Life comes at you fast.....

So much to update!

Life has taken some exciting, terrifying and gut wrenching turns in the past few weeks.

MIDDLE SCHOOL: David starts middle school this fall (sob). He is attending a transitions program this week and next for incoming 6th graders at the middle school. He’s learning what to expect in middle school, meeting teachers and hopefully making some friends. He seems to be enjoying it. Certainly more than I am. Turns out – dropping him off for summer school at the middle school made my stomach turn into knots and my hands shake. I’m fairly certain I’ll need a sick day on Sept 1st when he actually goes to school. I feel sick just typing it.

FOOTBALL: He also started football this week. I didn’t realize how much of a commitment football was going to be….for both of us. They practice 4 days a week with games on Saturday – And until games start they’ll practice Saturdays as well. And the other moms told me the coach does dinners at his house once a week. 6 days a week. 6??! I’m thinking about petitioning the universe for a 10 day week. I’m gonna need it. Football is going to be so good for him, I can see it already. They run a mile a day and spend a lot of time doing conditioning. There are drills that will help build his gross motor skills and his coordination. Which will hopefully give him a little more confidence in general.
So far they haven’t played much actual ball, but he’s working hard and I’m very proud of him. He’s trying his hardest, I can tell. Not sure if he’s trying to impress the coaches or the kids or what, but I find myself smiling a lot watching him. Now…. If somebody could just teach me the rules of football I can try to keep up at the games. Or maybe I’ll just cheer for no broken bones….

HEALTH: David & I are fine. But life just isn’t fair sometimes. My oldest and best friend had some heartbreaking news recently. Her mom has been diagnosed with stage IV cancer. It hurts. It hurts a lot, actually. I’m surprised by how much this has affected me…. I’m devastated…it makes me cry for my friend and her family. It’s not my mom – and if I feel like this I can’t imagine what she and her family are going through. Cancer Sucks. Futility Sucks. All I can do is be there for her, hug her as often as I can and tell her I love her and I’m here to listen and help in anyway I can. Even if the only help I can offer is a few minutes of distraction or acting like an idiot to make her smile. Please, please keep her and her mom and the rest of the family in your thoughts. It’s going to be a rough rough road.

Seeing yet another family devastated by cancer only renews my commitment to do something about it. I will work my ass off every year until we have a cure. We WILL find a cure in my lifetime.

TRAVEL: I had the Best. Weekend. Ever. In July. We had a girls trip to Vancouver and it seriously, couldn’t have been any better. I am so lucky to have the friendships I have and the people who have been brought into my life in the past few years. I honestly cannot remember what my life was like without them and prefer to not even think about it.

We’re going to Roche in 10 days. The cabin has been listed for sale, and this may be our last year up there. It breaks my heart to even think about part of my childhood being sold…. if the lottery would just hurry up- I could buy it and save myself the worry. But as long as we have access to the cabin, I will continue to go up there and spend my “last summer” there. If I had 20 last summer’s I’d be OK with that. Jacqui and Danyal are coming this year and I expect a lot of laughs, silliness, maybe a few drinks and a great time. Darren will be there for most of the week and his sister is planning on coming up with a friend for a couple days. A good time to be had by all….

A few months ago my work presented an opportunity for people to sign up to crew a sailboat for a race that is put together by our parent company. Every company under the SAFRAN umbrella is invited to have employees crew a boat (or boats) for the company. I expressed my interest knowing I have not sailed in years and would surely not be the most experienced employee, and chances were slim. Many weeks went by and I hadn’t heard, so I assumed the crew was selected and I wasn’t on it. Last week I found out SURPRISE I’m on the boat.

Did I mention….the race is in FRANCE??? I’m going to France!!!!!! I’ve never been anywhere but Canada (and one booze fueled trip to Mexico I barely remember) and now I’m going to France?? To SAIL? Things like this just don’t happen to people… This isn’t my life. I am excited and extremely nervous. A 12 hour flight with coworkers I don’t know, staying in another country, not speaking the language. It’s been years since I’ve sailed and I’ve never raced anything bigger than a Laser. But I miss sailing more than anything in the world. Driving by the Marinas makes me feel homesick, and I’m sure once I get back on the water everything will be just great. Hopefully. And hey- it’s an all expense paid trip to France – I’ll volunteer to be the galley wench if I have to!

I’m racing tonight with an amazingly nice couple who has agreed to let me join them on their brand new boat. Hopefully I start remembering things, learn some new skills and don’t get in their way…. Or fall off the boat.

(Longest blog ever. I apologize)

Good morning!

I was up early again today- seems to be a pattern lately. I don’t HAVE to be at work until 730- but when I get there at 7, that just means I get to leave early. YAY!

Yesterday I was at David’s daycare at 6:30- which is when they open. I haven’t been that early in sometime. Usually- BEST case scenario is 6:50 or so. So I get in there, there is another mom sitting there. Apparently nobody told the people who work there- they open at 6:30. Luckily since its in the school basement, as long as the janitor shows up on time, we can get into the building…..not to say he always does this- the kids have been stuck waiting outside in the freezing cold and/or rain before. And for this reason, I keep an extra coat in my car for David. But I digress…..

So we wait. I let the other mom know that I was early that day and if she needed to leave to get somewhere I would stay. She needed to talk to Tim when he got there anyway so we both waited. 6:45 rolls around and Tim finally shows up. Good thing I didn’t actually have to BE anywhere- on time…..*eye roll*

So today, we were ready to leave the house at 6:15. Huh? What do I do now? Well, I decided to go to the bank. Its right by the house I need to deposit something. I sit in my car digging for a pen for what feels like 5 minutes, I finally find one and fill out my deposit slip. I walk up to the door and the vestibule is locked (as always-after hours) so I turn to swipe my debit card to grant me access and the entire thing has been ripped from the wall. WTF?! There is just one sad little wire hanging down, pathetically. I took me a minute to process this. Who would do that? WHY would somebody do that? Did that work to gain them access to the vestibule? If it did- what was the point? Were you planning on taking the entire ATM machine with you? Pretty sure those are pretty difficult nuts to crack…..people confuse me.

I decided to worry about it this afternoon- after I call and complain of course.

Now I have a little time. I have to stop by the gas station anyway so even though it appears to be drizzling, I decide to run my car through the car wash. I have time to kill and its SO DIRTY, its gross, I don’t even like to touch it. Seriously. So after I pay for my stuff in the gas station I pull around to the automated car wash with my cash…..The robot screams in my face THANK YOU FOR CHOSING OUR AUTOMATIC CAR WASH PLEASE ENTER YOUR 5 DIGIT CODE OR DEPOSIT CASH. I hadn’t had caffeine yet- so she startled me and made me wince. I pull out my dollar bills that are in the best shape and tried inserting them into the machine. It doesn’t work. I tried again, different bills, nothing is working. In the meantime the robot keeps screaming at me THANK YOU FOR……etc etc.

I am getting very frustrated at this point. Why is technology trying to make my life MORE difficult?

I give up. I am just going to take David to school. Now its 6:35... by the time I get there- somebody should be there.

I drop him off and head to work (after my caffeine). I got to work about 7:09. My floor doesn’t technically open until 7:30. But as long as you have a card to swipe you can get onto the floor whenever. After 7:30 you don’t need a card. So I get onto the floor, unlock the department and decided I needed to use the restroom. Apparently in my mad rush out of the house I neglected a few things. But thankfully, nobody is even on my floor so no worries about there not being a stall available or even anybody else coming in. HOORAY! And for those of you that know where I used to work, and how difficult it was to even use the bathroom most of the time- you know, this is very exciting for me.

So I grab the key for the bathroom (yes we need a key- its locked- I think because the other half of the floor is the FBI office) and walk out to the bathroom. I unlock the door and walk in. Its dark. Very dark. As the door starts to swing shut I realize we are in the center of the building. There are no windows in here…..I reach to stop the door and I missed it. It clicks shut and it is pitch black. I don’t think I have ever been in such complete dark ever in my life. It feels like a cave. My brain is foggy, I start walking with my hands out in front of me like Helen Keller and run into the corner of the wall. Owie. I turn slightly to the right knowing that is THAT is where the paper towels are- the door must be over here….I shuffle my feet, because with my luck the cleaning people left a wet floor sign somewhere, and my clown feet WILL find it.

I imagined what it might be like when I tripped over that sign, fell forward hitting my head on the counter and passing out on the bathroom floor. How long would it take for somebody to find me? Who would find me? How would they move me? MAYBE if an FBI agent finds me she will have to go get help, and that HOT Shamar Moore- looking guy I see getting off the elevators all the time would come to rescue me. I think about throwing myself towards the sinks, but with my luck I would only knock out my teeth.

Then I remember, I still have my phone in my pocket. I use it as a nightlight to orient myself in the cave/bathroom. I look towards the door- looking for a light switch….around the sinks…..outside the bathroom. No lightswitch. I don’t understand. What am I supposed to do? Apparently the lights are automatic. They probably turn on at 7:30.

There is still business to be done so I take my make shift flashlight into the stall, lay it face up on top of the toilet paper dispenser and do what I came to do. Unfortunately my phone only stays lit for about 3 seconds, so I have to keep pushing buttons to keep the stall lit. But I managed to make it work. Technology sucks.

This must have been what Laura Ingalls felt like.

Out with the old

I have decided.
It's time.
Time to let go and move on.
I am chopping my hair off. New start. Here is an example of the style I have chosen.
Now obviously....Mandy Moore's got NUTTIN on me.....

You might not have seen me in a while and my profile pic is from my last haircut. But let me tell you, its much longer now.

Its also much thinner, much more damaged and much grayer (is that a word?).

If I have 8 inches to cut off, I can donate to locks of love, but for some reason I don't think anyone would want a wig made out of my hair.

I will post before and after pics when I can. My appointment is next Tuesday at 3. Danyal is going for moral support and I am gonna have to have a drink before hand.....and maybe during.