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A Moment Worthy of a Commercial

Posted on December 14, 2010 by auburnchick

You have probably seen the commercials that Campbell’s Soup airs during the winter…

Cold child comes into the house, eats a bowl of soup, and thaws out.

Yesterday afternoon had the making for such a commercial.

I had not eaten since Friday because of whatever intestinal bug I had gotten.  My stomach was hurting from hunger.

Rooster and I shivered in the cold house while we waited for a repair guy to fix the heater.  He had put on the new plaid robe I bought him last week…looking ever so grown up.

Rooster was also hungry, typical boy that he is.

I remembered that we had a can of Chicken Noodle Soup, so I offered to fix it for him.  He was agreeable to the idea.

While I was up, I warmed some dinner rolls and spread butter on them.

As he got his bowl out, he offered to share half of the can with me.

So sweet, that boy is.

We took our food to the table and talked about our day.

At one point, I reached my hand over and touched his arm and told him how much I will miss him when he goes to college.

Rooster, as the youngest child, has spent the most one-on-one time with me.  When Chicky was in preschool, kindergarten, and first grade, he got left behind…having to hang out with me.

Even while he attended preschool, he rarely did Lunch Bunch but instead came home with me, where we always ate lunch together and ran errands.

He has always been my buddy.

We have similar interests and the same sarcastic sense of humor.

As we sat at the table, all of those memories rushed in, and I shared them with him.

He smiled in his easy way.

Who needs actors faking their lines when you can have the real thing right in your own home.  My own life is full of commercial-worthy moments.

Filed under: children | Tagged: , , , | 1 Comment »

Always Carry Eyeliner in Your Purse

Posted on February 26, 2010 by auburnchick

Guys, unless you’re Adam Lambert, you might not need the above advice, but ladies, if you’re reading this (and you know you are), press on.

You see, I am so thankful that I am somewhat smart and usually plan ahead.  I’m actually known for being organized.  If you saw my house, you’d think otherwise.

But I digress.

Now, you might be wondering why you might want to carry eyeliner in your purse.

If you’re a teenager, you might be meeting some hot computer nerd in the library for lunch, so you prep your face in the bathroom during 3rd period to get ready.

But, if you’re a mom who is about to attend her daughter’s last soccer banquet, you might find it especially prudent to carry an extra stick of charcoal in your mom-purse.

It all started with this afternoon…

Wait.

No.

It all started in August when Chicky began her senior year.

I thought I was in control of my emotions.  I’ve always been the mom who held to the philosophy that my job as a parent was to teach my children the skills they needed to function on their own (i.e. outside of my home) and love and serve the Lord.

So, milestones like tying shoes for the first time, getting drivers’ licenses, and attending proms have rarely made me cry big mom tears.

Something happened this year, though.  Suddenly it wasn’t about the “firsts” but the “lasts.”

Yes, as I type this, I am psycho-analyzing myself (a scary thought, eh?) and realizing that this is, in fact, what the deal is.

Anyhoo…moving on…

Since attending Chicky’s team to the Final Four playoffs, I’ve been busy creating a slide show for the soccer banquet.  Oh, not a small thing, I assure you, but one I really sunk my teeth into.  After all, I love technology, and I discovered that Macs are the way to go for this type of project.

I give God the glory for helping me create a great slide show.

As I looked through the pictures, searched for music, and edited the video, I found myself tearing up numerous times.

It didn’t matter how many times I watched the completed video…I still got choked up…especially during the portion dedicated to seniors.  For every picture Chicky selected for herself (she didn’t want any naked baby surprises), a memory rose to the surface.  I remembered the exact moment in time when each photo was created, and it tore at my heart.

Still, I persevered, creating personalized DVDs for each senior and coach (thanks, LightScribe!).

This afternoon after work, I headed to Hallmark to select a birthday card for Chicky’s coach.  He’s turning “hmmm-hmmm” years old today.  While I was there, my eyes lit upon a “goodbye” card.

Oh my, but hot tears rose to the surface as I read it.  In May, Chicky’s coach will be moving to Washington to be near his children, so this had been his last season with the girls.  The card was perfect.  I bought both for the girls to sign.

When I got out to my car, I allowed myself time to have a good cry.

I cried as I drove from Hallmark to the church where we were having the banquet.  I called Super Sis and told her I thought I was having a PMS moment.  She listened, agreed that part was probably due to hormones, but justified my feelings by reminding me that this was a year of “last’s” (there’s the word again).

I wiped my eyes and went into the church to finish setting up.  My heart felt heavy though.

One of the other moms was there, and we sat down together to watch the DVD.  Nobody would be there for some time, so we had the place to ourselves.  We ate popcorn and drank soda as we watched the 19-minute video.

I fanned my eyes as the music for the senior section started.

Then she left, and I had some quiet time with my knitting before realizing that I needed to check my face in the mirror.

Oh my!  I raced back to my purse for my eyeliner, getting interrupted to unlock the church doors for a coach who had arrived to set up trophies for his team.

I sheepishly admitted that I had been reapplying makeup after having a cry party.  He chuckled in understanding.

The tears returned later that evening as Coach J gave his long farewell speech.

I cried when I started the video.

Sigh.

I teared up when the president of the booster club presented flowers to me…

I cried tears of laughter when Coach J joked about a “certain” player’s mom who, nine games out of ten, ran out on the field during warmups to take a “certain” player (the one who ate the most before each game but still managed to get hungry minutes before game time) a pack of crackers.

Guilty.  I even did this during the Final Four game.  Chicky was mortified, but when she sent out an SOS, I responded!
Regardless, I cried.

Ugh.

I’ve turned into  a cryer.

And the year isn’t over yet.  Chicky still has graduation.  Another BIG “last!”

Oy!

I think I’d better invest in a couple more sticks of eyeliner.  I think they are going to come in handy!

Filed under: children | Tagged: , , , | 1 Comment »

Shredding Away the Past

Posted on July 11, 2009 by auburnchick

The other day, when I reorganized the closet, I found a shoebox that contained canceled checks from 1997-2003.

Do you remember writing checks for the grocery store, doctor’s office, and hair salon?  Those were the days before debit cards.

I thumbed through the checks before feeding them through the machine.

Memories rushed to mind.

One check was for Chicky’s gymnastics lessons.  She made it through one round before deciding it wasn’t her thing.  Chicky has always been active, and you have to wait a long time for your turn on an apparatus.  She did look cute in her leotard though.

I saw a check for her first travel soccer club.  Oh boy, the angst we went through the first year she tried out (at the ripe old age of eight).  We sat in the car in the rain and waited for the coach to post the roster.  We rejoiced when we finally read her name and treated ourselves to dinner out.

Another check was for the baseball league that Rooster played for.  He has always been an adorable child and was even more so in that uniform.

I remember the last season he played.  His team was, in all essence, the Bad News Bears.  On paper, they stunk.  But something funny happened as the season progressed.  Those little guys gained confidence.  With the Mr. pulling pitching duty (it was Little League coach pitch), Rooster’s team made its way through the playoffs and beat the #1 stacked team.

As everyone knows, although those teams are supposed to be formed via a draft, politics wins out, and a super-team “magically” appears.  Rooster’s team beat THE team in a thrilling game that kept us all on the edge of our seats and left us without our voices and new friends as we hugged everyone around us when the last runner made it in.  Such a fond memory…

I smiled when I saw the checks for my former nail salon.  We didn’t have much money since I was a stay-at-home mom, but the Mr. allowed me a small indulgence…my bi-weekly nail appointments.  I had a standing appointment that coincided with the Mr.’s payday.

I loved my technician.  She was a sweet girl who executed her craft well.  She rarely let me do anything that would make me look trashy, keeping my nails medium-length.  She did allow me a bit of fun sometimes…snowflakes at Christmas, orange nails with Halloween decals in October.  It used to drive the Mr. insane.  It was my way of throwing off my serious side.

Interesting, too, was the sight of the checks used to pay various bills…phone, cable, car, and utility primarily.  Most of the bills have increased over the years, and a couple of others have gone down.  Gotta love inflation (not)!

Checks to the doctor’s office made me smile as I remembered the practice that took care of our family.  The Mr. and I saw the male internist, and the kids saw the female pediatrician.

A funny moment happened one Sunday at church.  As we got up to leave at the end, I saw both doctors sitting beside each other  and thought to myself, “How wonderful that one invited the other to church.”  What a way to share the gospel with a co-worker!  As we chatted with them, we discovered that they were married!  The wife had kept her maiden name, so we had never made the connection before.  We had a good laugh at that.

My cell phone check of $48 plus change reminded me of a time when I used my phone simply to make calls, and I didn’t talk on it all the time!  Only business people had Blackberries.

Checks to the elementary schools had notes indicating field trips, school supplies, or fund raisers.  Ahhh…I did love their elementary school.

The kids’ teachers were wonderful.  Rooster benefited from having an older sister as Chicky “auditioned” teachers.  As each one passed muster, I added her to my list of requests for the boy.  He followed in her footsteps, and we were blessed to be with each teacher twice.

The barbershop checks bring to mind a poignant memory.

One day, I took Rooster to get his hair cut.  Chicky went with us.  On the way, the kids and I somehow got on the topic of the Challenger tragedy.  I have absolutely no idea how our conversation turned to this.  I told them how I had been in high school when it happened, and we were all glued to the television in the school library.

As Rooster sat in the chair getting his hair cut, a TV played overhead.  The news was on, and it was doing a live telecast of the reentry of the space shuttle Columbia.   We, along with millions of other people around the world, watched in horror as the shuttle disappeared from view, and the newscasters reported that the shuttle had broken apart, killing all inside.

The timing was eerie given the conversation in the car only minutes before.  I was not a news junkie and had not been aware that the shuttle was landing that morning.

One small box of checks.  Seven years of memories.  Another fun trip down Memory Lane.

Filed under: This-n-That | Tagged: , , | 3 Comments »

A Trip Down Memory Lane

Posted on July 9, 2009 by auburnchick

My closet-cleaning chore led to an unexpected trip down memory lane when I discovered a VHS tape in one of the boxes.

At first, I gave it a cursory glance and started to close up the box.  However, I decided to take a closer look and discovered writing on the sleeve…”Graduation.”

Ok.  Think now.

VHS tape.

Graduation.

Could we be talking my graduation?  Especially when I was looking at the spines of my high school yearbooks, which were packed in the same box.

I almost ran to the living room, where our VCR is located.

I called the kids in and told them that I thought we were in for a treat.

We were.

It WAS the video from my high school graduation!

Folks…you don’t know how big this was.

You see, just last week, my sister had pulled out a video from when our children were toddlers.  She called me, and we laughed as she told me how twangy her voice was.

We grew up in the Heart of Dixie…LA.  No, not Los Angeles but Lower Alabama where twangy is the only speak you speak, so to speak.

What strange timing that I would find this video shortly after her own last week.

The kids knew that I was Salutatorian of my class…hence Your’s Truly had given a speech.

We sat in anticipation.

The first chuckle came when the kids saw me begin the short walk to the football field.  My hair was almost the same as it is now…a lot blonder (naturally) but just as curly and long.

I watched the camera pan out to my classmates.

Oh gosh…I got a little emotional here.

Chicky commented that it was weird to see me at that age.  I reminded her that I was only six months older, on that tape, than she is now.

Weird.

We skipped to my speech, and that is where the fun began.

Folks, the sound of my voice came as a shock.

Oh sure, nobody likes to hear themselves talk, but this was something else altogether.

My voice sounded like a cross between Scarlett O’Hara and Melanie Wilkes (from the movie Gone With the Wind, if you’re not familiar with these names).  It was higher pitched and syrupy.  My words flowed in the gentle southern drawl that melts like butter.

The kids and I spent a few minutes laughing hysterically.  I actually had to pause the tape.  When I started it again, I sat, mesmerized, by…well…me!  Although I remember giving that speech, it just didn’t seem like me.

The speech seemed to go on forever.  Bet you’re not surprised about that.  Go ahead and laugh.  I know you want to.

Some things never change.

I watched the rest of the graduation.  It didn’t take long because there were only 18 of us. Eleven of my classmates went to school together from first through twelfth grade.  Small schools=small classes.  It’s hard to believe that graduation was the last night we were all together.

We were a close bunch that laughed together and fought together.  We cried together when one of our own shot herself (we like to believe it was an accident) when we were in the eighth grade.  She lived across the street from the school, and we heard the gunshot.  It was a sad memory that was recalled when, during the graduation ceremony, we paid tribute to her.  We were blessed to have her parents attend that night.  Seeing their faces as they accepted a plaque from us really touched my heart today.  I still visit her grave when I’m in town.
As the tape ended, I felt a sense of melancholy.  I wasn’t ready for the reminiscing to end just quite yet.

I began to thumb  through the yearbook from my senior year.  I recalled the heartbreak and joy that were a part of that year.

It was the year I grew in confidence.  I played an active role in many clubs…editor of the yearbook, president of the Pep Club, and Vice President of the Beta Club.  I saw the picture of the girls basketball team.  I was a member of the team benchwarmer.

The Senior Who’s Who was fun…I got Most Studious (no surprise) and Most School Spirit.   I was pleasantly surprised to see myself holding the first place trophy I won during the State Typing Division 2 Tournament.  I won it typing on a dinosaur…an old manual typewriter!  My right arm was strong with the hours I spent throwing that carriage return.

My trip down Memory Lane was wonderful…especially since nobody in my class arranged a 20-year reunion.  It gave me time to reflect on my classmates and the affect they had on my life.  I fought with some, “liked” others (wink), and confided in a few.

These were long-ago memories brought out from the closet of my mind.  It was a welcome respite from my day of work.

Filed under: This-n-That | Tagged: , , | 2 Comments »

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