An Insight: Playing Catch-Up

I haven’t posted on the blog in a while, so it’s time to play catch-up. So here we go…

Last week, well it started 8/7/09, my little sister drove in from Georgia for a visit. We haven’t seen her since Kim’s 12th birthday in January, so it was nice to have her around to talk about things in her life and to share some time with. Any of you with siblings may relate to this statement: it isn’t always warm fuzzies and the like when you have sibs. My sister would agree that we didn’t always get along and we are working to rebuild our relationship now that we are adults. Now that, in and of itself, has been an interesting journey! Sure, we still have our differences. And we always will have our differences. I don’t care for obscene language (though I could curse with the best of them back when I was married and beforehand) anymore, most likely as a result of becoming a mother who wants to raise her child up properly. I don’t care for late night gatherings – more because I can no longer drive at night with clear vision – whereas, she still can burn the midnight oil if she so chooses. I am not the most active person, whereas my sister can spend an entire day outside working in the heat and doing sports or taking long walks in the blistering heat. I am not that kind of person. Give me a good book or craft and I’m content. I know that losing weight won’t happen sitting on a chair making crafts or reading, but that’s just what I choose to do during the peak times of heat down in these parts. Come fall and winter, I will be out walking and doing things outside most don’t dare think of doing. I just don’t care for the heat any longer. Funny, considering I was born in July and enjoy swimming (just not in the pond of a pool my parents have now – it’s surrounded by plants and that means critters that I would much rather not see).

I can say that I’ve managed to lose a couple of pounds over the past 72 hours though. How’d I do it? Well, I have to thank my daughter actually. She gave me a virus that she caught from I couldn’t tell you where. It knocked me over come Sunday afternoon. I ended up taking two days off from work as a result. However, I must say that I’m glad she gave me the virus because that meant it left her so that she could embark on her first day of school as a 7th grader on 8/17/09. Wow! 7th grade…how can that be? It seems like just a little while ago and she was a cute little toddler who clung to me tightly. She’s still cute, mind you, but no longer clings. She is testing the waters, spreading her wings. Not ready to fly, but definitely stretching those muscles.

Kimmie woke up Monday morning not quite ready to start the day, and got herself worked up into a nervous twit that I thought we’d repeat our experience from 6th grade. However, once we started to focus and think on the good things to happen this year, the nervousness eased. Once I got her to school and locator card in hand, she walked in where the other 7th graders were and immediately saw familiar faces. That’s all it took and she was off being her little social self giving folks hugs and high-5’s. I knew, as I walked away, that she’d have a good day. Today is the third day of school and she has already been issued a locker and should be getting textbooks next week. Then the fun will begin with homework and papers and lots of reading. I do hope we don’t have many nights where we are up until 10:30 or later working, but it will all depend on her and her attitude. And if last nights display over an assignment for her tutor is any indication, it is going to be spent with much correction. The mouth on her is not the problem, it’s the way she uses it. Part of me can understand the ‘why’, but I also know that I was never allowed to speak to my parents in such a way. I understand she doesn’t want to be corrected or shown a better way to solve a problem; however, she doesn’t need to sass or be disrespectful to her grandparents or me. That’s where we are…welcome to the 7th grade!