer, Midol, and the ocassional cappuccino to be the best remedy or payment as the case may be.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
