Today we hit up our favorite place in St Pete for lunch, and then attended our first Tampa Bay Rays baseball game. What a blast. We’ve decided over the last few years we want to make sure our kids have great memories growing up, even if that means we don’t get to save a ton of money. I don’t want my kids memory of me to just be someone who worked all the time. Life is too short. Here are some fun shots from lunch and the game.
1. I haven’t ran in 6 days…after a wonderful weekend in Chicago this past weekend, I caught my death with who knows which strand of flu. I felt it hit Monday night and it took it’s toll on my body, and my mental strength to say the least. I have prided myself in my mental strength over the years not only in regards to running, but life in general as I’ve been hit with more than I’d wish on my worst enemy in my lifetime. But Tuesday night after being sent home from work (NEVER happens) I cried. I’ve worked so hard this summer training with my husband for his first half marathon, to not run for a WEEK is killer to the mind and soul. Because if I don’t run, well, he doesn’t either…so I hope this doesn’t hurt HIM in our race next weekend. We are going to run tomorrow, regardless of how I feel…I don’t want to let him down.
2. I am in awe of the friends and family who reached out to me this week. My immediate family, friends both near and far, and even coworkers texted to see if I needed anything. I feel. so. loved. Additionally, I realized I need to stop chasing people who just don’t give a shit about me even if they are blood. I’ve unfollowed several this week, and will continue to squelch negative energy from my life. For I have so many blessings that surround me. Chasing long lost hopes for relationships that used to exist is a waste of my blood, sweat, and tears. Just because you were close to someone decades ago, doesn’t mean that relationship will last. Move on. ‘Nuff said.
3. Today marked the 13th anniversary of the September 11th bombings. I never do very well on this day…I remember the call, the terror, and the sense of urgency that was felt while I was stationed at Scott Air Force Base, IL in 2001. I remember working more hours than I can count that day as our blood donor center was activated. I remember the buzz of the Humvees that circled the base’s perimeter. I remember my friends and I huddled in my tiny trailer home, tightly snuggled on my couch, watching the news and people falling from the top of the towers. I remember tears, pain, and a newfound love for my Air Force family. We were bonded so closely, but this brought us even closer together. Our lives, will never be the same, and if asked I could name every single person that sat with me on that grave evening.
This post has no pictures, gifs, or the like.
It’s simply a real post of ME, and all I have held close to me in my 41 years.
I will admit when I joined the Air Force, a part of me was running away. Both mentally, and physically speaking…
I left the house I grew up in, in 1991 and haven’t been back for over 20 years. But the memories are still with me, and I have decided instead of focusing on the hard times, that I will revisit all that I loved about growing up in this old house… My childhood home
This house is over 100 years old…
Favorite memories include…
-Our kitchen had a fire when I was a young child. My Dad and his friends rebuilt the kitchen, and with that came huge appliance boxes with which we made some pretty amazing forts.
-I learned to cook in this kitchen, between baking with my Mom, and creating amazing dishes with my Dad with only our palates as recipe guides.
-The hill we had in our front yard may have been terrible for mowing, but it was amazing for sliding down on metal saucers in the winter. Watch out for cars!
-We were surrounded by amazing elderly neighbors who taught me respect, love, and hard work.
-As kids, we bonded with all of the neighborhood kids within a six block radius playing “red light/green light” and “hide and go seek” until our Mom’s called for us at dark.
-I helped my Dad (or at least I thought I was helping) build the deck, redo the siding, and make improvements to this house we called home.
-My bedroom window (the top two windows pictured above) looked out on to Lake Superior. I used to stare out at the lake, daydreaming…I spent many hours in this room reading and losing myself in the literary world. One of these windows was struck by lightening when I was around the age of 12, shooting a lightening bold through the springs of my bed (while I slept), waking me abruptly as I shot straight up into bed. One of the insurance adjusters told my parents we should be in church thanking God that I was alive. I’ll never forget that, and have since faced my fears of thunderstorms full force.
-Every Christmas season we would take down all of our knick knacks and replace them with holiday decorations making our house look like a winter wonderland. This was always my favorite season despite the frigid temps in northern Minnesota.
-Holiday meals were always recognized and celebrated as a family. Always.
-Every day, my Mom would leave us notes to do certain chores on our wooden kitchen table that was housed snuggly in our kitchen…but on all holidays she left us love notes, candy, reminders that she loved us. This has remained one of my favorite memories.
-I spent hours in the back yard with my Dad digging for earthworms for fishing, and practicing our fly fishing form.
-We had a choke cherry tree in the back yard that I loved sneaking the sheer indulgence of a tart choke cherry after a long day at school.
-We also had fresh rhubarb and raspberries that I loved to pick, eat, and enjoy daily!
-We plugged the cars that sat outside due to not having a garage in every day during winter.
-The house was so old, that we didn’t have a shower, so I would spend hours in the bath tub listening to Barry Manilow and reading books…I had to force myself out of the tub when I found my toes so wrinkled I was afraid they’d stay that way.
-My Dad would spend hours in the basement working…I loved watching him work on his guns, wood carvings, and the like.
-Twins baseball became pretty huge in my house…so we would all curl up on the couch and chairs munching sunflower seeds and watching baseball.
-Shooting bottle rockets and BBQ’ing on our deck during the 4th was always an awesome day!
I remember…leaving this house when my parents sold it just a few months before I left for the Air Force. I remember saying goodbye…
But I hold these memories near and dear, and no matter what has happened in the past, I can say I am pretty darn blessed.
And while counting my blessings, I have to account for my current blessings of amazing friends, an awesome husband, and family that although may not all be near-are a constant in my life.
Do you still visit the house you grew up in? Do your parents still live there?
Movin' it with Michelle 