A Morning "Starter"

I've known the woman for a couple of years, but I don't have the opportunity to talk to her often. Usually we are walking with a group and we are at a different pace.

She's pretty amazing. At 24 years older than I am, she is out walking all of the time and just recently won her age group in a local 5-mile race. She worked for years as a technical artist creating drawings for the aeronautics industry. The only reason she quit working is that she didn't want to learn to draw using a computer.

So today while eating breakfast after the weekly walk, she started talking about her Mom who lived to be 85. The 4'10" woman sounded as if she could be a little cantankerous.

"She would drink a little Southern Comfort and Dr. Pepper every morning as a starter," she said. "She what?!?" the rest of us sputtered in shock. "It wasn't a lot of Southern Comfort," she continued. "She just needed it to get started in the morning."

I guess when you are in your 80s, you have earned the right to have whatever you want for breakfast.

Psycho Turns 50

The movie Psycho turned 50 last week! It made me think of a story my parents would tell, but might really be one of those family "urban legends."

My Mom and Dad went to see the classic horror movie while Mom was pregnant with me. She was pretty frightened by the movie and was affected by it -- showers made her pretty nervous after that.

Later that year, Mom was past her due date and apparently Dad wanted me to hurry up and arrive. One night while Mom was showering, he crept into the bathroom, stood right in front of the shower curtain and, with his arm raised high, made stabbing motions at the shower curtain with a banana in his hand. Mom screamed bloody murder, fell to the floor of the bath tub and curled up in a fetal position, screaming and crying hysterically! From what I heard, it took quite a while for Mom to calm down, and no, I was not born soon after.

You know how they say that babies can be affected by things that happen in the womb? Well thanks to Mom and Dad, I'm not a fan of horror movies, I hate to have people scare me, and I hate to admit this, but I can't take a shower if I'm home alone. In fact, when I lived alone in my first apartment, I had to have a clear shower curtain so I could see if anyone broke it. (Sounds crazy now.)

So, thanks for seeing Psycho, Mom and Dad!
_______

The urban legend part of the story is that my Dad wanted to go on his annual deer hunting trip, but he couldn't because I was late. The logical me knows that Dad would not have left Mom home alone for a week with three sons under the age of 3 and a newborn.

Crying in the Parking Lot Again

My daughter graduated from college today and though I almost cried when the band played Pomp and Circumstance, I didn't. In fact, I waited until I was leaving her house after the cookout that was rained out -- more or less. I stood in the parking lot behind her house with my husband and cried -- just a little. Though I wanted to stay and help her pack or clean, she really needed people to leave, so I left.

I hope she has the chance to relax a little today. I hope she has a chance to tell everyone good bye.

Another milestone reached.

Daddy's Girl

While walking in our neighborhood tonight I encountered a neighbor I've never seen before.

He was walking his fairly large dog, which is not unusual by itself, but he didn't pick up after his dog, which was unusual. (It was half in the grass of a random yard and half on the sidewalk -- gross!)

I was pretty shocked and had planned to say something to him.

He looked to be in his early 20s and was fairly tall -- well over 6 feet! His black hair was in dreadlocks with bright purple highlights. He walked with his head held high as if he was proud of himself. I wondered if this was a purposeful act.

As we approached each other and I thought about what I would say, I noticed his skin-tight black T-shirt with the ripped off sleeves --in a pretty purple script to match his hair it said "Daddy's Girl."

I walked on by. How would I ever be able to talk to him and keep a straight face.

Margarita Pants

I saw a woman today who is my new idol.

She had to be in her early 70s. She was thin and fit and her snow white hair was in a great trendy short haircut. But what I loved was her outfit.

Her bold patterned pants could only be described as "resort wear" -- they were bright green with a pattern featuring bottles of wine, glasses of wine and people drinking wine drawn in black and bright pink. She paired the pants with a matching green shirt and a great pink scarf that matched the wine bottles perfectly. I immediately knew this woman was fun!

As I looked at her, one thought came to mind -- the only thing that would have made the outfit perfect is if the pattern featured Margaritas!



OK, this fabric is not nearly as cute as the "wine" pants, but it would still look pretty good with a bright green shirt and maybe a bright pink scarf.

Don't Blink

Is there anything better in the summer than a really good country song to bring you to tears?

Today I heard Kenny Chesney's "Don't Blink" for the first time. I nearly cried.

The song is about a man over 100 years old being interviewed on TV, he says in part:
Don't blink
Just like that you're six years old and you take a nap and you
Wake up and you're twenty-five and your high school sweetheart becomes your wife
Don't blink
You just might miss your babies growing like mine did
Turning into moms and dads next thing you know your "better half"
Of fifty years is there in bed
And you're praying God takes you instead
Trust me friend a hundred years goes faster than you think
So don't blink

As my daughter prepares to graduate from college next week and my son becomes a junior in high school, I feel like if I blink, tomorrow I'll be that 100-year-old person. Life has gone by too fast the first 50 years and it gets faster every year.

I have got to start having more fun in my life.

When is it too Late to Change your Lifestyle?

A friend of ours had a heart attack this past weekend. He's OK and even went home Tuesday. Still, his having a heart attack scared me. Not only am I scared for him, but it makes me wonder about both me and my husband.

This friend, who I'll call Michael, did not seem to be a typical candidate for a heart attack. He is in his mid-40s, a healthy weight, active in his job, physically fit, energetic ... So I have to wonder -- why him? What did he do -- or not do -- that caused this?

I know that at one point in his life he was heavy and he worked hard to lose the weight and be healthy. Did being heavy for several years do it? Did he have a history of eating poorly I don't know about?

Here is part of the reason this scares me. Though I have been thin for the majority of my life, I have not been healthy for much of it. For a good portion of it I was too thin but had no muscle tone and was not very active. I was physically unfit.

It's only been in the last 10 years that I have exercised regularly and attempted to eat well. Even then, I ended up being 20 lbs too heavy, it has taken longer than necessary to lose most of the weight and those last 5 lbs have been horrible. I keep gaining 3 lbs back and still have not yet reached my goal weight.

So, do the last 10 years of exercising and trying to eat well make up for nearly 30 years of bad food and a sedentary lifestyle? Is there some type of RotoRooter for arteries that I can use proactively to clear out any build up? (Or is it "retroactively" since it is after the fact?)

I am thrilled our friend is OK! Regardless, I'm nervous and I doubt if I will ever take minor chest pain lightly again.*
__________

*Let me just say that because of sporadic exercise over the years, I have had my share of inflamed rib cages or pericardium. Because I have had both more than once, I tend not to get overly excited when I have chest pain that feels like those conditions. In all instances, I have been to my family physician, been diagnosed and been given medications to reduce the inflammation.

Hornitos & Mom

Saw a commercial for Hornitos Tequila today that made me laugh.

A suave guy tells his roommate about a great cougar he met the night before and wants to invite over. He starts dialing his phone. The roommate says he can't, he has family over for dinner that night.

During the discussion, a pink cell phone on the counter starts ringing. They look at each other as the second roommate yells, "Mom, your phone is ringing."

The facial expressions are priceless! (Reminds me of stories I've heard about college Moms' weekends.)