It was going to be a busy day today.  Needed to go out to the beach to take some pictures for a client and knew it was going to be hot as ****!  Decided the way to do this was to put on my bathing suit and coverup…and just head on out.  I was going to get sweaty and sandy…what was the point?

The shoot went well.  Just me and the beach and some rocks. Looks like I had gotten everything I needed. And I had been right about the heat. I was dripping wet, hair totally askew from the wind off the water…I was a mess.

So I got home, downloaded the pictures, patted myself on the back for some really good ones, and continued editing for an hour or two…until I realized I still had to run and pick up a few things before hubby got home this evening.

As I pulled out of my driveway, I knew.  I didn’t care anymore!  I still hadn’t showered, no makeup, hair a mess, and I just didn’t care.  Gone were the days of checking my lip gloss before heading out to the mailbox…just in case I ran into a neighbor. Yes, you girls know what I’m talking about!

But by the time I got to Walgreens I realized, it wasn’t that I didn’t care any more. It was that I’ve learned to care about different things.  It’s 100 degrees out today, and to my amazement, just about everyone I saw in Walgreens looked pretty rumpled. And I didn’t think anything of it.  We were all going about our daily lives…and we were all sweating!

I guess with age comes a security and a knowledge that even if I DID take an hour to get ready to go out into public, most likely people aren’t going to react that differently to me. Gone are my days of guys whistling at me…instead good looking guys the ages of my sons hold open the door or ask if they can help me out with my groceries.

Some days it bothers me. But days like today, I don’t care! I’ve earned my wrinkles and “chins”. I’m headed to the shower now finally, and by the time I have pizza with friends tonight, I’ll be gorgeous.  But I’ve finally given myself permission to go out in public in whatever condition I happen to be in … if need be … at least to Walgreens!

THANK GOD I DIDN’T SEE ANYONE I KNOW!!!!!

There have been many “Most Important Days” in my life…the day I gave up my Blankie, the day I learned to drive, the first day of Kindergarten, the day I graduated college,  the day I first learned I was pregnant….but…

June 19th, 1985, was the Most Important Day of My Life. I became a parent and my world had changed forever. I now had to figure out answers to life’s questions. Will I know when he’s hungry or needs a diaper change? Is his head  going to stay this lopsided forever? Who will help him with his algebra homework? What if I don’t like the girl he marries?

What I learned on June 19, 1985, was that you DON’T become a parent overnight. It’s a process, and that process is why it was the Most Important Day of My Life.

Until the birth of my 2nd child, which was the Most Important Day of My Life. I became the parent of TWO Sons. How would I ever get a good night’s sleep again? Would it stunt #2 son’s intellectual growth if he had to wear hand-me-downs? How would I know “Who Hit Who” first”?  What if they BOTH married girls I didn’t like, and then moved far, far away?

I had taken another step in the process.

Until the birth of my 3rd child, which was the Most Important Day of My Life.  I had a Daughter. What if she never grew any hair and stayed bald? What if she hated the name we picked out for her? How many Barbie’s should you really buy for  a one year old? What if we couldn’t find the wedding dress she always dreamed about?

Each day with my children is the Most Important Day of My Life.  I continue to learn from them. They’ve taught me much more than I could ever teach them and that’s how it should be.   Without me, they would have grown hair, they would have survived sibling rivalry, they would have learned not to pull the cat’s tail, they even would have learned (eventually) how to clean their room and fold laundry. They would have learned to spell without my quizzing them in the car on the way to school. And they would have learned to walk without me, even though I  like to believe that it was my outstretched hand that was the prompt to their first steps.

But without them, I wouldn’t know how important it is to drive back to a friend’s house at midnight to retrieve “nite-nite bear”  so maybe, finally, everyone can get some sleep. I wouldn’t know how to convince a tired employee  as he is locking the grocery store door on Christmas Eve to let me in so that I can buy the plastic machine guns that I overheard my son telling my daughter that he secretly wrote to Santa about, just to see if he really IS real (even though I SWORE they weren’t getting ANY guns for Christmas). I wouldn’t know how horrible a trombone can sound during the first years of lessons, that ants can find their way up to a second floor bedroom and into a closet to find a dirty plate, that it’s hard to explain to teenagers why debit cards shouldn’t be used if they have no money in their accounts, even though the stores will take them. And I wouldn’t have felt the type of love that comes out of nowhere, true and unconditional. 

The Most Important Day of My Life will be tomorrow, because tomorrow my children will continue to have patience with me on my journey through the process. Tomorrow my children will continue to teach me how to be a parent.

But for today, June 19th, Happy Birthday Dan!

You were born on The Most Important Day of My Life!

Log onto one of the most popular Trending Topics of the last few days. #iremember.

I don’t always pay attention to the “Trending Topics” on Twitter. Some of the Trending Topics are too educational, or too political, or too silly, or too “trendy” for me to be bothered, but I have enjoyed watching #iremember.

What has surprised me is the number of people who continue to post to this.  I’ve been watching for days now, and it is still in the Trending Topics List. If you just want something to do for 5 minutes, check #iremember out and I promise you will be hooked.

Some of my favorites just over the last few minutes have been…

daniellarr #iremember when pluto was a planet

heyBECCA #iremember when coloring was considered homework !

SizzleMayfield #iremember… When my dad & grandma thought I was going 2 become a nun…lol..yeah

nevabinbetta RT #iremember when Santa Claus was real

RedPlagueRidYou #iremember when I told my teacher coconuts weren’t nuts because you don’t get hairy nuts…#iremember feeling Very Very Foolish…

Please, go back and send me your favorites and I’ll post an update in a day or two. Until then,  thanks to @TeeKey for the best post so far…

TeeKey #iremember when saying the first thing that came to your mind was considered a bad idea…now we type it on twitter for all the world to see!