children – Page 9 – Writes for all Mommies

children, family, gratitude, motherhood, Ohio State Football

The Story of a girl and her Buckeye

19/01/2015 WFAM

This is the story of a midwestern girl. She grew up in a rural town and never thought much beyond the outskirts of the farmlands that surrounded her. On a whim post-graduate school, she moved to Chicago. There, she met a Northwestern matriculating Buckeye. She didn’t think much of football but she did think much of the Buckeye. Quickly, she fell in love. Not so quickly, he did too.

Their romance wasn’t always a fairytale. No matter, the girl followed her heart again and again. On her convoluted path to finding everlasting love with this most handsomest of Buckeyes, she journeyed to Arizona with him to her first Ohio State National Championship game. As fate would have it, they won in a spectacular double overtime fashion.

January 3, 2002 Final Score: Buckeyes 31, Hurricanes 24 (the girl still has the sweatshirt which she stole from her Buckeye) — January 3, 2002
Final Score: Buckeyes 31, Hurricanes 24
(the girl still has the sweatshirt which she stole from her Buckeye)

This prompted the Buckeye to believe in miracles.

He got over himself finally and proposed to the girl.

She said yes.

She married her Buckeye at Disney World that same year.

She didn’t even mind when Mickey had to show some Buckeye spirit. I mean, she was finally married after all. She was in a generous mood.

O-H-I-O

Two, awesome little Buckeyes soon followed. Understanding that her Beloved bled scarlet and gray, the girl agreed to raise their family strictly Buckeye.

the girl, her Buckeye and their first baby Buckeye

Two more National Championships followed. The girl didn’t attend either as she had her little Buckeyes to care for and tickets for such events are a rarity. Both of these ended in heartbreaking losses. Her Buckeye made it to both of these. He likes to pretend he never went as both games stir painful memories for him.

Flash forward to present day and the Buckeyes had done it again. They were ready to take on the Oregon Ducks for the National Title. The girl hoped and prayed that somehow her Buckeye would get to go.

The Wednesday before the game the Buckeye called the girl.

“Are you sitting down?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“We have four tickets to the game.”

“What! FOUR?”

And, that’s when this story starts getting really, really good.

The Buckeye and the girl packed up their little Buckeyes and hit the road. So what if it was 30 hours round trip? This was the NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP.

As the weekend unfolded, the anxiety of the pending game was almost too much for the girl to take. She tried to keep her focus on being grateful to spend this adventure with her 3 favorite boys regardless of the game’s outcome. It wasn’t always easy.

Finally, game day arrived. As this little family made their way into the enormous stadium, nerves were at an all-time high. There were Buckeyes EVERYWHERE. It was like they were attending a home game at the ‘Shoe. The band was impeccable, the crowd was electric, the jumbotron was massive,â€¦.it was AWESOME.

As the game commenced and the Ducks methodically marched down the field and scored on their first possession, the littlest Buckeye burst into tears. As the waterworks flowed, his heart lost its ability to believe in a Buckeye victory.

The Buckeyes quickly answered and spirits were lifted instantly but remained precarious until solidly into the second half.

As the fourth quarter began to dwindle, the girl couldn’t believe that she was there. That the Buckeyes were going to win. Her Buckeye was joyous. Her little Buckeyes rejoiced. The whole stadium erupted as the final seconds ticked away.

She was there.

With them.

Celebrating a victory.

Wow.

A once in a lifetime moment.

And, yes, she’d marry her Buckeye all over again.

See you next year!

THE END

children, gratitude, humor, kids, motherhood, parenting

The Goal is LOVE (Happy New Year)

31/12/2014 WFAM

When I began this blog, I didn’t really have any big goals. I was still grieving the profound loss of my mom, which does and doesn’t get easier, and coping with raising two rambunctious boys. I started writesforallmommies on a whim and it became a great coping mechanism for me. It allowed me to connect with others in a way that my very introverted personality sometimes doesn’t allow.

Through the years, I have had posts that click with a reader, friend or relative. That is the best feeling in the world. To know that something I wrote resonated and hopefully made them feel less alone. Let’s be honest, raising children (or life in general) can be very isolating. We feel judged as much as we judge. We question ourselves as much as we question others. We put on a brave front that we know what we are doing, when in fact, we know very little about how our actions will impact the future. It is frightening and exhilarating and mystifying and lovely all at once.

I recently received an email from a mom thanking me for my support during her daughter’s recent diagnosis of ectopia lentis. This is the same, genetic eye disorder both of my boys have. It is so rare, that it is difficult to find adequate resources on-line or anywhere at all for that matter. This mom is one of three that has contacted me through writesforallmommies.com concerning this matter.

To be able to help these moms cope with the overwhelming feelings that came with this bizarre sounding disorder has been one of the greatest rewards of writing this blog. I share this with you because if you are going through a particularly rough patch right now, know that it is preparing you to be of service to someone else. My boys were undiagnosed for a long, long time and not knowing anyone who had gone through the same experience was gut-wrenching. I know I didn’t completely prevent the feelings of despair for these women, but I eased the way and gave them hope. My boys are living proof that vision does not define them. They are awesome, adaptive and remarkable. No matter what happens with their vision down the road, they will remain awesome, adaptive and remarkable.

You are all those and more, dear reader.

Happy New Year!

children, humor, kids, motherhood, parenting

The Teachable Moments

28/11/2014 WFAM

I love to watch movies with the boys. However, it is often difficult to agree on one that we all are willing to watch. Recently, Mad Dog persuaded me to allow the boys to watch a crazy tornado movie called Into the Storm. My boys usually do well watching movies geared slightly above their age range. We use a lot of humor to lighten the drama and it winds up being more comical than scary.

One of the reasons I love to watch movies with them is because they haven’t seen enough to understand obvious plot points. When I accurately ‘predict’ what is going to happen next, they are amazed.

For instance, Into the Storm had a scene where I correctly predicted that both the characters would live, even though all evidence pointed to the contrary. To see if Mad Dog was paying attention I said, “You know the hot girl lives. They always do.” He said an absentminded, “Yeah.”

Well, at this point, he was totally busted. I teased him and said, “What? So you admit she’s hot?”

He was backed into a corner.

As the movie progressed and this girl was in more and more peril, every time she survived, Mad Dog used it as a teaching tool. “See boys? See how the hot girl survives everything? That’s why I married your Mom. It’s the law of hotness. I will never die in a storm as long as I’m married to your Mom.”

My prediction? Mad Dog is safe for a long, long time.

children, humor, kids, motherhood, parenting

The Naked Truth

13/11/2014 WFAM

T.Puzzle has a new friend in our subdivision. He waited to greet us as the boys and I walked home from school. His Mom introduced herself and we discussed having this friend over to our house to play. It all was great. I asked where in the subdivision they lived and I pointed out our home at the end of the cul-de-sac.

“I already knew that!” the friend piped in. “I saw T.Puzzle and Full Speed there on Halloween night! Full Speed was naked!”

I thought about that a moment and said, “He must have been in his pjs. He just wears shorts to bed.”

“Yes, his chest was naked!”

His Mom said, “That’s what you wear to bed, too. The shorts you have on now are usually the shorts you end up wearing to bed.”

As an act of joining in on our community conversation, T.Puzzle marches up to his friend’s Mom and announces,

“My Dad sleeps naked!”

Naturally embarrassed I stammered, “Sorry about the accurate yet totally inappropriate TMI.”

She did not miss a beat, “I’ll make sure we ring the doorbell before we come in.”

And thatâ€¦, is how you make new friends in the neighborhood!

children, family, humor, kids, motherhood, parenting

Ha!

24/10/2014 WFAM

I was lulled into a false sense of security. I believed my boys would sustain normal, public behavior at length. Ha! I had a total of three errands to run with them before Full Speed’s flag football game. Not ideal to do so much at once, but sometimes, that’s just how the cards fall. The first errand went beautifully. Glasses were adjusted and manners were used. At the next stop, that’s when it began to go off the rails.

It started with Full Speed cracking a joke. Now don’t get me wrong, I love jokes. I love humor. It makes life bearable and often times, really, really fun. We were at a sporting goods store when he picked up a tiny, flowery pink pair of baby girl sport-sandals and said, “Mom, I think these would be a great gift for Dad for his birthday.” I chuckled and joined in. We were there to purchase some Under Armour for T.Puzzle. I picked up a neon-pink, leopard-printed pair of pants and said, “Hey, T.Puzzle, these are perfect for football.” This was my fatal mistake. They took Mom cracking a joke to mean that they could run wild.

First, it started with wrestling which then turned into a heated foot race which then led to them picking up teeny, tiny lavender one-pound weights and declaring, “These are the heaviest weights ever!”, as they pumped them furiously up and down.

I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry so I did a little of both. The sales kid, oh, how he judged me! By this time he was helping us size shoes and the boys were continuing their spectacular display of silliness. I said, “Makes you want to have lots of kids, doesn’t it?”

Not wanting to lose the sale, the sales kid said nothing and sheepishly smiled.

When we returned to the car I had to give the boys my ‘you-better-hold-it-together-at-the-pediatrician’s-or-you-will-regret-it-dearly’ speech. It worked. We got through Full Speed’s ten-year wellness check virtually unscathed.

When do I get to run errands and not have to make threatening speeches? Does it ever happen? Or, will I always have to scare these boys straight?

Guess I better go back to the store and get some teeny, tiny lavender one-pound weights to build up my endurance because clearly, I am not there yet.