Warning: I’m about to dump a bunch of raw words into your feeds, but I really need to throw my intentions out into the ether, you know, to make sure that shit sticks. Okay, now that the straights are gone, I can open up and speak a couple of truths, and if you're still here, thank you! I walked away from my “dream job” a year ago: A position that allowed me to financially support our household, while GarthNHRN and I continued to help care for our handicapped parents. I turned my back on people (team members/friends) who trusted me... Read more →

Since you've been gone, Evelyn Grace Thompson has happened, and she's got her Nagy Papa's eyes, too. I sat down and logged into my blog, for the first time in a very long while, and found a post sitting in draft mode for more than 2 years: A funny parody of Children's Songs I was attempting to adapt for the Sandwich Generation: Think "The Wheels on the Bus" as "The Wheels on the Rollater," going round, and round. Which I finally deleted (frankly, there's nothing funny about getting old) and then I found myself deleting more than typing—because now, everything... Read more →

Our son signed up to become a Marine, at the beginning of his senior year of high school, through their early enlistment program, which means we've had almost a full year to prepare for Glen's departure – although it seems like yesterday I grounded him until boot camp. Glen's recruiter, at Glen's high school graduation And we played out each day, with a little more reverence for military families, while trying to better understand and appreciate our son's life-long dream of serving in the military was going to happen, whether WE were ready or not. Still. I personally found myself... Read more →

Never underestimate the power of our olfactory receptors, because we Moms are bound to become the collective brain trust of bad smells! Read more →

Source My husband, Garth (not his real name) and I have been married for...uhhhhhh...okay, so we've been married for nearly...ummmmm...a lot of years, however, we still sometimes experience ah-HAH moments, you know, liiiiiike enjoying a quiet morning walk before work, while I try and figure out my travel schedule and my husband goes through our meal plan for the week, and...whoa...we're both all...maaaaan, but how our lives have changed, eh? My husband has taken over a lot of the cooking and it's not like I don't know HOW to cook (been doing it since I was 10!), now I just... Read more →

Our youngest cut her own hair when she was 3 years-old (the only one of our four to ever do that, by the way), because being the youngest can be really hard, you know? Unless you have (and know how to rock) a pair of pink cowgirl boots, of course! Garth (not his real name) and I have always tried really hard to help our kids cultivate their own sense of style (i.e., point them toward the clearance racks and just get out of their way), however, Hope had fully-grasped her sense of...um...uniqueness at a very young age. Still, it's... Read more →

It's been 36 minutes, since I hugged my son and wished him luck, reassuring him "not to worry," and "you got this," as I followed him through our front door and watched him get into his recruiter's car. I then proceeded to spend the next 36 minutes reliving the last 17 years, as parents do, with every passing milestone, I suppose. However, this time, Garth (not his real name) isn't home to reassure me that "he'll be fine," and there's really "no need to cry," because he's staying at my parents' house, helping to take care of my Dad and... Read more →