A Musing Mother 6

I haven't seen my oldest daughter for more than a few minutes in three days. I miss her and assumed she felt the same about me. I thought wrong. Driving home from Massage Envy last night I got a frantic call from her. I was excited to talk to her. She's been at Band Camp this week and asked her how she is. "Great," she answered and then she burst into tears. Turns out, I'm dropping the ball on my responsibilities. First of all, although we did drop her uniform off at the dry cleaners, we haven't picked it up and if she doesn't turn it in, a band mom will own her soul.  I asked if she signed a contract and sealed with her own blood then pointed out that she's underage and she needs my permission for selling her own soul. This was not met with humor but with further sniffling and a muffled sob. "We're out of tampons and you have to go to the store RIGHT NOW and get some more." "We're not out of tampons. Did you look under my bathro...

What I hate about returning from vacation is that I have to return to the person I was before I left. That responsible and surly person that kind of irritates me. The one that has to re-enter real life and make difficult decisions like should I shower today? Should I shave my legs today? I know, I know. I spent 7 days on a beach but I didn't care much whether I showered or shaved. Should I put on make-up to cover up that I haven't showered? Should I put on make-up if I do shower? My six year old told me I should shower because it's nice to be clean. I asked him if I smelled bad. He just reiterated that it's good to be clean and smell clean, too. I get that you have to do damage control after a vacation. The lawn needed to be mowed. Dead spots needed water. Holes the dog dug needed dirt. When I say damage control, I mean I let SCOTT take care of all that. Of course, the pretty pot of pink petunias being dead was a bummer, I'll admit and I am actively working on and b...

In junior high my dad ate a carrot at my grandmother's house which resulted in the purchase of a 17 ft. SeaRay boat. There is a segue. The carrot tore his esophagus which he didn't realize until much later when he started throwing up blood. After x-rays confirmed he had a torn esophagus and a spot on his lungs turned out to be a healed broken rib from a waterskiing accident years before, he spent a night thinking life over. He decided he wanted to live his life without regrets and, on the drive home from the hospital with my mom, he bought a boat. My parents had spent years playing with the tender balance of making family memories without their children killing one another. Although apparent very early on, my parents were slow to realize my older sister and I absolutely could not share a bed at any time in our childhood. Disneyland trips were nearly overshadowed by blanket wars and drawing an imaginary line down the middle of the bed. The same imaginary line was drawn on ...

My friend, Todd, maintains that there are no ordinary people. Everybody has a story and, given a couple of hours and a few cameramen, he believes he can coax that story out and expose an extraordinary person pretending to be ordinary. He's gone so far as to bet his proverbial farm on the idea and now has his own show, The Story Trek.   He picks a random person who gives him a random direction and a random house and he tries to get himself invited in so he can get the story. He has had some pretty incredible experiences in his travels. I have wondered how he has gotten so lucky as to stumble into the home of a WWII veteran or an immigrant from Russia or a number of inspiring and incredible people. I finally decided it was simply good editing and he's a liar when he says it's all random. Meanwhile, I sit in my office and meet different people every day. Ordinary, average people like the ones next door. But I realized Todd might be onto something. People love to talk about the...

Surprising new rules in the Taylor household regarding bathroom used exclusively by two teenage girls: Before opening a new bottle of shampoo or conditioner, throw away the empty one or four in the shower. Do not take anything out of my bathroom without first letting me know. Emptying the garbage is an acceptable behavior. Approximation regarding the bathroom garbage is not acceptable behavior. If the garbage is overflowing and said garbage keeps falling from garbage pile, refer to previous rule. Towels really can be used more than once. Two towels per shower (one for hair and one for body) is grounds for laundry duty. 20 minute showers may result in a parent throwing a large cup of cold water over shower curtain. Lack of clean clothes due to the piles on the bathroom floor does not equate to my emergency.  Laundry baskets have been placed in bathroom. Those are for the dirty clothes and towels. If overflowing, pick it up and carry to laundry room.  Bucket in closet contains c...

My parents were fully convinced that I would be going away to college. Perhaps it was wishful thinking on their part or perhaps they knew I needed it far more than they did but I was solid in my resolve that change was bad. I had a choice of two colleges to attend in my backyard; Utah Technical College and BYU. The drawbacks were obvious. UTC was high school continued and BYU was, well, BYU. Not to mention my ACT scores were abysmal and I was only accepted on academic warning rather than welcomed with open arms. It hurt my pride. Spring break of my senior year was the vacation my parents planned in advance. We headed south and made strategic stops at different colleges on our drive down. I had my own private tours and they seemed to be expecting me. Stubborn as I was, my steady refusal to leave home crumbled on my tour of Dixie College in St. George, Utah. Four months later found me standing in the red dust of St. George as my parents drove away, leaving me to an apartment full of str...