Happy Birthday to Me!

Wow, I'm 26 today. I sound so old and decrepit.

I celebrated my birthday by attending class. It was awesome. I almost fell asleep. Oops! It's an important class, too. We're covering four chapters of the nervous system in a very short amount of time and it's the hardest material yet.

After my evening class Mom Vines made me quesadillas for supper, and peach cobbler for dessert. After we had our quesadillas she ran to the store to get some ice cream to top the cobbler and while she was gone the transformer in the in-laws backyard blew up. It was SO LOUD!!! Dad V and I found an oil lamp and a candle and called mom to buy some candles while she was out. About 5 minutes later the lamp started smoking and burning down and when we looked at it we realized the wick wasn't even long enough to be in the oil. Wow, FAIL!! As we were sitting around in the mostly dark house by the light of a flickering candle it brought back so many memories of my childhood, good ones that made me nostalgic and realize again how little time humans spend actually interacting with each other in today's over-entertained world. It's very sad, and I hope I can figure out how to have some slower personal times with my kids.

I went to the bathroom in the dark and it made me think of a time when I was a kid when I must have been complaining about having to take a shower with one candle and that it was too dark. My mom told me to pretend I was blind and feel for things. Such compassion, ha! but I really did used to pretend I was blind sometimes so that I would know how it felt. I was pretty fanciful when I was a kid. I had a huge imagination. I don't really like the grownup me very much. I'm too practical and I've lost touch with my kid side. My brother and sister and I also used to say we couldn't sleep because it was too hot, and mom would tell us to lie very still and we'd feel a breeze. Some nights we would lay there and fan ourselves with these little woven hand fans, foofooki's, and they always smelled like that market where we bought them no matter how long we'd had them. We'd just fan ourselves to sleep. Sometimes I could even con my sister into fanning me to sleep, just like when we got older I could con her into rubbing my back. Usually it went something like, you fan/massage me and then I'll fan/massage you. I'd get her to go first, and then I'd fall asleep. Not very nice, huh? Well, I'm not proud of it and I regret it because really it was terrible of me. Usually I would justify it by telling myself that she hogged the whole bed, kicked me, and took all the covers when it was cold. But really I was just being a self centred little snot. Sorry Erika!

"Helping" Mommy put away the clean dishes. Really I just gave him the organizer and a few pieces of silverware to keep him entertained while I did the dishes!

I think I had a really great, special childhood and I love that it was unique. I hope my kids look back, when they get old like me, and remember lots of good times!

Thanks Lord for another year here, and please help next year to be another good one!