My people

Do you ever feel like you're in some kind of alternate universe?  I don't know what the hell is going on lately, but everything is just...off.

Like tonight: I gave the boys three choices for dinner: leftover stew, leftover spaghetti, or eggs.

And B chose spaghetti.  B hates spaghetti.  I giggled with glee after I asked him at least three times if he was sure.  It's like it was a Christmas miracle!

After I heated the spaghetti and made some vegetables to accompany spaghetti, N asked if it would've been JUST eggs.  I said it clearly would've been accompanied by bacon or turkey bacon, and they both looked at me like I had broken all of the video game consoles in our house (I think there are five...no, six).  I reheated a baked potato, and B asked why that wasn't a choice.  And that, my friends, is how I wound up with half a potato, a leaky dishwasher, and a pile of hand-washed dishes, and a portal that will.not.update.with.my.final.grade.

Tomorrow is B's Christmas program at school.  Check that.  Holiday musical.  Check that again. North Pole Extravaganza.  I have no clue what I'm supposed to call it anymore.  B has already decided that we should go to dinner at a place of his choosing after his outstanding performance which means Chipotle.  Blech.

Remember when you were in high school and THE place to go was Taco Bell?  No?  Was that just me?  I find that hard to believe.  Tripping down memory lane can be a lot of fun, but sometimes it's a lonely journey.  I drag my boys down it with me on occasion, but they just don't get it.

N and I had a rough morning this morning.  He was tired and cranky (it WAS Monday morning, after all), and he took it all out on me.  I slammed the door to the garage when he left and everything.  But that boy of mine sent me a text message around lunch time because he got a 96 on his math test (and the same grade on a quiz), and he was elated.  So was I, for two reasons.  One, my kid did well on a test in a subject that is not our best.  Two, he text me to tell me about it because he was so proud of himself. 

My heart kind of exploded.  Later, I stopped by my big sister's office on the way home from the grocery store and randomly burst into tears.  When I got home, she had reloaded my Starbucks account for me because that's my love language.  And I burst into tears again.

And then I went to the library to get some books to read while I have nothing of any significance going on, and also to meet my B because he was doing homework (read: shenanigating in the library).  While in the library, I ran into my 12th grade English teacher.  Since I've subbed for her, I said hello and we talked for a while...about kids and schedules and life and school and everything.  Y'all, she is so great.  It makes my heart so happy to see someone who's been at this teaching gig for so long and still just loves her students.  At least one other person (that I saw) came up to her at the library to say hello and fill her in on what they'd been doing.  To me, that's the mark of a great teacher.  I only hope one or both of my boys have her someday. 

I've been wavering on what I want to do and how I want to do it, and she just helped in more ways than she will ever know.  And when I got home, my sweet professor sent me a sweet message, reminding me that all things are possible and asking me if I wanted to have lunch tomorrow because she has a better line to my brain and heart than anyone in a long time.  And it just made me realize that I have some really wonderful people in my life, people that I realize I have seriously taken for granted, and it made me realize that I have to change that.

Like...NOW.

Aubs