Fun Monday - Dream Life

Molly at Return of the White Robin is our host this month and she wants to know what we'd do if we won $10 Million Dollars!!!

Well, at the moment, my piggy bank looks a lot like this one - much too thin with the ribs showing...  $10 M would do a lot to fatten up that pig!

The first thing I would do is probably universal - I'd pay off all my debts.

The second thing would be to spread the wealth around - family,

 friends and a few charities that are near and dear to my heart.  Charities that approach me with their hands out will receive nothing.  I am not fond of opportunists.

I would also spend some time traveling.  FIRST CLASS.  That way I could stretch out and lie down on those long trans-Atlantic or cross-Pacific flights!  I'd also rent an RV (or maybe buy one, what the heck) and do a tour of my own continent. 

Money would be put aside for the future - who knows what that will hold?  Illness?  A need for care?  Or just living in comfort.

And finally, my fantasy...  a log cabin in the mountains...  my summer retreat.  Small and cozy with a front porch for rocking chairs and reflection and a fireplace for chilly nights.  This would be my own personal space. 

I've already warned my husband that one day I would need a cooler place to spend my summers.  Florida is just too darned hot!!!  He loves the heat and the sun, but it makes me wilt.

Choices and Changes

It may be time for a change. 

My son started out this year so enthusiastic about going to middle school and meeting new kids and learning some really new stuff in a different, more fast-paced way.  No more sitting in the same classroom for half a day at a time listening to the same teacher.  He was excited about changing classes once an hour with lots of different kids in different classes.

But things haven't worked out that way.  He went from being so happy to being so miserable.  On the way to school the other day, he said, "You know, Mom...  every grade seems to have one kid that everyone picks on.  In my grade, that's me."  I wanted to cry.  He continued, "I don't even want to be popular...  I just want to be invisible."   That was my strategy when I was in middle school too - but I was good at invisible.  He is not.

We've talked to teachers and guidance counselors, we've brainstormed amongst ourselves - but things aren't really getting any better.  My husband is resistant, but I think it might be time to change schools.  It's a shame;  we'd had such high hopes and expectations of this school and it's not turning out the way we wanted at all.

My friend Tasha has kids in a charter school, and she thinks it might be a better fit for him.  It's a small school, with only 160 kids in the middle school part.  I've signed up for a tour of the school and I'm taking my boy with me.  It will be his decison as much as ours.  From what I hear, the school is wonderful - but is a little light on the extras...  there's art and music but not much else.  But art is where his heart is, and really - an education is about the other stuff anyway, at least at this level. 

So we'll see.  Something has to change.  We're looking at options, but letting him choose which one he needs.

Expecting Another Sister

I have five brothers.  Three of them have been married, but like mine, none of their first marriges stuck.  After a long period of time, I was ready to try again, but the brothers have been more gun-shy.  It actually looked like none of them would ever marry again.

Then Matt seriously fell in love with Dawon and asked her to be his wife.  They were married last October in Korea and come March, they will be married again in a second ceremony here in the States.  We are all so thrilled for him and absolutely adore his new wife.

Well, something must be in the air because another brother has popped the question!  I've only met her once, but my parents have known about Angi for a long time and just love her.  She is a former girlfriend from a younger time for Andy.  After years apart and some serious growing up time for both of them, they came together again - and this time, it became more.

I am so happy for you two - Congratulations!!!!

The Eyes Have It

Once upon a time, I had perfect eyes. I could see in the dark, near, far and everything in between. Everytime I stepped outside, I wore sunglasses whether sunny or cloudy. I took good care of them.

That may be why I got an extra five years out of my 20/20 vision before they started going downhill. Everyone in my family had great vision until about 40 - mine lasted to 45. Then I couldn't read stuff up close... which progressed to not seeing anything clearly until it was about two inches past the end of my arm.

When I was diagnosed with diabetes, my doctor sent me to have my eyes examined - a first for me. I'd never been to an eye doctor before. It was, as they say, an eye-opening experience. What was happening to my eyes was normal aging - myopia. He was quite jealous though, that my distance vision was still perfect.

I've noticed an unsettling acceleration of the degeneration of my sight though. Just last week, I went to the Men's Breakfast at church. Plunked my purse down at the table I intended to sit at and went to grab a plate before approaching the buffet they'd set up. And discovered that buffet distance was a thing of the past. So I had a scoop of yellow. A scoop of white. A beige piece of round and two strips of brown. There was also a mystery yellow/white/brown pan that could have been hashbrowns or apple crisp. When I got back to the table, I fished my glasses out to see what I was having for breakfast. Scrambled eggs, grits, biscuit, bacon and hashbrowns. I heaved an internal sigh. Life is changing again.

I have my yearly appointment with the eye doctor on the ninth. I'm hoping he'll keep telling me to increase the strength on my readers and avoid the prescription glasses for a while yet, but I guess I won't know that until the ninth.