Excuse me, Have You Seen My Cartwheel?

I seem to have misplaced it.
It was here just a minute ago.
Along with my toe touch, my handstand and my Jack knife dive???


Back in the day-yada..yada-I swam competitively and also did gymnastics competely. Until around the age 14, when boys and High School cheerleading took center stage.
But cheerleading was quite athletic so my gymnastic skills stayed sharp.

In college, I even took a gymnastics class as a Physical educaton credit. And because of my love of swimming, I bravely signed up for the Water Safety Instructor class. This is a much harder class than it sounds. It basically prepares you to save a life or find a drowned body in a pool, lake or ocean, with limited to no visibility.
Coach Washington, the swim coach at Auburn University who has coached many Olympic class

AAAAAAARGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

3 weeks from tomorrow I will be 48.


48.

2 years from 50.

Enough Said.
I am going shopping.
Now.
Retail Therapy.

I need some Moisturizer. Ya know that anti aging, wrinkle corrector, line filler, tightening, erases all those sun years magic potion.
Where's Merlin when you need him.

There was a time that I would have gone shopping for a new Thong or a mini skirt.

I am thinking New support Bra and alcohol.

The Olympics

I just want to make a few observations.
I have always loved the Summer Olympics.
I remember the games of Olga Korbit and Nadia and Mary Lou.
I remember the games of Bruce Jenner and Mark Spitz.

This is the first Olympics that my children have been old enough to be interested in the games, to watch and to ask questions.
It has opened up a whole new world to them.

First, we have watched all the programming extras about China, the country, it's history and its people.
We have seen some pretty interesting, OK GROSS, things they eat. It has made vegetables on her plate look pretty good now to my daughter.

She was also amazed that the athletes in China leave their parents at age 3 to begin training. It seem to bother her, she just cannot figure what Mom would let their daughter's that young leave home. We barely let her spend one night away from home and she is 7.

She has also been intrigued by all the sports that she has never even dreamed of.
Like synchronized diving.
All the cool gymnastics apparatus.
And all the different types of swimming events.
She also asked me why the boys swim suits were so small.

My son has also been captivated by the swimming and diving.
He also cheers loudly for Michael Phelps.
In every race.
Whether Phelps is swimming in the event or not.

This has opened up other conversations in our house about past Olympians.
My daughter has been reciting the facts about Wilma Rudolph. She is very impressed that as a little girl she wore a brace on her leg and went on to win Gold, Silver and Bronze medals in the Olympic Games.

I hope that she has learned that nothing in life is out of reach if you work hard.
We love watching the bios they give on the individual athletes. It seems that most all of them have had a hardship or difficulties to overcome in their lives.
We talk about how being in the Olympics is not just about winning the 3 medals.
But how important it is to just make the team and represent your country.
She asked me if she was for Russia or the USA.
I told her she could be for both.
I told her she can cheer for all the athletes.
I hope she is learning that you don't always have to choose a side, that you can be for everyone that showed up, that put it on the line, that gave it their best try.
That last place can just mean last in that event, but not last in anything else.
That the last place deserves a high five too.
I hope both of them know that in everything they do, we are cheering them on, even if they never are medal winners in the big world.
They've got the Gold in our house.

STOP,Whatever you are doing right now, STOP!

Right now , take a deep breath, exhaling slowly and feel the wonderful and blessed life you are living.
Give your kids an extra kiss and your husband an extra squeeze.
Tell yourself 10 things you are grateful for today.

Life can change on a dime.
Even faster.

Last week I had a huge wake up call to the life and blessing I take for granted.
In our hectic days of following schedules and kids and laundry, I tend to forget how lucky I am each day that these are the most pressing things on my mind.

My next door neighbors are a great family. They are so very much like us and we have Thanked God many times over to be so lucky to have them next door. They moved in shortly after we did, about 10 years ago.
They had a small son and in these years, they have added a daughter and we have added a son and a daughter.
Our daughters are close in age and best friends.
We watch each other's kids, watch each other's houses when one is gone, feed each other's dogs and water each other's plants.
I am 47, she is 36.
We both have great husbands, happy marriages and great kids.

Last week she found out she has breast cancer.
Then she found out it was in the other breast.
Then she found out, despite regular check ups, being healthy, no family history, that it had been there for a while.
Then she found out it is the type that will be harder to treat.

No words can describe the shock in her family or in her circle of Friends.
This week she is having a double mastectomy and then hoping to get into an experimental chemo program in our city.
Her daughter(8) is most upset that Mom will lose her hair, not really understanding all the implications of the disease.
Mom is optimistic and fighter. As she said, what else can ya be?
Dear Husband is still in shock, not really knowing how everything got turned so upside down in his life so suddenly.
But he is a great husband and father and he will righten their world soon.
But BAM!
This does just knock the wind out of you, doesn't it.
It makes all those little daily annoyances seem pretty silly and petty.
It has made me utter not "Why Her" but "Why Not Me?", which is really the lesson.
It could be me or you or my child or anyone.
At any time or any day and without any warning?
So while I cheer her on and help her as she would help me,
I will be taking the time to really be grateful and thankful and feel blessed for each day in my life that I am not dealing with those big things.
Those real life altering and life changing moments.
Just savoring the plain and the ordinary and the common days we have.
Those are the roses I will be stopping to smell.
The small things I won't Sweat anymore.
And many of those things I thought were Big, just got demoted to small.
You should do the this too.

IS it Hot in here??????

Our house has great central air conditioning.
We also have a ceiling fan in...well every room of our house, including the bathroom.
We also have several box fans,stand fan and countertop fans.
Yet, still I sweat.

I pondered out loud if I was having hot flashes. To which my husband replied
"Kim, it's August in the south. It's 101 degrees outside with 90% humidity. Everyone's having hot Flashes"

Still I wondered.
I will be 48 on my birthday in September.
This is not a subject I can broach with the Mom's of my kids school friends.
My kiddos are 7 and 9.
The other Moms are not 48 and if they skip a period it would be for a far different reason.
I look forward to that part actually, and yes my "friend" still visits on a regular basis.
I know, I know. Too much information.

Yet still I sweat. Maybe I have become obsessed with this. Maybe my preoccupation with checking my external thermometer has caused me to have heated delusions.

So I bought "The Everything Menopause Book". On the cover it promises to give reassuring advice and the lastest information to keep you healthy and sane. Great!
In the introduction it tells the reader(me) that I haven't had time to learn about menopause because I am busy and healthy and young- If I were young .I would not be reading this. Or maybe to them, young is a relative term.
Because in the very next sentence it tells me that menopause is not a condition for the retired, sick, old and unfit.
I guess if you were really all of those dire things, you wouldn't really notice menopause.
I am going to have to ponder these words and exactly what wisdom they are supposed to impart.
So I skip over to the chapter on Hot Flashes.
I am surprised to see it is not one of the first chapters. In fact, it is Chapter 16 all the way back on page 247.

So here is what I learn.
Hot flashes are severe vasomotor symptoms.
They will disrupt your waking and sleeping life.
They will last several years.
I am not sure I want to read on.

But I do.
I read about the severity, the after effects and the various treatments.
Does it sound like mine? It could go either way.
Upon reading further, I decide. Yeah, maybe it is just August in the south.
I just have too much on my plate right now for it to be the big M!

Here are the chapters.
Perimenopause.
The Stages of Menopause.
Menopausal Attitude
Health Risks of the Over 40
Menopause and Heart Disease
Menopause and Sexuality
Your Mood and your Mind
Hormones
Eating and Menopause
Exercise and Menopause
Your New Sexuality
Anxiety and Depressi0n
Keep your Menopausal Mind Sharp
Keep a Menopause Journal

Frankly Menopause looks like too much Work. I just do not have the time for it right now. Maybe I will pencil it in my schedule in a few years, say when my kids are in Jr. High or maybe even High School. I should have more time for it then.



So I saunter off, taking my over the counter Estroven with Energy and turn my thermostat down to 65.

Menopause will have to wait until I cool off and I am in the mood for it.
Maybe in December 2015.

Back in the Saddle Again

Well, the summer has flown by.
Ok, I know this is just the beginning of August.
But today was the first day of school.
So for Mom's, this day means the end of summer vacation.

It is crazy though, to be starting school in the midst of the hottest part of the year.

Yeah, Back in my day you started school after Labor Day.

The Good Ole Days.

Last week I was so not ready for school to start. Translation: I wasn't ready to have to get up at 6:30 each morning. My kids are great sleepers and it would not be unusual to find us all 3 still asleep at 9am during the summer.

This week, with it just too hot to be outside, they were bouncing off the walls.

I then was so ready for school to start.

This morning my daughter bounded out of bed and into her new school clothes in a flash.

Her fingernails polished pale green to match her outfit.

She was eager to show off her new short hairdo to her friends.

She rushed and hurried Dad so they could be at school as soon as the doors opened at 7:30.

My son.........................OHHHHHHHHHH my son.

He woke up fine and watched cartoons and ate breakfast.

He picked out his clothes and opted for his old tennis shoes instead of his new cool Sperry's.

But when he realized that all this primping and prepping meant school.

Katie-Bar the Door!

It is suffice to say he was just not into it.

He cried and stomped around and looked for things to throw outside for 30 minutes.

I tried to redirect by mentioning our upcoming trip to Disney. NOT INTERESTED!

I tried the upcoming hometown festival this weekend with bands and firworks. NOT INTERESTED!

So I turned a deaf NOT INTERESTED ear and read the paper while sitting outside waiting on the bus.

He stomped up the driveway and got on the bus. I am just glad I could not read his mind.

I returned inside sweaty and stressed and feeling successful and crappy at the same time.

It may be hot flashes and premenopausal hormones.

Or just typical first day of school stuff.

Especially when you have a special child who would just as soon never see the inside of a school again and be very happy and occasionally I agree with him.

And then, as I sat on bed and watched Matt Lauer reporting from China about the upcoming Olympics,

it hit me.

It was quiet, peaceful.

TOO QUIET and too peaceful.

Maybe I wasn't so ready after all.

Then my Mom and Dad called up and offered to take me to lunch.

A lunch that did not involve ketchup or play areas or a drive thru window.

I am not ashamed that perked me up. And picked me up too.

It reminded me of my blessings.

The blessing that I get to be at home everyday with my two.

My blessing in my great husband who thinks I do the hardest job in the world by being at home.

That in the summer we are together literally 24/7.

And that with a clear conscious I can enjoy those 7 hours they are at school.

And that I can also count the minutes until I can go sit in the car line .

And I can freely admit I cannot wait to hear about their day and

let them know that I missed them.

One day down.

179 to Go.