Family - Blog 3: My Older Brother

The relationship I have with my older brother is strange...to say the least. We struggled to get along throughout our childhoods. I tattled too much. He unplugged the phone when I was trying to talk to my friends. We yelled at each other. I cried. He ignored me, I ignored him. I think we even went a good 4 years where we didn't talk to each other at all (but mostly because we were just so consumed with ourselves that we didn't bother to make the time to try and have a relationship).

But, despite our many conflicts, he has always been what an older brother should be. He got on my nerves (like an older brother should), he had cute friends (like an older brother should), he punched his friend in the face for making a rude comment to me (like an older brother should). He even played barbies with me once. When we weren't fighting, he always made me laugh.

These days he amazes me by his ability to eat 7 adult meal servings in a single sitting...somehow managing to turn all those calories into muscle. He has a peculiar sense of humor and his laugh is contagious. He always has advice if you need it. He's quick to apologize, too. He's a good friend, a handsome son of a gun and exactly what an older brother should be... and I love him!

Family - Blog 2: My Mom

Moms are amazing. They gain 25+ pounds to bring us into the world, loving us unconditionally from conception even as we wage war against their bodies.

Moms tuck us into bed at night, clean up our messes, clean up our (yep) throw-up, wipe our bums and teach us to walk. They put bows in our hair, curl our bangs, pack our lunches, listen to us talk about our fights with our friends, take us shoe shopping and put band aids on our boo-boos.

Moms let us do weird things...like dipping pickles in koolaid, or eating juice out of a bowl with a spoon. Moms drive us to all our events, tell us stories of when they were little and sing us lullabies.

My mom did all of those things for me, and still does for my siblings...plus 1000x more. She deals with sister fights amongst my younger sisters (something I never had to deal with), a raging-hormonal teenage boy, takes the kids to early morning piano, cleans the house, prepares the meals, answers the phone whenever I call, pays the bills, and more. Between all this she finds time to plant a garden and do fun things with the kids.

My mom always let me bring my friends over. She didn't get mad when I snuck out the window to play outside on a Sunday. She didn't freak out when I wrote "angry notes" when she grounded me (give me a break, I was 8). She always answered the phone when I called her after lunch (pretty much every day) to tell her I had a stomach ache.

My mom is amazing and beautiful, and I love her.

Family - Blog 1: My Dad

Dads are special. They teach you how to hold a hammer, build a fence, pitch a tent, not to play with fire and how hit a ball. They teach you how to be a graceful winner/loser, weed the back yard and use a leaf blower. Dads teach you how to budget your allowance, take you to scouts or daddy - daughter dances.

My dad taught me how to play well with others. He taught me the conditions under which it is okay to hit my siblings ("Dad! Kam is hitting me!" .... "Hit him back!") and when you shouldn't tattle on people. He taught me how to dance (no one dances quite like my dad!) and he taught me how to use chopsticks. My dad passed down his love for vampires, pizza, The Beatles, Elvis and Aerosmith to me.

My dad taught me how to harmonize. He taught me how to shop. He supports my decisions even when he doesn't agree with them.

My dad loves me, and I love him.

A Great And Terrible Stranger, Summer.

The recent, warm Minnesota weather has made me a little nostalgic. I remember hot and humid summer days from my childhood.



I spent them playing outside with my brother, and our friends. We would climb the tallest tree we could find and jump from the roof of the shed in our backyard.

We would take old cardboard boxes to a big grassy hill and "sled" down on them. (We even walked back UP the hill to do it all again). We would ride our bikes to the PX and buy french fries and melted cheese :)



We would save our allowance all month to buy a beanie baby and some pokemon cards. We did extra chores for extra money, and sold popsicles and lemonade.

We went rollerblading. We went bowling. We caught snakes and spiders. We had pet rocks. We drank water from a hose. We rode a wagon down the hill and hit the side of our house :) We came in when the street lights came on.

We didn't have cell phones. We checked in with Mom every now and again or had to call from the nearest friend's house. We played baseball in the yard, tried to catch turtles at the pond, and played night games. We played tag, chase, dead man walking, "town", jump rope.

We (at least Kam and I) even found a way to make yard work fun.

We didn't wear shoes if we didn't have to. We swam and played in the sprinkler. We hiked through the woods near our house, built forts, had wars with people who aligned themselves with different forts.

Even during the school year, we just wanted to be outside. We were outside when we waited for the bus. We wanted to play outside at recess. We came home and wanted to be outside until it was dark.

We even wanted to play in the rain. And sometimes...we did.

It makes me sad to watch how kids these days don't do any of that. They are inside all the time. There will be no memories of broken bones and cardboard box adventures. They won't look back and say "remember when we played freeze tag in our backyard?" There will be no taste of hose water lingering in their mouths, no memories of being muddy and dirty.

Instead, kids today live in a sterile and controlled environment. Hand sanitizer every 3 seconds. Filtered water. Cell phones and electronics that confine them in their rooms, basements, friends houses, cars.

It feels like summer has become a great and terrible stranger.

This Blog SHOULD Be About Mother's Day....Instead....

I am sitting on my boyfriend's couch...and I am feeling totally defeated.

I managed to hit my head hard enough on the freezer door to make myself throw up. Not to mention the dizziness when I stand, the strange pressure in my right ear, the shooting pain that visits my head and face in 20 seconds intervals...the eyes that won't completely focus, and the goose egg lump under my hair.

Freezer door: you have defeated me.

It doesn't help that I have a list of ailments pages longer than years I am old.

Un-curable blind spot in my left eye: You have defeated me.
Shoulder pain and muscle resistance that not even a physical therapist can fix: You have defeated me.
Achilles tendon that is too short: You have defeated me.
Endometriosis: You have defeated me.
Celiac Disease: You have defeated me.
Arrhythmia: You have defeated me.
Low Blood Pressure: You have defeated me.
Vitamin D that will not stay in my body: You have defeated me.
Potassium levels that are deathly low, even though I eat more potassium than a monkey in a Banana jungle: You have defeated me.
Soon-to-be-diagnosed-therefore-remaining-nameless ailments: You have defeated me.

Self esteem and self image: You have been defeated. I surrender.

On a positive note, I have a wonderful mother who I love dearly who I know loves me even if I am totally defeated and depleted.