PRK . . .

After 32 years of being in either glasses or contacts, that's all going to change today. Today I am having surgery on my eyes. I went in to talk about Lasik surgery, but of course I can never do things the easy way, so I'm not a candidate for Lasik. My eyes are too bad for them to do it. I have a slight astigmatism in both eyes and my right eye is -850 and my left is -650. So instead they have to do something called PRK. It still works the same way, but it's much less patient friendly and the recovery time is a lot longer. I can't drive for 5 days, and I will probably be in pain for those 5 days. Also, it'll take a little longer for my vision to get to 20/20 than it would with Lasik. But the doctor said right after the surgery I'll still be able to see well enough to get around and do things without my glasses or contacts. That'll be amazing, because right now I can't see two inches in front of my face without them.

Anyway, wish my luck! I'll post about the surgery sometime next week. I don't think I'll be on the computer much this weekend since I'm supposed to sleep and keep my eyes closed as much as possible.

JASON . . .

I'm SO proud of how far Jason has come in the last year. He's always been pretty confident, but he's also worried a lot about what other people think of him. He never wanted to be a leader, because he was afraid no one else would follow. I remember when he was younger he wouldn't wear his hat on the bus on hat day, he'd put it in his backpack, because he didn't want to be the only one that was wearing one. That doesn't really seem to bother him anymore.

I've seen him grow up so much this past year. He has this confidence that I've never seen in him before. He EXCELLED last year in China. He had an AMAZING teacher, he made wonderful friends, he tried so many different activities that he's never done before. He was in the middle school play, he was in band, he took drama. He was doing all of these things that he'd never done before, and he learned so much from them. When he was in the play, it was A LOT of work; practices after school 3 days a week and on weekends, plus, he still had to keep up with his homework, which was more than he'd ever had in all of his time in school. But he did great. He'd stay after school for practice, come home and eat dinner, do his homework, take a shower and go to bed. He didn't get to play with his friends much that last month, but he never complained about it. (Well not much anyway, he was only 10 after all)! As a matter of fact, he told me that even though it's a lot of work, he had SO much fun, and he can't wait to do it again. I couldn't believe it! The same kid who wouldn't wear a hat on the bus was standing up ON STAGE in a LIZARD and an OYSTER costume, acting his little heart out in front of the school. I WAS SOOO PROUD OF HIM. I *AM* so proud of him.

I can't wait to see what he accomplishes in the coming years.

GLEE . . . .

I'm not sure if any of you watch the show GLEE, but the kids and I do, and we really like it. That's pretty much the only music we listen to in the car. Sarah even gets in the car and says "I wanna listen to Jessie's Girl." And as soon as it comes on, she knows what it is. She'll go, "that's Jessie's Girl mommy!" All three of my kids have always liked music, so that's probably one reason they like the show so much.

I started watching it in China. A LOT of my friends over there told me to watch it, but I just thought I watched enough TV, so I didn't need to add one more to my list. Finally, one night after American Idol, I decided to watch it since every one else was in bed. It was REALLY good. I really liked it. The first episode I watched was "Laryngitis" which had Jessie's Girl in it, and I've loved that song ever since it came out IN THE 80'S!!! (I feel so old)! I even have the original on my mp3 player, although I have to admit I don't listen to that version anymore.

Anyway, a lot of the kids' friends were watching it as well, so they wanted to see it. If you've seen it, you know they deal with a lot of "mature" topics, so I wasn't sure whether or not it was a good idea for them to see it. After a few days of contemplation, I decided it was better for them to watch it with ME, than to watch it while at their friends. Plus, because I'd already seen every episode, I knew what was coming and what things to talk about with them during each episode. Needless to say, we've had some real "eye opening" conversations. But that's a whole other discussion!

The thing I like most about the show is that the main theme, to me anyway, seems to be about being true to yourself. The teacher is always telling the football player that the things and people that are so important to him now, probably won't be after he graduates from high school. And that's SO true on so many levels. I have ONE friend from high school that I still talk to every week, and sometimes every day. I have about 2 or 3 that I talk to every few weeks. And that's it.

I tell my boys all the time: Do what YOU want to do and what's important to YOU. And don't worry about what other people think. If you are doing what's important to you, then you are going to be happy. There are always going to be people that don't like you, for whatever reason, and you can't change that. So try not to worry too much about it, and just be true to yourself.

NOW, if I could only convince myself of the same thing! ;-)