Author: Blogger

June 26

A quick list of things I want to remember from this past week:

  • Watching my daughter chase chickens in her swimsuit at a friend’s house, and freak out when she actually caught one and tried to hold it!
  • My son, sitting next to me on the lounge chair by the pool. “Mama, do you want me to sit here with you, or go have fun in the pool?” His tiny little legs bent up next to mine, the weariness of a day full of fun at the pool with friends.
  • Backyard laughter, citronella candles, and fun at our house playing cornhole – and the realization that our back porch in its current state cannot support more than five families. But we all had fun nonetheless.
  • Watching “Wonder Woman” with my daughter and trying to explain to her how BADASS women are. The movie being too violent for my girl, though – and her cuddling up next to me during the fight scenes.
  • My son and husband giving themselves all new reputations at a group dinner for their awful bathroom humor! (I actually might want to forget some of that.)
  • My daughter explaining to me how easy it is, now, to take off her earrings. (Six months ago this act involved a lot of anxiety, sweating, tears, and some days – vomiting.)
  • My son feeling very athletic after a week of basketball camp – and wearing two sports jerseys at once to school.

June 11, 2017

I keep a very detailed, color-coded calendar of our family’s schedule, because there’s a lot to keep up with, and without it, I wouldn’t remember half of our commitments. This weekend was pretty light–with the kids’ first two basketball games being the only thing on the calendar, it ended up being a pretty relaxing weekend.

We ate from a food truck for 50% of our meals this weekend, starting Friday night with friends at a bar. It’s actually a good Friday evening activity–they force you to leave with your kids by 9pm so it makes for an early night for us.

Husband coaches both of our kids’ basketball teams, and this is both kids’ first try at basketball so it should be a fun season. First came Daughter’s game at 11:00 am. She did great, considering she’s only had one practice. I watched her, amazed at what a natural athlete she is. Each and every new sport she tries, she just folds right into it, like she’s been playing for years. This is probably a good time to mention one of the other findings of my recent DNA test:

“Studies have found that almost all elite power athletes (including sprinters, throwers, and jumpers) have a specific genetic variant in a gene related to muscle composition. You do not have the same genetic variant as these elite athletes.”

Shocker. She didn’t get this from me. When she was done with the game, she was beat. “In volleyball, all we do is stand around. I’m pretty tired from all the running.” Then she got really upset when another parent pointed out that hers was the only foul called in the whole game. He meant it as a compliment but it sent her into a tizzy of tears.

The opposing team didn’t even show up for Son’s game at 1:00, so Husband took the hour to get another practice in–letting the boys scramble against the big sisters. Son loves playing on a team. I’m not 100% sure basketball will be his sport, but it is kind of cute to watch him skip down the court and dance when there’s some downtime. If only I could live the rest of my life inside his head and heart…

We enjoyed some time at the pool, met some new friends, and continued the party at a new BBQ food truck place that was excellent. Free beer. All natural cherry snow cones. Dominoes. BBQ covered tots. (BBQ. Covered. Tots.) My mouth is watering thinking about how great it was, even now.

This weekend I want to remember Son’s choice of outfit for the whole weekend: he layered on his soccer jersey and his basketball jersey, his “sport” shorts, his Boy Scout socks, a gun holster and later, swim goggles.

I also want to remember what a great coach Husband is. For as long as I’ve known him, kids are drawn to him. I love watching him coach and have fun with the kids, and they love it, too.

I also want to remember that my stress levels have been so high this week that I broke and bit through my mouth guard while sleeping. That can’t be normal.

All in all, a perfect summer weekend. They’re so numbered, and they fly by so fast.

Day One

Here’s the reason for this blog.

I’m 41 years old. My life is hectic, busy, crazy, and wonderful. Blessings abound. And for the past couple of years I’ve noticed that I have the hardest time remembering things. Little things. Sometimes big things. When it started happening more frequently, I started keeping track of those forgotten things in the “Notes” app on my phone. What time church starts. Who gave me a gift at work. My surgeon’s name. Conversations that others swear that they’ve had with me. Conversations I swear I’ve had with other people.

For about a year, I joked about it with my family and friends. “You can tell her your secret, she won’t remember the conversation tomorrow.” Is this a thing? Is this for real? Am I really losing my mind? Am I just too busy? Am I ADD?

Fast-forward to this year, 2017. I’ve been very interested in learning more about my family heritage and ancestry, so I asked for a DNA test for Mother’s Day. When signing up for the kit, I noticed they had a health analysis. They actually look at your DNA (through a vial of your spit) and can tell you all sorts of things about genetic variants that may increase your risk of developing certain health conditions…

Here’s the good news. Of the 50 health conditions they can screen for, only ONE came back with a positive genetic health risk for me: Alzheimer’s. Slightly increased risk, with one variant detected in the APOE gene. No clue what that means.

So I did what I always do. I over-analyzed it, obsessed over it for a few days. Then I decided to start a blog. That’s normal behavior, right? A logical response. Who knows if I’ll get it. But if I do, I’m hopeful that I can look back on this blog to find some forgotten memories of what happened, back when I could remember.