Messes

Having a child has taught me a lot. One of the big things is that I will not have a clean house for many years. That no matter how hard I try or how much I pick up there is another mess waiting for me around the corner. Lately my almost 20 month old son has been great at spilling everything that he puts his hands on. I can not begin to count the crushed goldfish crackers and cheerios that I have swept up and the drinks that I have cleaned up this week alone. Yesterday was not an exception. The two main messes made were right after each other and while I was cooking dinner. So it was even more stressful than normal. I saw out of the corner of my eye that he had picked up a small can and was shaking it. When I realized what it was it was to late. It was his pet Beta Fish's food. This food is the size of poppy seeds and he had taken the cap off and turned it upside down and it was everywhere. I cleaned it up but, I am sure that years from now I will still find beta fish food on my kitchen floor. Then not 2 minutes later, he comes into the kitchen carrying the bag out of a box of Chex cereal. Full of Chex. I told him to be very careful and not to spill them. As soon as the words left my mouth, I turned to see him dumping the bag over and all of the Chex now on my kitchen floor. He jumps up and runs through them and then jumps in them. Crushing them into my once beautiful hardwood floor. I wonder why I even bother to try to clean my house. I wonder why we bothered refinishing the hardwood floors in this old house. Then I remembered that when we bought this house we wanted to have kids here but we had no idea, just like other people without kids, how much kids demolish a house. Not that I would trade my son for the world. But I would trade my messy house for a clean one.

Memories of a 9 Year Old Me

While riding in the car the other night, a very familiar song came on the radio. Eye of the Tiger by Survivior. I must have heard that song a hundred times since it was popular in the early 1980's. On this night though, I remembered the 9 year old me. I remembered this being my favorite song. I remembered going to a pizza place after the meeting on Thursday nights with other people from our congregation. I remembered playing this song on the jukebox and twirling in my dress. It was my favorite dress. It was a 50's style dress with a red and white skirt and an attached white shirt and a tiny black belt. This dress spun out far. Then I remembered him. The boy that I had the biggest crush on. Brian Willis. He was also about 9 at the time. He was tall with dark hair and very handsome. His family would sometimes go this pizza place with us all. I remembered this particular night, with me in this dress spinning, and Eye of the Tiger playing on the jukebox, hoping that he would like me too.

It's funny how certain things bring back memories. I hadn't thought about this night in years. When the song was over, I turned to my husband who was driving and told him my little memory that this song brought back.

Saying Goodbye

Yesterday I decided to clean out my closets and make a huge donation to Goodwill and to throw some things away. In all of the cleaning I found it. A most beloved tee shirt. It brought back a flood of memories. I remember buying it, and wearing it so many times. It was bought in Little Rock, AR. at a performance of Les Miserables. It was the summer of 1993 and I was 18 years old. We went with a huge group of freinds and family and we had such a wonderful time. We even had front row seats for this great play. I remember eating dinner at Hog's Breath Cantina and going out to the car to put on my new shirt. I rode back to Memphis with Ashley, Annie, Shane, and I think Toby. I stayed at Ashley's (my best friend when we were 13-15) house the rest of the weekend and after several years of not being very close, we reconnected, but then sadly lost touch again. Later I remember wearing this XL tee on my medium frame with a very long, very colorful, twist broomstick skirt, black Chinese import shoes that could only be worn on the dryest of days (I think the soles were made of paper and they smelled horrible and fell apart if they got wet), and a long black leather necklace with a green crystal hoop at the end, that landed right on Cosette's nose. I don't know what possessed me to put this outfit together. I can just imagine how I must have looked in it. I actually wore it to MO, to visit my boyfriend (now husband) and in-laws. I wonder what they thought of me in it. I'm sure they wondered who exactly their son was dating. But that was 13 years ago. When I found the shirt it was sadly full of holes. It was greatly loved and greatly worn. It was time to let it go. Time to say goodbye.