40
This morning, on the dawn of my 40th birthday, I woke to see my beautiful son standing next to me. With my dear husband laying beside me, I thought, “what more could a woman want in life?”
Reality: 4:40 am. “Mommy, I think I’m going to throw up.”
I’m not kidding. You can’t make this stuff up.
Happy 40th birthday to me!
While I’m happy to report that there’s been no vomiting (yet), Garrett’s got a fever and is asleep again beside me on the couch. My big plans for the day include grant writing for work, from home, and nursing a sick child. Such is life. And life is funny as hell sometimes.
I’ve been thinking a lot about life lately. Yes, 40 is a milestone year, but I’ve always been “going on 40.” I was four and “going on 40.” Just ask my family. I did have a moment the other day when I thought, “holy $#!, 40 years is a long time.” But that was the extent of my freakout over 40.
I’ve learned that you can’t sweat the small stuff, and turning 40 falls into the small stuff category. I recently saw this quote and it made me laugh: “Don’t think too much. You’ll create a problem that wasn’t even there in the first place.” That’s where I’m at, at 40 – not thinking too much!
I feel that in the big span of things, I’ve lived a very blessed life thus far. And since I’m a glass-half-full kind of gal, I can only look forward to the next 40 years of blessings.
So cheers to 40 years! (And lets hope there’s really no vomit on my birthday).
A Year in the Life of a Wolf (Scout)
This weekend, we watched Garrett remove the gold neckerchief he’s been wearing with his Scout uniform for the last year, cross a bridge lined with torches in the twilight of an April evening, and receive the pale blue neckerchief of a Bear Cub Scout. This is a special ceremony called “Bridging” which takes place every spring and honors the work and effort each scout puts into earning a new rank in the Cub Scout program. Last year, I missed his Tiger to Wolf Bridge. This year, Dave and I both proudly witnessed Garrett’s advancement, as well as about 40 other boys in Juneau’s Pack 6 Cub Scout program.
Scouting has become a family affair for us. Dave is assistant Den leader for Garrett’s Den, and I am the Pack secretary. Pack 6 is comprised of a remarkable group of parents and adult volunteers. We have a lot of boys in our Pack, so the phrase, “it takes a village” comes to mind quite often. The scouting calendar runs from early fall through late spring, with a couple of events during the summer. Below are picture highlights of Garrett’s year as a Wolf Scout. Enjoy!
Age 7, geared up and headed to his first summer camp as a Wolf Cub.
Proudly wearing his uniform to Scouting Day at school.
Headed out to one of the first Den meetings of the year. Fall 2011.
Earning his archery badge at the fall day camp.
Den 3 field trip to the police station.
We hosted the Den Christmas Party. Garrett shows off Dave's scouting achievements (esp. Eagle Scout stuff).
Dave & Garrett at the Pine Wood Derby. Garrett won an award for "Funniest Car."
Den 3, making book ends.
Den 3 at the Blue & Gold Banquet, an annual event honoring the history of Scouting in America.
Den 3 - Scouting for Food this spring. Garrett's Pack gathered almost 1,000 pounds of food.
Den 3 Wolves, preparing to "bridge" to Bears.
Literally "on the bridge!"
Garrett and some of his Bear buds, after Bridging.
Eight is GR8T!
Today, 2/19/12, was Garrett’s 8th birthday. Eight! How did that happen? He seems so old, but really he’s still a little boy. But there’s nothing little about him. At this rate, he’ll be as tall as me by the time he’s 12. No matter how old or tall, he’ll always be our baby. Below are some pictures from the last couple of days of celebration. Enjoy!
Dave & I joined Garrett and his buddies for lunch on the Friday before his birthday.
Garrett, serving birthday cupcakes to his classmates at his classroom birthday party.
Birthday breakfast!
We. Lucked. Out. I plan an outdoor birthday party in February, and we get a beautiful day at the beach.
This was all we really saw of Garrett and his friends at his party. As it should be!
There was just enough of a breeze that we couldn't keep the candles lit. So all the kids "imagined" burning candles and Garrett blew them out.
Happy 8th Birthday, Garrett!
Dream Big: Read
I hope you don’t mind if, on behalf of Dave and I, I blog as a proud parent for a bit.
On October 30th, Garrett received a letter in the mail from the Juneau Public Libraries. The opening lines read: Congratulations Garrett! Your bookmark entry has been chosen as a Winner!
A few weeks earlier, during “library time” at school, students designed a bookmark around the theme, Dream Big: Read. Of over 250 2nd grade entries, Garrett’s design was chosen as the best in his grade level. He was invited to a ceremony on November 13th.
Garrett decided we should dress up for this event, and more than anything he wanted to wear a tie. Dave and I decided to make an evening of it and take him to dinner before the ceremony. We were the best dressed family in the Island Pub that evening, for sure!
Students from preschool to eighth grade participated this year, and there were over 1,500 entries. Each grade level had a winner and a runner up. Each winner and runner up received two giant bookmarks with their design, a laminated bookmark, the original design, a certificate and two gift cards for the local bookstores. Each student was called to the front of a packed crowd, filled with parents and grandparents and siblings, to have their picture taken with their giant bookmark, and receive all their prizes. It was a delight to see the variety of design and the kids being honored. Plus, the downtown library has a large display of many of the bookmarks entered into the contest. And finally, they make copies of all the winning bookmarks for anyone to pick up when they are passing through any of the city libraries.
Garrett’s design is an intricately detailed sea monster, reading a book. He included the theme, Dream Big: Read as a caption. Someone said to me, “this is the kind of thing he’ll remember forever.” I think that’s very true. I won a coloring contest in 2nd grade, and I remember it clearly. I believe this will be a special memory for Garrett. I know it certainly is for Dave & I.
Life without facebook
I don’t remember when I created my facebook account. I think it was sometime in 2008. I shut it down in September 2011. I once heard that it takes three months of doing something on a regular basis to create a habit. Three years of facebook created quite a habit.
Why did I shut my account down? The most honest and simple answer was that I began to feel that I was on facebook too much. Yes, I tried to limit myself. But logging into facebook was the thing I did on my own time when I should have been doing other things. I think that’s the best way to describe it. A friend said, “wow, that’s how I described my cigarette addiction!” Was I addicted to facebook? At the risk of sounding dramatic, maybe I was.
I had a wide range of interesting responses from friends and family when I announced my intentions to close my account. Most people wanted to know why. I heard a lot of “good for you!” I was told I was “courageous.” I had several people email me with pleas not to close my account. Without a doubt, facebook is a one-stop shop for keeping connected (email, status updates, photos, etc). Keeping in touch in other ways didn’t appeal to them. And most interestingly, many, many people wrote to me and said they “wished” they could do the same.
So what’s life like without facebook? I have more meaningful conversations with local friends. Instead of talking about our status updates, we say things like, “how are you today? what’s new?” I have written more letters in the last eight weeks than I have in years. This type of communication is a passion of mine, so it’s nice to rediscover. I have been working on more projects, and reading more (another passion). It’s funny (and not funny), but I’m more in-tune to how much Dave is on his iTouch or computer now that I’m not on mine.
Have I lost touch with people? Sure. Does that bother me? Sure. But I do know that often times the people I wanted to keep in touch with the most were the people on facebook the least. So I’ve had opportunities to connect with those people in more meaningful ways. And I would hope that people who want to keep in touch with me will reach out in other (maybe old-fashioned) ways to maintain the connection.
Do I miss seeing your most recent vacation photos? You bet. Do you miss my status updates about the silly, witty or charming things Garrett says? Many of you have told me you do. All I know is that I no longer walk around thinking of my life in status updates, and I think that’s a healthy thing.
Want to know something interesting? When you shut down your account, you are asked to provide a reason. “Spending too much time” was one of the common reasons on the list. I’m certainly not the first person to make this choice, and I’m sure I won’t be the last.
Takin’ a Swing
We’ve discovered a great rope swing only a short walk from the house. We’ve been in hiking training for our cabin trip coming up and have used the trail near this swing as training grounds for our young hiker. Now it’s more about the swing and less about the trail. For photos check our Outdoor Photo Gallery and the short YouTube video below .
Danger: New Swimmer
Dah dum. Dah dum. DahdumDahdumDahdum. He’s loose in the water! And after 8 swim lessons, he can swim, on his own, without help. This was not an expected outcome of Pre School Level 1 lessons, so you can imagine his teachers’ surprise and our pride. His graduation certificate even has a special note from his teachers complimenting him on his crawl stroke! We learned that he’s very motivated to please and very tuned in to his teachers. This bodes well for his transition to a preschool like environment in a couple of weeks and maybe even soccer camp next summer. Garrett will continue swim lessons in October, and we’re excited to practice with him between now and then.
View our Image Gallery with photos taken during the 4 weeks of lessons along with video of Garrett swimming on his own posted on YouTube.
Signed and Delivered
Yesterday I surprised Lori with our new truck. She was expecting that Garrett and I would be picking it up on Monday afternoon but I received a call from Honda saying that if we liked we could pick it up on Saturday!
We can finally get the dogs out for longer walks and Garrett’s said several times, “I like our new truck”. There are several places for Garrett to keep his “action” figures and the back is nice and big for him to play in. After our accident, Lori and I like that it has side curtain airbags and all-wheel drive.
Ta-da
It’s a first… Garrett got his shirt on by himself! Although he wore the shirt for hours, you’ll notice that it’s on backwards. What does it matter, he was cold, put his shirt on by himself and took credit by taking a bow. You tell him he put it on backwards…
New Addition
No, we’re not pregnant! It’s just this great mirror that has found it’s way “back into our lives”. Let me explain…
There was once this great store in Juneau that had many items from around the world to include mirrors, sinks, rugs and furniture. Lori and I spotted a mirror that at the time was too expensive. After months had passed following our initial spotting the store closed its doors to business. You snooze you loose… or so we’d thought. Missed their closing sale and everything!
Just the other day a co-worker showed me an email she’d received about the store having a last sale where the owner had taken a few things home and was needing to clear the clutter. There it was… the mirror we’d spotted for our bathroom and at 1/3 the cost!