Courtney

I have told you all Courtney stories before.

Like the time she came home from school and wanted to join the Girl Scouts, and then wanted to know if you still got to live at home when you were a Girl Scout.

Or the time she was in Kindergarten and got in trouble on a Friday. I was driving home with her in the back seat telling her how much trouble she was in when we got home and she told me that she knew she wasn't in trouble at home, because the Principal told her that she had all weekend to get her act together and it was only Friday.

Last week we had a meeting at Courtney's school to start preparing for High School. We have to start now if we want the transition to be successful. This was the first meeting that she was allowed to sit in on and have a say in. Her teachers had asked her some questions before the meeting and we were going over the results.

Special Education Coordinator - "Courtney does plan on going to college. She would like to be a kindergarten teacher or work with animals."

Scott - "Good. She can live at home as long as she is going to school."

*teachers and everyone laugh*

Courtney - "I don't know what you guys think is so funny..he is serious."

And with that the whole room busted out laughing. She was so concerned that they were laughing at something that clearly wasn't a joke.

We tried to explain why people were laughing, but it was lost on her.

At least we found out that she does want to go to College.

And now she knows how long she can live here.

I Want A Pop

As you know by now, growing up my parents always took us on some sort of vacation. As you are also aware, my participation was not always looked upon as gracious.

But I wasn’t always bad.

A couple of times, my parents rented a little, little beach house down in Newport Beach.

Little. But cute! It had two bedrooms, a living room, kitchen and bathroom. It was on the side with the waves.

On that side there was a big long boardwalk. All along the boardwalk, were shops and restaurants. My mom would let me walk up and down it. Sometimes, my dad would take me to the pizza place. I thought it was cool because 1.) you could go in there barefooted and in your bathing suit and 2.) because everything was up high and my dad had to lift me to get on the chairs. You could order pizza by the slice and dad would get me a slice and orange soda and him two slices and a beer.

Back then my mom would drink Shasta…you remember the commercial for that…I wannna POP, I wanna SHASTA. I wanna taste PIZZAZ. All the great taste a SHASTA has. This vacation she stocked the fridge with them. They had ever flavor under the sun. And at night, she would let Jeff and I split one with dinner.

I don’t know who I was driving crazy this day. It could have been Jeff, but it was probably her. Jeff seemed to make friends easily and for me it was harder. I expected mom to play me and more than once was told “I was not put on this earth to entertain you.” So she gave me some money and told me I could walk ALL BY MYSELF to the liquor store and get myself some candy. Did I mention this was all by myself? Jeff wasn’t with me at all. Nope. I was flying solo.

And off I went, money in hand.

I got there and looked at everything I could buy and decided on a grape Whistle Pop. Clearly, I had got the best of both worlds. Not only was it a delicious candy, it was a loud ass whistle too! Proud of my purchase, I began my journey back to the beach house. There I was happily walking down the boardwalk sucking and blowing, blowing and sucking on my ever so wonderful CANDY WHISTLE!

I got back and walked through the door announcing my arrival with a long and loud blow on that whistle and was promptly told to either eat it or throw it away, but sure as hell, don’t blow that whistle anymore.

And I was so happy because I got to go all by myself without Jeff and get some candy! This was the best vacation ever!

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

I went to the movies this weekend and saw Valentine. I thought it was a cute movie.

There is a line in there where a wife says to a husband, after admitting that several years ago she had a brief affair with his business partner, that when you love someone you love all of them, the good and the bad. And the husband forgave her right then and there. Actually, he had forgiven her way before that.

There are people who do not understand the dynamics of my marriage to Scott. Some of these people are people who only know a little of what they see. Some of these people are close friends and some of these people are family.

People have told Scott that they don’t know how he can be married to someone who is so outspoken and opinionated. That he really should have a wife that caters to him just a little bit more.

People have told me that they don’t know how I can be married to someone who has to know about every dollar I spend. That I really shouldn't have to ask his opinion on the way I decorate the house.

Truth be told, no one knows the dynamics of our relationship. Just like we don’t know the dynamics of our friends and family’s relationships.

But I can tell you this, Scott and I have been together since 1991. No one held a gun to his head and made him ask me to marry him. And I said yes on my own accord. We are approaching 17 years of marriage and neither one of us have plans for that to change. I still miss him when I am away from him all day. He still tries to cop a feel every time I pass him by. Every single time.

Slow to trust, but I’m quick to love.
I push too hard and I give too much.
I’m not saying I’m perfect,
But I promise I’m worth it.

When you love someone, you love all of them, the good and the bad.

Everybody Cut Footloose

I was driving home from work today, which takes me an hour, flipping through the radio stations looking for something - anything- that would make my ride home a little bit more enjoyable.

Then on comes FOOTLOOSE.

Whenever this song comes on I get so embarrassed.

I was in 9th grade (I think) when I was asked out by this boy. He went to a different school than me. His school was showing Footloose in the gym. It was a school night and my mom let me go.

When we walked into the gym, I was behind him. I had friends that went to that school and was looking for them and didn't notice that he had stopped walking.

And I walked right into the back of him. Hard.

How do you recover from something like that? You don't.

He never asked me out again.

I was so mortified when that happened. And it is so funny now.

It is funny how a song or a movie or a smell takes you right back to a place so many years ago.

Memories.....

Olympics

I love the Olympics.

I am not a huge sports fan, but I have certain events that I really like to watch. If they were on TV any other time, and I had something else to do, I wouldn't watch them. But if it is during the Olympics, I make the time.

I think I like the idea of the Olympics a little bit more. The worlds best of the best coming together to compete against each other. I like to see an event where a person/team just nails it. It doesn't matter to me which country they are from, if it a fantastic performance, I am proud of them.

But my favorite is the medal ceremonies. I can only imagine what it must be like to stand on that podium and hear your countries song playing in honor of you. When I watch that part of the Olympics, and I see an athlete get choked up with emotion, it just melts my heart.

When it is my country that is up there, it can bring a tear to my eye.

I don't know why I feel so proud. Clearly, I don't know the people on the podium, but if they are on Team USA I feel like some sort of proud parent or something.

Wierd, I know.

These games provide conversation at the office and with complete strangers.

Maybe the Coke commercials have it right....maybe we should all come together and be a team.

Instead of being on Team USA or Team Canada or Team Whatvever, we could all just be on the same team.

Back to Basics

I am a person who sets goals for herself, her work, her family...everything.

MOST of the time, if the goal is important to me, I meet the goal. Sometimes, I am late meeting it, but I meet it nonetheless.

Sometimes, I set unrealistic goals. And then, when they are not met, I beat myself up over not meeting them.

Lately, there has been, on my part, no goal setting. Usually, I arrive to work early, make my list of goals to accomplish that day, and then set out to accomplish them. But lately, I am lucky to get anything on to paper. My goal has been to make it through the day.

My life has been hard lately. I have been getting hit from all sides. Home, work, life...you name it.

But today I realized, and I don't know why today is the day I realized it, that maybe for me to get back on track, I need to get back to basics.

If my life is too busy, perhaps I should make it less busy.

If my work load is too much, perhaps I need to just focus on one task at a time until it is complete.

If family and friends are stressing me out, perhaps I need to distance myself from them.

So I am going back to basics. Back to what I know and start from there.

Hopefully, by simplifying the process, I can make leaps and bounds towards my goals in my head.

And maybe, just maybe, I will come out on the other side a little bit wiser and a whole lot better because I did.

Etiquette 101

Dear Man Eating At The Table Next To Us At Cheesecake Factory:

First, I want to start off this letter by telling you that I know the tables are close together. I do know that.

But let’s go over how one might act/not act in a situation like that, shall we?

One might actually hold their fork correctly. The fork is not a shovel. When eating with a fork, one should always bring the fork to ones mouth, not ones mouth to the fork. Hitting the fork on ones teeth is also not acceptable. One should pull their food off of the fork with ones lips NOT ONES TEETH. One should never hold ones fork they way you were with an overhand grab. Come on, this etiquette 101 that you should have learned at home when you were three.

One might want to eat with ones mouth closed. Put the food in the mouth and then close the lips over the teeth. Continue to do this the entire time the food is being chewed AND swallowed. Chewing with your mouth wide ass open and having food fall onto the table and your shirt is NEVER acceptable. Not even at a bar. Seriously, what were your parents doing dinner time? Certainly, they were not teaching you how to eat.

Ignoring ones family to listen to the conversation at the table next to them might be acceptable if one could manage acting like he wasn’t listening. However, turning your back to your wife while you shovel food into your pie hole and chew it like a crack whore who hasn’t had anything to eat in a week is not acceptable. Ever. Not ever.

Do you understand what I am trying to teach you here? It is never acceptable to act the way you acted in public. Clearly you are not ready to eat in a grown up restaurant. You are, however, qualified to order McDonalds and eat in your car.

Seriously I am amazed that you could even get laid much less land a wife. She must be deaf and blind to put up with you and your lack of etiquette.

Love,

Melissa