Basketball Season Begins

It sure does seem like high school football season ends just as soon as it begins! Since my son's school did not have a very good football season, there were no play-off games or anything that would extend the season a few more weeks. So now it is over--and basketball season has begun! My daughter's middle school does not have a football team, but they do have a basketball team--actually, they have both girl's and boy's teams. My son's high school has both boy's and girl's basketball teams as well. my son really isn't much of a basketball fan, she he rarely attends a game. My daughter often has crushes on the players at her school--or she at least gets an opportunity to sit with a boy that she likes while watching the games--so she likes to go to her games. She stayed after school for the first one, and I think there will be many more in the weeks ahead. Apparently, there was a pep rally before the first game--her "boyfriend" sat by her and held her hand! She is SO excited about it!! Oh, sweet girl--if only it could stay just as sweet and innocent as that!! So basketball games mean "dates" to my innocent daughter if her "boyfriend" sits by her and holds her hand--how adorable! If only things ALWAYS were as adorable as that!! I am enjoying watching her in these sweet and innocent days--she is 14 and it seems to be lasting longer than I thought it would--hallelujah! But I know that life is about to get much more challenging as far as teen dating is concerned, so I will enjoy these last few days of sweet innocence. And when things get much tougher regarding my daughter and boys, I will remember these days with fondness. And then: I will have to GET REAL!! Oh, boy!!

Veterans Day

Since my teens just had a day off for Election Day, they were not out of school for Veterans Day. They did do things at school to honor soldiers and veterans, though. All I can think of is this: my son will soon turn 16--he is really showing a lot of interest in joining the military in the future--in just 2 years he will have to register for the Selective Service--he may decide then to go ahead and enlist--I have mixed feelings about it all. I have the utmost respect and honor for our soldiers--they are awesome!! I would be VERY proud to be the mother of a soldier!! Many men in my family have served--they all recommend it highly. There is no money available to my son for his college education--he will have to find a way to support himself. Serving in the military would be a great way to do that. Still--our country is still at war. Of course I am scared about the idea of my son going off to war! I love him so much--and if this is what HE wants to do, then I will stand behind him with pride bursting from my heart. But I will worry about him--what mother wouldn't, right? So, every time I think of our soldiers serving our country, I wonder if my son will be among them in the near future. God Bless Our Soldiers!!

Online Drivers Education

My son recently signed up for an online drivers education course. It is a requirement in our state that they take drivers ed before getting their license. Since they don't offer drivers ed at his school, and since the private driving schools cost so much, we felt that this was a good option. It costs $55 and takes about 30 hours to complete. He turns 16 next month, so he better get busy! Surprisingly, he isn't pushing to get everything done by his birthday--he says he can wait for a few weeks afterward if needed. We aren't going to be able to purchase a car for him anytime soon--he will have to borrow my mini-van for a while!!--so there seems to be less of a rush--if he was getting a new car, he might feel differently!! I WISH I could buy him a car, but it just is way beyond our budget right now! Who knows what will happen in the future! For now, he just needs to become a licensed driver--we will take each step one day at a time. I will admit that I am very nervous about letting him drive alone even when he has his license. The day I just hand him the keys and let him go--oh my! And that day is coming soon!!! Teenagers and driving--it is a scary thing for parents!!!

High School Musical 3

My daughter and I went to see High School Musical 3 last weekend. It was pretty good! We have the DVDs of the first 2--kind of wish they had done one more to make it a "true" 4 year experience! But this was a good way to end the series--they graduated, and it also seems that the cast is now ready to move on to new things. Remember when Hairspray came out and they called it "the Grease for today's generation"? I knew that was wrong! I knew that THIS was the "new Grease"--if we are talking about a really popular musical that young teen girls just LOVE LOVE LOVE!! I guess it depends on what you use to compare, but Grease came out when I was a young teen--I went to it over and over, I memorized the songs, I had the album, I had the scrapbook, etc. Hairspray was good, but THIS is the one that teen girls REALLY love!! They will go over and over(although now they know that one day they can own the DVD so that may keep multiple viewings at the theater down)(we only WISH that we could have OWNED the movie Grease and watch it at home when we were their age!!!)--they will own the soundtracks and memorize the songs, they will download the videos and anything they can find about it on the internet--THIS is today's generation's Grease!! While it is true that, in the late 70s, we were fascinated by teen life in the 50s(not sure why!!), I don't think teens today are really into "teen life in the 60s" that was represented in Hairspray. No--they are MUCH more concerned with teen life today!! SO, they really seem to enjoy watching the High School Musical movies--it gives them ideas of how things REALLY can be for them now!! As for part 3, the storyline followed some of the tough decisions that have to be made during Senior Year as teens prepare for adult life in the real world after high school. Yeah, it was a bit sappy--but it was still really cute! Having two teens who are just a few years from this life stage, I actually got teary eyed at some of those "what should I do with the rest of my life" moments!! I know--high school is FAR from perfect for most teens--many go through those years HATING school and DYING to GET OUT!! But I HOPE that my teens are having and will have SOME of the good experiences that can ONLY be experienced in high school! They will be grown adults soon enough--enjoy the end of childhood and have a great time being young! I know--there are a lot of things about adolescence that are NOT fun--I really wouldn't want to experience some of those things again. Still--when will they EVER have such freedom to choose their paths in life? High school, college, young adulthood--so many decisions to be made during these years, and so much fun to be had!! Enjoy being young and free!! i am having a wonderful time watching life through the eyes of young people!! It is really a joy!!

Election Day!

What a day! Yes, I voted! Yes, I am happy! But I won't talk about it in my house very much! I am an independent voter who doesn't identify with either party, but there are a lot of Republicans in my family! As I watch the coverage of the election, I feel a smile emerging, but I look at the scowls on the faces of others in the family--and I hold back my reaction. We need change! Change is good! But not everyone agrees...what do you do when family members disagree politically? I go back to the saying, "Never discuss politics or religion with family members." So, I am secretly happy, but I am surrounded by people who are moping around feeling disappointed. oh, well--they need to wake up and smell the changes happening around them. Change is a good thing!!!! :) Change is a WONDERFUL thing!!! :)

Halloween

Halloween just isn't the same around here anymore! We used to really be into it--carving pumpkins and all! Now, my daughter spent the night with a friend and went to a party, and my son just stayed home and did nothing. I was a bit melancholy about it all since my "kids" were no longer participating. I even debated whether or not to pass out candy to the neighborhood kids...I just wasn't into this year! I decided to get some candy as backup just in case I decided to participate. When it began to get dark, I got out the candy and turned on the porch lights. We really have had a lot of people move out of our neighborhood lately, so there really aren't a lot of kids left for times like this. But we did get some trick-or-treaters--each one tiny and cute! All I could think of as I looked at their precious faces was how my kids USED to be at Halloween! These adorable kids reminded me of "what used to be"--but I know that is is time to move on and not look back. I just sometimes feel a tug of nostalgia on my heart! I am truly glad to be moving into the future, but it is times like this that remind of of "the good old days"! :)

Unlimited Texting

This really is a good deal, at least for us!! My teens now get $25 a month to put on their cell phones. They use $19.99 of that for a month of unlimited text messaging. Yes, UNLIMITED text messaging!! They are mostly into texting anyway--they only talk a little bit. This is perfect for them! They have about $5 left for talk if they need it, but they rarely use it. But they text all the time!! They no longer have to keep up with their text messaging--they can go crazy with it if they want to do so!! And I am only out $50 a month($25 each)! With the other pay-as-you-go plan through T-Mobile, we were spending about $100 a month($50 each) for 500 minutes each--they were using that up quickly through text messaging! Yay for unlimited text! Yay for $25 a month each! Most of all, yay for continuing the pay-as-you-go concept--if needed, the monthly refill can be withheld and filled when I think they have earned it. No monthly bills! I like this plan!! :)

Better Cell Phones

Last year, we bought both of our teens basic Nokia cell phones(no cameras!) and gave them pay-as-you-go plans through T-Mobile. They burned through their minutes very quickly! They really used text messaging much more than talking, but every text message cost them cell phone minutes. It was getting ridiculous! SO--we discovered something new and better for them! First of all, we found better pay-as-you-go phones through AT&T--my daughter bought a Motorola Razr phone with her birthday money. My son ended up getting a phone given to him from a friend who was upgrading. SO, now both of my teens have pretty good phones that have cameras in them. They are MUCH happier with their new cell phones than with the old and plain ones! Now, the next thing was to find better plans for them!

Sansa

My daughter had asked for an I-pod Nano. I looked at them, but I was not impressed with the features considering the price! Then I looked at the I-pod Shuffle--better price, but not very many features! Then I looked at other brands--Sansa seemed to be the best buy: more features at a good price! So she now has a Sansa Fuze--she loves it! I was so impressed that I bought a Sansa for myself--I went with the Sansa Clip(smaller, no video)--it is just what I needed! Sorry, Apple--the price of I-pods just was out of my price range!! We are all about Sansa now!!

My Daughter's 14th Birthday!

My daughter just turned 14 years old!! My son will turn 16 years old in December! I feel old!! My daughter had a friend come over and spend the night--they went to a movie later. We ate dinner at HER favorite place (Ryan's Steakhouse!), she opened her presents, we had cake and ice cream, and she spent time just hanging out with her friend. Fourteen...that was quite a year for me! Wonder how it will go for her? I hope it is a wonderful year for my lovely daughter! :) Happy Birthday! :)

Young Love

My daughter has a new "boyfriend" at school. It is still in a very innocent stage--I think he just held her hand for a second the other day. They write cute notes to each other and put them in each other's lockers. It is so cute! Even though my daughter is still ready to move to Florida, she says that she won't "cheat on her boyfriend" when she moves! Oh, my! My son is already continuing a long distance relationship through the internet, and now I guess that she will try to do the same for a while. I don't know--which is better, watching your teens date many different people and worrying about things that could happen, or watching them "commit" to people who live many miles away(less chance of things happening but their hearts are on the line). When teens are dating and one moves away, what usually happens? I guess that sometimes they break up and decide to date other people, but sometimes they decide to "stay together" through long distance. Most of the time, this doesn't last long. Someone ends up dating someone else, and it all falls apart. For now, my son is still committed to a girl who moved halfway across the country from him--they talk on line, they text message, they talk on the phone, they write letters to each other. When I suggest that he maybe think about dating other girls in the future, he balks at the idea--he loves her and wouldn't cheat on her! While, on the one hand, at least there is less worry about what is happening between them long distance...still, I worry about him one day regretting that he closed off so many options at such a young age. I think that one day soon, it will all fall apart--I cannot imagine it will go on and on forever--but it sure has lasted a LONG time long distance!! And I really hope that my daughter doesn't follow the same pattern! What's up with this? I thought teenagers were less serious and more casual about dating these days? I guarantee this: if they stay "committed" to these long distance relationships and miss out on a healthy and normal dating life in their teens, I think they will one day regret it. You are only young once--enjoy it while you can!! But, they don't listen to their mother about these things--they are going to make up their own minds about "matters of the heart." I hope that I can write in the near future that they are "back on the dating scene"--although, there are many things to worry about when that is the case!!

Football Games

Both my daughter and son went to a few football games this year. Still, the team lost every game and there really wasn't much of a "team spirit" going on! I had hoped that my teens would be part of a school with a strong "team spirit" atmosphere--maybe their new schools in Florida will be better about that. I know, there is MUCH more to life than high school football, but it does have a certain feel to it--the atmosphere was fun during my teen years, and I would like for my teens to be able to experience that, too. They will survive just fine if they don't, but I think they would enjoy it if they could have just a taste of it. Go Team! :)

Gas Shortage

After the latest hurricane, we experienced the gas shortage around here, as many did. It was really scary--watching the gas gauge go below E and hoping there would be gas to fill it up again, driving around town looking for gas stations that were not completely out of gas, paying very high prices when you could find some gas, only getting a few gallons before the pump stopped because there wasn't any gas left, and waiting in long gas lines only to get to the pump and realize that the person in front of you just emptied the pump. Not fun! Not fun at all! At least it DID get better a few weeks later, but we will always remember how scary this situation was! It definitely made me want to move to a place where I wouldn't have to drive as many miles in a car each day! I plan to use public transportation and walk more once we move to Florida--I can't wait to get away from where we are now--completely reliant on fuel and car use! I would love to not have to be so dependent upon cars and gasoline!

Hurricanes

We used to live in Texas, so when the latest hurricane hit that area, we felt it vicariously through people who are still there. It also reminded us that we WILL have to deal with hurricanes again once we move to Florida! We remembered all about the warnings, the trips to the store to buy supplies, the routine of putting things away and sometimes boarding up windows--it isn't fun, but it is part of living on the coast. And we think that we are ready to do it all again--hurricanes and all! When there aren't any threatening storms, we still love the idea of Florida living. No, this latest hurricane did not make us change our minds. We still are ready to become full-time Florida residents!

Digital School Portraits

I just thought it was interesting that we can now get school portraits in digital form. I used to scan their portraits to make them digital, but this is even better--better quality, anyway. Anyone ever go to get digital copies of something that was "blocked" because of the photographer's rights? I guess this is one way to get around all of that. Still, I paid for the pictures and I am not going to resell them--I want to be able to copy them as many times as I want! Welcome to the "digital age"!

Contact Lenses

My son has been wanting to get contact lenses for a while, so we finally let him. He used to wear glasses only occassionally. Lately, he seems to need them more often. He hates wearing them and really wanted to try something different. Everything seems to be going well so far--he says that he sees SO much better with contact lenses than he did with glasses! When I was a teenager, getting contact lenses changed my life! I had really goofy glasses, though--his weren't bad at all! Still, for a teenager, it can really boost self-confidence if you can look your best, and for us, contact lenses helped a lot! He has had a few problems--once he lost one and didn't know if it was stuck in his eye(it wasn't!), and once he needed replacements while at school(and learned about keeping back-up lenses handy). But I would say that it has been an overall positive experience for him. My daughter only wears her glasses occassionally, but she is thinking about trying contact lenses, too. She is watching how her brother deals with them first before actually taking the plunge. Oh, and today's disposable contact lenses are so inexpensive that it isn't such a big deal to lose one like when I was a teenager! I would have to give the teen and contact lenses experience an A plus! :)

Back to School Again

Well, since we didn't move yet, my teens had to return to their old middle and high schools. They weren't too thrilled about it! My daughter is in the 8th grade. My son is in the 10th grade. They are just hanging in there until they can change their lives--new home, new schools, new lives. I feel really bad that I wasn't able to make the changes that they need. Hopefully we can make these changes really soon!

Ending Friendships

My teens have been experiencing a lot of broken or ended friendships lately. More friends moved away. Some friendships were irreparably broken. My teens are preparing to move and make new friends in their new hometown. And, in just a few years, my teens will graduate from high school and move on to make new friends in new places once again. That is life in the 21st century! Our society is very mobile--no one stays in one place for very long. Still, technology has helped keep people connected even if they live many miles apart. Some of my teens' old friends still keep in touch through the internet and text messaging. I guess the saddest situations are when friendships end for reasons other than moving--a few of those situations have occurred lately. In some ways, it can be seen as a good thing--some not so good influences are no longer in the daily lives of my teens. Still, ending friendships is never an easy thing to do, even if it is the right thing to do. For now, my teens are not very happy--their friendship base is shrinking fast. They are SO ready to move to a new place and start fresh. I hope they will make some good friends when they move! I know these friends may not be lifelong, but it would help my teens get through the rest of their teen years if they had some friends going through the same things. You know the saying: "Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver and the other is gold." Well, it is beginning to look like NEW friends may be about all there is sometimes! Here's to NEW friendships in the future!

Out With The Old

Even though we have no idea when our move to Florida will take place, we are still in "moving mode." We have taken down all decorations and put away anything that we do not use on a daily basis. We participated in our neighborhood garage sale, and we dumped whatever didn't sell at the local Goodwill. We are packed and ready--we are just waiting for the word, "GO"! We are experiencing closure in many ways, although we won't feel total closure until we can leave our lives behind here and move forward into our new lives. Until then, we will do everything we can to close old doors and prepare to open new ones. Ready...Set...(someone please say Go)!

Summer Staycation

With everything that was going on with us during the summer, we did not get to go on our annual summer vacation. At one point, we had some relatives visit us and we showed them around town. I guess you could say that we had a "staycation." With the cost of gas and the bad economy, I think many people did the same thing! We still hope to move to Florida in the future, we just don't know when--at that point, we wouldn't mind "staycations" at all! :)

Closure

I think closure is a very important part of life. As we move on through different life stages, we have to close the door of the past behind us so that we can successfully move forward to the next one. Attending the funerals and memorials of loved ones, and meeting with many family members through these events, has brought a lot of closure to my immediately family. We saw where some generations were born, lived, died, and were buried. We saw where parts of our family began and ended. We saw where one generation ended and another began. We felt the moment where the older generation passed the torch down to the next generation--it is time for the younger people to "run the family." You know the moments: when all grandparents die and their children become elderly--the torch is passed from "caring for grandma" to "caring for mom"--or when there are no longer any living relatives living anywhere near "the old homestead"--it is sold and no one in the younger generation has any desire to live anywhere near there. We saw several of these "moments" take place. Going to see where great-great grandparents, great-grandparents, grandparents, etc. are all buried--seeing their old houses and land but having no desire to follow their path in any way--being glad to leave and never looking back: that is the true passing of the torch--that is true closure. We love them and we learned from them, but we do not want to emulate them or continue to live as they did. They lived in the 19th and 20th century--life was much different then, and they lived simple lives on farms and in rural communities. We live in the 21st century--we have busy lives and want to live in big cities and have urban, contemporary lives. We know that they LOVED their roots--they talked about "the old days" all the time and longed to return to "the good old days." As we laid them to rest in the places that they so loved, it felt right--but it also felt good to close the door on THEIR version of "the good old days." In our family, we have moved on to the next generation--and the younger generations are now "heads of the family." We felt like there was good closure on the past generations--we love them and will remember them, but now we are moving forward. Now we are going to do things OUR way in the future--this applies to many areas such as holidays, funerals, and other family gatherings. Maybe we USED to all gather at grandma's and do things her way, but now it is time to do things very differently. There just aren't many "traditional" people left in the family--no one really enjoys cooking grandma's recipes, no one really wants everyone to gather at their house for the holidays, and no one is the "family gathering coordinator" who knows how to reach everyone. Maybe some of us will find ways to get together every now and then, but many of us feel like complete strangers to each other and have no idea how to get in touch with each other even if we tried. We may have all been there when we heard about the passing of our loved ones, but we didn't really make an effort to "keep in touch" afterward. We truly may never see each other again! It is kind of sad, but I guess it is also all part of closure. Why get together just because the older members wanted us to, even though we really are strangers to each other? Know what I mean? Well, we had a lot of closure take place--my teens really do not feel connected to very many people that they are related to by blood. There aren't many left in the immediate circle--there are a few that we will see in the future, but not many. Aunts, uncles, cousins--for my son, he has one uncle that he may keep in touch with, but no cousins(first cousins are much younger, second/third cousins are very distant)--for my daughter, she may keep in touch with the same uncle, and she has one first cousin her age that she may keep up with, but not really anyone else. I just don't see them looking up relatives that they barely know through the years! I think we may have experienced a complete closure of extended family bonds. Now it is time to move forward--maybe MY future grandchildren will be close to each other, but maybe they won't be--who knows. I think we just saw our small extended family just shrink to an even smaller size--I think my teens will contact us(their parents) and each other in their adult lives, but that may be about it. Any extended family growth will begin from my teenagers as they grow up, marry and take on their spouses' families, and have children of their own. Family ties will begin from there--family gatherings will probably include that group, but no one from the further extensions will be part of each other's gatherings. My first cousins(second cousins to my teens) will probably not be getting together with my teens' future families--there is just too much distance there. Closure has occurred--and closure CAN be a good thing. I think we have seen the closure of generations occur in our family. All we can do now is to move forward from where we are and not look back. We have closed the door to the past, and it can never again be opened.

Family Funerals and Memorials

We have attended several family funerals and memorials lately. Wow! This can really cause both bonding and conflict, can't it? Oh, boy! First, there is the argument about HOW to remember loved ones, then there is the WHERE and WHEN, as well. Here are some of the arguments that ensued: cremation or burial, location of funeral, location of burial, types of headstones/memorials/etc., open or closed casket, wardrobe/hair/make-up of the deceased(or not!), type of service(religious or not), choosing people to lead/participate in the service, type of music to use during the service, what day/time to have the service, whether or not to have more than one service in more than one location, who is invited to the service(and who is NOT), where everyone will stay, what everyone will eat, etc. These "discussions" went on and on sometimes! For the most part, compromises were made and everything eventually came to fruition. Some things were left out, some things were changed, and some things never took place--but all in all, the loved ones were honored and everyone seemed to think that the higher purpose was achieved. It may not have been the way THEY would have done it, but they still all felt that the loved ones were given honorable memorials. In some cases, they did it one way with some family members, and turned around and did it another way with others.

We will miss our lost loved ones! We hope that we gave them all honorable exits from this world. We will always remember the lives that they lived while in our presence. We will try to hold on to the good memories and think of them often in the context of those memories. R. I. P.

Family Crisis

Oh, boy! Did we EVER get an inside look into family dynamics during all of these family crisis situations. Some of the things that we learned about each other was good--in the end, family really did come through for each other--for the most part. BUT--we also learned a lot about those old skeletons in the closet that no one ever wants to talk about! There were moments of kindness where family divisiveness was repaired, but there were also moments where we wondered if some family members would ever speak to each other again! My teenagers met some of their extended family members that they had never met before--it was a bit strange: "Hey, I don't know these people but I guess we are all related to each other" kind of moments. I did not see any new bonds forming, really--I don't think my teens are going to make any kind of effort to stay in touch with these distant relatives. I really don't expect them to, either--if we never got together before, why do so later just because they are "related." I guess I developed a very different view of "family ties" through all of this--sometimes, just because you are "related" is NOT enough of a reason to try to bond together. I pretty much apply that to younger family members who have never really connected with each other or older family members--in some cases, it is really a matter of "why start now." However, I DID see some of the older family members, who have been out of touch for years but once had a close bond, become somewhat reunited through tragedy. I DO see the good in that--mend the fences before it is too late kind of stuff. It WAS good to see that happen, and the loved ones who passed on would be glad to see this reuniting of family happening through them. So, some old bonds were repaired, some rifts were solved, some old wounds were reopened, some feuds continued, some connections were made, some untied connections remained untied, and many family members gathered together in honor of lost loved ones--we realized that, while "We Are Family" is true, it isn't always the picture-perfect 1950s television sitcom version of a family. We also noticed the HUGE generation gap between older and younger generations! The older group knew each other "way back when"--they were usually nostalgic and talked on and on about "the good old days." The younger group really did not know each other at all--they were just there in honor of the older family members--they do not have any shared stories or experiences--they do not understand the "family bond" that the older family members seem to have together. I honestly doubt that the younger family members will be getting together anytime in the future. Once all of the older family members are gone, the younger family members may never see each other again. It was the older family members who encouraged family gatherings--the younger ones probably won't continue that tradition--mostly because they REALLY don't know each other! So, that is what we learned about our family dynamics--we are family, but what does that mean anymore?

Hospital Visits

We have become regular visitors of hospitals recently. Sometimes it was a quick visit with positive results, other times it was long visits with everyone sleeping in the waiting room chairs--only to hear bad news in the end. After days on end inside the walls of a hospital, we've decided that we don't like hospitals very much! Yes, we are very thankful for the medical staff that helped us and our loved ones--we are very appreciative of their skills. But the whole "hospital atmosphere"--ICK! The sights, sounds, smells, feel, and yes, even taste(of hospital food!)--it just doesn't ever "feel like home." Is there anyone who would RATHER be at a hospital instead of resting comfortably at home? I guess there can be exceptions to this, but to us, we REALLY were glad to get home and climb into our own beds(when we were finally able to do so!). Oh, hospitals--we love you for helping us, but we hate being within those cold, sterile walls!

The Rollercoaster of Life

WOW! So much has happened, and so much that we WANTED to happen did NOT happen--our family has been on quite a rollercoaster ride for the past few months! NO, we still have not made the move to Florida--things have happened to make that dream an uphill battle that never seems to end. We have been dealing with things like serious illnesses and medical emergencies, several deaths in the family(yes, more than one!), some major financial issues, academic and social upheaval, and lingering emotional distress. While I know that we will survive the tough times and they will make us stronger, I just wish that things would stabilize a bit for a while. It is getting tough to handle so many things happening at once. We are definitely experiencing the concept of "When it rains, it pours!" Sometimes it seems that NOTHING is going right for us these days and EVERYTHING is going wrong! As a mother, I cannot help but feel "motherly guilt"--mostly because I wish my teens didn't have to suffer through this stuff. I WISH I could make things better right now--I WISH I could make the rest of their time "under my wing" as good as I want it to be. In just a few years, they will leave me and fly away on their own. Yes, I am doing everything I can to prepare them for "the real world"--and life in the real world IS full of ups and downs--still, I wish I could make these last few years some of their best! Right now, I don't think they will look back on 2008 as a very good year for us! There have been SOME good things--it hasn't been ALL bad--but it does feel that the bad is outweighing the good lately. Well, I guess I am back here for now--I just wanted to explain where I have been and why. I still love raising two teenagers! :) I love them very much and I enjoy spending time with them! :) I just wish I could make their lives better in the near future. It has been a wild ride around here lately!!