As sands through the hourglass.....

And it seems as if those sands are increasing speed as I get ummm... "older."
The last month has been a roller coaster ride, full of reconnections, letting go and coming to terms with the mortality of my own dear parents. It became so clear to me as my mom and I attended a wake together for one of my best friend's dad who lost his battle with cancer. As my mom and I were talking afterward, she nonchalantly said she is " no longer on the highway of life, more like approaching the exit ramp." Wow. Smack in the face.
This all became a terrible reality this past week with my mom and her own health. She has been quite sick the last couple weeks and is in the middle of a lot of testing to find out what could be the cause. I am really struggling with all of this and facing the reality that someday, I really could lose her. We talk almost every day. What would I do without my best friend???
I have another dear, dear friend who is also battling the "C" word with her mother. This one comes in the form of lung cancer. She is finished with all of her treatments and chemo and is doing quite well, but I can't quite shake the knowledge that it will eventually get her. How many people out there do you hear talking about the fact that they are a "lung cancer survivor?" I'm guessing not many.
Speaking of my dear friend Emily. I am so glad that I had the fantastic opportunity to reconnect with her after 10+ years! I love this girl so much! We were friends practically before we were born, and completely lost touch with each other, even though she only lives in S.St. Paul. She has 2 beautiful boys and is still the same sweet, caring beautiful person that I remember.
She is having a hard time divorcing the d-bag reason that we lost touch with each other. The d-bag husband is proving to be and even bigger d-bag eventual ex-husband. If payback is a bitch, then this guy deserves a whole tribe of them.
I am so happy to switch gears, this post is depressing me...... on a happy and fantastic note I also reconnected with my good friend Dana, who is now the proud owner of Synergy Dance Center. It had only been a couple years since we had a good old fashioned laugh together, but she asked me to judge auditions for her performing groups and I had a blast! We spent the day yesterday at the Lifetime pool with her wonderful girls Aubrie and Macie and the boys had a BLAST!! I think Logan has his very first crush on Macie! :) Dana and I had fun relaxing and talking and lets just say that Dana has alot of exciting things on hand for this fall. Stay tuned!!!

All in a day's work.

It started with a dream. Pre-Angelina Brad and I were sitting side by side on lounge chairs, looking out at the most amazing, beautiful beach. The breeze was lightly tossing my hair. All was good in the world. Brad looks over at me and lovingly says "Mom, catch!"
What???
I open my eyes just in time to see the mini Gopher football hit me square in the forehead.
"Nice catch, mom!" Logan cheers and runs out of the bedroom. Awesome.
I roll over and drag my butt out of bed. Yet another morning where the kids have gotten up before me and run amok doing all sorts of unspeakable things without my knowledge.
I am heading for the bathroom when tragedy strikes. "MOM!!!! Come quick, Help me!!" Conner screams from downstairs. I rush down the stairs expecting the worst and there it was right before my eyes...... Lego Vader had fallen in the toilet. Even though he is on the Dark Side, nobody deserves to meet such an unfortunate demise. So I peeked in and sure enough, there he was on the bottom of the bowl. But good grief, couldn't he have fallen in before Conner used the toilet?? No such luck. So, I put on my Super Mom cape (and rubber gloves) and rescued Lego Vader, scrubbed him up and went to the kichen to start up some breakfast.
Apparently, in the 20 seconds it took me to grab the juice out of the fridge, Lego Vader, the needy bastard he is, managed to get himself lodged in the soap dispenser. I guess Conner wanted to make sure he was good and clean so he just shoved him right on in. Awesome. Yet another rescue and it wasn't even 8 am!
So, after burning the Eggo's and setting off the smoke detector I decided to call it a day. I put away my cape (and rubber gloves) and set off to tackle the laundry which I can count on to be mundane and uneventful.
I am happy to report that it was just as I expected and the rest of the day went much better! But, the best part of the day is now when Super Mom gets to refuel. My particular fuel comes in a blue bottle and says "Riesling" which I am sure means God-send in German.

Mom... I love you more than McDonalds.

We had a great Memorial weekend! We packed up the Trailblazer (or, Failzazer as Logan pronounces it!) and tried to beat the traffic by leaving town at 2pm. Apparently, everyone had that exact same idea because we STILL hit some major traffic! It is so fun to see that the closer to the cabin we get, the more and more excited Jason becomes! The storytelling begins at about the Hinckley exit. It is fun to see him remember certain trips to the cabin as a child, or a teenager and even though I have heard these same stories dozens of times... I just smile and let him chatter on. The cabin means so much to him and I am so glad that we now get to bring our kids up to start making their own memories!

Conner had a blast with his idol, Jason's cousin Weston, and the two of them got in some good fishing. Conner was so proud of his rock bass and his crappie, even though he had to throw them back! Weston even took Conner on a boat ride and they found a little turtle and a big frog. The begging to keep them was not so awesome for mom........

Logan even got a go at it with his very own Spiderman fishing pole that was graciously handed down from his brother. Conner got a brand new "big kid" pole that came with lures and everything!

The best part is that the boys get to spend time with Jason's grandma Liz.. or Grandma Lizard as Conner calls her! She is 84 and sharp as a tack- she has a wonderful sense of humor and I love that whenever she addresses one of the boys, she calls them something like "sweet potoato" or "sugar dumpling" it melts my heart!

We were going to head back home on Sunday afternoon, but we heard that the whole clan was coming for a visit, so we decided to stay one more night. The boys were busy outside doing some work on the new patio and they even let Conner help out by letting him use the drill and help to make the new step. He was in his glory!

The next morning we headed back for home and although we were tired, we had a great time! As we were packing up to leave, I asked Conner if he had fun. He said yes and then headed for the door. He paused for a minute and turned around and said " I love you so much mom, even more than I love McDonalds. " Yep..... it was a great weekend.