an Essay

It's absurd, really, that I should count this as my favorite possession. My gut tells me that with all I've been through it should be something of Joshua's that is my favorite...my most inspiring possession. Perhaps his blanky or his favorite pillow should be counted as my favorite? I do cherish them. They are as much a part of me as anything in this house. And I suppose if the house were to catch fire I would rescue them before I rescued my favorite thing. The one that tugs at my heart and reminds me of so many things.

Absurd! The word just rings with the contradiction of it all. That I should truly count this as my favorite is absurd. For this little piece of my past came from an amusement park (Cedar Point). Of all places! We went as a church group and I brought along my best friend from high school. I have a picture of us. You know the type, the black and white ones where you dress up as saloon girls and turn over half the money in your purse. We had fun. I don't think I remember a day where I laughed so much.

I'm always amazed that it is still in one piece. It is so small and fragile. We moved a lot when I was young and once I moved out.....well I was not known for staying in one place (I can blame the Air Force for some of that, thank you!). Everytime I moved I just KNEW that would be the time, the move that finally broke it. The time that it would end up losing a wing or a leg. But it never did.

Now it sits in a place of honor in the china cabinet. On the shelf amongst Grace's Precious Moment and the clay bird's nest she made in 1st grade. Sadly it is collecting dust. Just because they are treasured possessions does NOT mean I keep them any cleaner than the rest of my house. When you dig under all the dust, though, this one sparkles. Or maybe just in my eyes because it nudges me and reminds me that life is...

Well, life is only what it is. Nothing lasts forever. I will not be the same person tomorrow as I was yesterday. But the person that I was yesterday (and 25 years ago) will always be a part of who I am now. That person who thought she knew it all, who had a lifetime ahead of her is still hidden somewhere. That's sort of a big message for such a little thing. Maybe that's why it inspires me.

It does double duty. Odd as it seems, a Pegasus was also our school mascot. (Hey! It was a college prep high school, so it's not like we had SPORTS teams - LOL). This way it reminds me of my past in a tangible way. And then it touches my heart in a way that nobody else ever knows.

(Wanting to be true to all of you I snapped the picture dust and all. Just so you could peek inside my messy life.)

I am so excited that Judith has brought back the Artsy Essay. You may play along by clicking HERE. If you don't want to write about it, you should STILL CLICK HERE and follow the links to read what the other entrants have written about. Because I can guarantee you that they are vastly superior to mine!

More Pie Please

So I'm sitting here eating strawberry pie. And it's really good pie, too. We have this little home grown (as in not a franchise!) burger joint. One of the few that has lasted amidst the McDonald's and Burger Kings of the world. This one happens to be conveniently located close to my house and makes some of the best french fries EVER. The best were made by another little home grown place that closed all it's locations while I was off in the Air Force.

But, I digress. They also make really great pie. Chocolate pie, lemon meringue and in the summer - Strawberry. You order it with lots of whipped cream and you can hardly wait to eat it. Do you eat the fries first? Or the pie? I was a good girl (and OK, can I really call myself good considering what I'm eating?) and ate my hamburger and fries and now I'm eating my delicious strawberry pie. My only complaint is they don't always cut the strawberries so sometime you stick in your fork and pull out this HUGE strawberry. I sort of like my pie to be bite sized at least :-) Overall, I can't complain though! It's also very important to have good crust to make a good pie. Typically I don't like anything but homemade (mom's of course because if you think I'd go through the process of making homemade crust.....HAH!!). But this passes the test and now I'm just stuffing my face. I could use more whipped cream now, though......

I didn't wake up til 11 (ah, it felt so good!) and I pushed lunch as long as I could, this is almost an early dinner. So now I can stuff myself and not be completely miserable at bedtime.

With princess off camping I have settled in to the homework routine. I'm almost ready to take my 3rd history test (have I mentioned that I love self paced classes?!). I can harly wait, in a week and a half classes will be over (my telecourse actually goes til the 20th, but I am planning on finishing them both at the same time so I can spend 2 1/2 weeks with my baby. We haven't had a whole lot of time to play this summer because of my schedule, so I'm fixin' to make up for that.

I gave my notice at work. I love my job and they understand that school comes first. There's no way I'll be able to work next semester and they have opened the door to me again to call whenever I have free time and if they have something for me to do they'll happily let me come and go for a few hours when I am able. I am going to miss being there every week! Dad is self-employed and says if I agree to do some clerical work for him he'll pay me what I'm making now and I can do it at night and whenever is convenient for my schedule. It'll be nice to still have a little pocket money, but working with my dad drives me over the edge sometimes.

I'm really glad there's nothing good on TV because I am slightly more motivated to get to studying for my finals.

Can't you see me running from my computer.....

......maybe in a few more minutes....

Creative

It's hard to keep the creative juices flowing when you are going to school full-time, working part-time and generally feeling guilty for missing your daughter's summer break. It's already the middle of July, half the summer is practically gone.

We have been to the beach a total of....once. I took her to see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix at the IMAX (I'm thinkin' I get brownie points for that). We haven't gotten together with any of the friends that I want to see this summer. Haven't made it to Michigan Adventure (in my defense most of the days that I have had off have been TOO hot to go, does that save me at all?). But really we haven't done anything. Not even a memorable trip to the park or anything she can brag about to all her friends.....which come to think of it she hasn't seen this summer so I guess I really don't have to worry.

I'm still on the fence about which school to send her to. I'm 95% sure that she will be switching schools, but I haven't taken that final step and called our old school to tell them that she won't be back. That just seems to final. What if I want to change my mind? What if I am making the wrong decision? On top of that I haven't told the two moms that I carpool with that we for sure won't be going back. I guess that's my project for this week. At least telling the other moms gets me off the carpool hook. If I do decide to send her back I can always ask to be reinstated to the carpool or if they have found somebody else ( I can only dream) I can just drive her myself.

OK, are we all ready for my rant of the week? Yeah, I knew ya' would be. Here it is:

So, this week our city had an officer die on duty. The parents of the shooter (who was violating a restraining order, drunk and threatening to kill his estranged wife and two teen-aged sons) the parents of the shooter go to church with my parents. They are lovely people. I worked with his sister at the hospital (she's a nurse) and know her husband and kids, who are also lovely people.

But here's my problem. Days after this happened I was SHOCKED to see the parents of the shooter being interviewed in their home. SHOCKED. These are private people and from a generation that just would not do such a thing. I asked my mom if she had talked to them and why on earth they did this interview. She told me that they had finally agreed to give an exclusive interview to one of our local news channels because the media just wouldn't leave them alone. I am just so angry. The parents of the shot officer weren't interviewed. But I guess the grief of the shooter's parents isn't to be taken into consideration by the media. On top of that the media over and over gave the address where the shooting happened. Yeah, I'm sure that's just what the wife and kids need - people driving by gauking. As if they haven't gone through enough. Then there was the interview with the officers "girlfriend". I don't know what she was thinking or what the channel was thinking that broadcast it.

On the other hand the funeral service was covered live here all day Friday. It was done beautifully and the members of the media were on their best behavior. I guess they are human being deep down. Deep, deep, deep down!

Girls Rock!

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