It's great to remember, but it's also good to have a BBQ.

I have noticed a trend in the few years, regarding Memorial Day.  Maybe it's not new, it just that with FB, now I know what everyone is thinking.  One of the first things I do when I get up is check FB and email and let my brain warm up.  It's not a good idea to try and have a conversation with me during this time because I'm not yet fully functioning.  I can't think about more than one thing at a time first thing.  My thoughts also wander, as you can see.

Anyway, back on point.  So this morning I was reading FB and I noticed, primarily, two types of posts - 1) We're having a BBQ or other fun event, and - 2) How dare you have fun on this day!  Don't you care about remembering our soldiers?!  I exaggerate, just a little bit.  That's the gist of it anyway.

There's got a to be a balance.  So here's my opinion on that, in case anyone ever cares what I think!

Today I will be remembering the loved ones I have lost, but especially my Grandfather because he served in WWII.  My Grandfather wouldn't talk about his experiences in the war to me.  I was only 13 when he died.  So what I know has been told to me by others, and often,  stories change from one telling to the next.  Here's what I know.

Robert E. Charlton Sr.

Robert E. Charlton Sr

When Pearl Harbor was attacked, my grandfather was in high school.  He tried to enlist immediately, but was sent home to finish high school.  After graduation enlisted.  He was sent to basic training in Texas, then to the South Pacific.  When the war was over, he came home, dated and married my grandmother.

I will think about and miss Grandpa today.  That's not specific to Memorial Day.  Although it has been more than 20 years since he died of lung cancer, I miss him every single day.  I wish so much that he could see my children.  Thinking about him still makes me cry.  If he were here to spend Memorial Day with us, it wouldn't be a morose, overly serious, dark day of remembering.  It would be a day filled with laughter, food, family stories, and the simple fun on being together.

Remembering is good.  Appreciating those who are currently serving excellent.  But from some of the things I read on FB, I get the impression that today is so serious that we are not allowed to smile.  We are not allowed to laugh.  If we do anything fun we are disrespecting those who serve.  I suspect that I would be hard pressed to soldier that would tell you that you are not allowed to do anything "fun" on Memorial Day.  They would more likely tell us to enjoy our loved one when we can.

There's got to be a balance.  So today, I'm remembering my loved ones, especially Grandpa.  I'm also going to spend the day making memories with those I love.  Someday we may not be able to all be together for Memorial Day, so today I'm going to make the most of the time we have together.  

The cat and the baby. At least they understand each other.

So, it's been what most mom's probably consider a "normal" day, but, as you know, it's the little things that bring me so much joy.

Laura left early today to go to an event. (Congratulations, Peter Sterling on graduating!!!).  So, it was just the kids and me this afternoon.  Aria Grace had been having a very rough day.  Starting last night when she woke up absolutely screaming.  Because she has such a set of lungs, this scream wakes me out of a dead sleep, and I'm pretty sure all the neighbors are concerned as well.  When Aria cries, Noah panics and starts screaming and crying too.  She's okay now, and I'm pretty sure we got the problem fixed.  It's funny how babies can communicate without speaking.  We knew very clearly that something was hurting Aria, but she couldn't tell us exactly what.  This afternoon, I took her in to change a diaper, and she very clearly communicated to me that she didn't want to wear a sleeper.  She wants her feet to be free.  No, no socks either.  She doesn't understand our compulsive need to cover up her feet.  That just makes it so hard to get her toes in her mouth!  Yes, she communicated all of that.

So, I laid her in her crib, turned to leave, and asked the cat if she wanted to come or if she was staying with the baby.  I don't know why I ask.  She ALWAYS wants to stay in the room with the baby.  Before you believers of old wives tales freak out, I have very carefully watched the cat with the baby (and the baby with the cat), and I trust Isis.  She loves Aria.  I'm more concerned about Aria accidentally hurting the cat.  So I let Isis stay.  If she's in the crib (which she rarely does anymore because Aria likes to grab her fur), I leave the door cracked open and check every few minutes.  Often they are both asleep, Isis' head resting on Aria's little feet, or very nearby.  I posted a photo of that in a previous blog entry.

Anyway, today the cat was sitting on a footstool in the middle of the room, very clearly communicating that she would be staying with Aria.  Fine.  I went about my business washing my hands, trying to remember what I had been doing etc . . .  Just as the back of my pants grazed the seat of my chair, I heard the cat meowing.  She wanted out already?!  I did some sort of yoga move which involved sitting down and standing up at the same time and hurried back in there to let her out.  I opened the door to see the cat sitting across the room on the changing table.  She looked surprised to see me.  She hadn't been asking to come out of the room, she was in the middle of some sort of speech or stand-up routine for her favorite little audience.  It was like the only thing missing was a miniature microphone stand.  I'm sure that if I had a translator she would have been saying "So, what is the deal with parents and socks?!"

Aria was, of course, watching her and smiling.  She understood.

Aria and her dog, Harley Quinn.  Everyone loves to be with the baby!

When Nerds Marry

When two nerds get married.

Recently, I noticed that Netflix has added several 80's cartoon series to their streaming menu.  My reaction to this was a little something like "WOOOO-HOOOO!"  Transformers, GI Joe, and even JEM, to name a few.  Wow.  Netflix knows how to make children of the 80's happy.  So tonight we started re-watching GI Joe.  I say "rewatching" because besides watching them as kids, someone who knows us quite well gave Derek DVDs of the series for Christmas one year.

This is how you know you are married to a nerd - You can't watch for 5 minutes straight without hearing "We have that ___________ in the garage."  The blank is filled with the name of a specific tank, aircraft, other equipment, or action figure.  Sometimes I hear, "We don't have that one.  The neighbors had it though."  Or, "We used to have that but it was broken."  He's even nerdy enough to say, "They didn't make a toy of that character/equipment."

Why in the garage, you ask?  A few years ago when we all gathered at the PA home, my MIL told the boys that they had to go through all the toys, take what they wanted, and get rid of the rest.  Yes, she still had them.  She is a sweet, sweet Mom.  So my husband's brothers each took a figure or two that had special meaning to them.  My sentimental husband took everything that wasn't broken.  So we have something like nine boxes of vintage (and VERY played with) GI Joe, He-Man, Star Wars, Transformers, Legos, and other toys.  In a few years, on some Saturday morning, we will watch the cartoons and pull out the toys so Daddy and Noah can play together.  Nerdy, but fun.  That phrase basically sums up one of the biggest reasons I married my husband, and love him more everyday.

Yes, I said when TWO nerds get married.  I can't mock my husband too much for still enjoying GI Joe and having the toys.  I can still sing all the words to the theme song.  ;0}  I know which character is my favorite and why.  I can still remember playing GI Joe at recess, and which character I always wanted to be, even though the other girl character had a better weapon.

Who would have thought that when a chunky, blonde haired girl was sitting in Idaho watching a cartoon, a skinny, awkward kid in Pennsylvania was watching the same thing, and twenty-five years later they would be sitting down together to watch GI Joe again?  :)  I love that.  

Ugh!  Sappy.  I digress.  

~Yo, Joe!

Oh How I Wanted to Complain!

Psalm 100

(A psalm.  For giving thanks.)

¹Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands.

²Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing.

³Know ye that the LORD he is God:

      it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves;

      we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

⁴Enter into his gates with thanksgiving,

      and into his courts with praise:

      be thankful unto him, and bless his name.

⁵For the LORD is good;

      his mercy is everlasting;

      and his truth endureth to all generations.

My fibromyalgia almost got the best of me today*.  Not physically - it gets the best of me physically everyday.  Today it almost got me, mentally.  Sometimes it seems like little things building up.  Lately, my sleep schedule has been unusually bad, which means I end up sleeping during the day.  So spend nights sitting alone, and days mostly sleeping when I want to be with my family.  The other day, I got up mid-morning, I think.  Derek had gotten up very early with Aria.  So pretty soon, he wanted to take a nap.  Noah, after not taking naps for MONTHS, has recently starting taking naps again.  Which is wonderful, but on this day, I got up, and an hour or so later everyone else in the house took a nap.  The next day I had a terrible nightmare (the worst of many lately, and is it a nightmare during the day?), and I desperately wanted to hug Noah when I woke up.   He was taking a nap.  Several days, I got up and the kids were sleeping.  Pretty soon I realized that I'm just not seeing enough of them.  Derek is quite busy with work, which is great, but I'm not seeing much of him either.

Today was Derek's day off.  When I finally got up (after noon), he reminded me that we had an appointment that afternoon.  I felt TERRIBLE, there was no way I could go, but the kids needed to be there.  So I helped the kids get dressed, and before I could even have a cup of coffee I watched my whole family leave without me.  Oh how I wanted to complain!  There's no way to fix it.  There are things that have to be done.  Other people still have to live life.  But I wanted to complain to someone.  I struggled, and I almost gave in.  My first instinct is to post something on Facebook.  Fortunately, I have a personal rule about not using Facebook to complain.  This was enough to make me pause and regroup.  Teeth gritted in determination, I started making a list of things for which I am thankful.  You may have seen it on my Facebook status.  I soon realized there were more things that I could ever mention in a Facebook status.  So, I just listed the most immediate.

There is always more sunshine than rain in my life.  Yet, sometimes it's so tempting to focus on the gloom.  God has blessed me with so much!  There are many, many people who have more to complain about than I do.  

So, here I sit.  Once again everyone is asleep, and I'm awake.  I know, though, that in a little while I will go in the check on my kids (as I do every night), and I will be so overwhelmed with love and thankfulness.  Their sleeping faces are so peaceful and perfect.  Then I will crawl into bed, and sleep or not, little critters will cuddle up with me.  A cat will lick my hands and purr so loudly that Derek may wake up.  How dare I ever want to complain?!  I have been given so much!

Isis loves her baby, Aria Grace

I know I harp on thankfulness.  It's the lesson I learn over and over.  It's important.  It's how I cope with the struggle of chronic pain and fatigue.  Fibromyalgia is a complicated disability.  It's more than a physical struggle.  I don't know how I would get through it without the love and support of my family.  As wonderful as they are, they can't fight the mental struggle for me.  Only God can help me there, and He does. He blesses me greatly, and doesn't let me forget it.  He is the source of joy.  He is the source of all good things.  God is good, all the time.

*When I say "today,"  I mean Thursday.  I haven't gone to bed yet, so to me it's still Thursday, even though the clock says it's very, very early on Friday.