My Kids

Is there anything worse than MONDAY?
BLECH!
As I sat on the edge of the bed this morning trying to talk myself into dragging my weary old carcass into work, I thought of the many blessings I have in my life.
Here are the three main ones:



This was taken last spring at my daughter, Danielle's high school graduation. I LOVE this picture!

Danielle is the rose between the two thorns. My surprise baby born 9 years after the younger boy. I was told I'd never have any more babies after my second son was born. SURPRISE!
Danielle loves all things Japan. She is into Anime, Japanese history and has even been to Japan twice. She's studying at Indiana University, Bloomington and majoring in (surprise again) East Asian Languages and cultures. She also has a second major in computer science (yes, she's a self proclaimed geek) but that's only to feed herself. She's also studying music (but not majoring in it). It's a VERY competitive field and she doesn't want to lose her love of it. She plays viola, loves classical and orchestral music and has most recently started playing the piano. She is an artist in her own right - she can DRAW! Something that I cannot do. And YES - she understands why her mother still plays with dolls.

The *HAM* on the left is Eric. Eric was born a deep royal blue color having had the cord around his neck 3 times. His little heart would stop every time I had a contraction. My doctor was a general practitioner and couldn't perform c-sections. By the time they rounded up an anesthesiologist and an OB surgeon, Eric decided he couldn't wait any longer. Out he came - and proceeded to scowl at the world for the next 4 months.
As a baby, his favorite pass time was to slam his head against the crib by rocking back and forth on all fours. He had no fear at all growing up - even broke his thumb *surfing* on the hood of his older brother's car!
He went to New York City to pursue his dream of becoming a film writer in 2001. September 11 destroyed that dream.
He then joined the US Air Force, met a girl and they were married. Eric was then called to duty in Iraq. While over there, his wife decided she wasn't going to sit at home and shortly after Eric returned, she dumped him for another guy. Eric is still looking for someone to love him.
After he was dumped, some friends took him to a comedy club to drown his sorrows. Once there, they dared him to get up on stage during Open Mic. He did it - the crowd liked him. So he decided to try it again sober the next week. He did it again - the crowd LOVED him.
Now he does it for money.
If you live in the Austin, Texas area - please visit the Velveeta Room or Cap City Comedy Club on the weekends. If you see a very tall, very skinny, very cheesy young man on stage - be sure and laugh extra loud. OH - and tell him his mother loves him.

Last (but not least) is my trainer kid. My oldest son, Joe. Growing up, Joe was always very serious. I used to joke he was 40 going on 5. (Now, he's 31 going on 10.) Most of this is due to the fact that he has a very stressful lifestyle. He's a second year resident in Emergency Medicine at the University of Kentucky School of Medicine. I couldn't do what he does! To relieve stress, he and his lovely wife, Dawn, ballroom dance. Having two left feet myself, I couldn't believe that a child of mine is SO coordinated!
Joe was always my brainiac. I remember waking up one Christmas morning when Joe was 4 and Eric was just a wee one. Joe was reading a book to Eric. I thought - oh how nice, he memorized a book. Until I sat down next to him and realized that this was a book they had got the night before and there was no way he could have memorized it - he was actually READING it to his brother.
They identified him as gifted kindergarten. The gifted programs didn't start until kids were older in the Houston, Texas school district we lived in, so Joe was often bored. When we moved to Kansas when Joe was in second grade, they asked us to let him skip second grade. In sixth grade, he was taking math and science with the seventh graders. He graduated #1 in his class from high school - and was given a FREE RIDE to college (he was a Ronald Reagan scholar at Eureka College). It was there that he met Dawn - and I gained another daughter!

So - today I am grateful. Even though I am not having much fun.
But tonight - I PLAY!
Have a good Monday!