Kids Gone Wild

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Mackenzie:



Dillon:


Dillon's Friends:



Mackenzie went trick-or-treating with friends too, but I forgot to take a picture of them. Duh. It was easier to remember to take a picture of D and his friends as they were loitering around my kitchen and eating pizza.

Oh yeah, and these...

"I am SO humiliated."

"My eyes are burning you with the intensity of 10 blazing suns."

"What? You said I was a Good Dog? Treats for Taiko?"

Carving Pumpkins!

Carving....



And Concentrating...



And Proud...

Homecoming

Homecoming was last night. This is how great Dillon looks in a suit. And there's his girlfriend, "Elaine", and those are his friends:

Queen of Procrastination

Wrote out Halloween cards about 2 weeks ago. They're still sitting on my counter waiting to be addressed.

Typical.

Olympic Hackey-Sacking

When you play hackey sack in your bedroom, you should cover your water...



It was like magic. He kicked it with his foot, it sailed over my head while I was fixing his computer, and swooshed right into his water glass with a soft little plink.

Couldn't do it again in a million years.

Fogging Up The Windows

Took a nap. Now I can see. Still have a dull headache behind my eyeballs.

The Scene: Monday night, dark, rainy, 45 degrees. Dillon is at a Powderpuff Football game but it's getting late.

8:45

Mom on cellphone...

"Hey, Honey! Did you forget to come home?"

"Oh, no... the game is still going on but we're freezing and wet so we're coming home. We're heading to the car right now. I'll take 'Elaine' home and be right there."

9:00 - 9:25

Mom, wondering: "Hmmm... school is 4 minutes away, Elaine lives 5 blocks away..."

9:30 The phone rings (and sends me into the auto-mom-response-to-a-late-night-phone-call-when-the-teenager-is-out-with-the-car: pre-panic)

"Hey Mom, I'm in our parking space, but there is a weird arrow lit up on the dashboard."

"A weird arrow?"

"Yeah, it's orange. It's right under the speedometer."

Mom, thinking...thinking..what could that be?.....................

LIGHTBULB!

"Were you making out in the front seat?"

"Yes."

"You hit the button for "winter mode". By the gearshift. Push it again."

Pause. "Yup, that was it. It's gone."

And he lopes in with a grin.

I love that kid.

Stupid

If I got in my car and drove west for an hour, I'd be in 8 inches of snow.

Instead, I'm here, where it is 42 degrees and raining.

I hate Fall.

Demon Eyes

I can't see shit.

Went to the Eye Doctor today for a checkup. She upped my prescription for my reading glasses... Apparently, my eyes aren't getting any younger and it's getting harder for my muscles to hold them where they are supposed to be. A lot like my boobs and butt.

And she dilated my eyes. I forgot how uncomfortable that was. It feels like someone is trying to suck out my eyeballs with a teeny-tiny plunger. It's giving me a headache. But on the plus side, I am cataract and glaucoma free!

Dillon keeps pulling down my sunglasses and making scary faces at my freakishly black and gigantic pupils.

You Know What I Hate?

When you save a book for three months so that you can read it around Halloween because it's a saga about witches and then you start it and realize that you've already read it but you can't NOT read it because you're on the Metro headed to DC and you're going to be on there for about 45 minutes (each way) and you've got to have SOMETHING to do so as not to have your head explode from sheer and penetrating boredom and then once you're back home you decide that you might as well keep reading it because you've already read about 100 pages and it would be a total waste of time to have spent over an hour reading a book only to put it back on the shelf and start another (and anyway, it shouldn't be a problem if you've forgotten so much about it that you couldn't even remember having read it 15 years ago in the first place) but the more you read, the more you recall and then you start to wonder if you should just quit now, but now you're about 400 pages into a 1000 page book and though that's not an excruciatingly large investment (compared to the total number of pages) it is a significant investment, so you just keep on reading and hoping that it will all go quickly and that you actually liked the book in the whole first place.

That's what I hate.

New Stuff

This is New:



And I really, really like it.

But this looks Stupid:



So now I need a new dryer (even though that one works perfectly).

And these curtains are New:



And I don't really like them.

It looks like my Grandma lives here.

Gratefulness

Ever since Dillon and I were at Walter Reed yesterday, I can't get those men out of my head. They were sitting in the chairs near the pharmacy, leaving the garage, walking through the lobby, in the elevators, the lab, the hallways. Everywhere you turn, young men with missing limbs. And these are the lucky ones... The ones who actually returned from war.

I noticed Dillon watching a guy with a shiny metal prosthetic leg walking into the hospital. He hardly had a limp so that if he'd been wearing pants you wouldn't even know. "A soldier,“ I said. And then it dawned on him: we were at Walter Reed Army Medical Center - the hospital that receives the injured from Iraq & Afghanistan. The man was so young. And vibrant. He was strong and walked with a determination on his face. He didn’t look Proud, exactly, maybe Noble is the right word. He walked with his head up, not hiding his handicap, and I got the distinct impression that he wouldn't have considered it so.

We know that there are "casualties of war”. It's a fact that can't be helped. As a Navy Wife, I understand that. I know that every time my husband leaves, it could be the last time I see him. But that knowledge has always been in an abstract sort-of-way that sometimes comes close enough to just barely bruise the edges our daily life: When we lose a helicopter in a training accident... when an aircraft hits the ocean instead of landing gracefully the back of a frigate... We attend a Memorial Service, each one of us wives quietly thankful that it wasn’t us sitting in that front row today. We hear about the losses on the news every night and it is sad, but it is somewhere else. It's on the TV, which can be turned off and the knowledge tucked away into the farthest recesses of our minds, only to be recognized on the rarest and most solemn of occasions: Memorial Day, Veteran's Day, a visit to Arlington...…

But yesterday, there it was. Literally, in the flesh. I saw the price that American Military Men and Women pay for our Freedom. They do it willingly and proudly and they are the ones who carry the scars, every single day, for a lifetime.

And I walked away Humbled and Proud and Grateful and even a little Sad.

But mostly Grateful.

This Is What She Wore Today...

Dillon Grins

They've finally conceded to put Dillon on Accutane. It's been 3 doctors, 4 years, 8 medications, a face full of acne scars, and a fair amount of begging (...and a little whining thrown in for good measure).

It's a serious drug with serious (but rare) side effects, and I understand all of the implications and don't make this decision lightly. But Dillon has suffered 3 1/2 years of embarrassment and discomfort over his face and it's way past time for him to feel good about himself. He's handled this situation better than most kids, I think, and better than I believe I would have handled it at his age. But it's his turn. It's his turn to feel totally confident (though I'm afraid of THAT monster) as a 16-year-old kid in the scary world of 16-year-old girls, dating and dances.

So. Today we finally saw a Real Dermatologist and not another Navy Family Practician who would tell us to just try this "one more thing" before he refers us to a Dermatologist. He sat us down and explained all of the dangers and side effects, serious and minor. There is a workbook for Dillon to read and complete, he went to the lab for bloodtests, and we made an appointment for November 8th. If the bloodwork comes back ok, then we will get a prescription for 30 days worth of meds and then will have to see this doctor at Walter Reed each month thereafter for a check-up and a new prescription.

While the commitment is a tad overwhelming, a weight has been lifted off our shoulders. We drove home with smiles on our faces, a standing monthly date, and an acne-free future on the horizon.

Descent Into Military Medicine Hell

Dillon and I are on our way to Walter Reed for a Dermatology consult.

I should see you in 12-14 hours.

The New "Thing"

So. I had a good idea.

And I turned around and gave Mackenzie a high-five.

...then with the left hand...

...then with the right hand...

...then with the left hand...

...then with the right hand...

...then with both hands.

Then she looked at me with wide eyes and giant smile and said, "Hey! We have a new Thing!"

And we had to practice it two more times.

Now we are prepared to celebrate in the event of happy news and impressive accomplishments.