Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Mr. Debonair Lives Here

Kyle was voted by his classmates to be in the Mr. Debonair Pageant, an annual event at his high school. I'm not surprised that he was honored with this nomination. Back when he was in preschool, I talked to his teacher about a concern I had with him in the academic area. She touched my arm and told me never to worry about him succeeding--that all he had to do was smile and doors would open. She told me that every day when he greeted her in class, her heart would just melt. She was only the first of many others to tell me the same thing. However, lacking the confidence that his smile would carry him through the competition, Kyle decided to pull a secret weapon up on stage--his little sister. I'd say he owes her one! While they didn't win the contest, they definitely made a wonderful memory. Watch and enjoy this video:


Tuesday, March 17, 2009

It's Only a Number

I knew this day would come.

It all started many, many years ago when I was 17 and our family was on vacation. We were seated in a restaurant when the waitress asked me if I'd like a Kiddie menu--y'know the ones reserved for the 12 & under crew. "No," I told her, "I'm seventeen!" She apologized & I remember feeling very insulted. What seventeen year old girl wants to be told she looked twelve or UNDER?! My dad reassured me that some day I would be glad to have someone make that mistake and even take it as a complement. I snorted, feeling like that would never be the case.

Fast forward more than 25 years to today, my sweet victory. I took Brian, my very soon to be 20 year old son, to a foot specialist. As the doc turned to me to explain the diagnosis he stopped and said "Are you his....." "mother?" I supplied, "yes, I'm his mother." "Okay," he went on, "I wasn't sure cause you look so young." Mind you, this doc was probably only about 5 years older than me. Not some old guy thinking everyone looks younger than they really are, but someone of my generation.

As we were walking out, Brian said "gosh, what'd he think, you're my big sister?" "hmmm, I guess," I said, "either that or an older girlfriend." We both laughed and I knew no matter how weird I've felt about my upcoming birthday and being definitely "middle-aged", today I think I'll be ordering from the kiddie menu.