Baby Boys

Twenty nine years ago today, I was pretty much miserable. Then I received one of the two best gifts in my life. Brandon will turn 29 tomorrow. After a rocky start, and 8 long days in the NICU at McKay Dee hospital, we brought our precious baby home and life as we knew it changed forever. So here he is 29 and starting a new year and a new page in his life. He and his wife Becca moved to West Valley to be closer to family. It was wonderful to have them come for dinner tonight and not have to rush because of an 8 hour drive home. Plus it will give him and his brother a chance to interact together as adults.

I am so proud of my son who is not afraid to step out of his comfort zone and make a new start. He is so blessed to have a partner who supports him and uplifts him and helps him explore all the possibilities that exist for the two of them. So as I sign off I just need to say Happy Birthday Brandon. I love you and our lives are so blessed because you chose to be a part of it.

Little Boys and Their Toys

Tonight was the Pine Wood Derby for our Cub Scout troops. Mike was a judge and said you couldn't go to a race without the proper attire. So with his Mark Martin shirt, his "Go Daddy" coat and his Kobalt Tools hat off we go. We also took his 41 year old PineWood derby car and Dave's car. Brandon's car is nailed in his shadow box so it got to stay home.

Talk about nerve racking. Some of those cars ran so close together it was very hard to tell who won the heats. After all the real kid's cars had all run, I asked the guy who owned the track if we could run my cars. This guy had all these fancy cars in metal boxes for the boys to look at. I was kind of embarassed to take our family's plain cars up there but did it anyway. Mikes car is about 41 years old (circa 1968 we think). When he saw this very plain old car, he was very excited and offered to BUY IT. I was flabbergasted. He said he had been looking at DI and every where for some to show the kids the older styles. You should have seen the look on his face when I said we had another one at home just like it.

So to make a long story short, we declined the offer to sell them but said we would let him borrow them if he wanted. I thought it might be fun for each of my boys to have one of their Dads cars along with theirs to shoe their kids. Maybe someday we can be a three generation PineWood Derby car family.

It's kind of funny how (when you are an orphan) how much family and generational stuff means. I am so greatful to our Moms who saved silly stuff like our report cards etc.. that will be fun to show our grandkids some day. I will even be able to explain to them what wonderful people their Great Grandparents were and how lucky we were to have them. It pleases me to think that somewhere in the spirit world, maybe even now, they are guiding and helping each other while we down here desperately miss one generation while waiting patiently for the next generation to bless us with their presence.

This is my blog and these are my feelingss

So it has come to my attention that some one has taken offense to a comment I posted on my blog yesterday. I never intentionally set out to hurt anyones feelings but the fact of the matter is this is my blog and these are my thoughts and feelings. The sad thing about the events of yesterday is someone made that same comment when I commented on a post she had made.

I am terribly sorry that someone has taken offense to my comments. I wasnt even thinking about her when I made the comment that she found offensive. So life will go on and I will continue to act in a manner that ultimately means "do no harm" and if anyone takes offense but chooses not to talk to me about it, then I guess that is something they will have to deal with on their own.

Life is Great

I have been reading my oldest son's blog. I have to admit he has a real way with words. My goal for this year is to be more consistent in updating my blog. I am home today (day two of sick leave) with the flu. I am feeling better but have had the most awful hiccups all afternoon. Add that to a sore throat and not being able to catch my breath and I have been pretty much miserable.

So Brandon and Becca have celebrated their 1st anniversary. They seem content. Things are not perfect but they seem to have open communication (with each other--not their parents, which is how it should be). I am so happy that they seem to be resolving things and getting on with life.

Dave has been dating a very nice girl for about 4 months now. She has a very positive attitude and is working on her schooling. I am sitting quietly (very hard for me) and watching how this relationship develops. Dave seems to be doing well at work also. It is reassuring to see positive things finally happening for this kid. He will probably always struggle with certain aspects of his life. but he deserves good things. He has the biggest heart and the most giving nature and is growing up so well.

Blessings I have received

I am continuing the message from my last post. I am truly blessed in my life with a great family and good friends. I have been given the opportunity to accept a new position with an accounting firm here where I live. This is after 24 and 1/2 years with the government, which has been very good to me. It is great money, great benefits and I can still retire in 6 years. Mike has commented that he will not mind being a kept man, I am thinking of buying him a new apron.

I think that this opportunity is my blessing for the years of sacrifice I have made for my family. Sacrifices made without begrudgement because I know what is important in my life. Whether it was downgrading so I could help my kids succeed in school, the time I lost from life and work helping my family deal with my father's illness and death, the time missed from work and life as we dealt with my father-in-laws illness and death and the time I spent taking care of my beloved mother-in-law as she battled cancer.

I am excited about my new experiences that I will enjoy. I admit, it's terrifying to make a change at my age, and I am not the bravest person in the world. I have spent the whole day having a panic attack just wondering if the rug would be pulled out from under my feet and the opportunity would just be a joke. I have made a habit in life of not expecting too much because the less you expect the easier it is when you don't get anything. Less disappointment that way.

The best thing about the whole experience is they came looking for me. All along I would say if your looking for ........., I am not your girl, whether it was lots of hours, the education I am lacking and not interested in seeking. I also was not to interested because originally the offer would have required me to give up about 1/2 of the vacation days I now accrue in a year. And I wasn't willing to do that. I wasn't trying to be difficult, or hold out for more money. I already make more money that I ever thought I would in my life, I have a great job with a great company working for a great boss. Good hours (pretty flexible) and the ability to work from home. How great could it get??????

Well along came the offer that includes the same vacation days practically, flexibility of work hours, the ability to work from home if I need to and a great office to work in. I know quite a few of the employees there so it won't be like going to a strange office. How good can it get. Well I will have to keep you posted because the sky's the limit.

Happy Days.

Sisters

I have to say, I am the luckiest girl in the world. I have two awesome sisters. They are my friends and it's funny but even though we have the same parents, we are soooooooo different.

Katie for example, the oldest, is very introverted and keeps to herself. But if you need anything, she is the "go to" girl. She also happens to be married to my husbands best college buddy. I think this year is probably their 25th wedding anniversary.

Georgina (George to those of us who know her and love her) is the baby of the family but what a little mother she turned out to be. She and her family, Bruce and Cody, care for our mother who had a stroke 5 years ago. And you couldn't find better care givers. She has been married to Bruce for 21 years.

Mike and I have been married 30 years and I am the steam roller of the family. I am a take charge kind of person which I am sure drives them both nuts because I see a problem and I feel the need to stick my nose in and fix it. But they haven't kicked me out of the family yet so I am keeping on keeping on.

This picture was taken at my son's wedding in February. And the guest of honor is the woman who started it all, our Mom. She has aged a little lately in the last few years, she will be 78 this fall in August and is kind of like the energizer bunny, she just keeps on keeping on. She had a stroke in 2005, then a quadruple (or something like that) bypass and last September she fell and broke her leg. She is a strong woman and has been an example to us girls of how to be and how to raise a strong family. Between the 3 of us, we have given her 5 grandsons who she loves very much. She always loves to see them come visit and always has a big grin for them. They run in age from 28 to 18. And she loves her new grand-daughter in-law very much. I think mostly for how happy her grandson is.

Lifes funny twists and turns

I can't believe it's been so long since I have had anything important to write about. Sometimes, I wonder what I have done to deserve the blessings I have received in my life. When I was young and knew it all, my Dad and I were constantly at loggerheads (does anyone besides me know what that means, if so you are probably old like me). Anyway, because I knew it all, I totally blew off high school but I graduated. Then I figured I knew it all and college wasn't going to teach me anything. Then when I was 25, with two kids and bills we couldn't pay, I went to job service for help finding a job that paid more than JCPenney. But the kind lady at Job Service informed me that they couldn't help me, I had no marketable skills. Looks like I had been hoisted on my on pertard (another one of those old words). Anyway, I made the decision then and there that I had screwed myself, it was up to me to make something of myself. Going to college, now that I realized how important it was, was not an option because I had two kids to raise and a husband who was gone all the time.

In my job at JCPenney, I had done a little bit of filing, nothing noteworthy, but it counted. So I got a job at IRS and that little bit of filing got me in the door as a GS3 rather than a GS2. In the last 24 years at IRS, I have hopscotched my way around the service, working in just about anything, but picking up those little skills along the way. My guardian angel has been watching over me all these years, putting me in the right place to learn skills that I had no idea what I would do with them down the road. I guess being willing to do any job put in front of you pays off in the end.

Now I am not the most intelligent person on earth, and the theory of accounting and algebra is just beyond me. I have taken just enough accounting classes to know that I hate working with numbers, and I can work an algabraic formula, as long as there isn't an X or a Y in there. But go figure, I work for the IRS. Anyway, I have no idea why things seem to work out for me but I am doing things I never thought I would be able to, and making more money than I ever thought I would.

It frustrates me that my kids don't understand how important college is. I don't want them to have to make the same stupid choices I did and learn their lessons from the school of hard knocks. But considering who they have for a mother, I can see that they will do things the hard way the same way I did. All I can do is pray for them and hope that they have the same blessings in their life that I have.