Ride out the storm

In the Colorado mountains on a camping trip as a teenager, a storm blew in quickly and without warning before my family even had the chance to finish setting up camp. There was no alternative but for us to huddle up under the best cover we could find and wait it out. There is a sense of power in a storm like that...it renders you completely helpless for that period of time. And it is somewhat terrifying.

I am not sure what made me remember that incident so many years ago. I don't think I am facing anything monumental at the moment...and maybe therein lies my answer...nothing at the moment. There are so many storms that blow into our lives unexpectedly and the sheer force of the storm threatens to paralyze us from moving forward, or even backward for that matter. I guess the key is to ride out the storm to the best of our ability so that eventually we can go about moving forward once again.

Editing note: I don't mean to sound fatalistic...more along the lines of realistic. What I didn't say above, and I should, is that even as I wait out any storm that may cross my path, I am not doing it alone or without hope. There isn't a storm out there that separates me from the love and care of the Lord. But there are times and seasons that we are held in place and stationary until the point comes we are able to move forward. All the while, even as we ride out the storm, God shelters us in His loving care.

Signs of the Times

Signs he isn't my baby boy any more:

*He is designing a tattoo for himself. He knows he can't get one while we are still "footing the bill", which puts it into the later-rather-than-sooner time frame for him, but he is 18 and about to launch into the big world of college and he wants a tat. So he is planning it all out. A cross, with a verse, over the span of his nice broad shoulders. (I would do it all for him in black sharpie, and for free. But he isn't amused for some reason.)

*He is worried about paying back his future college loans.(Join the club!)

*He cleaned and washed his car without us telling him to. (And found a pair of jeans he thought he had lost. Bonus!)

Just feels like signs of the times, that the day is growing closer when he will be away much more than he is with us. So I am preparing my heart...or trying to anyways. I don't want to hold him back, but I don't want to let go too much either. Kind of feeling my way through these emotions that this new stage of life is bringing to me.

Bad News for Dublin

Hidey has a better memory than he does.

I read somewhere that the University of Michigan has tested the memories of dogs and cats and came to the conclusion that a dogs memory extends to about 5 minutes and a cat's memory will potentially last as long as 16 hours. This exceeds even that of monkeys and orangutans.

What really concerns me, though, is that Hidey might have a better memory than me as well. I swore it wouldn't happen to me, and certainly not before I turned 40, but I am having the hardest time lately remembering little details lately, like names of people I am friends with and things I went in the other room for. A friend was real comforting to me when she nodded knowingly and said the exact same thing happened to her when she turned 40, and it does get better...and then she wished me a Merry Christmas. Haha! Real funny!

Spring Teaser

I guess Dublin prefers snow to limp wet grass.

Anyways. I am loving this "warm" weather even though I know it is just a teaser...Spring hasn't really sprung for us yet. But this week the snow will melt away and I won't wear a coat outside (though I will be chilly) and I will enjoy it while I have it. And when snow blankets the ground once again (probably on Easter if the last four years are any indication) I will try not to whine!

{RANDOM QUESTION: Why do teenage boys like to give each other welts and proudly show off the welts they have been given? I have 5 teenage boys in my basement currently doing just that...they are playing Sting Ping (painful ping pong to say the least). I don't get it!}

Back to Spring-like weather...yesterday I went for a bike ride with Big D through a beautiful park in our area. It was my second official ride and I am very much liking it! But we did get home and immediately order the cushy/tight pants. (: Hopefully they will be in before our next ride. And so now the kids can avert their eyes and dramatically scream in horror when I walk out in my biking clothes just like they do when Big D comes out as Spandex Man.

Hope you are enjoying your lovely weather wherever you might be! Blessings on your day!

I am ALIVE!

But barely! Slammed more like it. And unfortunately, the hobbies are what get nudged out during seasons like this. At my new dr.'s office this morning I had to fill out paperwork as a new patient; the normal, run-of-the-mill questions about medical history and drinking habits, and then came a new question I wasn't expecting. She was curious to know what hobbies I enjoy.

Pause.

Pause.

Do you have to actually DO a hobby for it to BE a hobby?

And I tried to skip the question, but I couldn't, because it clearly stated at the top of the page to NOT leave any blanks and I am a TOTAL rule follower.

So I put down I enjoy reading and writing. Then I giggled. (Yes, out loud!) Then I committed to come home and post on my blog.

On the upside, I really do enjoy reading and writing, AND, I do believe I have at long last found a Dr. here in my neighborhood who doesn't annoy me!