12 Years

Today marks the 12th anniversary since the terrorist attacks on 9/11 back in 2001.  In some ways it seems like it hasn't been all that long & in other ways, it seems like it's been much longer than that.

September 11th, 2001.  I was living in Florida at the time.  On that particular day, I had gotten up early to go shopping with two my aunts.  We had stopped by Walmart first, & then headed to the mall.  While at the mall, we heard that planes had hit the Twin Towers.  It seemed unreal.  When I got home, I watched the reports on tv.  It was all over every station and even on the radio.  It didn't seem real.  When they showed the planes hitting the towers & the towers collapsing, the clouds of smoke/debris that barreled down the streets... it seemed more like movie footage, from a disaster film.

In March of 2004, I spent my spring break in New York City.  On my last day there, I walked to the southern end of Manhattan to Battery Park.  It was a sunny but windy day.  The water was rather choppy.  I didn't have time to take the ferry out to the Statue of Liberty.  I did use the coin-operated binoculars to look across the water though.  On my way back to the hotel to pick up my bags before heading to the bus station, I came across this...

Curious, I walked closer & quickly realized where I was.  I had unintentionally come across the World Trade Center.  I walked around to the main entrance.

I spent quite a bit of time there, just looking around.  At the time, there wasn't a whole lot to see.  It had been 2.5 years since the towers were hit & subsequently fell.  All that was there were holes & construction.

Today I got to thinking about all that has changed, for me personally, in the past 12 years.

A month after 9/11, I finally bothered to get my driver's license.  The day after that, I boarded a bus to move back to Michigan (I already had plans to do so for a while, but nothing set in stone until about a week or so before I left).  I stayed at my grandma's before moving to Mt. Pleasant the following summer to live with friends from high school.

In the fall of 2003, I finally started college, after taking 3 years off after high school.

November 2005, Richie was born.  13.5 months later, I graduated (2006) with my Associate of Arts degree in psychology from MMCC.

We moved to the west side of the state at the end of the summer in 2007 & I transferred to GVSU.  2 years later, in the spring of 2009, I graduated from GVSU with a Bachelor of Science degree in psychology.

And while those are only a few major events, there were plenty of other major & minor events mixed in there as well.  All of Richie's milestones... first tooth, first step, first word, starting various levels of school, etc.  Events with friends & family.  Meeting new people, having new experiences, learning new things.  Losing special people.  Life in general.

I'm very blessed that I have been able to experience all of these things.  Because of this day 12 years ago, a lot of people can't/won't.  I'm very blessed that I was able to go to college & move around.  I am so very blessed that I have a smart , beautiful & most importantly, healthy, son.  I have a wonderful family & awesome friends.  And I live in a great country (despite its flaws).

Drabby Weather

This week was Richie's spring break (from preschool), as it was for many other kids. The weather was very lacking this week, I thought. A lot of gray skies & wind & rain & even (gasp!) snow. And now that it is supposed to get sunny again & warm up a bit, it's about time for school to start again. It figures.

I didn't mind the thunderstorms. I like them, especially when they are at night. I don't mind rain at night for the most part too. But rainy days make me sleepy & feeling lazy. And it usually means being mainly stuck inside. If it were warmer, I wouldn't mind taking Richie out to play in the rain (as long as it wasn't storming or anything). I like walking & being out in the rain sometimes. He would love, as he loves to play in water & puddles.

This winter didn't seem so bad to me. Maybe because it didn't seem like we had too many super cold days & it didn't drag on. I can handle all the snow we got. My problem with winter is that it can get so cold & that the roads can get way too nasty for driving. But I was definitely ready for spring to arrive!

I am looking forward to spending some time out in the sun (& in the rain once it gets warmer). I am glad to see that some trees & bushes have buds, as well as some flowers having bloomed. Can't wait for the grass to get nicely green & to smell freshly cut grass!

Happy Easter

Happy Easter everyone! Hippity hoppity, Easter time is here! Thought I would do kind of an Easter related blog. I think there will be three parts to it: how I celebrated Easter as a child, how I celebrate now with Richie, & things that I am blessed with (kind of like Thanksgiving).

When I was young, I would get a basket. My basket usually contained jelly beans & other candy, as well as a gift (which was usually like a new dress or some toy that wasn't too big). I attended church with my Grandma & family. We all got together at someone's house for a late Easter lunch & usually an Easter egg hunt. Some years I had 2 family gatherings to go to, one on each of my parents' sides. On my mom's side when we had a get-together (it depended on how much of that side is living in Michigan usually), we also did a think where you hit eggs (hard-boiled, I think) with a golf club.

Since Richie was born, he gets an Easter basket that contains a little bit of candy & some smaller gifts (like sunglasses, bubbles, small toys, etc). This year he is getting a Cars fishing pole; he had asked for one for his birthday, but I told him he should wait until Easter, when he would be more able to actually go out & use it. Some years I hide plastic eggs for him. We also go to one of our family member's for lunch.

My blessings... (to name a few)

• Richie D. He is the smartest, cutest, wonderful little kid I know. I love him so much & feel so lucky that I not only get to have him in my life, but I get to be his mommy. Even though he is naughty at times, he is still such a great kid.
• My friends & family. I have family & friends that I've known all or most of my life, & I have some that are newer. I love & appreciate them all!
• Health.
• Not being homeless or living in my car or even a shelter. The economy may be tough & job market impossible, but at least I know Richie & I will always have somewhere to stay.
• The wonders of technology, such as the internet & cell phones, which make it so much easier to stay in touch with everyone.
  

Early Posting?

It is 6 a.m. It's early, especially for a Sunday morning, right? Not for me. No, for me, it is late. It is late because I have not awoken this early, rather I have not gone to sleep yet. I cannot. I am sleepy but not tired enough to fall asleep apparently. It's a side effect of insomnia issues, I suppose. It isn't rare for this to happen to me. I'll prolly finally get tired to a point of actual sleeping in an hour or so.

I see warmer weather ahead again in the forecast for the upcoming week. Hooray! I love warm weather, especially after not-so-warm weather. Sunshine & warm air. I wouldn't mind throwing a thunderstorm in there, but I prefer it to be at night. For one, I like the nighttime ones more. For two, then it doesn't interrupt any time that could be spent outside in the warm weather.

Trees are starting to gets buds. Soon the leaves will come out & things will look so wonderfully different, so wonderfully green! And more flowers (have seen a few already) will sprout out & all the other plants & such will grow as well. Fabulous!

I wish I could sleep. But I long ago accepted that sometimes I will not sleep as much as one should or even at all. I've had insomnia issues at least since high school. And over-the-counter pills do nothing for me & prescribed ones are either to expensive or the ones I could possibly get would knock me out much more than I want to be (mostly because of the being a mommy thing).

When I get no or next to no sleep, there are 2 effects this can have on me (other than the obvious being tired). I can feel more easily irritable & kinda grouchy. Or I can feel silly-hyperish. I prefer the second option, although the choice is never left up to me. If it were up to me, I would obviously choose just to sleep.

My sleep issues mainly occur in 2 ways, sometimes overlapping. 1) I have trouble falling asleep (or back asleep). 2) I have trouble staying asleep. Occasionally I take naps but sometimes that makes it hard to get sleep the following night. I can stay up all day in order to sleep at night & then by night, I am suddenly not tired. It's an odd thing.

Some weird is good, some weird is not. It just depends on what type of weird we are talking about. And sometimes, how much.

Well I suppose I shall end this & hope to drift off to sleepy time. Some happy thoughts to end the post...

Spring, animal crackers, orange juice, green grass, flowers, CutieMan hugs, pillows, oxygen, texting, pajamas, fresh laundry smell.

Randoms Nibs

I love Chewy Runts! I thought they stopped making them because I hadn't seen them in a super long time, but last fall I came across some at Toys 'R Us! Which is the only place I've seen them at.

It's been Shamrock shake season! Oh yum, they always come in February but leave again in March-ish. Seasonal shakes are yummy but it sucks that they are seasonal (like egg nog shakes, yum).

I bought 1 miniature Reese cup in pastel foil at Wesco a couple weeks ago & lost it in the few blocks home. Not sure where it went, never found it in my car or on the ground. I know I grabbed it & remember specifically where I set it in my car, a place that would have made sense if it were under my seat & it's now. It remains missing to this day.

On the 12th, I remembered I needed to go to the Secretary of State. At 4:35pm. They close at 5. Luckily made it over there & there wasn't anyone else not being helped when I got there. I got 3 stickers: the tag for my plate, my change of address, & a heart sticker to go on my license for being a donor. That night I got pulled over. Because my brake lights don't work properly when my headlights are on. When I touch my brakes, the one in the back windshield comes on, & the taillight ones actually go out apparently.

This year on my birthday, I turned 2 times my favorite number.

Richie is going to school again. He is in a preschool program, he goes for 3 hours Monday-Thursday afternoons. He's been going for a week & he likes it (as do I).

Random fact I recently read: "Having blue eyes is actually a mutation. Before the mutation occurred, all humans had brown eyes. Biology nerds know that these mutations often occur in the womb. In this case, the OCA2 gene, which is also involved in the production of melanin, is disrupted to make the eyes blue rather than brown." "People with blue eyes have a single, common ancestor, according to new research. A team of scientists has tracked down a genetic mutation that leads to blue eyes. The mutation occurred between 6,000 and 10,000 years ago, so before then, there were no blue eyes." I'm not a mutant! (Brown-eyed girl, sha la la la la la la la la la la te da)

I'd like to take a road trip. Where to, I do not know. It's been almost a year since I went on one. But they are fun & exploratory.

I'd also like to ride in a plane. I've never done that at all.

The crown of the Statue of Liberty is open until sometime next year. I want to go hike up the 354 stairs. It would be awesome! When I visited NYC in March 2004, the Statue of Liberty was still closed after 9/11. You could go there, but not inside. The closest I got was looking through binoculars at Battery Park. I didn't have time to go out there. (I also want to go to the top of the Empire State Building.)

Spring is here! Calendar says so. Mother Nature seems to keep forgetting she read that memo, since she gave us beautiful weather beforehand & then it was cold & crappy & snowy on the first day. Oh Michigan, you are so cruel sometimes!