For days now we have been tracking Felicia. Somewhere out in the Pacific it was a once a hurricane, and was once headed pretty much right for us. People get a little freaked out about hurricanes, but since they don't actually hit too often, the freak out is minor. Costco was a little busier than usual selling cases of water and the occasional generator. If there is a weather related emergency, our power is likely to go out. It doesn't really matter what form that emergency takes, the power just goes out. When we had the earth quake a couple years ago there was almost no damage to the island of Oahu, yet the power was out. In January the power went out when some lightening hit some transformer or something. Losing power is more than just losing your TV or your fridge. Unless you have an iphone, or a BB, you can even lose INTERNET!!! Oh no!
Actually, it is pretty crazy when the entire island is without power. For one, you can't fill your gas tank. The pumps don't work with out electricity. Even if the pumps did, how many people have enough cash on them to fill a tank? No electricity = no atm machines, or paying with your debit/credit card. It is warm here, so once the power goes you you don't want to open the freezer or the fridge. Hopefully the power comes back on before the entire contents go bad. So, if the power were to go out on a typical day for me, I would have about a 1/8th of a tank of gas, less than 10 bucks in my wallet, and a fridge full of food I can't eat. I usually have some drinking water and pantry food that would last a few days or so. In January I stocked up on flashlights, batteries and some candles. So, we are all good for drinking water and looking at stuff in the dark.
The cell phones would probably work, unless the storm takes out the satellite, then who knows. My GPS was having a very hard time today maintaining connection with the satellite. My theory is Felicia. Cell phone batteries don't last forever, especially if you are watching movies or playing games. The car charger will work, until you run out of gas ....
Felicia, now down graded to a tropical storm, was supposed to hit on Monday. Sunday, the class of 10 year olds I teach already had their day off school all planned. We don't get snow days here, we get hurricane, or storm, or flooding days instead. Same concept, different form of precipitation. We could start calling them precipitation days and then everyone would be able to use the same word, or maybe not ...
The air has been heavy, hot and sticky. If we had gills breathing might be easier. Light rain started Tuesday night. Following the normal bedtime routine Ryker takes Chester outside one last time before bed. He refused to go out. The crazy pooch does not like to get his precious little paw paws wet. So, he went to bed with a full bladder. At 6am, he came running for me to put him outside. About 5 feet from the door he noticed the rain and came to a screeching halt. Again, he refused to go outside. I put him on the leash and shoved him out the door. He promptly went back to sleep on the porch.
At 7:30am, as I am taking Q to school, we tried to get him to go out yet again. We drug him out, and he ran back. We forced him to the grass, and he ran as soon as we let go. Here's a good one for your fortune cookie - You can drag a dog outside, but you can't make him pee.
At 11am, Carl and Ryker leave for work and put him outside. It has now been more than 12 hours and he still has not peed. He has GOT to be uncomfortable! When I came home at 12:30pm he was still sitting on the porch and refusing to set foot on the wet grass. Chester is one stubborn, prissy dog!
When Quincie came home from school we came up with an idea to get that dog to relieve himself. He gets very excited about going on a walk, and the site of his leash usually brings him running. She put him on his walking leash and took him for a turn about the yard. He resisted going out, and going down the stairs, and had to be drug. With Q's typical calm patience and persistence, she got him down the drive way. She walked him past a tree, and he just couldn't help it, he had to and pee on it.
The air is wet. My glasses fogged right up when I got out of my air conditioned car. Carl's home inspection photos from today show fences and gates through a thick fog. Fog at 80 degrees is an odd phenomenon, not at all what I am used to. Pouring rain at 80 degrees is also a little odd. If you put on a rain jacket you just might steam yourself.
Somewhere around 8pm tonight the real rain started. The wind is mild, so I wouldn't call it much of a storm. All this rain is great for the yard. I shut off the sprinklers after getting an outrageous water bill a few months ago and it shows. The grass is dead, along with just about everything else. The native plants are still doing great, like the plumeria trees, and the jungle plants. The imports don't thrive here without some extra water. Bring on the rain - I'm tired of looking at a brown yard!
A friend told me you can buy rain shoes for your dog. I wonder if that would make a difference to Chester? Would he equate shoes on his feet with dryness and get over his rain phobia? That seems like an awful lot of reasoning for a dog. Who makes dog shoes anyway? And how do you size them? Do they tie or maybe they are velcro, strange ... Knowing him, he would just chew up the shoes, and still refuse to go out in the rain.
For any of you on the mainland who were wondering how were were doing out here in the middle of the Pacific, with a hurricane headed our way, there you have it. We are safe and sound, albeit slightly damp and a little irritated with the prissy dog.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Friday, August 7, 2009
An Exciting Evening Out
Tonight the kids went to a church dance. Carl and I were home alone, so we decided to go to Best Buy and maybe get something to eat. We were going to Best Buy to replace a broken DVD player. The one we have had for the last year or so, quit working. It was a cheap model, but did the trick. We replaced it with basically the same model, just slightly updated. It's crazy to think that it cost more to fill my gas tank than it did to replace the DVD player. We truly live in the day of disposable electronics.
We left Best Buy and were driving down Kam Highway. It isn't really a highway in the mainland sense of the word. Especially in Aiea, it is a busy city street, 3 lanes wide in each direction, full of stop lights and bus stops. The speed limit can't be more than 35. Anyway, I am driving along, having a conversation with my husband, when WHAM! the car behind me rams into the back of my car! Our bodies fly forward into our seat belts with a jolt. Needless to say, I am stunned. So bizarre - I have no experience with anything even remotely like this. Carl starts yelling at me to stop. I can't see how stopping in the middle of all that traffic could possibly be a good thing. It just didn't seem safe to me. I didn't want to get hit again. I signaled, and started moving over to the far right lane. There is no shoulder on this stretch of road, so I didn't like the idea of stopping there either, but Carl keeps insisting that I stop, so I did.
While I fumble to find the hazzard lights, he jumps out of the car, and goes back to talk to the car that is stopped behind us. They think he is crazy, asking them if they are ok. It is NOT the car that hit us, just some car that was traveling in the right lane when I stopped and blocked their way. I doubt they even saw what happened to us moments before. He jumps back in the car, and I proceed to drive on to our next stop, that is just around the corner. The guilty party is nowhere in site. It's dark and traffic is heavy, neither of us saw the other vehicle clearly at all. I think it was some sort of van or truck, but I don't really know. It was dark, and my view in the rear mirror is cut in half by the spoiler on the back of my car. (I hate that fin even more now - Dang fin!.)
When we got out and looked at the car it seemed fine, other than some stress cracks in the surface of the plastic bumper. My back feels a little jarred, and my right knee hurts. I am not sure if it still hurts from my run the other day, or if it has anything to do with the jolt from behind slamming it into the gas pedal. Should I have stopped right there, in the middle of all that traffic and tried to flag down the jerk? Should I have called the police? What would be the point of calling the police? What would I say? - "Hello, Officer, I would like to report an accident. Some vehicle hit me from the rear. No, I do not know what type of vehicle. No, I do not have a license plate. No, I do not know what color it was. No, there isn't any significant damage to my car. No, I am not injured and in need of an ambulance. Why did I call? Well, I guess I just thought you would like to know that there is some unidentified jerk out here that rammed my car and drove away."
So, we drove on, bought some dog toys and some candy, had dinner, and came home. So much for our exciting Friday night out!
We left Best Buy and were driving down Kam Highway. It isn't really a highway in the mainland sense of the word. Especially in Aiea, it is a busy city street, 3 lanes wide in each direction, full of stop lights and bus stops. The speed limit can't be more than 35. Anyway, I am driving along, having a conversation with my husband, when WHAM! the car behind me rams into the back of my car! Our bodies fly forward into our seat belts with a jolt. Needless to say, I am stunned. So bizarre - I have no experience with anything even remotely like this. Carl starts yelling at me to stop. I can't see how stopping in the middle of all that traffic could possibly be a good thing. It just didn't seem safe to me. I didn't want to get hit again. I signaled, and started moving over to the far right lane. There is no shoulder on this stretch of road, so I didn't like the idea of stopping there either, but Carl keeps insisting that I stop, so I did.
While I fumble to find the hazzard lights, he jumps out of the car, and goes back to talk to the car that is stopped behind us. They think he is crazy, asking them if they are ok. It is NOT the car that hit us, just some car that was traveling in the right lane when I stopped and blocked their way. I doubt they even saw what happened to us moments before. He jumps back in the car, and I proceed to drive on to our next stop, that is just around the corner. The guilty party is nowhere in site. It's dark and traffic is heavy, neither of us saw the other vehicle clearly at all. I think it was some sort of van or truck, but I don't really know. It was dark, and my view in the rear mirror is cut in half by the spoiler on the back of my car. (I hate that fin even more now - Dang fin!.)
When we got out and looked at the car it seemed fine, other than some stress cracks in the surface of the plastic bumper. My back feels a little jarred, and my right knee hurts. I am not sure if it still hurts from my run the other day, or if it has anything to do with the jolt from behind slamming it into the gas pedal. Should I have stopped right there, in the middle of all that traffic and tried to flag down the jerk? Should I have called the police? What would be the point of calling the police? What would I say? - "Hello, Officer, I would like to report an accident. Some vehicle hit me from the rear. No, I do not know what type of vehicle. No, I do not have a license plate. No, I do not know what color it was. No, there isn't any significant damage to my car. No, I am not injured and in need of an ambulance. Why did I call? Well, I guess I just thought you would like to know that there is some unidentified jerk out here that rammed my car and drove away."
So, we drove on, bought some dog toys and some candy, had dinner, and came home. So much for our exciting Friday night out!
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
In a Heartbeat
Yesterday Ryker turned 18 and I am in a contemplative mood. I'm thinking about all kinds of things, some happy, some sad, the past, and the future yet to unfold. I start to write about how I feel, and then I erase it, because it seems dumb, trivial, and trite. Kids grow up, kids go to college, kids move away, and that is the way of it. Why should my feelings on the subject be anything noteworthy? How is my experience any more or any less than any other mother's?
At some moments I feel so full of joy and great wonder at how my baby boy grew into this amazing, capable young man. In other moments I feel such loss and despair. Like I am mourning the end of an era, the end of being the mother of children. I will always be a mother, but not the mother of children. Right now I am the mother of teenagers. Far too soon I will be the mother of adults. I don't know what to think of that and I certainly don't know how to do that.
I still have Quincie for a couple more years. That helps, for now. I don't even want to think about 2 years from now. Today and next week are quite enough thank you. She started school today. She is 16 and a Junior. I remember being 16 and a Junior. Was it really that long ago? The fashion is looking pretty similar. The skinny jeans, (we called them straight leg) the bright neon colors, and Converse - If only I had saved them!
Quincie wears my clothes, and sometimes, I wear hers. Shoes, we always share. Sometimes I watch her sleep and the same feelings of awe and love overwhelm me as they did that first night when she slept next to me in the hospital bed. She is my sweet, little, blue-eyed, angel baby.
A friend asked me the other day if my kids were always this good. I said, "No, they were horrid babies." They were cute and wonderful, and really, really horrid. Ryker had colic, in the extreme. He ate at least every 2 hours and threw up constantly. He was always hungry, and always needed attention. He grew fast, and was mobile really early. He walked at 10 months. We put a lock on the fridge. He liked to help himself to the jug of milk. He broke those baby proofing cabinet locks, and got into everything. He had no fear, and was intensely curious. He loved people and would eat just about anything. He was happy most of the time, but you had to watch him constantly.
Quincie was different. She just cried... and cried... for no apparent reason... for days. She wanted no one but me, and would have rather starved than drink from a bottle. Her nick name was Fussalina. We held family prayers begging God to make her stop crying. I worked with her on my lap a lot that first year. She was in no hurry to walk and I never baby proofed the house for her. She was content to sit next to me and watch Ryker run around and do crazy things to entertain her.
It was hard to get much done with Fussalina and Destructo Boy, but somehow we managed. Carl worked nights and I worked days, and neither of us slept much. Those days went by so quickly and every year, the kids got easier and easier.
The two of them have always been great friends. They have never had a physical fight, not so much as a push or a hit. The craziest trouble has always been a team effort. Whereever they went, he has always looked out for her. This year is the first year he won't be on campus with her. It makes me a little nervous. I like them together, especially when they are not with me. I can't remember the last time either of them got in trouble and had to be punished. It's been a long, long time. They are awesome kids and I am a lucky mom!
There were so many good times, so many funny things, and so much love. I really like being the mom of Ryker and Quincie. They are super awesome kids. If I could go back and do it all again, I would. I wouldn't want to change a thing, except to enjoy each moment more. The good, the bad, the crazy, the hard, the fun, the silly, the messy and the painful. I would do it all again. In a heartbeat.
At some moments I feel so full of joy and great wonder at how my baby boy grew into this amazing, capable young man. In other moments I feel such loss and despair. Like I am mourning the end of an era, the end of being the mother of children. I will always be a mother, but not the mother of children. Right now I am the mother of teenagers. Far too soon I will be the mother of adults. I don't know what to think of that and I certainly don't know how to do that.
I still have Quincie for a couple more years. That helps, for now. I don't even want to think about 2 years from now. Today and next week are quite enough thank you. She started school today. She is 16 and a Junior. I remember being 16 and a Junior. Was it really that long ago? The fashion is looking pretty similar. The skinny jeans, (we called them straight leg) the bright neon colors, and Converse - If only I had saved them!
Quincie wears my clothes, and sometimes, I wear hers. Shoes, we always share. Sometimes I watch her sleep and the same feelings of awe and love overwhelm me as they did that first night when she slept next to me in the hospital bed. She is my sweet, little, blue-eyed, angel baby.
A friend asked me the other day if my kids were always this good. I said, "No, they were horrid babies." They were cute and wonderful, and really, really horrid. Ryker had colic, in the extreme. He ate at least every 2 hours and threw up constantly. He was always hungry, and always needed attention. He grew fast, and was mobile really early. He walked at 10 months. We put a lock on the fridge. He liked to help himself to the jug of milk. He broke those baby proofing cabinet locks, and got into everything. He had no fear, and was intensely curious. He loved people and would eat just about anything. He was happy most of the time, but you had to watch him constantly.
Quincie was different. She just cried... and cried... for no apparent reason... for days. She wanted no one but me, and would have rather starved than drink from a bottle. Her nick name was Fussalina. We held family prayers begging God to make her stop crying. I worked with her on my lap a lot that first year. She was in no hurry to walk and I never baby proofed the house for her. She was content to sit next to me and watch Ryker run around and do crazy things to entertain her.
It was hard to get much done with Fussalina and Destructo Boy, but somehow we managed. Carl worked nights and I worked days, and neither of us slept much. Those days went by so quickly and every year, the kids got easier and easier.
The two of them have always been great friends. They have never had a physical fight, not so much as a push or a hit. The craziest trouble has always been a team effort. Whereever they went, he has always looked out for her. This year is the first year he won't be on campus with her. It makes me a little nervous. I like them together, especially when they are not with me. I can't remember the last time either of them got in trouble and had to be punished. It's been a long, long time. They are awesome kids and I am a lucky mom!
There were so many good times, so many funny things, and so much love. I really like being the mom of Ryker and Quincie. They are super awesome kids. If I could go back and do it all again, I would. I wouldn't want to change a thing, except to enjoy each moment more. The good, the bad, the crazy, the hard, the fun, the silly, the messy and the painful. I would do it all again. In a heartbeat.
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Eagle Project
Ryker's Eagle Project was Saturday morning. We all met at the Boy's and Girl's Club in Ewa Beach, loaded up the trucks, and headed over to the bridges at Kapolei Parkway and Renton Road. We picked up trash, raked up branches, leaves and dead grass, and painted over the graphiti on the bridges and surrounding walls. When we were done it looked great!
Before:
During:
After:
The Crew:
Before:
During:
After:
The Crew:
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Beach Hike
Quincie is at Girls' Camp this week. This morning was the hike. Because of all the rain in the area, the original hike had to be changed. We started at the camp site and walked along the beach to the Temple Park.
Near the end there is a small stream that feeds into the ocean. It carries the run off from the mountain at the original location of the hike. The stream was so full from all the rain and it was running very fast. In a matter of a few minutes it had eroded a significant portion of the beach.
We were able to cross by walking upstream to where it was more shallow and calm.
In the Quest to be Headache Free
Headaches suck. Over the last year or so I have lessened the frequency and intensity of my personal suffering with the headache demon. Here is the list of what I have had success with in my quest to be headache free:
1. Caffeine - 100% eliminated from my diet. I used to LOVE Coke. It just tastes great! I was not addicted. I didn't drink it everyday. But it was my quick fix, go to solution when I felt a headache coming on. The only migraine prescription that ever worked for me included a large dose of caffeine along with a barbiturate. It definitely helps in the moment, but it perpetuates the problem. The rebound headaches create a wicked circle that is tough to break.
2. Sleep - Don't go cheap on sleep, and don't cheat yourself out of the hours you really need.
3. Water - Drink it, drink lots of it, and then drink a little more.
4. Eat - Low blood sugar does a number on me, and a bad headache is usually a part of it. Small meals, healthy snacks throughout the day make a big difference. If I skip a meal I can pretty much bet on a headache.
5. Gum - Don't chew it! The chewing motion, especially if you are like me and you chew with intensity, causes tension on your jaw muscles which can contribute to a headache. If your gum is sugar free, the aspartame can also add to the problem.
6. Aspartame - Don't eat, drink, or chew it! This chemical that is the artificial sweetener nutri sweet is just bad stuff. I have read studies liking it to multiple health problems, but from personal experience I can tell you it is bad, bad stuff and can cause a headache.
7. Exercise - If my head hurts, and I have done 1 through 6, I get up and go for a walk, or turn up the music and dance around. The good brain chemicals that come from exercise usually do the trick.
1. Caffeine - 100% eliminated from my diet. I used to LOVE Coke. It just tastes great! I was not addicted. I didn't drink it everyday. But it was my quick fix, go to solution when I felt a headache coming on. The only migraine prescription that ever worked for me included a large dose of caffeine along with a barbiturate. It definitely helps in the moment, but it perpetuates the problem. The rebound headaches create a wicked circle that is tough to break.
2. Sleep - Don't go cheap on sleep, and don't cheat yourself out of the hours you really need.
3. Water - Drink it, drink lots of it, and then drink a little more.
4. Eat - Low blood sugar does a number on me, and a bad headache is usually a part of it. Small meals, healthy snacks throughout the day make a big difference. If I skip a meal I can pretty much bet on a headache.
5. Gum - Don't chew it! The chewing motion, especially if you are like me and you chew with intensity, causes tension on your jaw muscles which can contribute to a headache. If your gum is sugar free, the aspartame can also add to the problem.
6. Aspartame - Don't eat, drink, or chew it! This chemical that is the artificial sweetener nutri sweet is just bad stuff. I have read studies liking it to multiple health problems, but from personal experience I can tell you it is bad, bad stuff and can cause a headache.
7. Exercise - If my head hurts, and I have done 1 through 6, I get up and go for a walk, or turn up the music and dance around. The good brain chemicals that come from exercise usually do the trick.
Monday, July 20, 2009
Anomalies
Day after day life basically goes along at the same pace, in the same circles or squares, with the same faces in predictable places. The most unusual thing in your day is the beets with your Manwich, instead of corn.
I like it when life takes a different road once in a while. It is refreshing to see things from another angle, and experience something new. Breaking out of the typical helps my brain function. Old nagging problems become easier to solve with a fresh perspective. If life is a little too routine, I change things up a bit. Most of the time it isn't any big deal, just change the route I normally drive home, or shop at a different store. By seeing new things, or old things from a different direction, my brain can jump the track out of the rut, and start thinking productively again.
The last string of days have been the opposite of mundane. Last week Ryker was at Boy Scout Camp. The camp here in Hawaii is located on top of a mountain and the drive up there is magnificent. I love that drive. There is such variety and all of it is amazing. I hadn't been up there in a year, then, wham - 3 times in a week! The last time, was at sunset - spectacular! Sorry, no photos, that wouldn't have been safe. It was hard enough just keeping my eyes on the road. Early in the drive, as you are coming up over a hill of wide open fields, you see the ocean before you. The horizon is way out there and it seems as if you can see the Earth curving. It is majestic. Looking at the enormity of the ocean opens possibilities in my mind.
On one of these trips, Ryker was the driver. I have been teaching him to drive and this was the longest stretch of time he was behind the wheel. It was great to actually get to look out the window for more than a few seconds at a time. I have such mixed feelings about my kids driving. Ryker is a very good driver. He is cautious and careful. He obeys the traffic laws and wants to do everything the right way. I guess I am like all parents and worry about all the idiots out there that might hurt my kid. All these milestones seem to be arriving on top of one another. I barely get up for air and slam, another one hits me on the head.
Quincie turned 16 last week. She wears my clothes, I wear her shoes. She certainly isn't a baby anymore. This is the first year she didn't have a birthday cake. She didn't want one. Weird, but true. She had been saving for a long time for a computer and between her savings, and a present from Carl, she finally had enough on her birthday. We took a trip to the Apple store to make her birthday wish come true. That is one COOL store! I could have stayed and played for hours. Gadgets galore! That night we went to see the new Harry Potter. It was the first day so I bought tickets online early. We had nearly a whole row of friends with us. That movie was looooong! Q had a great day, as yet another of life's milestones wacked me in the face.
Ryker's proposed Eagle Scout project was approved. Now he has 2 weeks to get it done. Planning, writing, rushing, waiting, calling meeting, talking - ahhhhh! I am so glad that he is taking the lead on all of this. Stand by for updates as this one proceeds.
I had big plans for Saturday. Q and I were going to go hiking with Angela to check out the hike for girl's camp which is this week. I had an appointment to donate blood at 8am and figured by 1pm I would be good to go. What do they say about the best laid plans??? I am not sure I am ready to write about saturday morning yet. I think I will save that story for it's own entry. Suffice it to say, I didn't go hiking.
Sunday morning I had to speak in church. I have had to speak at least once a year since we moved here. Usually more like 2 or 3 times a year. It's weird. I don't mind speaking to groups of people. What I do mind is the anxiety of waiting my turn. I was last. I have this thing about waiting. It's the same thing with amusement park rides. I love the ride, but I HATE to be buckled in first and have to wait for the ride to start. My mind starts thinking of all these crazy scenerios. Like ... what if while I am strapped in, waiting to go, an ax murderer shows up and tries to kill me? I am strapped in, I can't get out, I can't run way, and I get axed .... So, sitting on the stand waiting for my turn to talk is kind of the same. I walk in, exactly on time, and I am the only one of 3 speakers up there. The other 2 haven't arrived. I start thinking of how I can stretch my talk to cover that much time. Then I start thinking if there is a way I could bail too, if they don't show. Once they show up, and the services starts, I start thinking of all the reasons I would like to get up out of my chair, which of course I wouldn't do, because everyone would see me, and I am not going to walk throught the entire congregation while someone else is speaking, that would just be rude. But anyway, I need to use the bathroom. I drank a big glass of water just before I left so I wouldn't be dehydrated, and it is ready to vacate. I can't get up, but I really need to. If only I had been able to speak first, instead of last. Miraculously, once it was my turn, that urgent urge seemed to vanish.
Today I rescued a friend who locked her keys in her car. Usually it is me that does the locking of the keys in the car and someone else that gets to do the rescuing. It felt good to see it from the other side for once. It's much less stressful and embarrassing from this position. I think I like it better.
Tonight I went to a meeting where we introduced a new website to a group of realtors. I have been involved in this project since it was just a concept. It is not my idea, but I have been around while it has taken shape over the last couple years. I have always thought it was a great idea and believed in the project's ultimate success. Tonight, seeing the faces of those realtors as they came to understand was an experience hard for me to describe. This good idea has become real. I saw it on my own computer as it grew and was amazed and impressed all along the way. Watching people experience the full, working website, for the first time was very, very cool. Let me try to explain it better. This idea was nothing, just a thought, and now, it is real, and others, who did not share in that original thought, are now experiencing it. It works, and they like it. The thought was good, and the hard work it took to get it to this point are not relavent to them. All they see is the finished, working product, and they like it. What an interesting process. I am glad I have been along for the ride.
I am excited to see what the rest of this week will bring. If it's anything interesting, I will be sure to let you know.
I like it when life takes a different road once in a while. It is refreshing to see things from another angle, and experience something new. Breaking out of the typical helps my brain function. Old nagging problems become easier to solve with a fresh perspective. If life is a little too routine, I change things up a bit. Most of the time it isn't any big deal, just change the route I normally drive home, or shop at a different store. By seeing new things, or old things from a different direction, my brain can jump the track out of the rut, and start thinking productively again.
The last string of days have been the opposite of mundane. Last week Ryker was at Boy Scout Camp. The camp here in Hawaii is located on top of a mountain and the drive up there is magnificent. I love that drive. There is such variety and all of it is amazing. I hadn't been up there in a year, then, wham - 3 times in a week! The last time, was at sunset - spectacular! Sorry, no photos, that wouldn't have been safe. It was hard enough just keeping my eyes on the road. Early in the drive, as you are coming up over a hill of wide open fields, you see the ocean before you. The horizon is way out there and it seems as if you can see the Earth curving. It is majestic. Looking at the enormity of the ocean opens possibilities in my mind.
On one of these trips, Ryker was the driver. I have been teaching him to drive and this was the longest stretch of time he was behind the wheel. It was great to actually get to look out the window for more than a few seconds at a time. I have such mixed feelings about my kids driving. Ryker is a very good driver. He is cautious and careful. He obeys the traffic laws and wants to do everything the right way. I guess I am like all parents and worry about all the idiots out there that might hurt my kid. All these milestones seem to be arriving on top of one another. I barely get up for air and slam, another one hits me on the head.
Quincie turned 16 last week. She wears my clothes, I wear her shoes. She certainly isn't a baby anymore. This is the first year she didn't have a birthday cake. She didn't want one. Weird, but true. She had been saving for a long time for a computer and between her savings, and a present from Carl, she finally had enough on her birthday. We took a trip to the Apple store to make her birthday wish come true. That is one COOL store! I could have stayed and played for hours. Gadgets galore! That night we went to see the new Harry Potter. It was the first day so I bought tickets online early. We had nearly a whole row of friends with us. That movie was looooong! Q had a great day, as yet another of life's milestones wacked me in the face.
Ryker's proposed Eagle Scout project was approved. Now he has 2 weeks to get it done. Planning, writing, rushing, waiting, calling meeting, talking - ahhhhh! I am so glad that he is taking the lead on all of this. Stand by for updates as this one proceeds.
I had big plans for Saturday. Q and I were going to go hiking with Angela to check out the hike for girl's camp which is this week. I had an appointment to donate blood at 8am and figured by 1pm I would be good to go. What do they say about the best laid plans??? I am not sure I am ready to write about saturday morning yet. I think I will save that story for it's own entry. Suffice it to say, I didn't go hiking.
Sunday morning I had to speak in church. I have had to speak at least once a year since we moved here. Usually more like 2 or 3 times a year. It's weird. I don't mind speaking to groups of people. What I do mind is the anxiety of waiting my turn. I was last. I have this thing about waiting. It's the same thing with amusement park rides. I love the ride, but I HATE to be buckled in first and have to wait for the ride to start. My mind starts thinking of all these crazy scenerios. Like ... what if while I am strapped in, waiting to go, an ax murderer shows up and tries to kill me? I am strapped in, I can't get out, I can't run way, and I get axed .... So, sitting on the stand waiting for my turn to talk is kind of the same. I walk in, exactly on time, and I am the only one of 3 speakers up there. The other 2 haven't arrived. I start thinking of how I can stretch my talk to cover that much time. Then I start thinking if there is a way I could bail too, if they don't show. Once they show up, and the services starts, I start thinking of all the reasons I would like to get up out of my chair, which of course I wouldn't do, because everyone would see me, and I am not going to walk throught the entire congregation while someone else is speaking, that would just be rude. But anyway, I need to use the bathroom. I drank a big glass of water just before I left so I wouldn't be dehydrated, and it is ready to vacate. I can't get up, but I really need to. If only I had been able to speak first, instead of last. Miraculously, once it was my turn, that urgent urge seemed to vanish.
Today I rescued a friend who locked her keys in her car. Usually it is me that does the locking of the keys in the car and someone else that gets to do the rescuing. It felt good to see it from the other side for once. It's much less stressful and embarrassing from this position. I think I like it better.
Tonight I went to a meeting where we introduced a new website to a group of realtors. I have been involved in this project since it was just a concept. It is not my idea, but I have been around while it has taken shape over the last couple years. I have always thought it was a great idea and believed in the project's ultimate success. Tonight, seeing the faces of those realtors as they came to understand was an experience hard for me to describe. This good idea has become real. I saw it on my own computer as it grew and was amazed and impressed all along the way. Watching people experience the full, working website, for the first time was very, very cool. Let me try to explain it better. This idea was nothing, just a thought, and now, it is real, and others, who did not share in that original thought, are now experiencing it. It works, and they like it. The thought was good, and the hard work it took to get it to this point are not relavent to them. All they see is the finished, working product, and they like it. What an interesting process. I am glad I have been along for the ride.
I am excited to see what the rest of this week will bring. If it's anything interesting, I will be sure to let you know.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
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