Saturday, March 29, 2008

All About Matt






March 29, 1994 was an important day. It was the day we met Matthew. All 7 lbs 15 oz, 21 inches of him joined us at 5:55 pm. He'll tell you it was 5:55:55, but I don't think they were quite that precise in the delivery room that day. Labor was easy--a whole hour and half from my first contraction. (I was induced, so I was in the hospital all day--no rushed runs to the hospital like my parents had with me). He made it home in time for Easter, and at 3 days old he helped his older brothers color the eggs. They've all outgrown that now. I miss it.

I've learned that there is a pattern to the delivery thing. Easy delivery means difficult toddlerhood and easy teen years; rougher delivery = easy toddlerhood and snarky teen years. At least that holds in my household. Matt had it rough as a toddler--he has two older brothers and he also tends to be more emotional than the others. Life was dramatic. As a teen, he is very easy going. He's grown a thick skin and can roll with the punches.

His life, from his perspective, is all about sports. This spring/summer, he will be playing baseball, running track, playing in the Steve Mix basketball league, and then ramping up for freshman football in early August. A couple of years ago, he played in Cooperstown (see picture). Quite an experience. In one game, he had the other team's signals deciphered by the 2nd inning. Their 3rd base coach was cracking up--he and Matt got to be buddies by the end of the week.

He's also smart. Scary smart. In a couple of weeks, he'll be representing BJHS at the County Middle School Quiz Bowl. His brother's team was the county champ 2 years ago--he has big shoes to fill. He's being recruited by schools like Cranbrook. He is participating in some ventures through Northwestern University's Midwest Academic Talent Search--they came looking for him based on his MEAP scores. They had him take the ACT. As an 8th grader. He went in without even looking at a practice test and scored a 21. He hasn't even had half the subject matter yet. (His friend Nolan also took the test and scored a bit higher--these 2 have been challenging each other for years). I wish I could say he had a 4.0. I can't. If he turned in his Algebra homework more than occasionally, he would.

Did I mention he's tall as well? At 14, my other boys were just hitting my height (5'6"). This picture was taken after a choir concert (oh, he also sings) last December. He's actually taller now--over 6', maybe 6'1". Size 13 feet and he's not done growing. Ugh.


Happy BIrthday Matt! Hope I didn't embarrass you too much. Love, Mom

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

I could have danced all night

More like I could have watched dancing all night. I like reality shows. Really, I do. But it's easier to read about the results the next day than to actually watch them, so that's usually what I do. Except this season. I made the mistake(?) of turning on Dancing with the Stars last week when there was nothing else on, and I am TOTALLY hooked. Aside from the two low-men on the totem pole, even the more mediocre stars can do a whole lot better than I could! To quote Steve Guttenberg, "WOW!"

Penn Gillette and Monica Seles are done. Since they had to vote off one from each gender, the decision was the right one, although I'd rather have seen Adam Carolla and Penn go this week and Monica inevitably leave next week. Monica just wasn't as graceful as the others. In another season, she might have lasted longer, but the women this year are amazing. Penn has two rather large left feet, and he named his kid Moxie Crimefighter. That has nothing to do with dancing, but the dude just isn't right. Here's how I see the rest (as they say, in no particular order although more from the bottom to the top):

Adam Carolla: Can't dance. Not particularly funny and although paired with two time defending champ Julianne, is likely to be the next out the door.

Marissa Jaret Winokur: bubbly. makes you want to vote for her, but likely to drive me crazy soon. Just not up to snuff with the other performers (LOVE her partner Tony--that's who I'd want since Maks isn't on this season). Most people have never heard of her though, so that doesn't bode well.

Christian de Fuentes: (probably butchered that name). Very cute. A decent dancer paired with Cheryl Burke. I almost cried with him when he was called safe. Hopefully will last awhile, but not likely to have a large enough fan base in the US to go the distance.

Steve Guttenberg: My sentimental favorite. He's about my age (he's a little older) and he is SOOOO darn cute! OK dancer. Doubt he'll be long for the competition though.

Shannon Elizabeth: Boys in their teens and 20's appreciate her. Something tells me they aren't voting. She's cute and she's pretty good. Others are better.

Priscilla Presley: She'll get the over 50 vote, but they can't dial the phones as fast as the young'uns, and texting is probably not an option. I hope when I hit her age, though, I can still move the way she does! Top 5 pick.

Mario: This kid can move. So far, the dances have been up-tempo (and looks like next week will be as well). Going to be in trouble once votes move from those lower--I'm not seeing him picking up as many as the others.

Kristi Yamaguchi: Wow, wow, wow. Her skating and artistic background shows. She is by far and away the best dancer. I don't think she's going to win though. She's almost too good and that's going to scare off some votes.

Jason Taylor: This guy is 6'6" and moves like a dream. Awesome. I'm torn--but I see him in the finals.

Marlee Matlin: Absolutely incredible. She has hit the steps more in tune with the music than anyone else. Graceful. I think she wins.

Monday, March 24, 2008

Reaching out to old friends

I mentioned the other day that one of the sad parts of putting together a class reunion was in figuring out the "in memorium" piece. My class lost another classmate yesterday. I'm not going to mention his name because nothing has been in the paper yet. This classmate lived 2 doors down from my sister, so she lived through the craziness. This guy and I were friends at one point, mainly our freshman year. I went to homecoming with him as a sophomore. For him, it was a date. For me, it was going to homecoming with my buddy. The evening didn't go well, and our relationship grew very awkward. It took the remainder of high school for us to get back on an even keel. This has long been one of the few regrets I have in life.

Over the past couple of years following some health scares (one mine, others my parents'), I've actively sought out old friends from my grade school and college years. My grade school friends and I drifted apart largely because everyone spread out from our Detroit neighborhood during the urban exodus of the early '70's. (We watched the national guard roll down the street during the '68 riots--our parents hung out longer than most!). These folks are largely the reason why I am the way I am. Of those I've managed to track down, all are highly successful in their careers and lives in general. If I win the lottery, we're having an 8th grade class reunion. (or if they read this, maybe we can figure out a way anyhow).

My high school friends I see regularly since many of us are still in town. I get the opportunity to tell them how much I appreciate all they've meant to me.

My college friends are all over. I've found a couple of old roommates and a couple of my drinking buddies. We were too busy living life to tell each other we cared way back when. So now I'm telling them. I'm also mending fences where needed. One of my best friends from college and I parted on less than stellar terms--another one of my major regrets. After looking for 10 years, we've reconnected and I hope this friend will be in my life forever. If not, they know I care.

The lesson today: tell the people who matter they matter NOW. Don't have regrets. Fix those you can. Hug your kids. Tell your parents you love them.

Saturday, March 22, 2008

The great car debate

My guys are coming home tonight. Assuming their plane gets in as scheduled, they'll be home just past my bedtime. They're leaving the 80 degree weather and sunshine (although it's supposed to storm there today) to come home to the 8 inches of snow I refuse to shovel from my driveway since it will all melt by tomorrow.

I've pretty much recovered from the shock/humor of the Girls Gone Wild truck photo that Craig sent me. He has promised me that it was just a joke (although it really was on the beach where they were staying). Rumor has it he did a few quick jogs down near the pier just to see if there was any action. He's 16. I would expect that, although I absolutely don't approve.

When he gets back, we'll jump back into where we left off on the great car debate. This 3-way debate has been roiling for a year now, about the time that Craig started driver's ed. Some may say my kids are spoiled (but really, they're supposed to smell bad, they're teenage boys!). I prefer to think that I'm minimizing inconveniencing myself. Craig wants a car. I want Craig to have a car. I've wanted that for awhile. I thought if we got him one prior to him getting his license, he could get a good feel for driving it while one of his parents--ok his dad-- was in the car with him. Dad didn't see it the same way, and since Craig spent the fall in an especially surly state when it came to dealing with me, I chose not to fight that battle.

Now as summer approaches and he's going to need to be taken to football workouts, baseball practices and games, and potentially a job (someone other than me needs to pay the $3.50 a gallon for the gas), I think both parents are now in agreement that the time has come for him to have some wheels. It helps that his older brother sells cars--we can help out multiple family members. But the battle is now over what TYPE of car (and how old) to buy.

I'm a mom--a very paranoid mom. I want sheet metal, lots and lots of sheet metal, as well as the most advanced safety features that technology can provide. If he were driving my vehicle, that's what he'd have. Not that I'd buy him a brand spanking new car--I'm not that generous. I prefer one that is 2-3 years old, fairly low mileage, and that will get him through his college years reliably, especially since he wants to go to college in Georgia or Virginia. Dad has been leaning to something a bit older, but I think I have him convinced that in the long run, spending a bit more right now will cost us less than having to pay for a new water pump or engine or the various other things that we encountered when we bought a highly seasoned car for the oldest child a decade ago. I'm thinking a nice Ford 500 or something of that ilk. (we're a Ford family; my dad worked for Ford for over 30 years, and my son sells for a Ford dealership.)

Craig has other ideas. He's looking at pick-em-up trucks (uh, no, sorry), or boats. You know, the kind of cars we had to drive when we were teenagers cuz that's what our parents had--the Crown Vics, Grand Marquis's and Caddy's of the world. Old ones. Beat up ones. Sure they have lots of sheet metal, but I'm just not buying it. Of course in one of our latest text messaging exchanges, he informed me that he wants a motorcycle. Nice and fuel efficient. Not much sheet metal though, and not very practical for our Michigan winters. I asked him what his dad says. The reply "When you move out and you're on your own, and you have money you can buy whatever you want. But that's a long way away." Now I don't have a leg to stand on for this one. I didn't get a car until I was done with college, and I bought an Escort that my dad had been leasing. When I was 16, I drove my dad's 73 Maverick (3 on the tree baby!) or my mom's 76 LTD II station wagon. I also had a motorcycle. Well, my brother had a motorcycle, but he was in the Army and was stationed in Germany, so it was mine, all mine. So I'm going to leave this debate to Craig and his dad. What would YOU do?

Friday, March 21, 2008

Bringing out the tomboy in me

Today is a day of indulgence for me. I initially took the day off because it's Good Friday. Then I discovered my church wasn't having services this afternoon. So I spent the morning pampering the girl in me. I had a wonderful massage, courtesy of Mary over at HMH Wellness in Sylvania. I don't do that often enough--but then again, daily wouldn't be often enough! Then I did a little retail therapy. I'm not much of a mall rat--I prefer to shop online. But sometimes, things don't fit right and I find it easier to return them to real stores rather than via couriers. So I hit Coldwater Creek to return a dress. REALLY bad timing--they were having a 60% off sale, and I ended up spending my store credit x3, but I got some really great stuff. Hit the grocery store so the boys would have something to eat on Easter besides grilled cheese sandwiches. Now, it's time to bring out the tomboy in me!

I grew up in a neighborhood in Detroit (in the city itself!) that was mostly boys. There were 2 girls on my street that were my age, and one of them wasn't allowed to play with me because I was a bad influence (forget the fact that I was a straight-A student and was too afraid of doing anything that would really get me into trouble). So I hung out with Lori and the boys. I learned to love sports--I keep a mean baseball scorebook and can throw a football like a boy. But my favorite was always basketball. I played for the Mule team during the '75 (JV), '76, and '77 seasons. We were good. My junior year, I saw more bench than floor because I played behind Terri Blok. Terri still has the single game scoring record (42 against Ann Arbor Pioneer, who scored 41). Especially impressive since this was way before the 3 point line came into being. I was a really good defensive player since I spent most of practice being Terri's foil. It came in handy the one time I had to guard one of Stan Joplin's sisters.

But I digress. It is Day 2.5 (if you count the play-in game) of the NCAA Men's Basketball finals. I am obsessed. If I were a betting person (deep clearing of the throat), I probably would have turned in 4 brackets in the office pool, which is also a fundraiser. I probably got 15 out of 16 games right on one of those brackets yesterday (woohoo). What happened to USC??? And if Duke and Wisconsin keep it up, I could go gray prematurely (well, maybe not so prematurely). So I'm going to sit this afternoon and soak in the hoops action.

I am also going to be keeping an eye on the NCAA D-1 WRESTLING championships. My beloved CMU Chippewas qualified 9 out of 10 wrestlers, all of whom remained in the championship bracket after the first round. I am a Bedford girl, so while my personal sport of choice is the hoops, I totally appreciate what it takes to be a first-rate wrestler. My Chips were ranked #2 in the nation going into this tournament, behind Iowa and ahead of Iowa State. That's the position they were holding after the first round yesterday as well. They are the only non-Big 10/non-Big 12 team ranked in the top 13. FIRE UP CHIPS!! EW-WAH; CHIPP-EWA; FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll

My kids love That 70's Show. I think it's funny as well, but I don't watch it very often. I don't have to--I lived it! I got together with a bunch of classmates the other day to plan our 30 year high school reunion. Long live the Bedford High School Class of 1978! We had it made then, and many of us still have it made. We were the last graduating class to be born during the Eisenhower administration. We were too old for Mr. Rogers (Happy Birthday Fred) and Sesame Street when they came out, but that made us old enough to remember the first moon walk (as in Neil Armstrong, not Michael Jackson). As trailing edge boomers, we got all of the freedoms that being a child of the '60's-'70's brought without having to put up with the pain of fighting for the rights. Some of us had brothers or neighbors who were in Viet Nam, but we just missed. Because of them, however, the drinking age had been lowered to 18 by the time we got to high school, and trust me, most of us took advantage of that (ssshhh, don't tell our kids). Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll was the theme of the time and we all participated to some extent in at least one of those (mine was Rock & Roll--the other two would have gotten me into too much trouble).

My graduating class was a large one--450 +/- a few crossed the stage at Centennial Hall on June 2, 1978. I was the 13th to walk across; is that bad luck? For a class that large, we were surprisingly close-knit--not that we didn't have cliques like everyone else. But we were mostly respectful of one another and let diversity rule--or maybe I just see life through rose-tinted glasses.

I think that synergy was reflected in our reunion committee meeting. There were 9 of us there--8 ladies and Ron (10 if you count Gary, who phoned in from Minnesota just to say hello). Everyone there knew everyone else, but most didn't hang out together regularly back in the day. Still, it was like old home week. We all looked fabulous, if I do say so myself. Think Donny and Marie, who are our contemporaries, but without people to do our hair and make up. We all could pass for being a decade younger, IMHO. We did get some planning in--a few tentative dates, a couple of bands to check out, etc. We listed classmates we've lost over the years. Right now our count is at 18 (16 guys and 2 girls), but we may be missing some. Most of the time, however, was spent reminiscing.

It would be unfair to repeat some of the stories, and since some of our kids may read this, it would also probably be unwise. Again, remember, the drinking age was 18 so most of us were legal for a large portion of our senior year, and Lawson's would sell beer before school if you asked nicely. (I never did that, but I know people who did). Framptom Comes Alive; Styx, REO Speedwagon; Blue Oyster Cult; AC/DC; Queen -- they were in their heyday and we were there. Of course, we were also there for disco and Andy Gibb.

But we aren't content to live in the past. We're planning a GOOD TIME come the summer. We may actually have some real wine (ok, not for me any more) instead of the Boone's Farm or Mad Dog from our youth. And our committee keeps getting larger. 10 people for a first meeting is pretty good--as our fearless class President Meg put it--there were as many people at our committee meeting as the class of '76 had at their reunion. I expect the total to double by the 3rd meeting. Any '78-ers who read this--come join us!

To all you other BHS classes--ours was the best. Even the teachers think so. I know they told you that you were, but they just didn't want to hurt your feelings. '78 was awfully damn great!

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

A Spring (almost) break

My two youngest sons got on a plane to Ft. Myers with their dad last Saturday at 7 a.m. Now before you say "poor mom," let me assure you that I was left home alone by choice. I don't like to fly, and with no compelling reasons other than sun and sand, I'm still in Michigan. My eldest son is still around, but I sent he and his fiance away for the weekend so that I could have two days of TOTAL peace and quiet--time ALL ALONE just to recharge my batteries. I've also learned to be careful about what you wish for.

Saturday started off wonderfully. I got miscellaneous housework done. Read part of a book. I went over to my parents' house to play with my sister's phenomenal not-quite-2 year old grandson (more stories about him later, I'm sure). Then I went home to really relax. I poured myself a nice glass of Chardonnay and got my book back out. About a half an hour later, I'm covered with hives. I have a few food/drug allergies, and sulfa happens to be one of them. The wine was the likely culprit. As I started having difficulty swallowing, and with no one to watch over me, I headed over the the ER at Toledo Hospital to get it checked out (which is NOT where you want to be on a Saturday night). (OK, so I could have taken an anti-histamine and all would have been ok, but mixing that w/alcohol when I was alone...). A couple doses of Prednisone and all was well. No more wine for me. Boo hoo! Sunday WAS a day of bliss. I just vegetated, watched a couple of movies, slept. I am very refreshed!

I think my boys miss me. They have called or texted several times each day. Last night, I had an interesting conversation with Matthew. Luckily I spoke with Craig first, and Craig informed me that while it was warm and sunny, it was also VERY windy and the waters were choppy. Typical conversation full of information with a 16 year old, but hey, at least we're speaking to one another. Matt, who will be 14 next week, was a bundle of energy, as always. He was getting tired of trying to sleep in the same general region as his brother (the problem w/hotels), and wanted to sleep in the "very comfortable" chairs located outside of the room He asked if I thought that would be OK. Based on my conversation w/Craig about the windy conditions, and knowing the nature of Matt, I told him I didn't think that would be a good idea. He told me that's what his dad said--so I'm not sure why he asked me. Dad then told me that he said no because they were on the 10th floor of the hotel. 10th floor, windy conditions, balcony, 13 year old. Nothing good can come of that. So Matt slept inside (well, presumably he slept). Today he and Craig are down at the beach hunting for the Bedford girls they've run into, and trying to avoid fat old men who are wearing the same style/color of bathing suits. At least I'm not the most embarrassing thing in their lives today.

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Getting started!

My friend Cheryl has convinced me that I need to start my own blog. I've been a bit of a blog-hog in the comments area of the wonderful women who blog as Befrazzled and Blonde Highlights, so it's time to put myself out there. When I figure out all the mechanics, I'll link you into their very funny ponderings--Cheryl's as well.

I'm going to be spending much of my time with the joys of motherhood since my life revolves around my teenage boys (and the 25 year old who is planning his wedding with the lovely Brooke). Since the boys are heavily into sporting activities, you'll see quite a bit about the exploits of the mighty Kicking Mules of Bedford High School, and since I'm a proud CMU alumna (see, I even learned gender-specific latin terms up there!), I'll be bringing in some ew-wah, Chippewa fun as well.

The middle age part, well, that's where I am. It brings its own set of challenges. In fact, I'm off momentarily to help plan my 30 year high school reunion. 30 years? You have to be kidding--that would make my graduating class old enough to be grandparents for crying out loud! OK, so we are--but we're also still baby boomers who know how to have fun.

Tomorrow, I'll catch y'all up on a week without the boys, who are enjoying the beach down in Florida.