Heart to Heart

February is Women's Heart Health month. Believe it or not, heart disease is the #1 cause of death for women. I started thinking about my heart, beating away each day, and how very important it is to keep it healthy. Exercise, eating right all contribute to keeping those hearts beating away, hopefully for a long long time. Yes, my heart, the heart that:

-jumps for joy when I am happy
-broke for the firse time in second grade when the boy I liked voted for someone else to be Maypole Queen
-ached and ached each time one of my kids left for college
-swells with pride at the accomplishments of my children
-smiles when my husband talks baby talk to our puppy
-beats out of my chest while I watch my boys play basketball
-almost burst with too much love as I laid eyes on each of my children at their birth
-cries for the misfortune of others and cruelty to animals
-pitter patters as I drop off to sleep
-worries about getting older
-yearns for my children
-is strong from exercise
-is huge with love for my family and friends
-beats and pumps all day, every day to keep me alive

I Live and die by the Ball . . .

The basketball. A little dramatic? Let me explain, but first a disclaimer:
I cannot be held responsible for the feelings I am about to expose. Please don't judge me.

Now, as some of you know, I am nearing the end of this basketball season. I say "I" instead of "they" (the "they" being Charles and James, the actual players) because I am their mom, their very own basketball mom who has arranged her life to revolve around basketball games since the boys were in early grammar school. Let me further explain. When your kids are young and play sports, everything is fun - light - even though somewhat competitive, it is mostly just fun. When the sport is played in high school and better yet college, it is even more exciting and fun - but in my case, it pretty much rules my life. My boys are four years apart, and are now in their senior years of play; James high school and Charles college. Between the two boys, we go to 4 - 5 games a week, rarely with any conflicts.
This is how game day goes for me, and moms out there, feel free to substitute whatever sport your kid plays with basketball and see if you identify with any of these bizarre uncontrollable feelings. Okay, so I wake up like any other day. However, for most of the entire length of time until I arrive at the game, I agonize over whether my boys will "show-up" or just go through the motions. I have butterflies in my stomach most of the day. I don't eat very much because I can't. My daughters, who by the way think I'm off my rocker, lovingly refer to this as "mom's basketball diet" when they question why my jeans are so baggy on me. Crazy, right? But I can't help it. I just can't. Anyway, before game time I text Charles good luck and tell him we're on our way and that I love him. For James I kind of nag the crap out of him about "playing hard" "shooting enough" "showing a high level of energy" etc. I do it in a super-loving mom sort of way, but sometimes he is still annoyed. I guess I don't blame him. So now it's game time. We sit with the other parents and chat away. I basically watch the game twilight zone style. Yes, there are ups and downs to these games; mostly I hope these boys of mine will just go out there and play to their ability. Well, sometimes they do, and sometimes they don't. My mood for the rest of the evening and sometimes the next day will depend on their decision. I have had some of the biggest thrills of my life watching my boys play. But then I have been know to take to my bed in a frantic crying jag complete with the oncoming migraine. For me, nothing short of an emotional roller coaster. Crazy, right? Maybe. But again, I can't help it. I know that there are far more important things to worry about; major issues in the world, etc., etc., I get it. But from November to March, this is it for me (with the small intervention of Christman crazies). And I know I'm not alone in this, come on moms or dads or sisters or brothers - come clean. If I can, you can.
As all consuming and crazy as this season is, I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. I've written this basketball blog a thousand times in my head since November; emotions wild, somedays it was called "I hate basketball" and somedays it was called "I love basketball". I'm glad I waited. For a while, whatever time we have left in this season, basketball will be life for us. Enjoy it my boys, we're winding down. I'll be there screaming, cheering, until the last second of the very last game.

20 - 20 Vision Isn't All That Its Cracked Up To Be

A couple of weeks ago, fresh out of the shower, I was getting ready for work and putting on some make-up. I have quite the simple routine, it really only takes about five minutes and I'm ready for the day. This particular day however, I decided to look for stray eyebrow hairs that might need a pluck or two. I went to find my reading glasses so I could really see. Let me just put it out there that I hate having to wear reading glasses. I never needed glasses at all until I turned forty. Okay so I get the glasses, go back in to the mirror and take a good look. Wow! What an eye opener! Yes, I sure did have a couple of stray eyebrow hairs, but that wasn't the worst of it. Glancing down toward my chin area, there it was - one thick black hair coming out of my chin!!! Yikes!!! How long have I been walking around with this thing, and to think of all the people with 20 - 20 vision that have seen it every day and not bothered to mention it. I yanked it out with probably more force than necessary, but I needed to get this sucker out by the roots. Hopefully it won't grow back.

Anyway, point of this little story is . . there is a reason we need reading glasses as we get older. It's natures way of being kind to us when we look in a mirror. It's kind of like photo retouching when you look at yourself without the glasses on. Everything looks a little smoother, those fine lines and wrinkles a little less noticeable, a picture of blurry splendor. But do yourselves a favor ladies and occasionally put them on before you look in the mirror. There are some things we just have to see about ourselves. For the rest of the time, 20 - 40 vision is just fine by me.

A Birthday Prayer

Today is my birthday. I share this special day with President Abraham Lincoln, a great man. In my younger days I went to Catholic school, and we had off every year on my birthday. There was no 'President's Day', we always just celebrated both Washington's and Lincoln's birthday on the day they were born. Since I was born two days away from Valentine's Day, my mom always bought me these buttery big heart cookies with pink icing to bring in and give out to the kids as a birthday treat on February 13th. We also traditionally had tons of snow each year to mark the day of my birth, so there was lots of outdoor fun on that day off. This year my birthday is quiet, tonight we will go into the city to have dinner with Rachele and Kristin. Of course I already spent time with Jamey, and I did get to see Charles last night at his game. He played amazing, guess that may have been an early present for me, and I loved it. We waited for him after the game just so I could give him a hug or two or three. My parents dropped by after school with my traditional heart cake - (remember, Valentine's day?). My sisters and friends all took the time out to call me with birthday wishes. Really nice. It is a nice content birthday. Now for that prayer:
Dear Lord: Please bless me today and all through the year. Please keep me healthy, safe and strong. Please keep me under your wing as you've done all my blessed life. And thank you for always being there for me. Amen