Andy's April Fool's Artifice

Every year the focus of April Fool's is not on me, but rather my sister whose birthday is today. Happy Birthday, sis! Yes, she usurped my right to have an April Fool's where my mom could focus on trickery and wiliness, instead she was worried about birthday cake and balloons and the like. But today changed that, thanks Andy. I was fooled for the first time in years!!

Let me explain. I was sitting at my computer at work, working very studiously, I might add when we received a phone call from the main office that the lights were on on my Honda! So, I quickly jumped up, grabbed my keys and headed out the doors to get some fresh air, happy for the little walk I was getting. Now, I will tell you all of the details in order to give you a more complete picture. As I walked to my car I was thinking all kinds of things, but mostly I was focusing on my new way of walking. You see, I have hired a running trainer to teach me how to run again! We met yesterday and for the first 10 minutes we watched children running around at the park. It was amazing to see the principles she was teaching us in action on these small children. It reminds me that everything I need to know I learned in kindergarten. So, I was trying to walk with my stomach tight, my pelvis turned in and my mid-rif stretched as much as I could to be in the right posture. But being new at this, I haven't really opted to show people, especially the people I love what I'm doing, becuase to be perfectly honest, I feel a little silly because it doesn't feel natural anymore. Years of running the wrong way has changed the way my body is positioned so doing it the right way feels funny. But as I was walking to my car, I was practicing. But I really didn't care, because, who was watching?.
So, I walked to where I thought I remembered parking my car, only it wasn't there. My first instinct was to think I had parked there yesterday and simply didn't remember the correct spot for today. Because, let's face it, I have parked all over that parking spot throughout the whole year. So, I looked around, no where did I see my gray, steely-hued crossover peeking at me. Hmm....what to do?

So, I pulled out my keys and pushed the door to lock it because my car makes a sound when it's locked. Only I didn't hear it. I walked a little but up the aisle a litte more to see if I hadn't gone far enough. When that failed, I pushed the panic button all the while trying not to panic. You see, I haven't had great luck with my car recently. It was the victim of a hit and run and so it was in the shop for a few days. Pushing the panic button made nothing happen except hit the on button to my panic. So, I thought that my car must have been stolen!! How??? What was I going to do? How was I going to get home?

Readers, at this point, I must tell you that friends of mine had both of their cars stolen last year, so it wasn't entirely out of the realm of unreal possibility to think this way.

As I was about to cry, Andy must have sensed this, he pulled up in my Honda flashing the lights. As he got closer I saw that he had a balloon in it that read: I got April Fooled and he was laughing hysterically!! Hahaha, April fools!! I haven't been fooled in a long time.

Oh, one more thing. He brought me a piece of cake to sweeten the deal!

I only have one thing to say Mr. Pagley: "fool me once, shame on you, but fool me twice shame on me!"

It has only taken me 16 years!

Hi everybody. This is one of those blogs where you may feel like you've been given TMI. If you are generally uncomfortable reading about the intimacies of others, please stop reading. THe rest who devour the stuff...read on!

I don't know why it has taken me only 16 years to have this epiphany! I was to busy being in the moment to observe it I guess. I know this is sounding greater than the reality of it, but to me, it has given me great insight.

So, the other day, Andy and I were bickering about some mundane detail over which we disagreed. We all have these right! While I think Andy and I have been tamed by time, we still engage in this bantering back and forth. I have already known that this type of communication does not mean the same thing to Andy that it does to me. I take it more lightly than does my significant other and know that it doesn't speak of impending doom.

The thing that you must know about Andy and me to get my epiphany is that Andy does not like to be directly questioned about things and I am a bottom line kind of girl! I want the bottom line; I don't want the details (to me the devil is in the details), just tell me what I need to know. (I think my impatience gets me everytime). So, I was trying to get information from Andy on the topic of which we were disagreeing. And then the next thing I knew, our line of communication changed and we were fighting over the line of questioning. And then it hit me! Seriously, I don't know why this didn't hit me before now, but the conflict became as much about the way we were communicating as what created the conflict in the first place! I can't tell you how many times our conversations became focused on how I said what and why did I say it that way and so on. It became as much about the way we communicated as the actual thing we were fighting over. With my wanting a "bottom line" I don't want to hear the details, but with Andy not wanting to be directly questioned--he doesn't like being tied down to a "bottom line;" he likes to leave things open to the possibilities.

What my epiphany is is that we didn't get our problem worked out because our way of communicating often created its own conflict which interfered with our solving the problem. It created an extra layer. I hope that recognizing that we communicate differently during our "talks" will help us keep our focus on the problem rather than our communication. Am I being naive to think that knowing this will alter our habits? I truly hope so, not that I'm being naive, but that it will help us focus.

But that raises another point I also recently recognized. Andy and I express love differently. I feel loved when I get compliments and he feels love when his house is clean. Oops. That explains why he cleans so darn much and it explains why I have given him compliments every day of our married lives!! Let's hope the stars align so we don't always feel like star crossed lovers!! And yet, I love him more today than I could have ever imagined 16 years ago!

It will happen again tomorrow...and the day after... and...

Melting Dad's heart every morning. Watching Noah and Brenna walk to school is like ...darn.. I can't think of anything that isn't trite. So, it's like...watching the sun rise.

Brenna gets a little Irish

by participating in a St. Patrick's Day Parade with Brownies!!




Do you notice anything different in this picture about Brenna?


Ans. She is not longer wearing her green scarf; one of her friends confiscated it and wore it the rest of the time!!

Tobin gets b-r-a-c-e-s

BEFORE


AFTER

My Dad Visits

My dad came for a visit with my family last weekend. We had a great time and really enjoyed visiting with him. My brother and sister also came to visit as well. I can only hope my dad and Marie weren't overwhelmed by all of the mayhem that 10 grandchildren can bring to any home.

It was a really good visit. The conversation was easy and there were plenty of laughs to go around. I have to admit that it was a pretty great weekend. I feel like it really is the beginning of a better relationship with my dad. I wasn't quite prepared for his visit because I thought he was coming a week later, so it was nice that things worked out so well. They didn't want to displace my boys so they slept downstairs and said it was fine.

Mexico

Mexico was a blast!! I had planned from the beginning for us to see the Mayan ruins in Mexico. I was more excited after I learned that Tobin would be studying the Mayan ruins in the spring in his social studies class. We landed in Cozumel and had to take a ferry over to the mainland and then take a 1 1/2 hour ride to the ruins. I really liked the bus ride as I was able to look outside and see some of its personality through the stores, houses and roads that I saw. We stopped about half way there for a rest break at a little store. There were lots of crafts and jewelry to look at and buy. It reminded me of my last trip to Mexico when I was 19 years old. Boy, has time flown by! The children and Andy got a Mexican ice cream treat and I bought some bells to hang on the wall.

When we got to the ruins, it was pretty hot. Andy and the children hopped on the bust to the ruins and I began the 1/2 mile walk to the ruins. We had a wonderful tour guide who gave us a great introduction to the ruins. The ruins were at Tulum, the only ruins on the Caribbean coast. The Mayan buildings were set atop a cliff with the most beautiful beach below. There were lizards all over the Mayan grounds. We realized they are like our squirrels. Brenna was really enthralled with them and I'm sure they are what she will remember from the ruins. Let's see, what do I remember about the ruin presentation:

1. Our word salary came from the sea salt they traded with.
2. They also used the coco bean (chocolate) to trade with. See, every civilizaton has known the value of chocolate!
3. They had 4 colors they used on the walls to make pictures, blue, red, black and white.
4. They had a myth about a God which they depicted as entering the temple upside down.
5. Our tour guide, talking about the origins of the Mayan tribes, stated that one of the theories is that they are a broken off branch of the tribes of Israel. Very interesting....

It was a really fun tour and we were given time afterwards to walk around. We really didn't have enough time. It didn't help that at one point we couldn't find Brenna. We had been walking around when we realized she wasn't with us. We had discovered a trail of paths that led in different directions. We were afraid she had followed an iguana away from us. Sadly, we found her sitting where we had last been as a family (about 15 minutes after we started looking for her) because she hadn't moved from there. She figured that she ought to stay put, that we would come looking for her there. It had been out of the range of our voices, so she didn't hear us calling for her. I was panicked, feeling in my heart like I couldn't breathe, I couldn't imagine losing my blond little girl in a place we didn't call home!! She was a little sad when we found her, but fine. We were able to once again see the beauty of the place. And then we had to leave! The pictures don't do it justice, but here they are.
















After seeing the ruins, we were dropped off in downtown Cozumel with about an hour and a half before the boat left. So,we walked around the open air "mercado" and enjoyed being outside.