Tonight's Topic - running

No, don't worry, I am not picking up a healthy habit or anything...I mean running in life...the way I have been feeling lately...like I am constantly running and getting nowhere! It has been a long wondering of mine, to think back, and try to figure out when life got insane. And it gets more and more insane each year, which would lead me to believe that, overall, the blame can go to the kids, as each year they grow, and change, and pull us in new directions, but I am not so sure it is that, exactly. Then there is the fact that I can look back at when we lived in apartments, as opposed to a house with a yard and say, OH, that's it! Life was so easy back then, home ownership sucks the life, and money, right outta ya! But, really, that's not it either...come see my house today, seriously, it has not been the thing getting my attention, so how can I say it is making me insane? Could it be my job? I mean, it is true that teaching has changed a great deal in 17 years. It used to be fun, people used to smile, read the paper on their "break," make popcorn and chat. We used to be able to have the occational "read and feed" day with the kids, just let them hang out, snack, maybe throw on a movie, and get a lot of our own work done in the meantime. Now, we have beautiful Smartboards that can play a DVD like nobody's business, but we also have testing, upon testing, upon testing. Could it be the job? Sure, but then again, I am pretty much a "leave work at work" kinda girl so it really isn't that either.

I was talking with my dad this weekend about needing to get new cell phones, and how much of a DECISION that is. He agreed, and went on to say that at the same time, you are supposed to be shopping for the best deals, and choosing your power provider, and land line phone company, and checking your credit report, and it just gets to be too much. I think that the running question can be summed up as there is more and more available at all times, and, realistically, as I age, I have less and less time. Years FLY by, my work, home and family demands are multiplied 10 fold, and my perception of the passage of time has totally flip flopped. When I was younger, I had all the time in the world, now, time is more of my sparring partner. There are things I need to do, and things I want to do, in life, and the windows of time for them to happen are flexing and changing every moment.

You know, the running thing was something I made a funny about while talking to Tim after dinner. I said to him, "Wow, we have a marathon to run before we go to Key West, and then we'll have to DRIVE THROUGH Marathon (key) to even GET to Key West!" The symbolism is thick, eh? But seriously, may this marathon TO Marathon pass quickly and may we move on to paradise! I'm here, in the now, right now, but I am so ready to be here in the now, there...soon!

Tonight I feel like I am just plain out of words. I read somewhere that due to evolution, and the fact that women, since prehistoric times, have done more of the home tasks, gathering and cooking, childrearing and cleaing, they have always been more social, and thus evolved to have "more words" to use in a day. Men, on the other hand, were off, in parties, hunting, quietly, stealth, using as few words as possible to just barely communicate, and thus men, today, have evolved to have "fewer words" to use in a day. Tim and I often joke about this, and on evenings when he is particularly quiet, I will say to him, "Oh, hon, did you already use up all of your words?" Well, today, I understand what he feels. Gwynn even picked up on it, on our way back from piano she noted, "Mom, you're so humph..." which was funny. It continued when we returned to the house. We ate dinner without much conversation, and I have spent the rest of the night doing and putting away laundry, reading, watching TV, researching Key West information and in any possible other way, just living inside my own head. And I am not really so much in a bad mood either, just out of words. I was dreading having to blog, but held myself to it, and you know, it is kind of funny how much I just said about wanting to say nothing.

SO excited! We are heading to KEY WEST in two weeks, over our April break. I guess my gratitude yesterday paid off, and I will continue it today. We are going with my parents, who just wanted to take us all on a trip! Can you beat that? The initial thought was to go out to see the Grand Canyon, but the way we were trying to lay out the trip it seemed like it would be an AWFUL amount of driving, and kind of a break neck pace, and that just didn't really seem appropriate for April break. So we started to think of other ideas and tossed around Charleston, SC, Washington DC, and even the Caribbean, but landed in Key West instead. We're flying to Miami, renting a van, and driving down too, which I am really psyched about, but then it's going to be 5 days of WHATEVER we want to do at THE TIP OF THE USA! So cool! So in continuation of gratitude, here's to my parents...I raise many many margarita's in thankfulness to you! The quest for coconut begins now!

Sunday/Sundae

SO, this weekend, I found that it is really kinda hard to blog on the go! We were at Mom and Dad's for Easter and life was just too busy to sit down and write. I suppose that is kind of what I am wanting to find out from this little "write everyday" experiment, too, though. How does writing fit into my everyday life? Well, when it IS everyday, I am seeming to be able to find the time, but when it is not an everyday day, well, there is life to live! Living life, though, gives me topics to write about, ideas to examine, funny moments to relive through the written word. I guess the lesson here is that one must live to feed the writer within.

One thing I do want to do today, of all days, is express my thankfulness. Easter seems as good a day as any, or perhaps a better day than most, to thank people for reading my silly ramblings. I appreciate the support, and feedback, and am inspired to keep up my project because of you all, and I am so thankful for that.

Aside from having to go back to work tomorrow I am avoiding the Sunday Grumpies entirely...and I didn't even have a DD iced coffee! Here's what's working for me this week...
1. Family Family Family...we have the most wonderful one there is! Had a great Easter with BOTH sides of the crew!
2. Lots of good wine...hey, I SAID we were seeing a lot of family! HA!
3. The sun and warmth of the last several days...SO wonderful!

4th Sunday of my 40th Year - VICTORY CHERYL

Today - a return to the Facebook roots of this blog...

Cheryl Southard Howell...is CHOOSING not to blog today...it is too gorgeous and I am going out with my husband instead.

So, here we are on the ONE MONTH anniversary of my 40th year, and the blog needs to be preempted because "The League of Dorks" needs the computer for the almighty draft. Now, technically, I am stealing that name from ESPN 2's Sports Guy (well, really, Sports Gal) but it is so fitting! It is the loving name I have for Tim's Fantasy Baseball crew, and seriously, I love 'em, but they are dorks! Aren't we all, though, dorks, in our own way, doing our own thing, finding ways to lead our lives and to be happy? This blog is making me happy, so cheers to ME and to ONE MONTH and to ELEVEN MORE! 40, here I come, with bells on!

Today's Topic - Cover Art
Received an email today alerting me to the re-release of Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. by Judy Blume. This book is only one of THE formative books of my growing up years, and you know, I will never be able to read it without thinking of the cover. My copy, read and reread, was the purple bordered one, with yellow haired, illustrated Margaret, looking out at me over her shoulder. Still, though, the copy I borrowed from a friend, and read BEFORE my mom gave my book to me, is the cover my friend Sue knows as "her" Margaret. After my Margaret years, many more faces looked out from covers, some individual "Margarets," some groups of girl friends. One cover, strangely, is just a bra, but now, stranger still, it is just feet! At first, this struck me as fun, in particular since Sue and I did a project last summer, taking a "foot picture" every day to chronicle life. But on further thought, I am a little sad. When you read Margaret, she becomes a part of you, an early fictional friend, and to only have her feet on the cover, well, it seems a bit limiting, and closed off, not giving you enough of the character.

So, with that in mind, I want to say "Thank you," to my yellow haired, black and orange 70's print dressed Margaret. Thank you for being a friend with a head. Thank you for letting me think I wasn't alone in the strange navigation of growing up. Thank you for being flat chested, and for a poem and exercise to help improve that fact...I think it worked! Thank you, Margaret, for a phrase that begins my own "talks with God" even at the age of 39. I knew you then, I know you now, and even if you are only willing to show your feet, I hope girls continue to know you for years to come. Goodness knows, Margaret, you are getting up there in years, just like me, and according to publishers, this new cover art should freshen you up. You know though, girl, you really need no freshening as you were given so much from the start, from your BRILLIANT creator, Judy Blume. It is always the author that is the key, so to end, Judy Blume, thank YOU. Thank YOU for my, and everyone's Margarets.