You gotta laugh

First, I will say I thoroughly enjoyed my parent's visit over the holiday. I'm still my Daddy's little girl no matter how old and gray I get. I am so thankful they still enjoy good health and that they made it here and back home again in one piece. I am so very lucky to have been born to my parents and could not have asked for a better upbringing. I see a point on the horizon when they'll no longer be able to do the 9 hour trek down here to visit. I am putting each visit into a treasure chest of memories.

I have learned I have to take bits of what my parents say with a grain of salt sometimes, and realize they mean well. Daddy told me if I'd just gain about 10 pounds I'd find a man. I tried not to hear, "Good gracious, woman, you're so homely you'll never get a man." He's almost 80 years old. In his world women were meant to be taken care of by a man. I wish they both didn't worry so about my circumstances.

The man I felt knew how to do everything is no longer as adept as he once was. I will say he's in damn good shape for 79.95 years old. You wouldn't know by looking at him. Mom hasn't aged quite as gracefully, but she's a very young 73.

When they got to town last Wednesday Dad decided to take a "shortcut" to my house. I bet there was some bickering going on in that car. Anyway, long story short, they got lost, and when they called me they were only about 5 blocks away but I could not make either of them understand what they needed to do to rectify the situation. So, I got in the car to go find them and lead them to my place.

And I had a wreck on the way. My first wreck. It's been an experience.

I may be jinxed.

Or maybe Dana the snake is the witch my daughter says she is and she put a curse on me. Water off a duck's back, bitch.

Or God is trying to tell me something. I wish he wouldn't mumble.

No one was hurt. That's a great blessing. And truth be told, the spin I got when my car was hit might have been fun if not for the dents to poor ol' Bessie that came along with it.

Car's in shop, got a decent loaner, and so far the insurance company has been very accomodating. It could have been so much worse.

Christmas Food Court Flash Mob, Hallelujah Chorus

We celebrated the youngest grandson's first birthday yesterday. This is a photo from the very end of the party after he's enjoyed his cake. He was one tired little munchkin at this point in the evening.

Oldest grandson's football team lost their playoff game against arch-rival Aledo on Saturday, so there won't be a superbowl game this year. It was a hard-fought battle and they made Aledo earn the one touchdown scored in the whole game. Grandson and his team mates all had tears in their eyes when it was over. They're tough little guys on the field but their age showed when it ended in a loss. They wouldn't see it now, but sometimes greater lessons are learned in a loss than in a victory.

Unless the weather turns too bad for traveling, my parents will be here day after tomorrow (YAY!), so I need to get into cooking and cleaning mode.

Ho Ho Ho

I really do not like Christmas. It hasn't always been that way, but somewhere down the line I went from enjoying it to dreading it. Actually, I do remember when the cog slipped and I started wanting to avoid Christmas like the plague. I know when, if not exactly why, but that's not something to talk about here.

That feeling of dread was re-enforced when the ex decided the holidays were a good time to rip his family apart by leaving a week before Christmas. I know it's my choice how I handle things, but it's difficult not to remember this time of year as a sad anniversary because the time from Thanksgiving through Christmas is so thoroughly ingrained as a time for families.

I don't want to hear that I will make new memories. I know that will happen and I look forward to when it does. I am not so far gone that I don't realize I still have my little family, albeit, minus one. I AM thankful for what remains. What I would like to do is to be able to stop mourning the past, to not care that his leaving makes that past feel like a lie.

What's more idiotic is the fact that I feel sorry for him. He has to live with knowing what he threw away. I can't be sure it even registers with him that his relationships with his daughter and grandchildren are filtered and diluted because of what he did. Maybe his "new" family makes up for it. Maybe it wasn't ever as important to him as I had thought. I'll never know, but I pity him for changing the course of his life so drastically as to affect the lives of the people who loved him the most in such a way that excludes him from a bigger part in their lives.

It's all too sad. I would like to go to sleep the day after Thanksgiving and wake up on New Year's Day to avoid it all.

Paradigm Shift

This film might be a little hokie but it was a good message for me because I tend to get wrapped up and absorbed in my own problems and I fail to remember that the people I encounter are fighting their own demons.