It is Saturday, March 28, 2020. This is the latest that I have slept since the “New Normal” began. Alexa is playing classic rock for me this morning, and this is putting me in the mood for a brisk run. The boys are both still sound asleep. The little furs, Pumpkine and Trooper are eating their breakfast, while the big furs, Storme and Potatoe, are snuggled up together on the couch with their tummies already full.
Sweet Emotion is playing.
We had a huge win at work this week with more great things to come. Work is definitely keeping me busy, and for this I am thankful. Even though I have a job, I am being careful with my spending. I am impressed at how on board the boys are with this. In an entire week, the only thing that I either of them have asked for is a book on Amazon. I was one pushing to pay $20 to watch the latest Star Wars movie last night. This was $20 well spent. I LOVE that movie.
What is new in today’s news: The city of New Orleans appears to be in the brink of the same rate of outbreak as New York City. Honestly, it is hard to tell what is really going on in the news. Our news here in Houston makes New York City look like a complete disaster, a depiction of a dystopian science fiction movie. My friends there tell me they are fine in New York and nothing is that different there than it is here.
Challenges with present situation: My frustration with the media continues. My concerns for the economy over all and my many friends that are out of work continue.
On a personal front, I am really starting to miss all my friends. I took for granted all of the dinners out, steak nights, trivia nights and afternoons watching football. The delay of major league baseball opening makes me sad. I think back to last season, one of the first things that I did when I joined the company that I work for now was to attend an Astros’ game. We all had so much fun. This is a day that I would like to relive.
Update on the birds: I think that Little Chirp had a birthday to remember. We played Mario Party, we ate steaks and we watched Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. The bot won at Mario Party! That is a first. Little Chirp is the master steak maker, and he had took so much pride in the steaks that he made.
He also got to go with his brother to Dairy Queen for a blizzard. He ate half the blizzard for snack that afternoon, and then could not wait to dig into the other half when it was time to sit down for the movie. I have never seen a large Dairy Queen blizzard. That is a lot of ice cream! It is the little things in life.
Brainy Bird made 1490 on is SAT on a 1600 scale. This testing round a 1490 is in the 99th percentile, meaning he scored in the top 1% in the nation. He is hoping for one more crack the exam. The general consensus is that the testing was more difficult this go round, and he knows that he can break above 1500 or even take home a perfect score if he gets another shot at the exam. That said, if August 1st gets here before the SAT centers reopen, he is not going to stress out; he is going to get his college applications done and know that he did the best that he could under present circumstances. August 1st is when the application period for nearly every college opens.
Things I am grateful for: I am beyond grateful to be a mother. I am grateful for Little Chirp and Brainy Bird beyond anything else in this world. They are my world.
Yes, I copied that paragraph from yesterday’s blog post. This holds true again today, and everyday to come.
Shout out to a friend: Today’s shout out goes to my cousin Michelle. I miss you girl! The present circumstances have me thinking about the things that I wish had done that I kept meaning to do. Taking the boys to New Orleans to visit you is at the top of that list. I would leave tomorrow if the world would “reopen”.
Michelle is one of the most intelligent people that I have ever met. The two of us grew up together on the same farm. Our grand parents owned all of the land, and they built each of their daughters a house on the land. Michelle’s mom, Aunt Peggy, is the middle daughter, and my mom was the youngest daughter.
My utopian childhood was Michelle’s hell. We lived in a little town that had zero idea about diversity and acceptance. We grew up in a time and place that shunned a girl that did not want to wear a dress and chase after boys. Yet, Michelle embraces the positives of her childhood, namely her family and close friends, and she loves to tell stories about growing up with her crazy German family on the farm. She is about five years older than me, so remembers more about our grand parents and aunts and uncles than I do.
Growing up on the farm instilled an intense work ethic in all of us, and Michelle is no exception. She works her tail off as a consultant in the health care compliance industry. Her successful career has provided her the opportunity to travel all over the world, and she loves everyone she meets. She sees people, not race, gender or socioeconomic status.
When I go to visit New Orleans, her friends know who I am because she has told them stories about our childhood. They are all excited to meet me, and this makes me feel special.
Michelle has a strong sense of community where she lives in New Orleans. What Michelle does not realize is that she herself has helped create the kindness and sense of community that surrounds her. She has lived in her city for a long time, and every where that she has gone, she has stopped to get to know the other person. She is always looking out for everyone else, and this does not go unnoticed. People in turn treat others the same way, and this fosters the strong sense of community that Michelle lives within.
I have visited New Orleans without Michelle, and I have visited with Michelle. The experience with Michelle is notably different because every where I go with Michelle, the red carpet rolls out. She is not a celebrity; her super power is simply always taking the time to get to know the other person. People that know Michelle, love Michelle.
Michelle hosts huge parties in her own home to bring the different lesbian communities in New Orleans together. Everyone is always happy to be invited and to feel included, and everyone loves the homemade Tex-Mex. Michelle can cook! Growing up on the farm, Omie taught us all to cook.
I look up to Michelle; I always have. At the same time, I am so proud of her. She could have taken an angry stance on the world; at times the world certainly gave her reason to. Instead, she paved her own way. She embraced the happy all around her. Michelle is unwavering in her core values of honesty and integrity. She deeply values her family and her friends. Her loyalty to her inner circle is second to none. Her acceptance of everyone around her is something that we could all learn from.
More than a decade ago, one of Michelle’s catch phrases was, “You do you.” This phrase championing people to be themselves is mainstream today. Every time one of the boys says it; I think of Michelle saying it to me, in what feels like another lifetime, before the phrase became mainstream. Those words gave me strength when I needed it the most.
I love you Michelle. Thank “you for doing you.”
Positives with present situation: I finally have time this weekend to finish unpacking. We moved into our house in October, and half of everything that we own is still in the garage. I actually have the whole weekend to finish unpacking. No, I am not actually going to finish unpacking. I am going to unpack boxes until I find the old Nintendo, so we can play some of the old Mario Party games in the evenings next week. 🙂
It is the little things in life…