Life is just so gosh darn busy! I turned 27 last Sunday, and once again I was lucky enough to spend my birthday in the Florida Keys. Birthdays usually do not bother me, but this one did. You get into traps where you remember what you were doing x-amount of years ago. "Five" was my magic number...five years ago this time of year we first learned, out of the blue, that my mother had cancer...and end-stage at that.

What else is going on with me? Oh, SCHOOL. It's sucking the life out of me. I just finished with a course in accounting and nutrition, and I am in my final two courses (Finance and International Business) for the associate's degree. My bachelor's program begins toward the end of November.

We were going to go on a hot air balloon ride last night, but it was canceled due to weather. The conditions must be near-ideal, so I may have to reschedule several times. I gave the tickets to Nick for his birthday last June, and we have scheduled one more try at a ride this year—the end of September when autumn colors are at their prettiest.

Nick thinks that during this time, when I am too busy, too tired, too spent to blog like I used to, we should turn LL into a site where we post funny things we've heard or said. This came after watching a really pathetic movie called "The Polar Bear King" wherein one royal sighed, "Why can't everything be as simple as.........snow?" and Nick felt my kneecaps after we made a pact that neither of us shave during our vacation and declared that my legs don't feel like his face.

We'll see where this website goes...

This is from our trip on the Kickapoo River this past weekend. When we got home we thought the video(s) where something out of a video game. All we needed was to have guns mounted on the boat and we would be set.

(posted by Nick)

In the mood for a little Andrea Bocelli this morning, I played "Con te Partiro" from my iTunes library. I love this song more than words can adequately portray. I do not know a stitch of Italian, yet the first time I heard the song in the late '90's I felt a connection. This song sounds like goodbye. Goodbyes are hard, even if they are good for you. Their memories are bittersweet.

So there I sat with my laptop, eyes closed and tears welling, when I feel something not a little fluffy at my hip. Sophie stared intently at the computer that was producing the noise, before closing her eyes and beginning to purr. I doubt she knows any more Italian than I do…but then, hearts need very little translation.

Hi, there! Remember when I used to write every single day, sometimes twice a day? Did the days have more hours back then? That must be it.



I discovered on the verge of tears last night that I aced my Economics final. I tried sharing the overwhelming joy with Nick, but he seems to consider my A's a dime a dozen. I'm like an obedient pooch: I'll gladly do my trick as long as you promise to pat my head afterwards.

Last Wednesday was Nick's birthday. We spent the afternoon biking and the evening dining with friends. It was a good day and the bad storms never came. I gave him two tickets for a hot air balloon ride. After I purchased the tickets, I nervously text-messaged Brenda to see if she thought he'd like the gift. She replied that if he didn't, she would go with me. He liked them. Sorry, Bren.

Sophie is becoming such a lap cat. She's panting more often now that the days have grown humid. Nick turned on the air conditioner last week because she's really quite pathetic with all that hair. I've known all along that she's part-dog but a lot less maintenance. It is very nice to have her run to us when we get home at night.

What else? Oh, I've been diagnosed with yet another digestive disorder. I tell ya, I feel sexier as the years go by. Add more foods to my list of what to avoid. Citrus, pineapple, tomato, anything high-fat...and coffee should be there, but I just can't bring myself to avoid that one. So I take my medication like a good girl and avoid most of the things I should.

Last Saturday was Rhythm and Booms. Great show, bit of a storm scare early on when we made a mad-dash to a nearby gas station while the hail assaulted the ground.

That's all I can remember at the moment. Time to head off to work...we're carpooling today. Ciao!

I am done with econ. I handed in my final last night after spending most of yesterday writing and refining my essay. I planned to finish marketing yesterday too, but as always, econ used more of my resources than I was expecting. I typed up 500 words and then my brain clamped shut and I spent the last two hours of my night limp on the couch. This morning? My head is pounding and I feel a little sick.

I have exorcised you, econ!

I can't decide if she's happy that I've taken to feeding the squirrels or not…she seems to jump at the screen an awful lot while they're out there. Nick tries to cheer her up, telling her that those squirrel tails have nothing on hers.

We are listening to my iPod while in the car. Nick likes pointing out when a given song that I have ripped is from his library. "Lady in Red" starts playing, and he's all, "You took that from me!"

I question aloud, "Why would anybody have an entire album from Chris De Burgh anyway?"

"THAT'S HOW WE HAD TO DO IT WAY BACK WHEN."

This is my new haven:



A couple weeks ago I decided that the time was ripe to buy a treadmill. Nick had already seen to the purchase of a super-nice elliptical trainer earlier this year in deference to my knees, but after a nasty case of shin splints following a walk outdoors in April, I realized the need for some impact-exercise in my repertoire. Nick spent an entire Saturday organizing the area to be just what the doctor ordered for both of us.

My head is very full right now and I am feeling very overwhelmed. I have developed a thudding ache where I had all of my surgery in 2006/2007. I can't escape it. My nerves are waking back up after a nice long rest…but I so dearly miss that numb spot right now. I suppose I am a little nervous that it could be something more, too.

I can't get this dumb frog out of my throat. I "ahem" until my voice is raw but the crud just won't leave. I have an appointment with Allergy in a couple weeks to see if my sinuses are the culprit. It has been a rotten allergy season for me anyway, but maybe something else is up. I am supposed to be off all antihistamines until my 6/11 appointment, so the next two weeks should be a peach.

I have been feeling dually stressed out with school and work, and mainly because work seems to be in a tizzy lately. I can handle the challenge of full time school, but not when I can't empty my head from work at the end of the day. The home gym offers a nice alternative to sharing a pitcher of beer during happy hour.

There are many things I like about the basement. I like the coolness of the area, the separateness from the rest of the house, and the privacy. Oh Lord!—the privacy! SO much nicer than a gym! I always get ready for a workout being all wussy and all "it's so cold!" but then I start going and I'm being steamed alive in my sweats. At the gym, I just had to live with it. Here? I strip. Mid-stride on the treadmill. It's a talent.

I came up from kickboxing on Saturday in nothing but some sweaty underthings. Nick nearly swallowed his tongue before demanding to know what happened to my clothing. Maybe I'm a closet nudist? But then, that's rather oxymoronic, isn't it?

This year, as Mother's Day approached, the hovering weight above my chest fell. Part of me feels like this is a regression, a depression that has reemerged after I worked so hard to build myself back up after Mom died. This year, I looked in the mirror one morning and it struck me: my mother is dead. I can never be a mother. This day will never mean anything at all to me; a bitterness and a deep hurt has surrounded me since. You can only pretend to be okay with everything for so long.

My memories blur and then grow agonizingly clear. I made myself "forget" two years ago. It seemed easier then, when the hurt was so recent, so real, and I wasn't sure if I could survive without her. I suppose it is time to actually deal with this emptiness. This all comes at a moment when my brother has fallen to depression, sending a late night text message wondering if I still had the slide show we played during her visitation, and my father has signed up for a fresh round with grief counseling.

This year, instead of being a party pooper, I elected to stay home from all Mother's Day festivities. My brother did the same...we are in the same boat of past and future reasons to celebrate—he tells me he never wants to be in any relationship at all because it hurts too much when people die. At the risk of sounding immature and whiny, this isn't fair.

Normally I have my wits about me, my rhetoric down. "There's a bigger plan; we're too small to see." I'll recite something she once relayed to me..."The word 'deserve' should not have been invented. Who are we to decide?" But right now, it all all just seems so unfair.

Thursday afternoon, I decided that I needed to run away, even if only for a day. Nick helped me plan a quick trip to Chicago, and we spent yesterday exploring the city and catching Wicked at the Ford theatre.
Today, reality returns. I think Nick was quite surprised when, on the trip home, he asked if I wanted to stop and visit her grave today. I clamped my lips and shook my head; gigantic alligator tears leaked from beneath my sunglasses.

Last year, I decided that I have come to save up all of my mourning for Mother's Day and her birthday, the two days that have always been about her. This year, I am not quite sure that just two days will be enough. I have been able to talk about her fondly, in humor and warmth…trying to relay just how awesome of a person she was. Lately, I have been unable to say anything. I am overcome with images. I see her pregnant, rubbing her belly and talking to me like she told me she did. I remember us cuddled in bed together, talking and giggling. I feel her hugging me.

And then I feel it all go away.