For One More Day

Did you watch this movie on TV last night? I did. I read the book last month. Incredible book. The movie was good, but as usual did not do the book justice. Are movies ever better than the books they are based on? In my opinion, no. Anyway, I wanted to share my favorite part of the book.

..."I also believe that parents, if they love you, will hold you up safely, above swirling waters, and sometimes that means you'll never know what they endured, and you may treat them unkindly, in a way you otherwise wouldn't."

"But there's a story behind everything. How a picture got on a wall. How a scar got on your face. Sometimes the stories are simple, and sometimes they are hard and heartbreaking. But behind all your stories is always your mother's story, because hers is where yours begin."

I love the last sentence the most, both as a mother myself and as a daughter. I truly believe that becoming a parent greatly changes your view of your own parents. From the moment I laid eyes on Alex and felt that incredible rush of unconditional love, I knew that my life was not just my own, anymore, that I would do anything for him. That is when I realized that two other people in this world felt this way about me - my parents. After having Jenna, I realized that there are no favorites, every child is loved and cherished. It made sense to me, to see sadness in their eyes when I was sad; to see the pride and happiness in their faces when I succeeded and was happy. And it is a good feeling to know that my parents are always there for me. So, in the spirit of the movie and book, I say to my mom and dad, thank you for everything you have done for me. You have raised me to be happy and successful in everything I have set out to do in life. I would not change a thing; every moment I have spent on this earth has led me to where I am today, and that is a good place, a place where I want to be. I love you both very much!!

P.S. The van is making a funny sound - is my lemon clause still good? JUST KIDDING!!!

15 days to Christmas

And I am finally posting these Halloween pictures!! I have to say to my brother, Gary, I am soo sorry it has taken me forever to post these!! You see, I told him a couple of days before Halloween that I would post the one of the kids with R2D2. And, well, I didn't. So, here it is. My brother made this R2D2 out of a pumpkin and then packaged it up and sent it to the kids. They LOVED it! My friend said it should have been submitted into some kind of contest - it looked that good! Now, I am sad to say, it is a rotting waste in our compost pile. I won't take a picture of that; it is a sad site. Nevertheless, Halloween went well. As you can see by the pictures, Jenna stayed true to her pirate self. There were no more battles over her costume. The kids got tons of candy and most was sent to work with Daddy. But I won't go into too many details as Halloween is long over. I just wanted to get this pictures posted before my brother disowned me!!