Three Topic Thursday

First Topic:

From now on Wednesdays, during my lunch hour, I am working on writing my book. It's been about a year since the idea was conceived and it's time to start knuckling down and get the book written.

My co-paralegal/friend Zina is co-authoring the book and we are both resigned to sit together for the hour each and every Wednesday to make decisions, direct paths, review notes, update topics, knuckle down and be accountable to each other to get this project done.

The target group for the book has been decided, it's not going to be a text book for law school, we'll save that for another time. It's going to be a book for every day people....that's all I can say about it.

We sat in the conference room yesterday, shut the doors and got to work. We accomplished quite a bit too. We know what direction we are heading in. We have set some guidelines and long and short term goals. It's so fantastic having Zina do this with me, she is extremely knowledgable and she is well-known for following through with every project she starts....unlike me. I couldn't have picked a better person to work with. And finally, I can visualize an end in sight to the book that's been germinating in my heart and head for years.

Second Topic:

Capt's son, boy (age 8) and I are re-decorating his bedroom. He's into pirates. His room is paneled with a hard, tongue and groove, caramel colored pine. He has a white A-shaped ceiling. Does anyone have any ideas? I was thinking of making his room a pirate ship. Please help with ideas! I'm not a crafty person....well, not in that way.

Third Topic:

Oh man, my short term memory problem is acting up again....I'll get back to you on this.

A Miracle -Mom Bowled an 80

Whooppeeee.......Mom went bowling yesterday with her girl friends and she bowled an 80. (Is an 80 good? It's good enough for me.)

I started blogging when my mom got thrown off of her beloved horse, Mickey.

First I want to say, thank you all for your prayers. How my Mom survived is nothing but a miracle. How my dad was able to figure out how to get over himself long enough to step up to the plate and take care of her is yet another huge miracle. He really has surprised and amazed us.

Mom has her balance back, her short term memory back and most of her motor skills back. Although I haven't been out to visit her since she got out of rehab, I can tell, just by her voice on the phone, that she is back!

I don't think she will ever be able to drive a car anymore due to the damage to her vision, but the fact that she went bowling is amazing! I hope that eventually she will be able to go to Curves, that used to be one of the highlights of her day. She will never be able to ride horses, her passion.

It was prayer that started her recovery; when she was on the ground, bleeding from her ears, nose and throat, not breathing and unconscience and after may attempts to revive her, a woman asked my dad if she could pray for Mom. This woman laid hands on Mom and when she was done praying, as she said, "Amen". Mom opened her eyes and took a breath. Then the ambulance came.

I don't think any of us thought she would ever make it to where she is now, but we had faith. And God is faithful.

Secondly, I never thought I'd ever be so excited about bowling....maybe I'll even go throw a huge, awfully heavy ball with holes down a narrow, slippery hardwood alley in an effort to knock down a couple of white wobbly, bottom-heavy things to celebrate. Anyone wanna come?

Thanks.

Life is Good

Yeah, life is good....even if it hasn't stopped continuously raining in Connecticut since 2005 (well, two weeks actually).

I had a great weekend with Capt. He surprised me by not only taking me shopping, we went to my favorite store, which I fondly refer to as, "the porn shop" because I get all excited seeing new kitchen stuff, I'm weird like that.



We went to lunch here:

Then his most generous dad took us out to dinner here. Yum.....

On Sunday morning he surprised me by coming to church with me. It felt so good to have him sit next to me ...and I fell in love with him even more.

We went to see this movie which surprised both of us, it's a lot better than we both thought it would be. Capt doesn't like "chick flicks" but he takes me anyway, "Click" isn't your typical "chick flick" it really is a surprisingly good movie.

It was a fantastic, rainy, lazy, relaxing weekend....something that we both needed every much.

My Mug Shot

This is my mug shot this morning, because I've been tagged....it's something to do with posting a picture of your favorite mug.

Most people drink coffee every morning to wake up; I drink Pepsi with ice and fresh lemon. This is my favorite mug (glass). And just in case you think I come from another planet, take a look at my long lost twin at RocksInMyDryer.

I don't drink coffee or tea and I don't like hot chocolate unless it's made from shaved chocolate...yes, I am spoiled rotten!

When I'm asked out for coffee, I automatically feel uneasy, when I go to a church tea, I automatically feel uneasy, when I go to 7-11 in the morning everyone at the coffee station while I'm at the soda fountain....I feel uneasy.

If asked to go out for coffee, I go. I'll sit there drinking bottled water thinking the whole time, "It's time to grow up Theresa and start drinking grown up drinks, this is getting embarrassing". But then again, I've never been able to get myself to "grow up".

Sometimes the smell of coffee just makes me nauseous, especially when I was pregnant...yet I love coffee ice cream. To me, tea however is just as bad, even iced tea. But I have an extensive collection of tea cups and tea pots...they are the only things I collect.

Speaking of tea, have you ever gone to a teacup exchange? Aren't they fun? I once went to a high tea with 7 of my Christian friends dressed as Harley Chicks.....we won the grand prize for the most outrageous table, hands -freakin'- down. We never lived that down.

Well, back to the rest of my morning - after I get my glass of Pepsi ready, Kage, my dog, asks for his doggy biscuit. He's such a great dog and he's an early riser like me. Then its time for yoga stretching (I'll just spare you the picture of that).

So that's my mug shot, I tag mugwampmom (Rena), peach, Monica, Liz and flipflopmama and anyone else that wants to do this. Even you Jerrrrrrrr....


SHOW ME YOUR MUG SHOTS !!!

Lunch time

I'm sitting at my desk eating lunch, having edename (soy beans) and sushi. My boss comes in and grabs the bright green empty shells that I just spit out of my mouth and pops them in his mouth thinking that they were string beans or something. Then he spits them out all over my desk when he realizes that they taste like crap.

Yeah, I know, I should have warned him, but hey, it all just happened so fast and anyway, I wanted to see what happened first....yes, I'm so evil.....

No one ever says that attorneys are smart. The partner called me on the intercom just now and asked if the receptionist was out to lunch because he needed a file brought downstairs. I told him yes she is and he asked me if I would get him a certain file. Of course I did, but only after excusing myself from my client who was in the middle of discussing some pretty emotional stuff. I went downstairs with the file and nicely asked him why he didn't ask his secretary, who happens to be sitting in an office right next to him and he said, "Then she'll have to walk up and down the stairs." I gave him a deer in the headlights look and a tilt of my head and walked upstairs. You see, I, after all, had to walk down the stairs then back up them....what the heck?

Marathon Babe

Lately every night I have a dream that I am running a marathon.

In the first dream I ran the 240 (whatever that is).

Other dreams I am running barefoot, in the dark, over rocks or on a track.

It's a recent, reoccuring dream that absolutely baffles me.......

Daughters

This is my daughter Jen. She's been playing with her food since she was able to sit in a high chair. Here she is eating a peach: Here is what she made last night while I was sleeping:
A peach, blueberry pie.......my favorite.......I just ate a piece for breakfast and it is delicious! Hmmmm, I wonder how many miles I have to walk later to burn those calories off.

It amazes me that she grew up to be a wonderful person with so many talents. She's an accomplished artist and runs her own graphic arts business. It seems like yesterday that she was on my hip (her twin brother on my other hip) and singing silly songs as we danced around the house.

Having a daughter is a wonderful and unique experience. There is a special bond unlike a son. Son's are special too, just on different levels.

If you have a daughter, in what ways does she amaze you?

The Seven Meme

7 Things to do Before I Die:

1. See the sunrise and sunset over the Grand Canyon.
2. Sell this freaking house and purchase a smaller one.
3. Get me some grandbabies.
4. Finish my book.
5. Open a restaurant.
6. Start a marine fish tank and maintain it for more than one year.
7. Get a complete makeover, head to toe.


7 Things I Cannot Do:

1. Blow up a balloon.
2. Speak another language.
3. Use a stapler.
4. Use a copy machine.
5. Breathe when I visit my baby brother in Colorado because of the altitude.
6. Smell peanut butter without tossing my cookies.
7. Tell a Lie very well, or maybe I do lie very well and I’m lying here so you’d think I cannot lie well...or maybe I just lied about that.

7 Things that Attracted Me to My Husband:

N/A I don’t have a husband anymore; But if I did, the 7 Things I’d Be Attracted to would be:

1. His tenderness
2. His ability to forgive me
3. His sense of humor
4. His goals to make a successful life together and his plan to get us there.
5. His integrity
6. The way he smells
7. His love for God.

My boyfriend, Capt has 5 out of 7 of these. And just in case you are trying to guess which ones he doesn’t have, "The way he smells" is NOT one of them....he smells great.

7 Things I Say Most Often

1. "I was thinking......" Anyone that knows me rolls their eyes immediately.
2. Shut that cabinet door. (It just creeps me out when the kitchen cabinets are open.)
2. Clean up after yourself.
3. "Oh My Land" - I don’t really say that but I wish I did, it’s kinda cute.
4. Get your crap off the kitchen table. I say this a lot and it’s not cute.
5. Could someone please make copies of this for me?
6. Could someone come here and staple this for me?

Movies I’d Watch Over and Over Again

1. Blast From the Past
2. Grease
3. West Side Story
4. Any Jerry Lewis Movie
5. Saturday Night Fever
6. Sleepless In Seattle
7. Breakfast At Tiffany’s

7 People I’d Like to Tag:

Anyone that would like to be tagged, considerr yourself tagged!

What I did on Monday

For June 12, 2006 on my Yahoo Calendar it reads" Going to Mystic, Yes We Are!!!!" Capt is the only one, besides me, that can get into my calendar, even though he hardly ever reads it.

Because my son, Dave (gotta love that kid) gave me Velerian Root on Saturday to assist me with my resent insomnia issue, I wasn't able to go to Connecticut until Sunday evening, 10:30 PM. That stuff made me feel like I was on acid....but I've never tried acid, really....but I slept until 2:30pm Sunday afternoon.

Capt wouldn't tell me where we were going on Monday, he's like that, he says I bring it on myself cause I'm so easy to frustrate. I say he's just a big pain in the ass! So after this conversation in the morning:

(BTW- I need a few sips of Pepsi with ice every morning to wake up.)

Me: You don't have any Pepsi for me.....whaaaaaaa
Him: I forgot, I have to drive the kids to school now, see you in a bit.
Me: (after taking a shower and seeing him walk through the front door) Hi Hon, did you get any Pepsi?
Him: No, I thought you were going to get some....blah....blah...blah (something about me telling him I was going to work out at Curves while he was out...whatever....I decided not to go, but hmmmpf he should have realized that)
Me: (grabbing my keys) See ya in a bit, I'm going to get me some Pepsi because obviously you don't care about me!
Him: Just wait a minute, I'll go get you some.

waiting, waiting, waiting....starting to get a headache from lack of caffeine, waiting, waiting, watching him on his laptop doing something not important, I'm sure, waiting, waiting......

Him: (after noticing I'm about to shoot laserbeams out of my eyeballs piercing his right off of his pretty face) Let's go, I don't want to get divorced before we're even married.
Me: Where are we going?
Him: I'm not telling you.
Me: Then I'm going to fill your car with everything I have with me. (Then I bring my suitcase, tote, all 29 pairs of shoes, the clothes I have kept at this house, the winter coats in my car and stuff them in the back of his car.)

We then stop at 7-11 for Pepsi.

Me: (as I'm opening my door) Hon, do you want me to pick you up anything while I'm in there?
Him: No
Me: Good, cause I wasn't going to get it for you anyway. (Then I close (slam) the door and start walking)
Him: (loud enough for the whole parking lot to hear) BITCH!!!!

Then one of the local mothers walks by and hears him calling me a bitch.....lov-o-ly.
I get back in the car with my Pepsi.
Me: So, where are we going?
Him: Into the woods so I can chop you up to pieces like your secretary said I would. (She was just looking out for me because we met over the internet...she actually looked up his name, address and google satelite searched his neighborhood....then told me that he could possibly be an axe murderer and will chop me up in little pieces and put me in his freezer and no one would know because he lives in the boondocks)
Me: (Grabbing the tiny pocketknife he keeps in the console of his car) Oh no, now you can't chop me up, I have your knife.
Him: keep it, the big knife is in the trunk with the garbage bag and shovel.

Then I just kept quiet, very, very quiet.

But we went to Mystic.

I wanted to go because it is where we went on our first date over a year ago. We had planned an anniversary trip there a few months back, but I sprained my ankle and couldn't walk around.

And we did have a good time.

And, more importantly, I'm still alive and kicking!

This is me, don't I look just like Julia Robert's? (Get it? This is where Mystic Pizza was filmed)

Welcome to the Jungle

I’d like to invite you all into my world for just a moment. Understand that I did not make this up or exaggerate this stuff, it really happened.....

These were just three conversations, in order, that I had with my 20-something year old children yesterday:

Tom (24): Mom, I’ve got this song stuck in my head all day
YNB: What song is it?
Tom: "I Will Survive", by that black woman artist, whatever her name is.
YNB: Why don’t you think of another song then?
Tom: I’ve tried, but it just doesn’t work and this one is DRIVING ME NUTS!
YNB: I know, how about "Baby Got Back" by Sir Mix-a-lot?....then I start belting out the song, which is weird because I happen to know all the words. I like big butts and I can not lie you other brothers can't deny.....
Tom: Mom, stop, please stop, I beg you, STOP, I don’t want THAT song stuck in my head.
YNB: (I'm still singing, 'cause I'm such a good mom and want to help him get the other song out of his head) that when a girl walks in with an itty bitty waist and a round thing in your face you get sprung, wanna pull out your tough 'cause you notice that butt was stuffed deep in the jeans she's wearing I'm hooked and I can't stop staring oh baby, I wanna get wit'cha and take your picture........

Just then I look outside and see these two women looking at my house. My front door is open and they could obviously hear what a wacko I am. My house is a disaster because I am in the middle of going through all of my winter clothes and sorting out clothes for Good Will, cleaning the cupboards, putting away the groceries, doing massive amounts of laundry that are being sorted on my kitchen floor, etc. I’m usually not this disorganized when I clean, but I put aside the whole day and started a lot of projects at the same time. Oh, yeah, for the first time in my life, my bed’s not made, because I’m planning on changing the sheets in a few minutes.

One of the women says, "I’m a friend of a friend of yours and I heard your house was for sale, can I come in, I came all the way from Queens?" (That’s a long way) I said "sure." After all, in the two months I’ve had this house on the market, no one has come to look at it yet. So I had to say yes, right?

It figures. But she liked it and took the real estate agent’s phone number.

Next conversation:
Dave(26): Mom, I know you feel bad about the way you raised us and all.
YNB: Dave, I did the best I could, it was very difficult being both Mom and Dad to you all, work and take care of you. I know I made mistakes, but honestly, I was young and we all grew up together.
Dave: Yeah, I know that, but I’m thankful for my dysfunctional childhood and I’ll tell you why... On my first day of work at the office of my college (Some famous artsy fartsy Film, Acting, Writing, College that he attends) I saw a cartoon on the wall and it was a one cell cartoon of a college kid writing a letter to his parents. You could see the letter he was writing and it read, "Dear Mom and Dad, thank you for the wonderful, well-adjusted childhood you gave to me, now I’ll never be a great writer."
YNB: Oh Dave, was that a big turning point for you?
Dave: Hey Mom, can we go out to Red Lobster for dinner tonight?
This son of mine has ADHD, Aspergers, and the attention span of a gnat.

Then we go off to Red Lobster. He then asks me why I say to him "lake of fire" everytime he doesn't want to go to church with me. "It's a joke Dave, even if you are turning away from God right now, I believe you can't lose your salvation" I'm just such a sick puppy sometimes.

And the last conversation:
Jen (26): Mom, I just went to the worst wedding ever, I mean you couldn’t even write a Bridezilla episode about it, I was that horrible.
YNB: Okay, tell me about it, but I might write about it on my blog.
Jen: I think you should. First the bride walks down the aisle without the right music playing so we don’t even stand up until she’s half way up the aisle. She’s pissed, her face looks like it’s making a fist at us all. Then the whole wedding she’s like that. Everyone in the church is looking around and we’re not even breathing...we're afraid too....it was that uncomfortable. Then at the reception, the DJ introduces them and says, "This is the strangest first dance song I ever played, but here goes" and plays Guns N’Roses "Welcome to the Jungle". The couple is trying to do their slow romantic song to this crazy song that was obviously a mistake and it’s not working, so after about 30 seconds of this, the bride, who happens to be 6 months pregnant, downs a glass of wine in one shot, runs out of the building and starts lighting up a cigarette. Everyone uncomforably looks at each other....then I want to just go out there and knock her up side her head because she shouldn’t be abusing her baby like that. But thankfully, I don’t even know this bitch, I’m just know the guy I went with, who's holding me back 'cause he knows I'm gonna knock her out.

This is just a normal day at my house. Thanks for sharing it with me. Now you have some insight as to why I'm the way I am.

Silent Saturday

I just got back from a sunrise walk on the beach....hope you enjoy as much as I did:

Blogging 101

Tomorrow I was planning on taking a trip to the book store to look for a "Blogging For Dummies" book since I am new to this and don't understand enough to link and UTLMZ - whatever, I can't even remember the letters. That was my plan.....well, it was my plan after I did some food shopping, cleaning, vacuuming, etc, since I am a full-time worker and can't find the time during the week to do it all. (Oh, but I can find a few hours a day to blogg-surf)

While I was checking out my favorite sites early, very early this morning like this one (whoopppeeeee I linked for the first time!!!!!!) I found a new blog that she linked about things first bloggers should know.....and *drumroll please* here is that post taa daaa. I guess I'm not a virgin anymore, I've "linked".

From what I've heard, we all been having trouble getting comments and getting on to sites because of technical difficulties with the server these past two days and I just want to make it clear to you all:

IT WASN'T MY FAULT!!!!! I DIDN'T DO IT!!!!!!

'nuff said, I'm going to try to get back to sleep now. zzzzzzzzzzzzz

I'M AN IDIOT FOR EVER GOING WITH THAT TRAMP

Last night my former husband called and somehow got me to listen to him rant for 2 hours.

Now don’t get me wrong, I love the fact that after he left me for another woman, went on a 2 year drug, alcohol, porn and gambling binge....he wants me back. Oh, did I mention that we used to be leaders in our church (how embarrassing is that?) and I still go there and feel like crap because I don’t fit in anymore, not with the marrieds, the singles or the leaders and it’s been 4 years?

Anyway, he thinks he wants me back, but we know that that will never happen. Just listening to him makes my skin crawl. Yes, I have forgiven him, addictions are insane and addicts are a different breed of humans. And I totally understand addictions since I was forced to attend alanon meetings (8 per week) in order to survive the last 2 years of our marriage. It was a great experience though, I went through the 12 steps and learned how to "detatch with love" and, more importantly, take inventory of who I really am and why.

I went through hell and back and now I like who I’ve become through it all. God was with me and so was Joyce Meyer ( every morning ). And so were my therapist, my sister Min and my friends ...the single ones anyway (especially Jerrr). I guess the married ones thought they would catch a disease or something if they talked to me. I just want to say here that going through a divorce where there is a great deal of betrayal is, dare I say, worse than having your spouse die. Add to that the fact that absolutely no one knocks on your door and says, "I’m sorry for your loss, here’s a casserole".

The thing that I really love is that last night he kept saying, "I was such an idiot for ever going with that tramp". I could just replay that line over and over again in my head. And I think I will, "I was such an idiot for ever going with that tramp" Aaaaaaahhhhhh. Hey don't get me wrong, I forgive her too, I just like hearing HIM call her a tramp and himself an idiot.

Oh, I can be so petty sometimes.

Just Further Proof

It’s taken me about a month to be able to admit that I did this but here goes:

My hair had been taking on a life of its own, lighter roots, darker ends, red on top and all shades of browns....I’d been coloring it myself for a few years and it showed. A couple of friends of mine convinced me to get it done professionally at a local hair salon. My appointment was a Saturday afternoon. The colorist was a 21 year old. I thought she knew what she was doing, I was wrong, very wrong. When I walked out of there, my hair was black, all of my hair, one color at least, if you like stark black, but it looked horrible. I left in tears.

On my way home I decided to stop at the grocery store for my newest addiction, avocados with lime, juice. I’ve been eating them every day with kosher salt - scooping it right out with a spoon. Weird, yeah, but I’m on an avocado kick right now, and I was upset, I wanted my comfort food.

While I was walking back to my new white Nissan Xterra which I parked in front of the store, I let my mind wander, thinking about how messed up my hair was, how I was going to have the same problem, but worse, because now my roots were going to still be lighter than my hair, ten-fold now that the rest of my hair is black....I’m not going to color it black to compensate.....uuugggghhh. And why did I ever start coloring my hair? Oh yeah, I was turning grey.

I reached the White Xterra, open the door and proceed to climb in and oooooppppps.....there’s a man sitting in the passenger’s seat. A man with a cane. I looked at him and said, "Well, someone’s in the wrong car".

I felt like I was in a dream. I looked around and it was exactly like I left it, all new and everything.....all terrain mats, yup, this guys in the wrong car. He looked at me for a few seconds and said, "this isn’t your car". I believed him, because that’s the kinda chick I am, always believing someone else, cause I usually am wrong (ouch)...and I got out and shut the door. Then I walked to the back of the SUV to check the plates because I know my plates are "DO ME 69" or something very similar and NO they are not vanity plates, they just came like that. A woman was opening the hatch and said, "Oh my, this isn’t your car."

I still was confused until I looked over a few cars down and there it was, my Xterra, DO ME licenses plates and all. I got in it and sat there for awhile hanging my head in shame. Then I drove right in front of the other one before they drove away and waved.....I wanted to make sure they knew I wasn’t crazy, our cars are identical in every way and only parked a few cars apart.

Yet, I’m still the biggest ditz, I know it. You'll see.

No chickens were harmed in the making of this pic

Sunday chicken dinner at Capt's house. It was really good. I got a fresh chicken at the only food store around, and I am starting to make some friends there. I stuffed the bird with lemon wedges, kosher salt, pepper, half a bulb of garlic and lots of rosemary. Then I put some peeled Idaho potatoes around, drizzled some extra virgin olive oil around and popped it in a 500 degree oven.....then immediately turned in down to 350. I forgot to take a pic of it when it was done, but it looked great.

I had gotten up early yesterday morning and drove up to CT and made it in time for 10:45 Sunday Church service. Capt was engaged in chemical warfare practices all weekend so when he got home at 5:00 dinner was ready and he was surprised. He was planning on taking me out to an Italian restaurant, but staying at home was even nicer. We shared some Ben & Jerrys Cherry Garcia after dinner.

As some of you bloggreaders know, I had left my camera in CT. Now that I have my camera back, do I really have to take a picture of myself as soon as I wake up? (That was a challenge some fellow bloggers gave me last week) I sorta look like this chicken anyway, pale, wrinkly, eewwwww. I don't want to scare you all now. You have been warned.

Saturday Afternoon's Alright

This is the first Saturday in a long, long time when I haven't had any pressing plans. I got up at 5am and drove a neighbor's 15 year old son to work at the ocean. Dan's summer job is a deck hand on a charter boat. Five years ago Dan and his sister's mom died. I didn't know the family then, I got to know them a couple of years later when my daughter went on-line dating for me (without my knowledge) and fixed me up with Jay, Dan's dad. We dated for 2 months and it didn't work out, but we remained friends. His children come to me when they need motherly advise and I come to them when I need a kid fix. ( Sometimes I need to hang out with kids because mine are too old to have kid fun with.....his sister, age 14, is a hoot to go clothes shopping with!)

Because of the rain, Dan asked me to wait until 7am to see if his charter boat was going to have enough customers to sail out. It didn't, so I drove him back home. As I sat there I thought about how difficult Dan's life had become since his mom's death. This child has been through more heartbreak than any one I've ever known. He's a great kid and he loves the Lord and relies on the Lord for his strength. Dan had cancer as a baby and because of it, he talks with a distinct speech impediment.

I've been forced into this "single" position for 4 years. Even though I HATE it, so much good has come out of it. I have changed into a person a like more than when I was married. I have met wonderful single people who have the same struggles as I do. I've had free time to do things I've always wanted to, like travel, take foster children to Sunday School and spoil my niece.

Well, I'm off to see "The Break Up" at the matinee (alone - but I like that, I get to eat all the popcorn myself). Then my niece, Em wants to hang out, she's 7 ....isn't she cute? This picture was taken on Grandperson's Day at her school....she thinks I'm a grand person! I think we'll go to the mall on this rainy Saturday afternoon and shop till we drop.

*In case you're wondering, Capt is working all weekend.....war games or something like that.....it's a military thing.

Davey, Baby, Roast Beast and Gravy (a little tune we used to sing)

This is my first born son Dave.



Dave was reading on a third grade level at 18 months, honestly, he really was. I don’t know how he learned to read, I didn’t teach him and there was no one else around to teach him. When I took him to his pediatrician (because he was freaking out everyone) he took Dave, without me, into his office with his nurse after telling me, "Oh lots of mother’s think their babies can read, what really happens is the child knows where the words are on the pages of their favorite books". Well, when the nurse and the doctor came out of the room they looked like they saw a ghost.....apparently Dave read the medical journal to them....words like "stethoscope." They told me to run, don’t walk to a child psychiatrist and get this miracle child evaluated because he’s "off the charts" genius.


From then on, raising Dave was like having, dare I say, a handicapped child. He was too intellectual for his own good. And no common sense, at all. He was the typical "Absent Minded Professor", i.e., walked outside in the snow forgetting to put on his shoes without realizing his feet are getting soaking wet and frostbit, forever leaving his backpack at the bus stop before getting onto the bus, riding his bike into the middle of traffic because he wasn’t thinking about how dangerous it is. The child was in la la land 24/7. I could tell you some funny stories! He also was an amazing pleasure, so smart, so compassionate, such a good son, always supportive of me.


Dave is now 26. Recently his girlfriend of 2 years broke his heart by dumping him for his friend without notice (aren’t I such a legal freak?). For the first time in his life, I felt Dave wasn’t going to make it through this trauma. I put him on my church prayer chain, sought advice from any man I could ask, called him constantly to check up on him (because he goes to college 90 miles away) and worried my butt off. To top it off, he was in the midst of finals and learning to read, write and speak Chinese and such. Dave didn’t eat or drink for two weeks, his heart was broken.....and I know that pain, it should be considered a cause of death.

Then I got a great idea. I only know what to do if it were a girlfriend of mine, or my daughter. I would take them out for a day at the spa. Dave is not a girly man in any way, shape or form. Dave used to be a semi-professional wrestler named "Ash" (one of those things a parent is not so proud of....it’s the equivalent of having your child join the traveling circus....I’ll tell the story another time...but at least I learned something new, the audiences taught me some obscene hand jestures I never knew existed).

I drove out to his dorm early on a Sunday morning, foregoing church mind you, and took him to a local spa for a day of beauty. He was reluctant at first, so we walked around the spa for awhile until I convinced him that I don’t have any idea what to do to get him out of his "suicidal mood", that I’m not a father and have never been good at playing that role to him, but I am a mother and a mother would do this for their child. He finally gave in. That was his picture before the hair cut.

See, doesn’t he just look totally depressed? He looked horrible, he couldn’t even smile.

And here we are after the haircut. (it wound up up there, I still don't know how to work this blog stuff, sorry.


But, see the twinkle in his eyes?

Dave gave me permission to tell this story to you all. This all happened a few months ago and he is constantly thanking me for doing this for him. This day transformed him in a way he cannot verbalize. When I drove him back to the campus and he got out of my car, kids everywhere were going up to him saying, "Dave, is that you, you look amazing" I sat in my car for awhile listening as he was walking up to his dorm. It did something in his heart to hear all those compliments over and over again, it made him feel like he was worth something after being betrayed and hurt beyond measure. It was the turning point he needed and I knew that he was going to be all right. And he is. Last night we went food shopping together and he told me again how wonderful that day was and how desperately he needed it to get out of his depression. He even feared for his own life back then. He even has a new girlfriend now and his previous one keeps calling him wanting to be friends. Momma didn’t raise no fool, he politely tells her "no, that’s not good for me". I love Dave.