I knew it was going to be a bad day when I woke up at 5:30 a.m. and stumbled into the bathroom, and my head felt like it was being pinched in a vise. I choked down 2 Motrin and tried to go back to sleep. I dreamed about hanging out with President Obama, and he had an Asian girlfriend. I try to avoid the political so I’ll leave it up to you to decide if that was a happy dream or a nightmare. I don’t know. I just know it was weird.
I am trying to get Michael and me downstairs, get the garbage put out on the curb, grab my lunch out of the fridge, and Coco comes flying up the stairs and throws herself in the middle of Alesia’s bed. I go in after her. She has burrowed under the covers like I know you can’t see me, just leave already!! I have to grab 10 lbs. of wriggling dog and haul her downstairs, while hollering at Michael to get a move on. The word “hurry” means nothing to him.
I had to get a lot done at the post office this morning before work. I mailed off a box of presents to our friend Miss Jean in Asheville. She is almost 90 and this is her first Christmas without her brother, so we wanted to do something special and we wrapped up a bunch of little gifts for her and sent them. It’s cheaper than all of us going there. I also finally got mailed off the box of presents for the little girl in Kazakhstan I sponsor through Antares Foundation, and in the same box a gift for Mike’s friend Denis. I also mailed off 25 Christmas cards. Now, it’s almost Christmas, right? Busiest time of the mailing year? Guess how many clerks were working behind the counter. One. Yep, one older lady who looked like someone had peed in her cornflakes. She scared me. I wanted to say THESE ARE PRESENTS FOR ORPHANS LADY!! Lighten UP! However, I didn’t want her to jump over the counter and hit me with the display of holiday stamps which I had carelessly knocked over when I was putting everything on the counter. I also didn’t want her to re-route my gifts to the arctic circle...
Then I go to McDonalds and they give me sweet tea that is not sweet. I am southern. I need sweet tea. It’s like an IV for me when I haven’t had enough sleep, and the lemon gives me a little vitamin C boost. So all morning I am forced to drink tea that tastes like it was made in a rusty box.
I came home and had to find Michael’s prosthetic, which was under a pile of clothes in his bedroom. I went and checked him out of school and we went to Children’s, for him to be casted for a new prosthetic arm. He has completely outgrown the other arm he got 2 years ago.
We left there and came home and got Coco. She has to go to the vet and get her nails cut. Michael is very good with her now that he is bigger. For a long time he was nervous around Coco, but now he has decided he loves her and plays with her and loves on her all the time. It’s so sweet. We don’t mind paying the $ to get her nails trimmed professionally. Her nails are so tiny it makes us all too nervous.
We came home and had a few minutes, then Mike had a tennis lesson. It’s bitter cold today, temps in the 30’s and 40’s. I went to get him at 6 so he wouldn’t have to walk home in the cold and he was out there looking casual in shorts. The other children were bundled up a lot more. Right now in Petropavlovsk, it’s 25 below, according to Cindy's blog.
Alesia went to bible study with her friend Elena. When she got back I asked what they had talked about. Alesia looked at me like wow, you are so dense, and said “Jesus! We always talk about Jesus! And there was a lot of food.” Have to admire those Presbyterians for serving up the bible with lots of hors d’ouvres…;-)
While she was gone, Michael and I worked on a report he has to do for school, an example of expository writing. He chose to write about Will Smith. I am now an expert on all things Will Smith. I was sort of surprised to see he is over 40 now. I pointed out to Mike that Will Smith is only 6 years younger than me. Michael looked aghast. “Dang! He is OLD!”
My kids think I am a moron and older than dirt. I can remember thinking the same things about my parents when I was a teenager. The great circle of life…




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