Sunday Night Dinner

May 11, 2016May 11, 2016

Sunday Night Dinner

One summer night I looked around at our group of friends and realized they had become my “family”. Some I have known for several years, some just recently. We have a common bond that very few can understand. All that matters is that we understand it, we are dysfunction-ally functional.

Starting with three families of four, one boy and one girl each. Ages 18 – 6 at the time. We have the “Big Kids” and the “Little Kids”. They are all “our kids”. Age doesn’t matter. Size doesn’t matter. It’s the laughter and love for one another that’s what’s apparent. I casually mentioned that we should do a dinner every Sunday Night, rotating families to “host”. This way we all got a chance to check in with one another, not dread our Sundays, but actually look forward to them.

Of course the “little kids” were thrilled, the dads, eh, not so much, the “big kids” didn’t really care, and the moms, well, getting out of cooking every Sunday was a win in its own regard. What we didn’t realize was that our simple idea became something much greater than a Sunday Night Dinner.

We started to include other “family members” who share in our dysfunction. More big kids. Some nights its a competition of which Mom makes the dinner everyone likes the most. Can you please the 8 year old? Will he eat your dinner? And some nights we moms have epic fails that we are reminded about week in and week out. The two 12 year olds make the desserts. A big kid goes off to college. College kids come home for Sunday Night Dinner. Dads work late, moms drink wine.

We’ve been eating dinner on Sunday Nights now for almost two years. Very few times have we skipped. When we do, we genuinely feel like we’ve lost something. Like we can’t start our week. When only a handful of people understand you for you, and accepts you for the way you are, hold on to those people closely. Cherish them.

May 3, 2016

Music To My Ears

Music is important to me. Different genres define my day, my mood, my overall self 99% of the time. Listening to Zac Brown Band today has definitely put me in that mellow mood, but then lifts me up as each song plays. Sitting in a cubicle all day is mind-numbing, until I put those headphones on and they take me to a far away place that only I can go.

I’m an avid Rhapsody fan. Not Pandora, but Rhapsody. I have no idea why, other than my brother got me hooked on it years ago, before Pandora existed. Last Friday was my Harry Connick Jr. day. Just Harry, all day. Whether it was him on the piano, big band sound, or old N’Orlans jazz, it was just me and Harry. Because his music spans so many different styles it fit my Friday mood. Working from home on Friday I was able to plug in my speakers and get stuff done all around the house. Work, laundry, cleaning, and eventually, taking a shower, I felt on top of the world listening to just Harry.

Nothing against Harry, but that was Friday music. It’s Tuesday. Back to Zac Brown Band. I look out the window of my cubicle, knowing I’m supposed to be working, and periodically taking time to write this post. A good rocking tune, “Make this day”, comes on and puts the biggest grin on my face. So appropriate. It’s only Tuesday and this one song makes up for it. Do you have songs that get you through your day? Whether its Tuesday or Friday, there’s a playlist. What’s your playlist look like today?

Go “Live inside this day!”

April 14, 2016April 14, 2016

#ThisIsFifty

1966 was a very good year.

Miranda rights came into being from the Supreme Court.

The US Department of Transportation was created.

Batman debuted on ABC Television.

All cigarette packets in the United States must carry the health warning “Caution! Cigarette smoking may be hazardous to your health.”

The Celtics defeated the Lakers for the NBA Championship.

Star Trek debuts on Television.

The Sound of Music won the Oscar for Best Picture.

Twister was introduced,

….and I was born.

I had a wonderful celebration back in February with my family and close friends. We had a throwback 1980’s prom. Everyone did their best to capture that time. Just look at my husband and his friends. From the dancing to the music to those crazy outfits we all had a great time. Even the boy showed up in plaid pants!

Birthdays are always fun when you can go back in time and relish in all the good. Sure, life wasn’t all mini skirts and moon walks in the 60’s. Vietnam, China, and a few disasters controlled the headlines most of that year.

However, what I want to remember is that my parents brought me into this world to celebrate life and all it brings. From sports to entertainment, I can say I enjoy all of it. And still do to this day. While the catastrophic events continue to haunt the world, we need to focus on the good. In reality, there is likely more good in the world than bad, it’s just that the bad gets all the press.

Think we can change that? Maybe, one post at a time. Join me in using the #ThisIsFifty to celebrate all the positive things in our world.

April 6, 2016April 7, 2016

Baseball weather

It’s as though Mother Nature is bi-polar. Literally. The polar winds have come down from Canada and frozen us once more. New England weather can be sunny and 70 one day and snowing, windy and cold the next. Typical baseball weather.

While the days are getting longer, so is the winter. Last winter’s record snowfall had a good excuse for ongoing cold and snow. This winter not so much. We had maybe 23″ of snow. In spurts. No real shoveling for me this winter. I let the sun do the work. It seemed as though Spring was going to arrive early. Not so fast. Last weekend it snowed. This week, it’s been 24 degrees at night. I finally got the aching, sneezing, coughing, stuffy nose I had avoided all winter. Sudafed take me away.

Desperately trying to keep warm I wrap myself in my World Series Red Sox blanket, which, opening day in Cleveland was postponed due to snow. Oh, baseball season. It can’t come any sooner, and yet, I recall opening day at Fenway in years past. 35 and rainy, flats, no socks. Big mistake. That was the last time I did that!

Now, I will watch from my computer at work. I’ll wait until July when it finally warms up!

November 19, 2009April 8, 2016

‘Ol Bessie

Ahhh, Wednesday. Not sure how I approach this day of jump, middle of the week, or the day from hell? Wednesday’s I drive 60 miles to take my son and his teammate to hockey practice. I get to fight the good fight of the Boston traffic going South and North. I have always wondered how that works, traffic both ways. I rush them down to practice, a 1/2 or or sometimes 45 minutes early, against their wishes, but I know in order to get through the traffic and pick up his sister by 6pm at the after-school program, they have to suck it up. Ahhh, Wednesday.

My week is generally planned around this special day. Special in that I get to spend quality time with two teenagers who mearly grunt and text message one another while they are less than 16 inches apart. When I pick up Charlie’s teammate and friend Zack, I ask the same questions, hoping to get some conversation from these boys. Now Zack is a great kid, as the weeks have passed he plays me like a fiddle engaging in my tete á tete. “How was school today Zack?”, I ask hoping for a sentence longer than one word. “Actually, it was great Mrs. McConnell. Today, I had a really nice day. Thanks for asking.” What, what, who is this? Oh the joys of conversation. Do I continue, or do I relish in the fact that he didn’t just grunt a “good” under his voice-changing breath?

I’ll take it. My Wednesday is fulfilled. Now I head into the traffic. I would love to calculate the miles put on my car over the course of the hockey season. My Ford Explorer has 210,000 miles (most of which was driving to and from a job 40 miles from our home). Now, she, (Bessie, I affectionately call her, or Big Blue), has retired from driving to those hockey tournaments outside a 250 mile radius. My husband fears Bessie will not make it much longer.

She’s got good fight in her. She’s been to Montreal, Quebec, Rochester, Providence, Stamford, and of course, nearly every MDC rink in eastern Massachusetts. She’s toured much of the South Shore for Baseball trips, but was left behind when we drove to Virginia Beach for the AAU National Tournament. It may have been a result of her lack of air conditioning, or simply the noises in the back tend to over deliver their sound over the music on the radio. We’re careful where Bessie goes now.

My favorite part of Bessie is her ability to house so much crap to keep my six year old content. As we travel from place to place, taking in as many dinners on the road as an amateur hockey team, we collect plenty of restaurant crayons. I wish just once, someone would supply colors other than red, blue, green and yellow. I’ll survive though. I keep a basket of “art supplies” in the back, tucked away next to the three or four fleece blankets, extra winter coats, and of course the travel potty seat. You laugh, but when you have a girl, they come in handy!

I’m pretty convinced Bessie looks forward to the switchover. This is the time when the basket and items in the car switchover from hockey to baseball, or vice versa. This, this is the time Bessie gets a good cleaning. I even think she runs better for a day or so. (Noises not so loud, or maybe I am just turning the radio up a little louder?) Fleece blankets are replaced with large blankets to act as a picnic blanket. The “tent” I purchased for $20 dollars goes alongside the pop up chairs. (I highly advise the purchase of a pop-up tent to keep little ones occupied at baseball games. Baseball, as you know, has no clock…

Yes, Bessie has a good life. International explorer that she is, she keeps chugging along. And, I have to say, no car payment leaves me more money to take the kids out to eat and score those free crayons.