To My Parents, On their 35th Wedding Anniversary

Originally written on June 18th. Read to my parents sitting in the backyard at Trina's house on June 19th.

I grew up in a trailer, with 5 siblings and my parents. I swear, the only thing that kept it standing was love. The roof leaked, the shower leaked and there was a 2nd bathroom so far gone we closed the doors and didn't entered it for years.

I remember those things well.

But, I also remember family dinners and Dad always sitting down at the head of the table after a long day at work. I remember what our dinners looked like. Always, a full plate of food cooked from scratch by Mom. My belly was always full.

I remember our yard. Mostly sand, with little grass. Oh, how I love a green lawn now but sand, you can dig in sand! You can make puddles, sand castles, race tracks and big hills in sand. We had a beach of our very own.

We played from dawn til after the sun went down in our yard.

One year Dad built a new drain field. He had stones and hay delivered and we played in that too. We were covered in dust at the end of the day after helping Dad spread the hay. We had a blast.

I remember the beach, our 3 level jungle gym and the two tracks. Our yard growing up was awesome!

I remember our pets. Sam, our Boston bull terrier hated peas but wow would his whole body shake when he waged his stubby tail when Dad got home every day. We had him for most of my childhood. I remember we had a litter of black labs and I named one of pups TJ (aka Toe Jam, because it sounded funny.)

Growing up I wanted to join the dance team, play soccer and volleyball. When I dreamed of being in band my parents took me to every band concert. My mom, always doing my hair and making sure my black and white outfit was clean. She called me beautiful when I felt insecure and uncomfortable.

My parents bought me dresses for dances and then my sister handed down her prom dress so I too, could feel like a princess.

We lived on a winding road that wasn't too busy. We road bicycles often, sometimes as far as the nearest neighbor's house a mile away. One year my Dad bought me the nicest pair of roller blades. I always wanted to skate in reverse like he did on his roller blades; something he learned from playing hockey.

My childhood and teenage years are full of memories that are a foundation you built together. Memories that made me who I am today. I cherish every memory you both gave me. Thank You. 

Catching laughs.

Our time with M on Wednesdays is limited, as most of you know. But, we don't let this limit us at all. Taking advantage of this time is all we can do. It's a quick bite to eat, some time to catch up on what's new, then hopefully a little fun.

Thankfully ideas pop into my head at the perfect time. Brilliant, I know. Tonight I remembered something I once loved. I shared one of my favorite childhood DIY toys with M. The Cootie Catcher.

I imagine the name derived from the firm belief that BOYS HAVE COOTIES!! Or atleast that's what I remember. I have yet to figure out if the folded paper creation has ever actually caught a cootie. I loved my cootie catcher so much, (and your kiddos will too), that back then I didn't want my Catcher to really catch cooties.

M and I folded our paper side by side so she could fold her own and learn how to make Cootie Catcher I, II, III, etc… The folding is part of the fun too. Then I let her use her imagination to pick the numbers and activities for the inside. I was very impressed by her creativity and originality.

For further directions on how to make your own visit this site. Or this one.

The fun unfolds when you use the catcher. We almost ran out of time so M and I practiced our Catchers in the car ride to drop her off. But, it worked well because the inside activities were things like High Five and Act like a Monkey. By the way, Little Miss M does a pretty good impression of a monkey. We caught a couple laughs before our good byes tonight.

What childhood toys, activities, etc. do you remember? Take a walk down memory lane and recall some of the things you enjoyed and spent hours doing. Not only will you create something fun for your children but you'll bond too.

Keep loving.

Live life more

I usually refrain from writing about work. But yesterday was just one of those days worth writing about. It was one of those days when you are so busy you can't find a second to take a sip of water or nibble on any of the 5 snacks you brought for lunch, or lack there of.  (because there was also a lack of appeal for food at 8 AM). And forget about the bathroom. Literally. You don't have time to waste thinking about bodily functions because you are to BUSY.

Yesterday was also one of those days where the service provider (myself) was just a robot you won't ever remember the face of. The customers sometimes forget their manners and start blurting out their orders before saying, "hello, how are you?" Which, compared to their incoming text messages and deciding whether or not they want wheat bread or Italian bread, greeting me is not important at all.

These are the days I, one, appreciate my serving job and two, find more appreciation for all the other sandwich artists, cashiers, greeters and stockers; the people that are passed by 100s of others that never care to say how are you today?

Being a server isn't the greatest job and ofcourse this job has its downfalls and bad days too but after yesterday I can appreciate the conversations that naturally form when I'm standing at a table infront of faces I've never seen before. I may never see them again but I'll remember their faces because of the time they took to talk.

This fast paced speedy environment has never sat well with me.
More and more lately I've been given signs showing me I'm not the only one. People mention on social networks that human contact has become less and less, I see it every day. My friend, Sarah showed me an article about missing your little ones childhood by being consumed with electronic devices. As a result my conversations and blogging happens late at night instead while Edee plays alone.

Because of days like these I will make more of an effort to put away my cell phone and actually communicate. I'll take an extra minute to listen to my cashier when paying, and say hello to other service providers. You never know when you'll make someone's day.

I'm making an effort to live life more. All because of a very busy day at work. Who would've thought.

Definitely happy.

In a burst of excitement I asked Maddi today, "Is this your favorite place you've lived so far?!" I was pushing Edee in her stroller to check the mail and Maddi was riding her bicycle with her best friend Amari. In seeing these two girls together my heart filled with happiness as I remembered my childhood spent riding bikes for hours. Struck by all of this I think Maddi is definitely happy.

This place, this 2 bedroom, tiny bathroom, loud neighbored place is perfect. In every new place we live I find things to love and enjoy about it. These things make it our home. (Besides the fact that home is where the heart is.) As long as I have my 3 little love birds I know I will make any place home.

I love the big square closet jam packed with my crafting supplies. I love that the sun rises into the kitchen every morning and warms the living room in the afternoon. I love that our carpet was brand new when we moved in (for Edee's sake). I really love the street we live on as it has little traffic.

Just like most things in life you can find the bad, you can usually find the good too.

We are building memories here and will always remember our little place (even though it's 200 sq. ft larger than the last place) on Clovernook. I think it's time I make a momentum for each apartment we've had before finally calling a house, 'our home.'


As I pushed Edee back up the drive way after having my little moment, Maddi rides off with Amari and yelling, "YEEESS because Amari lives right next door." Yes, my lil' bonus girl is definitely happy.

Keep Loving.