September 2006 Archives - 4/8

100 things about Big Mama

September 18, 2006

In blog tradition, this is my 100th post so here are 100 things about me otherwise known as maybe a great way to put yourself to sleep.

1. I was born in Houston, TX

2. The year was 1971

3. My hair was so thick and long that it was down to the middle of my back at 2 years old

4. I wish it was still that thick and long

5. Sadly, pregnancy did some irreversible damage

6. Talk about big hair, you should’ve seen me in the 80′s

7. My first real memory is the day we brought my little sister home from the hospital

8. She is 3 years and 9 months younger than me

9. My parents divorced when I was 9

10. My sister and I lived with my mom

11. We moved to Beaumont when I was 12

12. My dad drove to see us every other weekend

13. Sometimes we rode a Greyhound bus to Houston to see him

14. My Mema and Papa would take us to the bus station to catch the bus

15. Mema always packed my sister and me a sack lunch

16. There was always a can of Coke and some Nutter Butters in the lunch

17. I loved going to the bus station because they had a Ms. Pacman game and Papa had an unlimited supply of quarters.

18. I didn’t really like riding the bus

19. One time I caused my little sister to wet her pants because I made her finish her Coke so that I wouldn’t have to hold it for her

20. My dad called me on the phone every night of my life

21. He still does

22. I didn’t realize when I was younger what a rare man he is

23. I do now

24. After we moved to Beaumont we lived down the street from my grandparents

25. When I was 11 my sister got the chicken pox and I purposely tried to get them too so that I could stay home from school

26. It worked

27. I was sorry about one day into my pox affliction

28. My favorite subject in school was English

29. I was in honors classes

30. Except for any subject related to math

31. I failed Algebra II my junior year in high school

32. My senior year I had to take Geometry and Algebra II at the same time so that I could get into Texas A&M

33. I still have nightmares about it

34. I brought my teacher apple fritters every morning and I’m pretty sure that’s the only reason I passed the class.

35. I chose my major based on what would require the least amount of math

36. I took Business Math 141 and made a D

37. I was thrilled to make a D

38. I took two semesters of Japaneses in college

39. The only thing I remember is “Hajimimoshte” which means how do you do?

40. It took me 5 years to graduate from school

41. Mainly because I wanted to stay for one more football season

42. My last semester I only took 4 hours

43. I had a lot of free time

44. My dad bought me a briefcase for graduation which was his way of saying “I’m so proud of you but you have to go get a job”

45. I got a job selling financial products and helping people invest for retirement

46. Which was kind of ironic considering I’m not good at math and can’t really balance my checkbook (I didn’t mention that in my interview)

47. I had that job for 2 years

48. I wasn’t sad when it was over

49. P and I got married August 16, 1997

50. It was a noon wedding on the hottest day of the year

51. I loved, loved, loved my wedding dress

52. P and I waited 5 years to have a baby

53. I love being a mom more than I can express

54. It’s my favorite thing I’ve ever done

55. It’s also the hardest thing I’ve ever done

56. The first year after I had Caroline I self medicated with plain M&M’s

57. I spent many nights praying she would sleep and bargaining with God

58. I hold no nostalgia for those days

59. Although I’d pay a million dollars to smell her little baby sweetness one more time

60. My favorite movie ever is Gone with the Wind

61. I’ve seen it more times than I can count

62. I’ve probably got a little more Scarlett in me than Melanie

63. If I love a book I’ll read it over again at least once a year

64. I’ve read Lonesome Dove and Gone with the Wind several times

65. I’ll also watch Lonesome Dove on DVD about once a year

66. I may have a small crush on Robert Duvall as Gus McRae

67. My favorite food is Mexican food

68. I love chips, salsa and queso and could eat it everyday

69. I also have a major weakness for chocolate chip cookies, especially the dough

70. I’m not really a candy person but when I crave candy it’s always Sour Patch Kids

71. I obviously have a very sophisticated palate

72. I love getting pedicures but not necessarily manicures

73. I have a stomach like cast iron and can truly have a stomach bug one day and eat a Frito pie later that night.

74. I love watching sports

75. Watching a team win a championship will make me cry 4 out of 5 times

76. I myself am not an athlete

77. I did play soccer in high school, but just because my best friend talked me into it.

78. I was more of a cheerleader/dance team kind of girl

79. It takes alot to make me mad

80. I get my feelings hurt easier than most people would think because I tend to act a little thicker skinned than I am

81. I’m usually quick to forgive because I don’t like feeling angry at someone

82. I hate making decisions and would usually rather someone else make them

83. I don’t have a large group of friends but the ones I have are friends for life

84. I tend to seem a little quiet in groups of people I don’t know

85. I am anything but quiet around my friends

86. In fact, one time P came running into the house because I was cutting up and talking so loud to Gulley on the phone that he thought I was hurt

87. My first car was a Honda CRX

88. I drove it for 8 years and by the end it had duct tape on the front fender and you couldn’t open the doors from the inside, so you had to roll down (manually) the window from the inside and reach out to open the door.

89. My dad never understood how I could run up a $100.00 a month gas bill with a Honda in a small town like College Station

90. I admit I sometimes may have bought adult beverages for myself and my friends at the gas station

91. One of the best experiences of my life was going to Sicily four years ago and getting to see the towns where my great grandparents were born

92. It gave me a whole new appreciation for my family history and I didn’t understand the meaning of ancient until I saw the ruins of Greek temples

93. We went to the Vatican and I started crying when I walked in St. Peter’s because my mind couldn’t wrap around the beauty

94. Our camera got stolen the last night of the trip and it still makes me sick to think of the pictures that we’ll never have

95. The memories of that trip will stay with me forever

96. The thing I worry about the most is am I being the best mom I can be to Caroline

97. Some days the answer is yes, but others it’s no

98. The most important thing in the world to me is being a good wife and mother

99. I want to live the life that God has intended for me to live

100. I feel more blessed than I ever imagined and even during the struggles I know that I have been given much, and in return hope to give back just as much

Show and a tale of an Indian

September 17, 2006

Caroline’s school has show and tell once a week and we’re supposed to bring something that starts with the letter of the week. Last week was the letter “A”, so I did some serious looking around the house and found an arrowhead. Perfection.

I showed it to Caroline and told her it was a rock that Indians had carved to make an arrow so that they could use it to hunt. She was intrigued and I could see the wheels turning in her mind.

Mimi and Bops showed up a little later to see her and she wanted to show them her precious arrowhead. She launched into a long story about someone named (as near as we can tell) Nibblewise. Apparently this arrowhead belonged to an Indian named Nibblewise and it was very IMPORTANT. He used it to shoot “Hiyotes” (coyotes) and Javelinas. She was very serious about her story and it went on and on and on. At one point I picked up our phone bill to look it over and she said “Mama, you need to put down that paper and listen about Nibblewise”. So I did. And when she finished her tale, she looked us all in the eye and said “Now you need to clap”. We gave her a thunderous round of applause.

The girl has a future in fiction writing. I can’t even do justice to the telling of the legend of Nibblewise. I’m not sure if the class got the same story during show and tell, but if they did, it was a real treat.

We will return to our non-football programming tomorrow

September 17, 2006

There is a quote by General Patton that is famous in Aggieland and last night as we played Army it was seen on t-shirts and signs everywhere.

Give me an Army of West Point graduates

and I’ll win a battle

Give me a handful of Texas Aggies

and I’ll win the war

Anytime I see this quote, it always makes me so proud to be an Aggie. I love the school and its rich traditions. They are the lifeblood of the school and one of many reasons that attending Texas A&M is a truly unique experience.

We had a great time at the game last night, in fact my throat is much worse for the wear from all the screaming and the yelling. Being in a stadium filled with maroon clad fans was just like going home. We saw old friends, we laughed and cheered, and we sawed varsitys horns off. At one point I became nostalgiac as I thought back to how many times I had stood with Gulley and watched the Aggies play. It was a fabulous night.

Then the game started. Y’all my Aggies almost got beat by Army. To put that in perspective, Army was ranked last week as one of the 10 worst Division 1 football teams and they came within seconds of beating us. Honestly (and it hurts me to say this), Army deserved to win. The Ags got lucky and were it not for the deafening crowd helping our defense, I think we would have lost.

It’s not that we don’t have the talent, we do. What I saw last night more than anything is the result of poor coaching. At one point my soft spoken friend Gulley was actually booing the entire coaching staff and in 15 years of watching games with her, that’s a first.

Coach Fran’s head is on the chopping block and well, it should be. The sooner he and his golf cart get out of Aggieland the better off Aggie football will be. The team he put on the field last night, with the exception of a few players including Stephen McGee, showed a complete lack of discipline and that’s a coaching problem. When they eeked out the last minute win, they started doing cartwheels and making snow angels on the field and basically showing no respect to the Army team that outplayed them all night. They should’ve been walking across the field to shake Army’s hand for a game well played. That’s what Aggies do.

So for today, here is my version of General Patton’s quote:

Give me a horrible defensive coordinator

and I’ll lose some games

Give me a terrible head coach

and I’ll run a football program completely down the drain

All I have to be

September 16, 2006

When I was 10, I went to a YMCA camp with a group of girlfriends. It was my first summer camp experience and I loved everything about it, except maybe the salamanders in the showers.

My counselor was named Carla and I thought she was the greatest thing I had ever seen. She was so mature, pretty and grownup. Looking back, she couldn’t have been any older than 17, but to a 10 year old she was IT.

Carla was a Christian and she played a song for us called Mountaintop by a singer I had never heard of named Amy Grant. I fell in love with her music immediately and for years she was pretty much the only Christian artist I listened to (well other than the occasional Petra song, but I’m not sure it stands the test of time as well).

When I got home from camp, my mom bought me an Amy Grant casette tape. I can’t remember the exact name, but it was a live recording. I listened to it so much over the years that it completely warped. One song stood out to me more than any other. It was a song that Amy wrote when she was 16 and to this day when I am struggling with something in my life the words come back to me and envelop me like a familiar friend.

When the weight of all my dreams is resting heavy on my head

and the thoughtful words of help and hope have all been nicely said

but I’m still hurting wondering if I’ll ever be the one I think I am.

Then you gently re-remind me that you made me from the first

and the more I try to be the best, the more I get the worst

and I realize the good in me is only there because of who You are.

And all I ever have to be is what you’ve made me

any more or less would be a step out of your plan

as you daily recreate me help me always keep in mind

that I only have to do what I can find

and all I have to be

all I ever have to be

is what You’ve made me

Are the words simple? Yes, but they resonate in my core. I get so busy trying to be or do what I think God wants me to be or do, that I forget to stop and ask Him. Sometimes, I just press on and press on and work so hard to be something or do something that ultimately I’m not cut out for. I’m just me, but He created me and knows better than anyone all of my strengths and weakenesses and has plans for me just the same. All I ever have to be is what He’s made me.

“O Lord, you have searched me

and you know me.”

Psalm 139:1

Incredible with a capital eye

September 15, 2006

I mentioned in my previous post, with utmost sympathy and concern, that P was having Lasik eye surgery today. What I didn’t know was that I was going to be able to watch the surgery happen live on a video monitor.

Now because of my job, I read alot of articles in medical journals so I am well aware of the advances that have been made in medical technology. Did you know that a study came out this Spring that showed that a certain drug can actually reduce the amount of plaque in your arteries and that they discovered this by sending a teeny tiny little camera through peoples’ arteries? I find it unbelievable that modern science is now at the point where it can undo years of eating at McDonalds and that they can send a teeny tiny camera through your veins to prove it.

Anyway, my point is that when you read about this stuff it’s one thing, but to see it was incredible.

When we arrived for the surgery they offered him a Valium, which he declined. If I had known what I was going to see, I would’ve asked for it but I wasn’t thinking ahead.

So he heads into the little room with all the big scary looking machines and I stand outside the door watching the whole thing on the monitor. Y’all they sliced into his eyeballs like they were pearl onions. Just watching it made me cringe and make noises like “Ooohh” and “Owwww” which probably explains why they didn’t let me be in the actual room. The whole thing lasted 20 minutes. I kid you not.

Now it’s 4 hours later and while his vision is still fuzzy probably due to all the slicing and lasering, he can already tell that his vision is vastly improved which seeing as how they diagnosed him as legally blind is probably a good thing. Y’all he couldn’t even see the huge E at the top of the eye chart and tomorrow he has a 98% chance of having at least 20/20 vision. I think that’s incredible.

I’m editing this to include the email that P sent out to his friends pre-surgery because I think it’s funny.

I am going in for my Lasik at 1:30 today and would appreciate your prayers that all goes well. Statistically there is a 98% chance I will have perfect vision and 70% chance that I will have better than perfect. Please pray for the better than perfect. Recovery is supposed to be nothing and they say I can drive tomorrow if I think I can see well enough. Thanks for the prayers.

p.s. If I write yall tomorrow to give an update and it looks like this: uevn lnfvkbne foip nvoe;fnvj eqnd nqduj docndn doiqnnqd c vqo d qoivjr . You know it didn’t go so well.