ONE HUNDRED TWO…dysfunctional appreciation

We have taken dysfunction to a whole new level in this house.

I know we have reached our “dysfunctional family” monthly limit when my newly seven-year old wanders into our bathroom and sees a tampon (still wrapped in its store-bought package) and asks, “mommy is that new candy?” And instead of removing her from the bathroom or better yet, removing the tampon from her line of sight, I just bow my head in an attempt to control my laughter. It was the way she asked. She had this look of wild eyes and a confidence in her face, it was too much.

She actually reminded me of myself when I was her age. My grandaddy used to take me to my Aunt Inez’s house. She lived in Mountain City, TN on top of a small hill behind a cemetery. The cemetery was always covered with beautiful bouquets of flowers and for years I would stand in her doorway and look outside for hours at a time at the cemetery and was convinced it was a playground I couldn’t play in. It was so beautiful. I never forgot the playground I envisioned and always longed to go back and visit.

Years later, when my grandaddy passed away, we attended his funeral. He was laid to rest alongside family members in that very cemetery. I asked one of my brothers what ever happened to the playground that used to be here, the reply I got truly baffled me, “There was never a playground here. It has always been a cemetery.” How could I have thought a cemetery was a playground? Just further proof, my vision was terrible at a very early age.

Kids truly are amazing. I love having everyday opportunities to see the world through their beautiful eyes. Their explanations are funny, silly, original, creative and unfiltered. They see the good in everything and everyone. It really is amazing to be around children all day every day. To see what they are seeing for the first time and see the little twinkle in their eyes and the little glimmer when you know they are making plans for that new thing they’ve found, it makes me want to be a kid again.

It is so hard to believe we have 4 more weeks of 2013. This year has gone by really fast. we’ve celebrated 3 birthdays in the last 5 months and we are 22 days away from Christmas. It feels a lot more like Christmas this year. Last year was a little difficult for me to ‘get in the spirit’. I have never been in a warm climate for the holiday and didn’t know how to make the most of it, when all I knew involved snow, fireplaces, gloves, scarves, skiing, hot apple cider, family dinners and get togethers.

It’s definitely different this year. As soon as Thanksgiving hit, the Christmas music was blasting through the house and I declared this holiday season OPEN for business! I have plans for baking, sharing, gifting and being open to new and different experiences. And so far, the weather has done it’s very best to comply with my wishes. Although I will admit, I am missing the warm blanket that envelopes me when I greet the morning. The briskness is truly a shock to the system. It’s so sunny and pretty. It looks warm outside. And yes, I get  plenty of comments like, “oh good grief, you have no idea what cold is…” “please, it’s 32 here this morning…shut up!”.

But seriously my system has acclimated to the weather quite nicely. I can hang with a 100 degree temperature, we are good buds now. Me and 89-98, never been closer. 75 and I have a love affair…but 65 and below, we are like old lovers; we are angry with each other in the morning, we warm up to the other mid-day and by nightfall are cussing at one another again. My internal temperature has gone through a climate change.

It’s fun to look back on previous posts and remember where I was at the particular period. I couldn’t wait to live at the beach. I couldn’t wait to go the beach whenever I wanted. We will just live in our swim suits and cover-ups all day everyday. We will walk outside and feel sand on our feet, warm air on our faces and hear seagulls all through out the day. I couldn’t wait to experience what a Christmas felt like while walking on the sand and playing outside.

When I daydreamed about what it might be like to live at the beach, somehow finances and the busy-ness of daily life was never factored in. Another blogger friend tried to warn me that you might live at the beach, but you still have to mow the lawn, clean the house, do the laundry, take the kids to their activities and schools…I just saw us walking on the beach and living life differently. And while yes it is different in many ways; we can go to the beach for lunch or breakfast and a lot of the times, we do…we can have our coffee outside in the morning and hang our laundry outside for that fresh laundry smell year round, we can go out in shorts and a swim suit for 10 months out of the year, BUT we do still have jobs to do, appointments to make and to do lists to tackle. It is pretty cool and we often take advantage of going to the beach either in the morning before we start the day or like we did tonight, before we end the day.

But I am not going to lie, seeing my kids outside everyday in their little dresses, picking little flowers, running in the water, jumping in the sand, riding their bikes and paying with the Bear outside is really better than anything I imagined. Although I will say, in my dreams (in our living room) I had cozy comfy white chairs and couches along with wide wood blonde plank flooring that led straight to the beach…that was pretty amazing…

but sand on the floors is really overrated.

loving where we live!