Spring Break 2013 – Phoenix

April 13, 2013April 16, 2013Leave a comment

“The Grand Canyon is not that big.” This was Mario’s initial observation as we stared down into the vastness of the Canyon. It takes a lot to impress that kid. Jon and I decided to pay for a four-hour tour knowing full well that we would not be able to provide the education that a guide could provide. Maria is at the age that she slurps up all the facts and information provided by teachers so we knew she would enjoy it more. Mario, well, we could have just led him run throughout the canyon and he would have loved life.

We had a guide named Dora who had been a park ranger for years. Her husband is a geologist. She focused in heavily on the trees and the berries and, of course, the rocks in the Grand Canyon. Our first stop was at a juniper tree. There were berries just beginning to mature on the tree and Dora plucked on off for us to try. When you cracked open the berry, there was a tiny nut to eat. RI and Mario were skeptical but they each asked for one to try. Neither of them spit it out but neither of them were overwhelmed. Then Ri looked in her berry and found something. A worm. Jon and I and even Dora dismissed her telling her it was just part of the berry. But Dora took a second look and said “you are the first person to find a worm in their berry.” Ri kept eating and was proud as can be. She also introduced us to Pinyon Pine and pine nuts (we all loved those), oak, and ponderosa trees (Ri loved the ponderosa pines on my behalf because “they are named after mom’s favorite restaurant!”). Next, we learned about the different type of rock making up the Grand Canyon. Ri asked a ton of questions and held a long conversation with Dora about the different layers. She loved the look of the sandstone. She bought a bag of rocks to take home with her to show her class. The last adventure as a fossil find. Mario loved it. He would grab Dora’s hand to pull her over to a rock with a fossil to show her. When she confirmed it was a fossil, he looked up at me with that look of self-pride and moved on to the next rock. Jon spotted a mule deer on our way out. Maria peppered Dora with more questions ending with the ultimate one “how did we get here on this Earth?” Our old-soul girl. Dora loved it.

The night before we stayed at the Best Western Hotel near the park. It had no indoor pool but it did have a hot tub, an arcade room and, strangely enough, a bowling alley. We arrived at 6 pm which is 9 pm our time so we were all exhausted. We went down for dinner to the seedy sports bars near the arcade where the waiters looked completely miserable and the clientele consisted of locals or other exhausted families. Mario had a breakdown waiting for dinner – he was so tired and irritable and saying “I hate this place!” every two seconds. Ri was completely dazed out. The food was horrid except for Ri’s baby back ribs. Yeah, that is what she ordered at the seedy sports bar. She does know how to live it up.

By the time he hit the arcade it was close to midnight our time. I knew when Mario put quarters into a hunting game and it didn’t work, that all hell would break loose. Although he reacted better than I thought he would, he was still shot. It really was time to just head upstairs and call it a day.

After the Grand Canyon, we headed back to Phoenix with Mario watching movies on the iPad and Ri talking up a storm about everything and anything. She’d finish telling one story and there would be a pause, Jon and I would open up our mouths to say something, but then Ri would jump into another conversation. We laughed at the difference in the two of them. Mario could plant his nose in technology for five hours; Ri needs conversation. Three and a half hours later, we were at Desert Ridge Marriott. What a place! A lot different from the cabins and tents I stayed in as a kid. Ri and Mario have now stayed in the RItz in Naples and Desert Ridge Resort in Phoenix. I think their significant others will be treated well when they find them years from now.

The hotel grounds were gorgeous with a huge grassy area out back that led to the lazy river, regular pool, and fountain pool. We were on the fifth floor and had a balcony overlooking a desert garden and a large patio for parties. The kids loved the balcony and got an awesome surprise as they stood looking into the garden. There were bunnies everywhere! One hopped out of the cactus and Ri and Mario screamed for us. Then another bunny hopped, and a baby followed. They could not believe it. And that became our entertainment every morning and afternoon. One afternoon we came up to our room to take a little break in swimming and the kids sat on the balcony for over an hour acting like scientists studying the movements of the bunnies. They got water and soap and spread it on their bodies to attract the bunnies and them got notebooks and pens to write down their observations. Every five minutes they’d come in to give us a report.

The lazy river was great because you could float in it or you could swim or walk in it. Mario typically chose to swim, I walked, Jon floated, and Ri did a combo (she always had a tube in hand but would switch between floating and walking with it; she used it as her laboratory spying on people). It had a slide in the middle of the river that the kids loved. It wasn’t that fast and the kids were a little skeptical at first but it quickly endeared itself to them and they were doing all sorts of poses as they slid down. They about lost it with glee when Jon went down; they stood on the side of the pool and waited anxiously and when Jon flew out, they laughed and applauded as if he was a celebrity. When it came to me, well, I was just expected to slide down with them.

The breakfast buffet was a slice of heaven. They had anything your heart desired (they should have at the amount you have to pay) – the typical eggs and bacon to corn meal pancakes to donuts to granola. Ri and I were beyond excited every morning to hit it – we asked for the table closest to it so we could dig right in. We got our money’s worth with me and Ri; however, Mario ate a few bites of donut and piece of bacon and he was done. He was more concerned with going out on the green space and playing with the other kids. The only problem was that the other kids all knew each other and had no desire to ask Mario to join them. He looked like such a sad soul standing outside watching them. Ri went out to cheer him up. I followed after one last bite of a chocolate muffin.

We did cartwheels on the lawn while Jon watched (I swear he looked like Don Corleone when he sat in the garden chair with no one by him). Other families looked at us with either awe or disgust but we didn’t care. It was refreshing.

We swam everyday and hit the Family Play Room the last two days. The Family Room provided a refuge from the sun and the pool (after being in it for four hours). RI and I colored pictures, Mario played Wii and on the iPad, and we all played foozball (I am horrid). They had cubicles of hershey kisses, caramels, tootsie rolls and apples and raisins. I grabbed Mario an apple to eat when he complained of being hungry. He ate it and then turned the corner and saw the hershey kisses. I wish I would have had my camera to capture his reaction. He stood with his mouth agape absolutely flabbergasted that all of those kisses were available to eat.

We drove over to Jon’s best friend, Paul’s house to visit him and his wife and their kids on Thursday night. They got pizza and Mario glued himself to their son, Sam (age 15) and Ri did the same with their daughter, Eve (age 11). Sam played football with Mario and listened to Mario’s stories; Eve showed Maria her horse awards and let her play with her iPod. Jon got to hang with his best buddy and I got to hear all the particulars about how their daughter’s fiancée proposed. We left at 8 pm, and both kids were passed out within ten minutes of our drive back to the hotel. I carried Ri and Jon hauled Mario from the car all the way to our hotel room. We were both sweating and out of breath.

We hit the putt-putt for tradition’s sake. The course was the most boring one we have been on to date. I kicked everyone’s butt (my lucky day). Maria got a hole-in-one and Mario stayed calm about it. He did not play well but instead of acting out, he just kept to himself laying on the grass or sitting in the shade. It broke my heart. He’d go to the next hole and just sit under a tree looking like a little orphan. But he perked back up at the end when we agreed to let them bounce on the trampolines. After the trampolines, we played in the arcade and all found out we love air hockey.

The kids and I also got in a hike at Pinnacle Peak. I loved that. I was surprised that the kids made it up nearly a mile (the entire route up was 1.75 miles). I was worried about Mario in the beginning because he slipped and cut his knee on a rock. You would have thought it was deep gash by the way he was hopping around and crying. It was a small cut that barely even bled. But he just kept saying “I can’t go any farther, mom, I can’t.” Luckily, a mother approached me with two band-aids. “I know how kids can be about cuts,” she told me. I bandaged him up but he still made me hold him. That was the first sign we probably wouldn’t make it the entire way up. But then his competitive spirit awoke when he saw Ri charging ahead. He started to walk with a little limp and a big bodybuilder walked by him and said “Way to go guy – keep it up!” Mario looked at me and asked if I heard what the man said. I told him “yes” and Mario said “he said it just to me mom, not to you or Ri.” Mario, Mario. But that is what it took to get Mario motivated. Within five minutes, Maria complained of feeling sick and complained that she couldn’t go any farther. That sealed the deal. I could not carry her for 1.5 more miles. I held her for a while and then we’d stop in the shade for a bit. We did this off and on until he hit a perch near mile 1. A kind soul saw that I was carrying Ri and said “congrats – you reached the top!” Mario looked at me and asked “we did?” I winked at the woman and declared “yes, we are here!” Mario would have freaked if he knew we did not make it the entire way; he wanted to find the bodybuilder on our way down to tell him that he hiked to the top. The flowers were gorgeous and the sights beautiful. Ri walked the entire way down and when we got to the bottom both kids were sweating. I told Ri she could empty the remainder of her water on her when we reached the bottom. She promptly did so. Mario followed suit. They filled their bottles up with more water and did it again, and again.

I did not want them to get their car seats soaked so they took off their bottoms for the drive home. They both found this hilarious, and laughed the entire way home (I must admit I was chuckling when I glanced back at these two half-naked goofs). They made me crack up even more with this picture near the cactus. Cards, they are.

Jon and I found out they had bicycles to rent and a trail to ride around the hotel. We had this idyllic scene in our head of all of us on our bikes riding past gorgeous cacti and flowers ad smiling at one another. Reality took over with Jon and Ri biking and me running alongside Mario who was too nervous to ride a mountain bike. Mario complained that he wanted to stop biking while I kept saying in my cheerful little voice “Come on, you are doing great. We are having fun.” My hypnosis didn’t work and our bike ride was all of fifteen minutes.

Out of all of that fun, the kids may most remember being asked by the pilot if they want to sit in his seat. Their eyes opened wide and they looked up at me like it was a practical joke. But there they were ready to fly us around the world.

I tell my folks that I have a new-found appreciation for my vacations as a kid because I realize the work that goes into them on the parent side now. But boy are they worth all of the planning and hand-holding and fuss when you see the faces of your kids entranced by the glory of the Grand Canyon or the simple hopping of a bunny.

Squealing in delight

January 13, 2013Leave a comment

January 12, 2013: 64 degrees

A park called out our name. We tend to defer to Darby Creek Metro Park so I wanted something different. None of the other metro parks had any special programs going on though and that was the extra push I needed to drive a bit farther. So we ended up at Park of the Roses.

The park is only about fifteen minutes away but I had only been there once with Ri and a girlfriend and her baby. Anything outside of walking or biking distance is typically a no-go for me. But it was such an abnormal day with 60 degree temperatures in mid-January that I figured it warranted an abnormal departure from all things Grandview.

We loved it.

We found a trail alongside a creek. Dogs splashed in the creek while their owners playfully threw sticks for them to fetch. Squirrels nestled in the low-lying branches nibbling on acorns. The water gurgled down a cascading waterfall. Yeah, just the scene I needed to rest after a crazy work week.

And then Maria accidentally hit the dog owner with a stick as she tried to throw it to the dog. Mario got wiped out by another dog too excited to see Mario in his way as he dove in the water looking like Super Dog minus the cape. A little chaos to mix into the serenity of the day.

But isn’t that how it always is with kids? How boring it would have been to walk the trail in solitude and listened to the birds sing their weekend melody. Come on, I need a little action interspersed through my walk.

And so, after the stick throwing and dog collision, the kids took off their shoes and waded in the cold, Winter aqua. They could not have been happier.

They were like the pups pouncing and splashing in the water. Tongues out. Smiles wide. They traversed the “waterfall” so excited to make it to the other side. They had spotted a Five Hour Energy bottle on the other side and were determined to get it for me (ever since I drank one months ago, they forever associate it with me and whenever I tell them I’m tired, I know just what they will look for). Maria grabbed it and it was empty. She looked dejected but Mario chimed in “at least you can look at it and just doing that should give you some energy.” My Little Buddha.

They found shiny rocks, “gold” rocks, pimpled rocks, baby rocks. They found slate similar to what they’ve seen at Peepaw’s and Mama Meg’s. They skipped flat rocks. Maria skipped one with Mario’s coaching (“Ri, watch me. I’m really good because Peepaw taught me when I was really tiny.”). It was glorious and messy and full of falling danger.

Then Mario took us up a hill for a “hard hike – one that typically only men can do.” After Ri and I gave him a piece of our minds about that comment and heard him say “girls can do anything boys can do” did we agree to the hike (I swear I should have listened to Marlo Thomas’ Free To Be You and Me more often when Mario was in womb; I listened to it incessantly with Ri). We slid and dug our nails into mud. We grabbed onto each other’s legs and pulled each other down into the wet earth. We clung to rope vines. It was an adventure and wonderful not to care about muddy clothes or wet shoes (I did make sure I wore old shoes due to my anal retentiveness about clean gym shoes).

With our feet soaked and our bodies layered in mud, we decided to head out and hit the Animal Shelter. The dogs and cats wouldn’t mind dirty kids. Mario asked Ri to hold him when I declined, and she exuberantly obliged.

Happy as bugs in a rug. These trips make me squeal with delight.

Is it really only 10:30 am?

May 20, 2012Leave a comment

The kids and I went to Cincinnati last night for a family wedding. Grandma Meg and Peepaw joined us for the festivities along with Meg’s sisters and their kids. Meg’s sister, Mindy and her husband Danny hosted the gala for their daughter Amy. Amy is a down-to-earth, sporty, happy gal who seems utterly smitten with her new husband, Todd. Todd seems like a carbon copy of Amy (minus the “gal” and add “guy!”). They smiled throughout the wedding ceremony and had a blast at the reception (Todd did a dirty dance in front of Amy before taking off the garter and Mario and Maria were completely entranced).

Mario played around with four or five boys who all knew each other from Todd’s side of the family. They did not invite him in but Mr. Mario asked his Aunt Kathy if she would introduce him to the boys, which she did, and it was over from there. He fit right in when he wanted to play with them (the only bit of crying came when he collided with an 80 pound kid and got knocked into the side of the door). Maria was perfectly happy not conversing with any kids, but rather, hanging out with the adults. She sat with Meg’s cousin, Suzanne and her husband. She enjoyed ribbing Suzanne’s husband about anything she could, and sitting close to Suzanne to talk about video games. After Suzanne, she moved onto Kathy’s stepson, Miles and his fiancée, dragging Miles on the dance floor and out to the pond. They were all wonderful with her, and very patient.

After the wedding, we headed to my mom’s house to spend the night. We petted Lou for a while since we had never been with him in his house. He loved the kids. We woke up at the break of dawn (6:45 am) and played with Lou and his tennis ball for an hour before getting ready to hit the road. We had to go to Target first since Mario’s flip flops rubbed his feet wrong. Next came McDonald’s for some quick breakfast. Then, French Park.

My old childhood park that I used to frequent with my best friend, Beth. I love walking through that park. My mom was quite impressed with it, too (as was Lou). The trails are magnificent – patches of shade with huge fairy tale trees covering you, patches of bright sunlight with wildflowers, and patches of dark with troll bridges and ferns everywhere. We walked the creek for a long time, too. It had just enough walks to jump from to not get soaked but high enough standing water for the kids to get good splashes. At the end of the trail, Maria took a good fall trying to climb onto a boulder and got a good chunk of skin off of her elbow and knee. Nonetheless, as I always report, she is a machine and once the initial shock and cry hit, she was a trooper heading back to the car and into Grandma’s bathtub.

On the way home, neither mom nor I was coherent. We were exhausted from what felt like a “long day.” So how was it only 10:30 am? Ridiculous. There should be some rule that when kids get up so early and your day starts while most people are in REM sleep, you get to fast forward the clock 4 hours. When we got home, the kids took and bath and played around. Then we had to head up to Marx Bagels for some bagels and cream cheese (my favorite!).

After bagels, we hung outside with Lou while the kids “spied” on us. Julie got home in the meantime, and the kids begged to stay to see Baby Gracie. She arrived a bit later and walked in the door exclaiming “Mary!” How could I leave before hearing that punker-wunker call my name!? The kids played downstairs while I cleaned and talked to Liz and Julie and helped Julie move coffee tables and tvs all around. We left CIncy around 3:30 and within ten minutes, both Maria and Mario were sawing logs. Out cold. So I debated stopping at Pottery Barn outlet at Washington Courthouse but I could not resist. When I stopped the car, and wiggled their legs to get up, they both bellowed “No!” They cried and hit the seats with their feet. They were pissed (now they get a taste of their medicine when they wake me up everyday at 6:30 am)! We finally made it into Pottery Barn (Mario on my right hip and Maria dragging beside me) only to find no good selection of rugs. Ugh!

So, I treated them to McDonald’s Playland. The Washington CH Playland just got renovated and it is actually quite nice. Mario, again, made friends immediately with two other boys who were brothers. Maria decided to stay by her mom because her side hurt from her fall. After letting Mario play for a half hour we took off for Columbus. Maria begged me from the back seat to let her give Mario the horn I bought him. I bought it for him a week ago and told him if was good all week, he would get it. Maria convinced me he had been good since he did not scream in the middle of the wedding, and he said “thank you” when Grandma Lolo gave him food. Pretty high standards, heh?!

As soon as we stepped in the door, Maria grabbed the horn and gave it to Mario. The whole neighborhood knew about the present because he honked it incessantly for ten minutes straight. We hooked it on his bike (with training wheels) and took a two-mile bike ride to our old house and back. When we got home, the kids rested to a tv show while I mowed the grass (which looked like the grasslands). When I finished the lawn, Maria and I played baseball. Mario watched his last Ben Ten. We wrapped the night up with mac-n-cheese and chicken and two books about telling the truth and a pig going to camp. Does it get any better than that?

When I headed outside to take out the lawn clippings, my neighbor commented about how she couldn’t believe that I could mow the grass and water the lawn in such a speedy time. I told her about our entire day and she laughed hysterically. “Do you ever stop,” I believe she asked, but I was already at the top of the driveway grabbing the last lawn bag to put out front.

The joys of nature, good food and family

May 7, 2012Leave a comment

The farm delivered good times this past weekend. Maria, her cousin and her friend drove out with me on Saturday afternoon. We jammed it out to Now 41 and Justin Bieber during the ride. Everytime I tried to sing with them, Maria would yell “Moooom, please don’t!” Even though she did not want me to sing, she did want me pump my arm up and down when we passed truck drivers along the way. She remembers me telling her my story of doing that as a kid and truck drivers honking away at me and my girlfriends when we were on long trips with our parents. They tried to do it from the back seat but the windows are tinted. I pulled through for them and pumped my arm (and showed a little leg) and got a few honks for them!

When we pulled up the drive to the farm, Maria began explaining the entire set-up to her friends. “There is my pee-paw in the garden and there is Rosie’s dog-run and the chickens are up in their house and the cabin is in the back and….” SHe is definitely at home out at the farm. The girls jumped out of the truck and bee-lined to Rosie. Maria and Alana love to play with Rosie. They throw her toy, play chase, love on her, and exhaust her. Janira, Maria’s school friend, was much more hesitant to get in the gated area with them. She stood back and watched. I think the whole farm scene overwhelmed her – she is a true city girl. However, she did get up her nerve to go into the chicken coop with the girls. And much to her amazement, she retrieved a chicken egg. All three girls retrieved one, and came running back to the house with eggs in their hands. They were different colors, mostly peach and grey-blue. Maria described to Grandma Meg how they found the eggs by digging under the hay (she knows all of the tricks of the farm, too).

Next, we headed to the creek below the house. Meg and I walked with them enjoying a few minutes together to talk about the latest going-ons in our lives. Meg and I don’t get to talk as much as we used to pre-kids because she lives two hours away and the kids are always with me when we see each other. I value even the small moments in time that we can catch up. The water in the creek flowed at a manageable level for the girls to walk around in their water shoes. Maria and Alana took off again, and Janira was a trooper trying to keep up. We walked to the swimming hole; a pool of water less than waist-high where the girls could jump around and splash. It looked like a little bit of paradise with the sun shining through the trees onto the water; the green plants and wildflowers lining the edge of the bank, the birds flying from one bush to the other, and the smell of nature. My dad talked about making a cleaner path to the swimming hole and setting up stones near the hole for adults to talk while the kids played. Retirement is hitting him soon, and he is already scoping out projects to keep him busy!

The kids were soaked after the swimming hole. We took them to the house and dried them off. When they moved to the table, they found sweet surprises from Grandma Meg. First, goodie bags with headbands and snap bracelets and crayons and pens. Second, a homemade Nature Journal complete with a twig fastener and activities inside. Leave it to my Meg-pie – she has a perfect combo of teacher, conservationist and nature guru. It had educational yet fun activities in it like discovering a tree and finding certain colors pasted onto a sheet of the journal (when we were walking in the woods and saw yellow bark, Janira yelled out “I found our yellow!”). She also had pages to detail the day, including writing one thing in nature that made you have a happier day (Meg gave them an example of a butterfly landing on her leg). They stood around the table soaking up her words. What an awesome influence for Maria Grace and her friends. These girls certainly walked away from the weekend with a greater appreciation for nature. They also got so excited over finding a caterpillar (which Meg looked up in her guide-book with Maria completely intrigued), a toad, and a woodpecker.

I helped my dad later in the afternoon following a sumptuous meal of spaghetti and meatballs, garlic bread and corn on the cob. We loaded up all of the slate from the barn to store next to the chicken house (the barn needs to be refurbished due to its age and the fact that it could topple over any second). Nothing better than some good, hard labor (when you are not forced to do it, heh?!). My body was rather shaky and exhausted after moving the slate and picking up a few giant rocks, but it was a good exhausted – one where you feel you’ve actually done something useful with this machine that is our body. I enjoyed time with my pops, too. When we rode on the forklift to get the rocks, there was a moment he looked back at me to make sure I was on securely. I felt like a kid again hanging out my dad. I wanted to tell him how much it meant to me to share that moment with him but it seemed a rather strange comment to make when we were both dripping in sweat and riding a forklift down a gravel hill. So I kept it to myself but I believe he knew just from the sheer fact of being my dad, and having an intuition for those things.

We returned to cake and ice cream – yummy. Meg and I laughed at our sweet Maria as she sat in her chair eating the icing off her cake. All was quiet and she chimed in “Ahh, I am enjoying this cake.” A perfect summation of what we were all thinking. We finished the night with Matilda – an absolutely adorable movie with Danny Devito and Rhea Perlman. It was super moon night, and it shined into the house so brightly that I felt like I was being interrogated at times. But it was gorgeous in the clear black night out in the country.

We woke on Sunday and rode horses. The girls all did a fab job with Meg and dad helping them. The horses were in great moods and caused no distress. After the girls rode, we had some killer pancakes made by dad. He uses a regular whole wheat mix but adds a bit of brown sugar to it and it makes them to die for. They have this crispness around the edges and a melt in your mouth taste. Sometimes he makes them with nuts and blueberries, which sounds amazing. After pancakes, the girls took a tractor ride around the pasture and gathered a few more eggs from the chicken brood. The bickering began around that time with little slights setting them off (Maria yelled at Alana for talking about dogs because it made Maria miss Cy; Alana yelled back; Maria yelled at Janira for “bragging” and Janira cried that she was not trying to brag but Maria always thought she was and it’s not fair…). Hence, it was a good time to leave so Meg and dad would not be subjected to it and I could ignore it from the long way off in the front of the truck.

We pulled out of the drive, and I felt so happy. You know those moments you get every once in a while where the entire world looks peachy-keen and life has circled around to right where you want it? I had it. Right in the palm of my hand. And then Maria threw a marker past Alana so she couldn’t use it and Alana screamed at Maria and Janira cried her head hurt, and I was back in reality. I had promised that we would stop at McDonald’s Playland on the way back home. Why did I do that? This McDonald’s Playland was the grossest one I have ever seen. The tables were dirty; the kids were loud and obnoxious, and the parents were even worse. One parent was yelling at her son to get down from the slide. When he refused she yelled “That’s it, Tiger, I am going to whoop on your ass with my belt in front of everyone.” I was ready to rescue the kid if she did it in front of me but she refrained. Eye-opening to see other walks of life. I pride myself on appreciating diversity but the folks in that McDonald’s tested me.

When we finally got home, we got to start the party all over again with Jon’s family. Patty had kept Giovanni and Mario all weekend up at her condo, and I am sure was ready to bring them down to our house to say good riddance! It took her over ten hours to make potato salad because she had to keep running after them. What a woman. I was being a little pissy from being tired when the rest of the clan arrived. The kids went down in the basement to dance to “I’m Sexy and I Know it” and Jon grilled hamburgers and brats and peppers. The meal was delicious, and I shook off my irritable mood and had a good time (it was probably the realization that I would get another whole sheet cake to eat (I had already had two others for Maria’s b-day earlier in the week)).

Everyone left around 8:30. Jon and I dropped on the couch. The kids fell pretty quickly, too. Maria’s b-day weekend brought lots of good times but I was glad to be on my couch with my hubby staring off into space. Although, loading up slate would be a close second.

Character in my Characters

March 10, 2012Leave a comment

“Mom, I am Catwoman and Mario is Batman and you are WOnder Woman. The Joker is following us and we need to escape.”

“Drive the jet faster, mom! We need to get away!”

And that’s how our morning started. I drove the Volvo jet down King Avenue in order to escape the Joker. Catwoman kept an eye out and fixed my lasso while Batman made all sorts of plans for our get-away. We didn’t watch any tv in the car. Beautiful. We arrived at the nursery having escaped all bad guys.

I promised the kids that they could each get a small plant to put in their rooms. I figured that such a gift was a lot healthier than a plastic toy. I had read numerous articles about the attributes of house plants recently and hoped that it would get Maria and Mario jump started on green thumbs (I need all the help I can get with my back yard). Mario spent the first fifteen minutes in the nursery frightening the fish in the pond by trying to reach in and grab their tails. I ignored him for a bit but when the nursery employee kept giving me the evil eye, I told him to stop. Maria played with the nursery kitty – a big ol’ plump tabby cat who let Maria carry her everywhere. I found some pots to re-plant my grandma’s flowers from her wake, and waited for Maria and Mario to pick out their plants. Mario chose a plain green one and Maria chose a green one with white polka dots. They got their pots (Maria, red and Mario, green) and we headed home. They took their plants out of the plastic container and re-planted them in their pots – so proud of doing it themselves. Maria built a little “home” for her plant with a balcony and a hot tub and a bed. Mario placed his on his chest. They do add some life to their rooms.

By the time we finished that adventure, it was starting to warm up outside. I enticed them to head to the woods with me by telling them we may find baby bunnies or eggs in a bird’s nest. Of course, we found no such things but by that time, they enjoyed just running through the woods and climbing rocks. I needed to be outdoors. I have felt stifled for the last week and a half with grandma’s sickness and eventual death. Even though I have gotten outdoors for runs with my sis or walks by myself, I have not been able to enjoy the sunshine and the songs of the birds. My brain constantly wafted into a separate world – blurry and lacking much emotion. I just got by for those days. To actually feel some emotion again and the warm sun on my face was refreshing. And Maria and Mario only added to the day by making me laugh again and again as we walked through the woods and played in the sand volleyball court and the swings.

After my grandma’s funeral earlier this week, a few people approached me to comment about what personality Maria and Mario exhibited. One commented at how they were both so spirited and happy; another commented on how outgoing and engaging they were; another at how confident they acted. It naturally made me proud as their mama but it also made me happy. And as we hiked up a hill full of sticks and mud, making jokes and laughing at one another, I remembered those comments, and felt such an intense moment of joy. These babes of ours are genuinely happy creatures, not scared to take risks and adventures, ready to question ideas they don’t understand, comfortable in their skin, able to laugh at themselves. They take our lives up a notch.

Jon met us at the park and we watched them brave a climb up a huge rock.

We didn’t say a peep. Just stood back and admired the view.

Forts and Theo’s and the Stars

December 29, 2011Leave a comment

Mario and Mama Meg and Taz this Summer

I checked in with Grandma Meg and Peepaw tonight to see if the kids were behaving.

Peepaw and Maria at the farm this Summer

My dad answered: “Hellllo.” He sounded in good spirits. The kids screamed “Hello” to me in the background. My dad put it on speaker and a cacophony of voices came across the line. Maria informed me that she ate spaghetti and meatballs and garlic bread at Theo’s restaurant. Mario informed me that they made a fort and dug for gold in the gravel driveway. Dad chimed in to confirm that they were being good and sweet. Meg informed me that dad and Mario lay in the Study together and look at the stars. Maria surely makes Mama Meg play barbies with her.

We meet them at noon tomorrow for the drop-off at Olive Garden. Jon and I are excited to see them. Maria and Mario do not know how lucky they are to have three sets of grandparents that provide them such unconditional love… and spaghetti and meatballs!

Tuscany for Five

October 16, 2011October 16, 20114 Comments

Out for our first trip in Tuscany

The girls and I finally arrived in Tuscany two Saturday mornings ago at 10 am local time (4 am Ohio time) after an 11 hour flight from New York (we got delayed close to 2 hours on the runway and then poor Kathy had to sit in an Exit row weat because I had elected one not realizing the seats don’t recline back and we would be directly across from the lavatories!). The plane trip only produced a bit of turbulence but I still popped a Sominex to pass out and avoid my fear of flying and my claustrophobia.

We rocked it out after the flight – had no problem getting our bags and booking our rental car and within an hour or so we were out in the Italian sun. Ericka, our travel agent (literally and figuratively), drove us out of the rental car agency with such style that the Italians driving past us had no clue that we were Americans (until a motorcycle rider zoomed past us and scared us all half to death) – Excellente! We stopped at a restaurant on the way to the villa where a short, gregarious old Italian man greeted us and escorted us to a table cloaked with a white tablecloth and tiny vases of flowers and pictures of Italian countryside surrounding it. He spoke Italian so quickly that we all took a step back and looked like deer in the headlights. He then took a breath and said the all too famous Italian word “Vino?” We understood that and ordered some red. He brought it out to us and we quickly poured it into our glasses only realizing after the fact we had poured it into our water glasses. We saw him chuckle on the side. We drank our wine, ate our brushetta with the most amazing olive oil of all time, and enjoyed our chicken and grilled peppers and pasta. We dragged ourselves from our chairs and back to the car for the final lag of our drive.

We got to the villa after two hours of winding roads and speedy drivers and it could not have been more worth it. Absolutely amazing. We got swept away upon stepping out of the car with the stone walls and the ivy and the grape vines and the potted herbs. Jude and Richard, the Villa Cappella owners, came outside to greet us with their little pup, Luna. They talked with us about the villa’s renovation from a pig sty and horse stables to this charming villa with a patio and portico and every type of tree: hazelnut, chestnut, fig, persimmon, and walnut. They poured us our first (but not last) glass of Prosecco and offered us bread sticks. We toasted to an exhilarating week in Italy. And so it began…

A view of the fields outside of the villa

Jude showed us around the house and had to find joy in our gasping and cooing in each new room we saw. The villa housed all sorts of African artifacts, Tuscan pottery and tiles, Canadian artwork, Roman statutes and fresh flowers. The downstairs had a room with a king sized bed that Ericka took. It also had a room with two twin beds that Jill got. The upstairs had a room with two twins in it that Lisa and I shared and a room with a king that Kath got. All of the rooms had fresh flowers and a window with a heavy wood door that, when opened, allowed the flood of Tuscan light to enter. The smells could have been bottled up and sold back home for a pretty penny.

We got situated and relaxed in the kitchen with fresh grapes, bread sticks, juicy tomatoes, and cheese. The next morning we took off for the Mediterranean sea – Lisa drove us and used the stick shift with sheer perfection. We went to a beach off the beaten path in Tonga and felt right at home as we laid down our towels and bathed in the sun. I found some killer rocks and shells in

The Sea

the glass-like sea. The Mediterranean sand was black and smooth and the water was chilled but not freezing (a nice change from the Cancun rocky beach that Jon and I head to every year although I did miss the big Cancun waves). I even got my girlfriends to do O-H-I-O for Ohio State (which is a feat for three Cincinnati girls who love X and UC). After the beach, we hit Argenterio, a small marina town, for shrimp and rice and red wine. We shopped around the town and I scored two big superballs – one with a skull and one multi-colored – perfect for my two munchballs! I loved this town because it had superball machines rather than gumball machines everywhere you turned – it took me back to my childhood at IGA.

Siena

On Monday we went to Siena to take in the magnificent Duomo and view the breath-taking scene from the top of the building. We enjoyed wine and potato chips (yes, potato chips!) outside of the Duomo and stared at each other in awe of the fact that we were sitting in such a cafe sans kids, work and hubbies. What a feat. We started our ride back home rather late and by the time we hit the exit for our dinner spot it was dark and hard to find. But, as we found throughout the trip, Obama’s presidential campaign quote fit us well – Yes We Can! We found our restaurant and settled in for wine, bread, pork chops, vegetables dripping in olive oil and ricotta cheese and chocolate sauce for dessert. We got home at 10:30 pm (Jude is still amazed that we stayed out past dark nearly every night) and downloaded lots of pictures.

On Tuesday, we got up early (8 am is early on this vacation!) to head to the weekly fish market in town. We ordered a cappuccino at the coffee “bar” and croissants and watched MTV videos on the tv. We purchased our fish (salmon (which was not even for sale but the butcher must have known Americans liked salmon because she brought it out when we walked in), whitefish, and calamari). We also bought some veggies (eggplant, zucchini, peppers and onions) and we headed back home with our dinner for the evening. I went for a good run up the gravel road next to us. It led to a bed and breakfast that had to house hunters as we heard their hunting dogs every night. We left for Torre Alfina when I returned and Kath, Lisa and I hiked through a volcanic forest. We got lost more times than we would have desired but we plugged our way through and made it out (Yes, We Can!). There were a few times when we felt like we knew where we were and we’d take pictures and laugh and then ten minutes later we’d feel lost and it would grow silent again. We treated ourselves to huge gelatos after the hike (choccolata and fragas for me) and rested at one of the best gelato shoppes in Tuscany. Jill and E met up with us at the shoppe. Gelato was our true addiction on this trip.

The magical forest

After the hike, we headed back home to grill out our fish and veggies. Jill did a kick-ass job cooking the fish and my other girls helped me cook the risotto and onions and tomatoes (I have a new-found desire to cook once back home)! We ate on the patio with the flourescent moon shining down on us and the crickets serenading us. After drinking glasses of wine and stuffing our bellies full of sea life, we topped the night off with the movie “Knocked Up” in our pjs on the couch.

It felt like my head just hit the pillow when Jill came in at 6:15 am to wake us up for the train to Florence on Wednesday. We dragged ourselves out of our comfy Tuscan beds and out the door to the car and to the train station in Orvieto. Jill and I got a cappuccino (“Un cappuccino, gracie”) and a chocolate croissant (yum!) for the trip. Two and a half hours later we arrived in Florence amidst a throng of tourists. Of course, four days into our trip and having traveled throughout Tuscany and met many native Italians, we did not feel like tourists any longer so they were quite annoying to us. A man from Utah approached us and asked if he could join our group – we ditched him after ten minutes. A group of women from Denver asked us how to get to the Academy (we told them and they did not believe us –

Florence

too bad for them because we were right). But we continued to stay in our small group of three traversing the streets easily locating magnificent and gorgeous sights (Neptune, Duomo, plazas, the statute of David, Bonacelli marble statutes). We stopped at an outside cafe for pizza and pasta (pasta with white sauce and peas and mushrooms and pasta with red sauce and cheeses) that took us to another world – it was fabulous. We ate on the piazza and watched all of the people pass by and commented on the statutes looking down at us. Horse-drawn carriages passed by us. We ended the day with gelato as we walked back to the train station. You rarely see anyone sitting down eating their gelato – everyone walks through the streets with their cones, licking and looking at the sights, giving both their taste buds a wonderful experience as well as their eyes.

Views driving to Monticino

On Thursday, we all hopped in the car to Penzia to try out their world-famous pecorino cheese. Can any food in this country be bad? The cheese melted onto the bread and was like candy with blackberry jam on it. We also enjoyed wild boar – we had to at least try it since we get to hear the barking dogs every morning and night. Surprisingly it was not bad (tasted like roast beef). After lunch, we crossed the street to a wine shop and got a taste of Gappo – the Italian liquor that makes your mouth feel like it’s on fire (“Liquid Fire” as Lisa calls it). It is horrible! Two shots of that and I would be unable to function. We had to take a breather after that drink but then we headed to Monticino for some wine tastings. The tour of the first winery (Fanti) floored us because of the amount of care and time taken in producing the wine. I kept thinking of Jon’s cousin Mario and his home-made wine. I have a new-found appreciation for that process. Monticino gave us a treasured gift at the end of our trip – the sunset. We watched the sun go down from a stone wall at the top of the city. It only lasted about three minutes but it was gorgeous. We walked back to the car without a word to say – the experience could conjure up none. We ate a “to-go” pizza that night (When Jude told us that no Italian pizzeria would give us pizza “to go” we had to find one!) and watched “Under the Tuscan Sun” since many of us had not seen it.

Mushroom Risotto

Friday was a bittersweet day for us because we knew it was our last day at the villa. We walked through the market in Aquapendente and drove to Orvieto. Orvieto is a quaint little hilltop town with classy shoppes and lots of narrow streets and pop-up views of Tuscan hills and trees. We bought our obligatory souvenirs and enjoyed our never-ending gelato. We hurried back home to meet our Italian cook who we had hired to make us a four-course Italian meal on our last night in Aquapendente. We arrived to the sweet aromas of the Italian kitchen, and made our way up-stream to Jude’s house for a bon-voyage glass of wine and figs with walnuts and gorgonzola. The figs tasted like nothing I have had before. If politeness was not a barrier, I would have emptied the tray in my mouth all at once. After Jude’s, it was back for more delicious food at our villa. Arugula, parmesan and cured beef salad, risotto with mushrooms, chicken breast and grilled peppers, and chocolate mousse with cookie wafers. What should have been a three-hour meal took us under an hour to consume! We were starved and the food was way too good. We laughed so hard at this fact – typical Americans gobbling their food up without taking any rest. Ahh, c’est la vie. We drank wine to extend the time out and then found ourselves on Faceb0ok looking up past friends from high school (“oh, look at her! “yikes, look at him!”).

A quintessential Tuscan scene

On Saturday morning, we packed up the car and headed for Rome. What a nightmare. Actually, it could have been a much bigger nightmare if it wasn’t for Lisa’s spectacular driving through the chaotic Roman streets. We missed a highway turn-off due to the complete lack of signs before the turn-off telling us where to go. We have the luxury in the States of having signs that tell us when an exit is coming and where it will lead us. Not so much in Rome. However, because we are five intelligent and resourceful women, and we found our way back to where we needed to be and got to the airport with ten minutes to spare on the car rental (before we were charged another $140 euro).

Rome felt like we had been thrown into a coliseum to fight for our life. Ok, maybe I exaggerate a bit but it did feel overwhelming with the number of tourists pushing their way around and the high decibel levels compared to the countryside. After years of hearing about the Vatican and the Pantheon and the fountains, it was an experience to see them in person. But as amazing and ornate as the Vatican and the Basilica and the Pantheon were, I still gravitated to the small humble church at the top of the Spanish Steps. It felt like home; if I had lived in the 15th century, I would have been a peasant rather than a royal. We all got our picture at the Fountain of Trevi tossing a coin into the water and we all got our last gelato – extra big – at the corner gelato store. And to think I had my reservations about going on this trip…. I was slammed with work, trying to sell my house, trying to renovate and move into a new house, and just tired. But my girlfriends worked on this trip, nonetheless, and never gave me a bit of slack for not participating as much. To the contrary, they called to check in on my mental well-being (thank god) and kept me up to speed on the latest about the trip. This trip provided just what I needed before my 40th birthday – time to reconnect with my girlfriends and myself – to reflect on what I want in my fortieth decade – to appreciate all that I have in my life – and to laugh hysterically with my soul sisters.

The girls

I wonder what 50 will bring?!

Chillin’ at the Creek

May 28, 2011Leave a comment

We woke up last Sunday morning and engaged in an old ritual – donuts from Tim Horton’s. The kids were able to wear only their nighties as we strolled down to the donut shop. They have not been able to do that for eight months. We decided as we chowed down on our timbits that we would head to Battelle Darby Creek in the afternoon. The kids went there with their Peepaw earlier in the week and loved it.

Lookin' good for the creek

As soon as we got home, Maria and I stuffed our backpacks full of random eats, water, and towels. The kids wore their bathing suits under their clothes with the hopes we could get into the creek. With all of the rain, I was worried that it would be too swollen and rushing. With sunglasses and sunscreen on, we hopped in the car and headed west. The creek was only 20 minutes away and as we pulled up, Maria shouted “this is where we parked with Peepaw.” My dad knew she would remember everything when I asked him for directions, where to park, and where to enter.

We hit the Overlook Trail first because it was only about 600 feet total in length. We learned about the glaciers that used to inhabit this part of Ohio and how they created the valley we saw below. Later in the trip, Maria asked “can we see the glaciers?” Our next trail expanded further. While we headed down the wood steps,

Throwing rocks and watching for water snakes!

Maria yelped. She was just ahead of me and Mario was ahead of her. When I glanced down at her, I saw a dark-colored snake slithering over the side of the step to the woods. Mario was so upset he did not spot it. Unfortunately for him, he does not have quite the eagle eyes that Maria has inherited from her dad. I congratulated Maria on her keen eyesight and she smiled at me. But when we got to a little pool of water, she refused to put her feet in for fear that a water snake would “kill her.” Everywhere she stepped, she looked around her to ensure there were no snakes slithering her way. Mario was hilarious trying to calm her down “Maria, mommy will protect you.” “Maria, you don’t have to be scared; just throw a rock at a snake and it will go away.” “Hold my hand Maria, I have you.”

Maria braving the waters and Mario being way too daring!

I started to fret at the thought of having her be too scared to ever want to go in the woods again. One of my favorite activities with the kids and that darn snake would ruin it. But, my girl came through after we left the pool of water. We went back to put on our shoes and clothes and keep down the trail. Maria complained of being hungry and not wanting to see a snake but then we found a small hill that led to a gentle opening to the creek. A family stood in the water. Mario threw off his shoes, and ran down the hill to the water. He picked up a stick and stood calf high in the creek. Maria hesitated, and I held my breath, but then she walked down the hill and stood in the water with Mario. There were two girls and a boy in the water with their mom and dad and the two girls were sitting on rocks in the water and laying on their bellies letting the creek water push them around. That is all Maria needed. She moved closer to them and tried it out, too. Before I knew it, I was warning her to not go too deep. She was cured of her water snake fear. Mario spent the entire time using his stick as a sword and a water splashing tool. Happily, he did not use it to hit anyone in the family next to us.

Self-timed shot after chowing on lunch

After 30 minutes in the creek, we stepped out to eat lunch on the hillside. If I was a poet, I would have had everything I needed to write a famous poem while sitting at lunch with the kids. As we ate our pretzels and cereal bars and cheese and crackers, a Mexican mother and four young kids arrived and jumped into the creek. They exhibited pure, unadulterated joy as they splashed around in the water and the mom laughed while taking pictures and talking in Spanish to them. Joy is universal. A centipede moseyed up the tree in front of us – Maria, of course, pointed him out to us. “Really?” I thought as I laughed about how perfect the day was turning out to be.

We were pretty exhausted when we walked out to the car (after a jaunt on the playground that has a small climbing wall – both kids scaled it like pros). Mario wanted a movie but the movie he had chosen for the ride out to the creek was horrid – massive killing and blood. I guess we didn’t read the rating on the movie box even though it was a PG movie and still contained all of that nastiness. Mario was livid when I took it out on the ride over; Maria felt so bad she told me she would close her eyes and sing so that Mario could watch it. Instead, she got to hear Mario cry and scream for 10 minutes until I said “Look at the cows out the window” and that little mind went from pissed off to amazed at the sight of bovine grazing in the field.

Ahh, picture perfect babes.

I really wanted a McDonald’s diet cooke and small fries and quiet for a half hour so I went all out and stopped at Giant Eagle to see if they had a movie to buy (yes, desperation!). Besides, we needed a new movie to add to our repertoire. Of course, they had nothing less than $24,99 and as much as I was tempted to go for it, my practical, money-conscious self could not do it. On the way out, we saw a Red Box Video. We see people at those boxes in Grandview all the time but we had never made the dive to do it ourselves. We went for it and rented Toy Story 3 for $1.00. By the time we got in the car, buckled up, and turned it on, Mario was passed out. Maria hung in there with me but sat quietly watching the movie while I enjoyed the quiet ride home with my salty french fries.

What a marvelous, awesome afternoon. I have thought about that afternoon almost every day this week, especially when I started to get irritated with a colleague or a work situation. I remember Maria lying on her belly in the water or Mario trying to skip a rock and they at the least made me smile and at times, even helped produce a significant attitude adjustment on my part. Nourishing moments for the soul.

“You be Daphne and I am Velma.”

November 27, 2010Leave a comment

Maria on her rock

A year ago, Maria and Mario loved all of the Noggin’ shows – Dora, Diego, Max&Ruby. We excused ourselves for letting them watch a few of the shows through the day because Noggin’s scientists told us in the beginning of the shows that our childrens’ brains would be much better off after watching their 20 minute show. Then, in what seemed a nanosecond, Maria and Mario shunned Noggin shows in favor of one show only – Scooby Doo. Ugh! To say that I dislike Scooby Doo is a huge understatement. I hated it growing up and I continue to detest it today. M & M, on the other hand, adore it.

Maria doing her umpteenth pose for me

Maria talks about Daphne and her outfits and her make-up and her love for Fred. I figured that Maria would take to her seeing that Maria can be obsessed about boys and high heels and make-up at times. However, she surprised me on our “hike” the other day (a short walk through the local woods to the playground). While she led me through the woods, she asked if we could “play.” I agreed. Next, she told me we would be looking for clues in the woods. “Alright – got it”, I replied back to her waiting for her to tell me I was Fred or Velma. But, to my utter surprise. she directed me to be Daphne, and she would play Velma.

She wanted me to talk about make-up and my high heels. When I did, she responded with a sigh “Oh, Daphne…” and then proceeded to find clues on the ground and on rocks and in the trees to help us solve the mystery. As we continued to walk towards the playground, I found myself smiling and feeling proud. I would have thought that she would have loved to have been Daphne since that is what she seems to be “into” these days. But when given the opportunity, she chose to be Velma, the smart, curious, independent one (talk about reading into a game!).

Maria daydreaming on her favorite tree

After the park, we strolled up to Giant Eagle to find a card for Jack, my little brother who turned 22 on Friday. The first one she handed me had two girls with huge breasts on it asking if the card-reader wanted to get hot and steamy. It opened up to the Car Wash song. “What made you pick this?” I asked her. She giggled and responded “It is for Uncle Jack, mom!” Like that explains it… Uncle Jack would rather have a card with a saxophone on it then a big-breasted woman but whatever…. Maria likes to go for the va-va-voom. We decided to go with a card that had a cat dressed up in a provocative outfit with the owner yelling to his wife “The cat is in heat again.” Much more Jack’s style.

When we got home, Ri took a bath all by herself. Mario was asleep. She loves doing that now, just like my little sis, Sarah, used to do when she was young. Sarah would sit in the tub for hours reading a book. I could never last more than 15 minutes. Maria may be heading down Sarah’s path – she stayed in for 30 minutes. Then she hopped out and put on her pjs for movie night at Blake’s house down the street. Jon and I got to head to a neighborhood party while Maria and Mario went to Blake’s house. You would have thought she was going to meet Scooby Doo. She jumped up and down in excitement waiting for Mario to get ready. She gathered her popcorn containers, popcorn, and slippers. We arrived at Blake’s house, and he showed off the popcorn and M&Ms waiting for Maria and Mario. M & M had died and went to heaven. They didn’t even notice us leave.

Crazy man refusing to sleep!

When we returned a few hours later, M & M were going strong. Mario had been playing hockey with Blake for the last 20 minutes and Maria and Jonera (another little girl down the street) had been reading princess stories. They were in no mood to leave but eventually gave in and sauntered out the door with Jon and me. Maria went to bed within fifteen minutes of getting home. Mario, on the other hand, stayed up for another hour playing up in her room, his room, and sneaking downstairs to talk to Jon and me. The boy has too much energy. We finally put our feet down and told him to go to sleep. When we walked upstairs an hour later, he was snuggled up, as always, to his big sis – both of them snoring away.

New “Moan” ugh!

November 15, 20101 Comment

I hate staying indoors, especially when it is sunny and 68 degrees outside in November. I love taking a morning rum, especially when it is barely light and a chilly 40 degrees outside. I hate coming home after a day at work and sitting in the house the rest of the evening. I love taking a walk in the dusk of the evening when it is crisp and the air is invigorating. That is why I was so bummed out after my hospital trip last week.

Last Sunday night, the pain stabbed through my left chest and up through my left shoulder like it has in the past. I took two Aleeve and went to bed. I tossed and turned but slept decently through the night. On Monday, I ran and worked out in the morning and had a little bit of pain in my left shoulder through the day. Slept fine on Monday night. On Tuesday, I started to get the pain back so I took it easy and decided against a morning run. Tuesday night I tossed and turned and felt a lot of pain in my left chest again. I stayed up a good portion of the night. Wednesday rolled around and I went to work with the continuous pain shooting through my left chest. By the time I got home in the evening, I was not feeling well. I started to have a shortness of breath and a headache. Jon forced me to head to the Urgent Care, which was closed. I travelled on to the ER.

There I was amongst a lot of people complaining about how long they had been waiting for a doctor. A woman in a wheelchair rolled up to me and gave me some advice “You are gonna be waiting here for hours – I have been out here for four.” She rolled back to her group and began cursing about the length of time in the waiting room. Turns out she was only 28 (looked 50) and she was a heavy drug user and smoker (at least that was what she was divulging to her group). Luckily, I got in to see a doctor within an hour. They hooked me up to an EKG immediately, which was normal. They did chest x-rays and blood work, which were normal. They were perplexed at how a non-smoker, runner, healthy woman could have such severe chest pain. The doctor decided to keep me overnight in order to have me do a stress test in the morning.

I was in such pain through the night. Morphine did nothing. It was one of the scariest times in my life because I could not breathe in without excruciating pain. My breathing was so shallow because if I breathed any heavier, I felt like a knife was stabbing me in my left chest. Because I could only breathe in a little bit, I got anxious that I would not be able to breathe at all if I laid down and fell asleep. Therefore, I did not sleep all night. I stared at the tv, the door, the machines and wondered if I would make it. Yeah, your mind works in crazy ways at 3 am in a hospital bed. Morning arrived and the new doctor was skeptical of a stress test. First, I probably could not perform it because I could not breathe in enough to stress my heart. Second, he saw nothing abnormal in all of the x-rays and tests so he did not think it was a heart problem. He ordered a CAT Scan for me. I had never had one of those before. Not pleasant. When the nurse shot die through my veins, I immediately thought I would throw up metal and swore I had gone to the bathroom on the machine. What a horrid feeling! Luckily, they were all just sensations from the dye. An hour later, the doctor walked in and informed me that I had pneumonia. It had showed up on the CAT Scan test.

Maria showing me the words she learned from her "word ring"

Jon picked me up with Maria in the back seat holding a picture of me when I was ten. She loves this picture of me with my super balls (little round rubber balls that they used to sell at the grocery store for 10 cents). She wanted to know how I was feeling and if I would be ok. She led me upstairs when we got home and put me in bed. She proceeded to bring me two flowers from the yard in a small vase and a bag with her and I drawn on it. She showed me the words that she had learned while I was gone. She is so good to me – a natural caretaker.

For the first two nights, I was miserable. The pain killers could not relieve the pain in my chest, and I sat up most of the night looking out the window thinking of my grandma. I just visited my grandma a few weeks ago when she had pneumonia (could I have gotten it from her?) and she told me that she had such trouble breathing because of all the phlegm in her nose and lungs that she just stayed up all night worried that she would lose her breath. I remember thinking that she had to be scared. Now, I experienced first-hand what she felt. And, I can attest to the fact that I have known all along – you can never truly know what another individual feels in a situation until you are in it yourself.

Maria and Mario enjoying some sofa time

Jon was a doll trying to calm me down but nothing helped. The kids loved life because Jon and I were too tired to do much but let them watch tv!

Finally, on Saturday night, I slept for a few hours soundly. I woke up Sunday feeling a little better. Jon took the kiddies all day so I could rest. He picked them up from Grandma Meg’s and Peepaw’s house where they had played on Saturday and spent the night on Saturday night. Maria got in a three-hour hike with Peepaw and Mario (Mario, being the youngest, gets Peepaw’s shoulders). She walked the entire way. There is something about the farm that brings out the hiker in her because when she is in Columbus or Cincy it is all stroller for her! Mario wore his Spiderman costume the entire time, which gave the grandparents a chuckle. Jon picked them up and carted them to Uncle Mario’s and Aunt Vicki’s house for a day of four-wheelin’ and spaghetti and meatballs. Maria’s dream come true.

Maria getting ready to four-wheel with her dad

They spotted bucks and cows. They petted kittens and saw the dogs. Maria got her toenails painted in Buckeye colors by Bianca. Mario got to wrestle Big Mario. Jon got to ride his four-wheeler around the farm. A good day.

Mario refusing to pose for a picture at Big Mario's

I sat in bed, laid on the couch, watched Sex and the City 2 and the Turning Point. Thought about cooking dinners and reading more books. Came up with new games and activities for the kids. Went stir-crazy eventually.

I rejoiced in seeing the kids and Jon at 8:30 pm. I made the mistake of walking out to say hi and the chest began pounding again. Mario sat on the couch and told me about the bucks. Maria sat at her desk and did her homework. She is getting so good at spelling her words and figuring out what words begin with a certain letter. She had the letter “f” tonight and was able to spell out “friends” and “fish” and “frame” with my help. The smartest kid ever!

The two munchballs doing their love pose for mom!

I helped Jon put them to bed, and promised I would read Maria 20 books tomorrow night since we did not read any tonight. I love that she wants to read with me! And I promised Mario that he would wake up with Superhero powers if he slept under his Spiderman cover all night. Within 10 minutes of coming downstairs, Jon and I heard the pitter patter of toddler feet running through the hall – he must be confident that he has all the powers he needs.

"MOM!"

Adventures in the Life of a Working Mama

Tag: Hiking