One Word Tag

Thanks, Hannah, for jump starting me with a blog idea. It is painful to limit my answers to one word.

1. Where is your cell phone? Unknown

2. Your hair? Up

3. Your mother? Generous

4. Your father? Role model

5. Your favorite food? Chocolate

6. Your dream last night? Weird

7. Your favorite drink? Coca-cola

8. Your dream/goal? Debtlessness

9. What room are you in? Living

10. Your hobby? This

11. Your fear? Hopelessness

12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Free

13. Where were you last night? Home

14. Something that you aren’t? Ambitious

15. Muffins? Yes

16. Wish list item? ???

17. Where did you grow up? Everywhere

18. Last thing you did? E-mail

19. What are you wearing? Black

20. Your TV? Off

21. Your pets? Kitty

22. Friends? Scattered

23. Your life? Messy

24. Your mood? Stressed

25. Missing someone? Family

26. Vehicle? Minivan

27. Something you’re not wearing? Earrings

28. Your favorite store? Thrift Town

29. Your favorite color? Yellow

30. When was the last time you laughed? Yesterday

31. Last time you cried? Today

32. Your best friend? Husband

33. One place that I go to over and over? HEB

34. One person who emails me regularly? Nobody

35. Favorite place to eat? Tree House

Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore

Sebastian, I've a feeling we're not in our twenties anymore.

(Sebastian = my cat)

On the eve of my forties, it is finally beginning to dawn on me - I'm on the eve of my forties. My twenties are long (l-o-o-o-o-n-g) gone. I'm not sure where they went, but I am telling you, those crazy days of boundless energy, oodles of free time, and startling insecurity are nowhere in sight. I am, however, well aware of where my thirties went. They were trampled in a mind-numbing stampede of pregnancies becoming babies becoming toddlers becoming school aged kids. And WHAM! Here we are waking up from the fog at 39. On the cusp.

It's comments like the following that really bring it home:

One of our college student friends who attends the university that I work for recently asked me, "So, hey, do you work with D-Rod's mom?" (It's like he's trying to speak to me, I know it.)

"D-Rod" being his roommate. "D-Rod's mom" being my co-worker.

And here's what hit me at that moment: My co-worker, my colleague, my friend ... is ... D-Rod's mom. Not my friend Sue. Somebody's mom. Somebody called "D-Rod". More startling than walking outside and finding a pair of ruby-slippered feet sticking out from under my house, it hit me that I am now a mom figure, which of course is not new, except in the frightening aspect of being a mom figure to a COLLEGE STUDENT.

Yes, it's comments like these -- and every time one of the twenty-something-year-old grad students I work with calls me "ma'am" -- that tell me it's time we faced facts here.

Dorothy had it easy. One minute she was in black-and-white Kansas and the next minute - BOOM! She was smack dab in the middle of a technicolor world of munchkins, yellow brick roads, and walking, talking, brainless scarecrows. Clearly not Kansas. Sometimes, I'm still not quite sure where I am. Maybe if I click my heels together three times ...?

Three Guesses

And the first two don't count.

I don't mind disappointment ...

... as long as it's not pointing at me.

Guess which kid said that.

Flight Pics

Okay, so I was going to blog about what a big moment it was letting my oldest child take his first trip on his own, on an airplane no less, and even allowing him to return home UNACCOMPANIED (Yikes!) Because when the plan was first proposed to me, I thought, Ha! Like I will ever let my 10-year-old do that! I'm a little over-protective of my offspring. But the funny thing was, when the time came to let him go, I simply let him go. I shared in his excitement and knew he was ready to spread his wings. I was a little surprised at my own lack of anxiety, but hey, I'm not complaining about that. It feels good to let go. One little bit at a time.

Getting ready to board the big blue Southwest Airlines plane.

Having an uncle who's a pilot has its perks. Like getting to visit the cockpit and meet the pilot! (Who also is an Aggie, by the way.)

And getting to test out the controls.

TAKEOFF! Excited?

Settling in for the long 30 minute flight from Austin to Houston ... working the crossword puzzle (That's my boy!)

And more shenanigans from Uncle Mike.

The boy has wings

So, last Saturday we let the boy take a trip with his uncle by plane for the day. It was a grand success. Here's a summary of his day in his own words.

My Trip with My Uncle Mike
by Jared, age 10

Whoosh! The plane set off into the sky. I told my Uncle Mike that the view was awesome. "Yep," he said, "amazing." When he told me we were about 11,000 feet above the ground I was thinking, "What! 11,000 feet!" The rest of the flight went on with my face pressed against the window.

When we got off the plane we met my Aunt Sheila inside the terminal. We signed me up for my flight back (just to get ahead) and went to the parking garage when I asked my uncle where we were going. He said we were going to a place called Kemah Boardwalk.

When we got there I saw the craziest carnival rides you could ever imagine. There were things like the Invert, the Drop Zone, and the Aviator. They all looked crazy to me, but my Uncle Mike and I went on the Aviator and had a bunch of fun! After the ride, I got some Dippin' Dots and we saw a game where you could win a Scooby Doo plushie. Before we did that we decided to walk around and when we stopped at the dock, we saw a bunch of catfish. My Uncle Mike told me to watch as they would swarm for his spit. He spat into the water and they gulped it up. I did the same. We started walking farther and came across a vampire/magician who was cracking a bunch of corny jokes. I told my uncle Mike, “This guys tries too hard.”

We made our way back over to the booth where you could win the Scooby Doo plushie. We were hoping to play only the 3 of us, but we ended up with a few other players, so we had some competition. My Uncle Mike won the plushie and I took it home.

When we decided to go back to the terminal, I decided to eat at Wendy’s, but they didn’t have a kid’s meal. So I ended up getting about a 6-inch slice of pizza from a different restaurant. When we had eaten and gotten ready, I got on the plane and my Uncle Mike told me, “Try to look for me and your Aunt Sheila in the window and we’ll be waving.” I said okay, and when the plane took off, I saw them waving and I waved back.

I had an awesome day!