Well, that's a first!

Turning 21 is one of those milestone birthdays. It's been over a decade since that particular milestone for me, but I was challenged to share "21 firsts" from my life and it's made me nostalgic for those good old days when we still looked forward to those impending milestone birthdays, instead of dreading them... At the [ahem] ripe old age of 33, what do I have to look forward to? Turning 35 when my fertility starts nose-diving? Turning 40 and officially being the age when it's appropriate to start receiving cards that joke about getting older? Turning 50 and all the "over the hill" gag gifts? Nope, nothing to look forward to except retirement, which seems to be getting further and further away... 65, no wait, 67, or is it even later than that now?

Anyway, enough looking forward... let's look back, shall we?

1. First friend: Aimie Mikhelle Taylor – from grade school
2. First pet: Yorkie named Winston who died very young of the Parvo virus when I was still in grade school
3. First movie that scared me silly: Raiders of the Lost Ark (not the snakes, but the flying evil spirit things at the end when they opened the ark)
4. First record I ever bought: a 45 of Styx - Mr. Roboto (ugh!)
5. First pair of glasses: sixth grade, clunky plastic frames
6. First kiss: Scott somebody, he was the cousin of a friend, we were in middle school and it was a horrible, slobbery disappointment
7. First Car: Silver 1979 Pontiac Firebird
8. First boyfriend: P@ul, the troubled older bad boy
9. First formal dance: Junior Prom with aforementioned P@ul
10. First love: J@mez
11. First ‘good’ jewelry: tiny diamond stud earrings from my daddy on my 18th birthday
12. First concert: ZZ Top, opened by the Black Crowes 1991
13. First inebriation: at a Univ of Mo-Rolla frat party on cheap pineapple rum
14. First job out of college: Temping at an insurance company, processing auto collision claims
15. First NEW car I ever bought: 98 Acura CL
16. First Travel outside of US: Winnipeg, MB Canada spring 2000
17. First true love: My hubby!
18. First house purchased: Aug 2000, 4 bedroom, 3.5 bath, never-EVER buy a Pulte house, 2 story with finished basement and fenced yard
19. First child: Miss M, 22 months now
20. First thought this morning: “You didn’t go to bed until 11 pm last night, my daughter. How can you be ready to get up this early!!!!! It’s not even 8 am yet!”
21. First thought upon starting this list: “I’ll never be able to come up with 21 firsts.”

Melting...

It was hot, H-O-T, hot here in KS this weekend. And the coming week promises nothing but MORE hot, humid, and nasty weather for your sweating enjoyment. We’re talking over 100°F (in the shade!) at the old casa today. Ugh. We spent all day in the air conditioning today.

Last night we were forced to sleep in the basement. See, we are having another round of home repairs being perpetrated on our house. And the siding all along the northwest side is ripped off. The head of our bed sits along the northwest wall and without that siding, it is near impossible to cool the room. A ceiling fan, two oscillating fans, and air conditioning providing optimal air rotation could not cool the room. I moved the digital cable box out of our TV armoire in the bedroom, down to the living room. Can’t stand to watch HBO in the heat, you know.

My best friend at work found out fabulously good news last Friday! She finally passed a particular actuarial exam that has been the bane of her existence for the past few years. I think the key to her success this time was the fact that she no longer loses 2+ hours a day in commute time AND she has a more supportive network of peeps encouraging her! I want to tell her that I’m so very proud of her, but every time I try to work out how exactly to say it, it comes out sounding condescending, as if she were my subordinate, and really, she’s above me at work on the corporate pecking ladder. Anyway, YEAH for her!!!!!!

I feel like yet another weekend has gone by, and I missed it. As Ferris Bueller says, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in awhile, you could miss it.” Spending all weekend inside, hiding from the oppressive heat, and you miss things. I could be outside right now, baying at the moon like a lovesick coyote, but it’s just too durn hot… I’d start to howl, but would just end up panting and looking for a cool puddle to lap up. The moon is pretty cool looking tonight though. It reflects a pale yellow blob in the shimmery black Tahitian pearl glow of the water in the kiddie pool in our back yard.

I should have spent the weekend writing, since I was cooped up inside anyway. Why didn’t I? (smacks forehead) oh yeah, I have a 22 month old who wants to sit in my lap and go to Playhouse Disneyor kneebouncers or PBS Kids whenever she sees me at the PC. So I’m writing after midnight, again. Writing, or the lack thereof, is an important touchstone in my life. When I’m not writing, I’m usually not doing all that well, emotionally and mentally. Then I bounce in with a flurry of work, get my self dredged up out of the doldrums. Once that’s achieved, I frequently end up over committed to projects and to-do lists and eventually slip back down the slippery slope of feeling inadequate to accomplish all my little goals. It’s a really sucky cycle that I desperately need to break.