Here is my dad with the two athletes from El Salvador that my parents hosted. Cesar and Miguel are on the floor hockey team. From what I hear they are pretty good too. My dad said the only indication he had that one of them was any different than any other 23 year old male was that he didn’t seem to mind carrying a pink Barbie backpack. Oh I love it!

My mom and I took the boys to watch Figure Skating. It was great. That’s all I’ll say about that.

To all Boiseans: All Special Olympic competitions are free and do not require tickets. They continue today and tomorrow, and from what I hear V.P Joe Biden is on his way… No offense to Mr. Vice President, but the athletes are what you really want to see.

You can find a schedule here.

When the Olympics were in Salt Lake City I lived in Pocatello. Only a three hour drive and to this day I kick myself that I didn’t drive down just to be a part of something so great. So I really wanted to participate somehow in the Special Olympics World Winter Games here in Boise.

My parents hosted a couple of athletes from El Salvador (I’ll have to post a picture of them later) and so they received tickets to the Opening Ceremonies. (I would have cropped out the guys in the background but to me they are just another testament of the joy and friendship in the atmosphere.)

Oh man. What an experience. It was AWESOME. And I mean that in the way the word AWESOME was formerly used. I was full of AWE. No one was thinking about enemies, war, politics or economy. These were 2,500 of the most exuberant and happy individuals I have ever seen and they came from 100 countries.

One hundred countries.

Oh it gives me chills.

The world gathered together yesterday in Nampa. I love it when the world feels small. And yesterday it felt like thousands of people from the four corners of the Earth all had something in common. Even though we were are all so different, we all had something in common. It was a feeling of unity that transcended language, race, religion, gender and physical and mental capabilities.

Not the least of the things we had in common was that we all wore a blue and white scarf. Knitted or crocheted by hand, there were 55,000 scarves. The story of the scarves brought the crowd to tears, but I’m not going to write it here. In fact, I can’t even choose just one article to link because there are so many moving stories. If you have the chance, google “special olympic scarf project.” It will inspire you as you read about the goodness of people.

One of the highlights of the event was when a local band played a cover of “HOT, HOT, HOT”. The enthusiasm of the athletes was contagious and my mom and I were somewhere between laughing and crying at the sight. I spent a good portion of the event being choked up. All my life I’ll never forget that three hours and the way I felt.

More often than not we take pictures of the rare or unusual events of our lives. And rightly so. It is best to catch them on camera so we can later recall them with laughter, tears or what have you.

This picture is of something ordinary. Typical. Happens all the time. But no matter how often he leaves, his returns are always wonderful.

Having a non-functioning dvd player left us wondering how to spend our Friday night. Typically we relax and let Richard unwind and enjoy the comforts of home in front of the boob-tube. A good movie and a bowl of popcorn.

Any spouse of a traveler knows this worn out argument. Richard wants to eat at home, he’s tired of eating out. Jo wants to eat out, she’s tired of eating at home. With the promise of a homecooked meal on Saturday Richard took us all to Red Robin. (Not Five Star, but very family friendly.)

We then headed to my favorite, but not oft enough visited, place in Boise. Powell’s Sweet Shoppe. We all picked a treat, I enjoyed some peanut butter gelato and then we headed home. That is what I should have photographed. Gelato. NOT ordinary.

Okay.

Deep breath.

Here we go.

Several months ago I dipped my toe in the waters of Facebook. I registered at the request of some college friends as a way to stay in touch. At that time I wasn’t familiar with the ins and outs of Facebook (I guess I’m still not) and so months went by where I didn’t ever pay any attention to it.

It seems that in the last month or so I have fully boarded the Facebook bandwagon. I’ve spent a good deal of time looking up people to re-establish contact (if you can call it that) and get updates (if you can call them that) about how they are doing. I have been generally successful in finding friends from my past and “re-connecting”. Making those original discoveries sent me into a tailspin of nostalgia.

So on a quiet Sunday afternoon while all the boys napped I dove headfirst into memories. I opened up my green trunk that contains all my memorabilia from childhood up to marriage. (Approximately.) I especially focused on one box. This box contains letters written to me during a period of ten months while my family lived in Virginia. After reading through these letters I am convinced that a movie could be made from them, from my perspective of the drama and desperation of a group of 15 year old girls at Fairmont Junior High.

So after reading many of them for the first time in years, and pretty much laughing myself silly all alone there in the playroom, I plunged further into reminiscence. So I went back to facebook. I looked at the ‘walls’ of these my jr. high friends. And…

I am left completely unsatisfied. So dear readers, I am in need of your feedback. I need to know…

Is it normal and healthy for me to want to reestablish REAL friendships again with these, now women, spread out across the country? Is it even possible? Have our paths diverged too far?

Or

Am I a pathetic loser unwilling to let go of the past and move on, finding satisfaction in new friendships? Because, chances are, that my dear friends have already done so?

****Comments are back, for now, by necessity. I know the term ‘pathetic loser’ is a little harsh, but please, be honest.****

When we first arrived and the nurse was asking the usual questions: Allergies? Up to date on immunizations? she asked “Does he have any chronic conditions?”

My response: “Clumsiness?”

Granted, this time he didn’t do it entirely on his own, but nonetheless, he is a little accident prone. What exactly did he do? He took a tumble off of a chair and bit through his lower lip.

He was in such good spirits waiting in the hospital room and I happened to have my camera in my purse so I felt justified in taking a picture. He was actually quite happy and friendly to the nurses and doctors until they put the little oxygen probe on his toe. That made him pretty angry. My sister Lori works in the ER and she says that is pretty common. Of all the things they did to him last night it strikes me as so strange that that was the thing he hated most.

Here is the post-suture photo taken this morning. Poor little guy was still exhausted so I put him back to bed and he’s been sleeping soundly since. Which is good, because the inside of his lip was looking pretty sore. He had some scary looking apthous ulcers going on in there. (That is the fancy dental hygienist word for canker sore.) The more he sleeps and the less he chews on his poor little lip the better.

I’m learning a lesson. Key suffix – ing , not ed. It’s a process. If you asked me if it was okay for people to disagree I would say “You bet.” So why is it that when people disagree with me I get angry or offended. Hmm. I guess I haven’t really come to terms with disagreeing. But I am working on it.

For Christmas my Mom and Dad gave me a quote on wood that says:

“We find comfort among those who agree with us, growth among those who don’t.”
-Frank A. Clark

The other day I was having a conversation with someone (don’t worry, it’s not you) and we were disagreeing. We weren’t really arguing but if I didn’t get ahold of myself it was headed that way. So I changed the subject and continued on. Afterwards some words coming from nowhere (well, we know where they come from) said to me “it’s okay to disagree.” Our difference of opinion need not affect our relationship.

Wow.

I know that seems so obvious but it really hit me. And it was like a burden was lifted. I didn’t need to be angry, defensive, or judgemental.

Alas, it is difficult to keep those peaceful feelings with me. But now I know it’s possible. And it’s true.

It IS okay to disagree.

I love music.

I mean, I’ve always liked music. But I have realized the last couple weeks that I love music.

When I am happy, a favorite song can make me smile so big. Or when I need to smile big, a good song can bring me joy. REAL JOY. And when I want to wallow, music drowns me.

Richard got me an iPod for Mother’s Day last year and (even without the added benefit of podcasts) it has been one of my favorite gifts ever.

So despite a neck-n-neck race I was thrilled to see that my fellow music lovers have won our cause. I know I spun the poll a little bit to give my music supporters an advantage. But hey, it is my blog right?

Because I am a natural peacemaker and I want to please ALL, I will put the player near the top where it is easy to access and turn off. (Even though I think it is hideous and disrupts my blog ambiance.)

Thanks for voting.

Maybe I can help you find a song that will help you feel something. And while I’m on the subject I want to thank my ballet teacher and other bloggers who have shared their music with me. I have discovered some of my favorite songs of late from these two sources.

(Cameron & Richard January 2007) Cameron has recently started playing a Curious George game on the computer. It is very complicated, it involves the “up” arrow and the “down” arrow. Anyway- today Eli was feeling very left out while Cameron played and was distracting me from my project.

I know that giving the younger child an artificial device and letting him believe he is actually playing the game is the oldest trick in the book. But that is not going to stop me from using it.

I have high hopes that keyboard will continue to serve me well.