9/11 - THE GOOD THINGS THAT HAPPENED . . .

Ten years ago today, our country was changed forever.  I'll never forget where I was.  I was pregnant with Andrew and I was taking Jason to preschool.  I heard them talking about it on Bob and Tom.  Now, for those of you that listen to Bob and Tom, you know they joke about a lot of things.  I thought they were making jokes.  And I thought, "that's not very funny."  About that time they said, "this is NOT a joke.  If you are at home, turn your radio off and turn your television on."  It was then that I realized this was for real.  And I couldn't believe it.  I spent days, just like everyone else, watching the events transpire on television.  It was a devastating time in our nation's history, and our country will never be the same again.  

But today, on the tenth anniversary of that day, I choose not to remember what happened THAT day.  I choose to remember the things that happened after.  I choose to remember the good things that came out of it.  I remember our first responders going in to help those in need, without regard to their own personal safety.  I remember ordinary people hijacking a plane from the hijackers, because they knew they needed to do it to protect others.  I remember the country coming together in prayer for all of those that lost their lives that day and in the following days.  PRAYER.  You know, that thing we're not supposed to do because of the whole separation of Church and State?  That wasn't so important to us then, was it?  

I'll never forget that for many months after this tragedy, we became more aware of ourselves and the people around us. We held hands at church. We prayed for people we'd never met. We smiled at others while walking down the street. We were nicer drivers. We never went to bed without telling our loved ones just how much we loved them. We KNEW how lucky we were to be alive and we celebrated that fact.  We were proud to be Americans, and in being proud to be Americans, we became more HUMAN.

Today, I will hold a hand, say a prayer, share a smile, and tell my family and friends how much I love them.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SARAH BETH . . .

Four years ago today, God gave us a blessing we didn't even know we needed.  Sarah Elizabeth is 4 years old today.  Where does the time go?  I wrote about how we found out I was pregnant with her and all of the emotions we went through and the problems during my pregnancy.  You can read that HERE.

I still can't believe my baby girl is 4.  Sometimes I feel like she's 12 or 13.  She seems so grown up at times, and then she starts whining, and I'm like, oh yeah, she's 4!  But she's an AMAZING little girl.  And she has been such a great part of our family.  I always tell people that we were happy before she came, but she "completed" our family.  I think she brought us all closer together.  The boys were so excited to be having a baby sister.  Ryan was looking forward to having "daddy's little girl."  And I was excited to be having a daughter.  One I could go shopping with, watch Disney movies with, collect Precious Moments with, and buy all the cute little girl clothes that are out there.

And now that little girl is 4.  And I thank God EVERY DAY that He gave her to us.  To love and cherish and take care of.  I promise to do my best to love and protect her, for as long as I live.

Thank you God.  Happy Birthday Sarah Beth.  I love you!

NKOTBSB . . .

I'm not ashamed to admit that I went to NKOTBSB this week.  It was AWESOME!  For those of you that don't speak the lingo, that's New Kids On The Block and Backstreet Boys.  And did I mention, it was AWESOME!

I felt like a teenager again.  First off, let me give you a little background.  I LOVED New Kids on the Block.  I was never much of a Backstreet Boys fan, but after this concert, I think I've been converted!  Anyway, we have a New Years Eve party every year.  We started doing it because we all have kids and it's hard to find a babysitter that night, so we just started having our own party and everyone brings their kids.  We've had 3 so far, and they get bigger and bigger every year.  And that's okay.  I LOVE it.  This past New Years Eve, NKOTBSB were on Dick Clark's Rockin' Eve.  Now, my friend Laura and I have known each other since we were 13.  Sandy and I have known each other since I was 19.  So let's just say, we know each other REALLY well, and we share a lot of history. We were in the other room when they came on.  We BOLTED into the family room and were singing and dancing to them while they were on.  Our kids looked at us like we were insane.  (They might not have been far off)!  We laughed and sang and had a ball.  A couple of weeks later Sandy called to tell me they were coming to Louisville and her and I and Laura should go.  So as soon as tickets went on sale, I bought them.  SSSOOO glad I did.

Here's Sandy's version of the night, complete with pictures and with a little bit of teasing thrown in.  She just recently started keeping a blog.  And she's a REALLY good writer.  So anyway, to see the pictures, hear about how funny I was, and hear HER version, go HERE.

For those of you that don't know me well, a lot of this won't be that funny.  But for those of you that DO know me, you will probably find it quite comical because you should have no problems picturing me during all of this!  The concert started at 8.  So I thought.  The plan was to leave at 5:15, which would give us plenty of time to get down there, grab some dinner, and then go to the concert.  Of course, because I'm ALWAYS late, we left closer to 5:30.  No big deal, we'd still be fine.  Then we got on the interstate and the traffic was psychotic!  What should have been about a 20-25 minute trip, turned into at least an hour.  While we were driving I told Sandy to pull out the tickets to make sure the time was right.  Guess what?  It wasn't.  The concert ACTUALLY started at 7:30.  Yeah, that's right.  30 minutes earlier than I thought.  Nice huh?  So then I REALLY started panicking.  

We finally made it Downtown and found a place to park.  We had about 45-60 minutes before the concert started.  And of course, every place we went was packed and had an hour or more wait.  We finally went to The Spaghetti Factory and decided we'd have a drink and wait for a table to open in the bar.  Laura stalked a couple that was about to leave, and they gave us their table.  We ordered a couple of appetizers and decided if we missed part of the opening act, that was okay.  

Then my friend Kathy, who was working the concert, texted me to tell me that Matthew Morrison just walked past her.  I'm a HUGE Gleek.  And I KNEW he was opening up for them.  But because I'm old and forgetful and unorganized and scatterbrained, I totally forgot.  Y'all, it was 20 minutes before the concert was supposed to start, we hadn't finished our food or drinks, I had to go to the bathroom, and we were 3 blocks away.  You people have never seen me move so fast in my life.  I was rushing everyone telling them to hurry up.  We finished eating, I used the facilities, we walked briskly, (because I don't run), to the Yum! Center, found our seats and sat down.  Less than 10 seconds later, Matthew walked on stage.  How's THAT for timing?!

He was great!  So glad we made it in time.  Even Laura and Sandy, who spent 20 minutes teasing me about watching Glee, talked about how cute he was and that he was a good singer.  Maybe I've converted them after all!

Next came NKOTBSB.  It was surprising to me how many of the words I still remembered.  And man did they put on a show.  And they were HOT, HOT, HOT!  (Maybe I'm not as old as I think I am)!  We had SO much fun. We waved our arms in the air, we pulled out our cell phones for light, since we didn't have lighters, we sang, we danced, we laughed.  We walked out of there with no voices and not much hearing.  But it was SO worth it.  I felt like a teenager again.  And believe me, it's been a LONG time since I was a teenager!

All in all it was an amazing night, with amazing friends, reliving our youth.  I wouldn't trade it for the world!

P.S.  Sandy was the only one smart enough to bring her camera, so after she sends me the pictures she took, I'll post them here.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMA. I LOVE YOU AND MISS YOU VERY MUCH . . .

Today is my Grandma's birthday.  In case you're new and want to know about her, you can read about her HERE..  I wrote that last year on her birthday.

I can't believe it's been almost 13 years since she left us.  I still think about her almost every day.  My grandma was an AMAZING person.  Some of my best memories are of times spent with her.  She always made me smile.  She always made me feel special and loved.  I used to write about her a lot when I was in high school and college.  (One day I'm going to pull out some of those pieces and post them on here just so I'll have a record of them).  

I loved her so much, and I know she loved me.  I NEVER doubted that.  I may have doubted a lot of things in my life, but her love for me was never one of those things.  She had a quiet and gentle way of letting you know you were loved.  She was never critical or harsh in any way.  My mom tells me I'm a lot like her, and that's the best compliment I've ever received.  

My grandma was an AMAZING person, and I can only hope to one day be the kind of person she was.  She taught me so many things.  She taught me to love and respect people for who they are.  She taught me that it's okay to tell a "little white lie" if it makes someone feel better.  She taught me that family is so important and sometimes we have to make concessions for them.  She taught me that just because someone isn't perfect or isn't what we want them to be, that doesn't make them any less special.  She taught me how to be the kind of person my kids and future grand kids can hopefully be proud of one day.  She taught me to love unconditionally.

They truly broke the mold when they made her, and I know there will never be another one like her.  And that's okay.  Because she was SO special, and that kind of specialness only comes around once.  I'm just so glad, and feel so privileged to have had her in my life.  I know I'm special because of her.  I know my life is different because of her.  I know I was lucky to have had her in my life.  I know I'm a good person, because she told me so.  And I know that she will always be my guardian angel and my special butterfly.

Thank you Grandma for loving me, for me.  Thanks for not expecting me to change.  Thanks for letting me know that I'm special.  I will ALWAYS love you, and I will NEVER forget you.

THE MOM PLEDGE . . . .

Anyone that knows me well, or if you've read some of the posts on the blog, you know that my "hot topic" is bullying.  ANY kind of bullying.  I've mostly focused on bullying to and by children because I HAVE children, and I want to make sure I'm aware of everything that is going on with them.  I don't want them to be bullied.  I know I probably can't stop it from happening, but I CAN be there to shut it down when it starts.  And most importantly, I can make sure MY children, aren't the bullies.

But the really sad part to me is that it's not just children that bully.  At least with children you can kind of sit back and say, "well, they don't know any better.  Someone needs to teach them."  And that's all fine and dandy.  But what about when the bully is an adult?  What then?  How do you handle that?  What do you say to them?  Do you say ANYTHING to them?  Do you just ignore them?  HOW do you ignore them when they're bashing YOU? 

When I started this blog almost 2 years ago, (WOW!  Where does the time go?!), it was started to document our journey over in China.  We were there by ourselves, and I wanted our family and friends back home to be able to see pictures of the places we were visiting, and to know about the things we were doing so that they would, hopefully, not worry about us too much.  And it was a great tool for that.  

But then when we got home, I found that I still wanted to continue writing.  I used to write A LOT up until I graduated from college.  But then life happened and I just got too busy, so I stopped doing it.  This was my opportunity to start doing it again.  I find it very therapeutic to write about the things that are going on with our family, and also my feelings about things that are going on in the world.  The blog became less informative, and more personal.  I started reading other people's blogs and hearing about the things they're doing and reading about their feelings about things.  I've found some that I LOVE and look forward to updates from them every day.  There were some I found that I didn't like as much, so they aren't on my list of favorites.  That doesn't mean there's anything wrong with them.  It just means I didn't "connect" with them.  But I would NEVER say anything negative about them.  Most of us that are writing are writing our own personal feelings.  My feelings are just that - MY feelings.  They're not yours.  Just because you don't agree with me, it doesn't mean I'm wrong.  So if you don't agree with me.  That's fine.  If you don't agree with someone else.  That's fine too.  But you don't have to be mean and nasty and post comments on their blog that if you heard your child saying those things, you'd probably wash their mouths out with soap!  If it's not okay for your children, what makes it okay for you?  We are different people.  We all have different perspectives on life.  If you don't like someone's perspective, then you don't have to go back.  But you also don't need to make negative comments about their character.  

Some thought provoking moms came up with the idea of The Mom Pledge.  And I think it's a great idea.  It's basically saying I will stand up to cyber bullying; I will treat other bloggers with respect; if I disagree with someone, I will not attack them personally; I will not let them attack me if they disagree with me.  It's basically the principles most of us try to teach our children.  If those principles are good enough for my children, then why shouldn't I be expected to follow them as well?  

So today, I've chosen to take the pledge. Because I want my kids to see me living the principles I am trying to instill in them.