by Sarah | Sep 21, 2011 | All About Me, Random, Story of Me
Once upon a time….
I was having a miserable several years in teen land (as many of us did). In 6th grade I went from having a decent amount of friends to being tagged as the biggest nerd in the school. The sudden shift was shocking and painful. It was aided by braces, glasses and the world’s worst case of acne.
In essence my self esteem was in the toilet (and still suffers to this day).
Summer before my freshman year my bro and Dad went college visiting one weekend and my Mom thought it would be a great idea to take me to her friends campground.
I was less than thrilled.
I didn’t realize it would change so much.
That weekend I met Kathy. She was pretty, confident, popular…everything I wasn’t. In that weekend, in that place it seemed like what I was back home didn’t matter.
We became fast friends.
For the next several years Kathy and I talked almost every day for about an hour and a half, and every weekend hanging out with our campground buddies. When school started we were on the phone every day after school. Met up on holidays, spent weekends at each others house.
It was a sorely needed friendship for me. Probably more than she even realized.
As time often does, it moved on. Life pulled us apart. I moved to Indiana (the first time). Then I moved to North Carolina, and when I moved to Virginia she went to Florida. We lost phone numbers and contact info. We drifted apart.
She found me 9 years ago and we managed to reconnect briefly. But it was one, maybe 2 phone calls and life got in the way again. We both had kids and husbands and jobs and were living life.
Just a couple of days ago after an exchange of a few facebook messages my phone rang.
It was Kathy.
9 years after our last conversation. 13 years after the last time we met face to face.
We talked for an hour and a half, just like old times. We talked about everything. Big and small.
Our conversation was about budgets and babysitting, home and family, jobs and mothering. A far cry from our conversations about boys, homework and school.
Yet, it was exactly the same.
We ended the conversation in smiles, promising to do it again soon and proclaiming each how it felt like absolutely no time had passed at all. That while life had led us in different directions that core of our friendship still held on strong. A chain as solid as steel, forged in the difficulty of teen years.
True friendship lingers even when life pulls us apart.
by Sarah | Sep 20, 2011 | All of Us, Crap, Random
[flickr id=”6038515587″ thumbnail=”small” overlay=”true” size=”small” group=”” align=”left”]The past week has been a jumble of words and laughs and stress and cheers.
For all of that, you get the most fun thing of all. Bullet list of randomness!!
- Brandon is excelling in his Cross Country running this year. He’s beating his best times, and has always placed in the top 10 except the one meet that had about 8 teams there (in which case he was 12th). So far his best time in the 1.9 mile race is 11:59!! We’re exceedingly proud of him.
- Brandon’s Boy Scout popcorn selling days are upon us. Have I mentioned that I am not a fundraiser type of girl? Yeah…school fundraisers never come out of envelopes. This is a big thing, though. If he sells enough we don’t have to pay yearly dues – if he does even better he gets to go to Scout Camp free which…would be awesome.
- Angel got sick last week and missed 3 days of school. It lingers this week w/ some random coughing and moments of exhaustion (she took a nap yesterday, a long one). We keep an always worried eye n her.
- There are things of stress that can never be blogged. Things that pure panic caused me to overreact and delete my blog a couple of years ago. Things that disappear into the night only to run up behind me with an evil clown mask on and say “Remember me?” We are in the midst of one of these things now. We are stressed.
- In a subject to be blogged about very soon I got a phone call yesterday from a very old and dear friend. It was the highlight of my day and a wonderful way to spend a morning.
- I am actually going to a PTO meeting tonight. I’m feeling awkward about this as I am not a typical PTO mom…but I keep hearing talk about the ‘big changes’ coming up in our district…and now knowing that I don’t have to be a PTO member to vote on these things I think I’d better get clued in fast.
- Every once in a while I realize that very soon my eldest will be a Freshman – and that he is already taking a high school level class that will demand high school exams. And I feel OLD.
- I have been writing. A LOT. I’m also still reading, a LOT. I take great heart in reading Stephen King’s “On Writing” where he mentions that his writing goes similar to mine…dry spells that can last for months that turn into cramming, crazy writing once the inspiration strikes. I may never be Stephen King, but I don’t feel so bad about my recent 6 month dry spell.
- It’s fall. I’m still baking. Breads mostly (including English Muffins, YUM)…but the occasional sweet.
- That also means Halloween is coming up. I am so unenthusiastic about the whole costume & trick or treat thing. It fills me w/ dread that the girls are well aware of Halloween & the implications this year. Save me?
- I’m still fighting off heaving bouts of exhaustion myself. I try not to complain about it and push through. I got tired of myself whining to the hubby all the time, I can only imagine he felt the same. My physical is in November. If it’s still around I’ll mention it to the doc.
That’s it for now. Trying to get back into the swing of things again. At least to come up from air from my current manuscript. I don’t like making the hubby jealous with how consumed I can get by a story.
by Sarah | Sep 6, 2011 | All About Me, All of Us, Crap
[flickr id=”6110555951″ thumbnail=”small” overlay=”true” size=”small” group=”” align=”left”] One day will they look back and think of their childhood with a smile like I do?
Or will they remember the screaming Mommy monster.
Will they feel they were robbed of delights and joys because our money is so tight?
Or will they think we gave them everything they truly needed?
Hindsight is 20/20 and there are days I have such regrets. I feel like such a failure.
Then I turn around and see them thriving in their own areas and ways. And I again think I’m not as bad a parent as I fear.
Right now I’m in the abstract. There are more tomorrows than there are yesterdays…then again for Brandon there are more yesterdays than tomorrows in his time under our care.
I struggle. I worry. I fight for the happy memories and try to look past what might not be so good.
I hate the abstract…
But I am working to enjoy every moment of it that I can. It’s the only way we can hope to give them happy hindsight.
by Sarah | Sep 2, 2011 | Crap, Random
[flickr id=”6107175513″ thumbnail=”medium” overlay=”true” size=”small” group=”” align=”center”]
Some days you’re the squirrel…
And some days you’re the nut.
by Sarah | Aug 23, 2011 | Crap, Random, WTF?
[flickr id=”6070441022″ thumbnail=”small” overlay=”true” size=”small” group=”” align=”left”]I couldn’t wait for the summer to end. For the kids to be back in school.
Now that they are…I’m SWAMPED.
What was I thinking?
Meet the teacher nights, school sports, family stuff.
Not to mention the pod people came and I’ve actually become a productive person. My house is seeing the benefits of my cleaning (as is my marriage since it makes hubby happy to have a clean[er] house). My writing has started again. My photography is even seeing a friendly little nudge. Not to mention the baking I’m still doing regularly (see pictured cupcake & the regular loaves of white bread that I make weekly).
But all of this means…
SWAMPED.
And crashing at 10 or 11 PM instead of 2AM.
There are just not enough hours in the day.
Hopefully I’ll be able to get myself in some regularly scheduled programming sometime soon. I’m having trouble keeping track of myself…
by Sarah | Aug 15, 2011 | All About Kennedy, All About Learning, Crap
[flickr id=”6047528569″ thumbnail=”small” overlay=”true” size=”small” group=”” align=”left”]Tonight was meet the Kindergarten teacher night. I was really excited. Tomorrow I’ll have all kids in school. This was supposed to be a night of relief and excitement for us all.
It became a night of frustration and tears.
First, the school was ill-prepared for teachers (as I learned on Friday) and ended up having to hire two more…ON.FRIDAY. School starts….tomorrow. Soooo, we got Angel’s teachers name when we walked up to her door tonight.
THEN, thanks to poor communication both AM & PM kindergarten parents showed up to what was supposed to be just the AM KG meeting…leaving the room insanely over crowded and confusing.
After the teacher’s (exceptionally short) schpeal about the day’s schedule…I had to wait over 30 minutes to meet her face to face…
And when I told her about Angel’s #CF…I got “Did you talk to the nurse…because she gives me a list of all the kids w/ special medical needs and Angel wasn’t on it.”
I literally had to stop myself and tell the teacher I couldn’t say anything else without getting nasty.
I called in APRIL.
THREE departments to ask what I had to do.
All I got was “nothing. Nothing. No, there’s nothing you need to do.”
And now this?
Once again I’m underwhelmed.
Annoyed.
Once upon a time….