Rapier's Wit

Summer was once a season of dread.  Oh, I loved the longer days and vast sunshine. It's always a welcome relief for school to be out.  I'm one of those parents who is more stressed during the school year.  Summertime is glorious with exception to attire.  Less clothing is required.  My former body preferred being covered in over-sized sweaters; turtlenecks.  This summer is vastly different from decades gone by.  No more do I suffer with 3/4 length sleeves in the heat. This time around I have bared my arms on a daily basis! Showing off the infancy of defined shoulders, biceps and triceps has me shopping (in the clearance section) for tops that are more fitted and sleeveless! Back flubber is diminishing which means I don't always try to position myself with my back against a wall to keep others from seeing it.  You wouldn't believe how often I'd avoid walking in front of people or remain seated just to eliminate the possibility of people seeing my g...

Last night I slept peacefully after spending nearly four and a half hours floating on a raft on the lazy river at our local water attraction.  To answer inquiring minds, yes, I wore my sunscreen.  I'd fallen asleep in the recliner watching telly with Mancub.  I think I mosied upstairs around 10:30 and zonked out the second my head made contact with the Egyptian cotton. Anywho, it wasn't until I woke up at some point in the weewee hours of the morning that my sleep was disrupted. Mind you, it didn't take long for me to get back to sleep. Typically, I am up by 6AM.  At the latest, 6:30AM.  Not on this Saturday when clock in time at work was 9AM.  I awoke at 8AM!!! Holy alarm clocks, Batman! That's not the news.  What is even more odd than me sleeping in was the dream I had minutes before waking up startled by the time on the digital clock.  What I recall of the dream is that I was bestest friends with this young man . Click the link and come bac...

Today marks the day that I took a giant leap.  One major stride toward self-confidence that has so desperately been trying to get out.  Promises that one day I'd dip my toe in the waters were numbered.  One day needed to be today.  It felt like the Jesse White Tumblers were doing a routine in my stomach I was so nervous.  Other than splashing around in my sister's back yard pool I have not been in public in a swimsuit in well over a decade. Since moving back to Kankakee five years ago I have been promising my son that I'd lose weight and gain the confidence I needed to wear a bathing suit and get in the cooling water.  As you all know I have lost 35 pounds.  Today was the day.  I thought perhaps I'd catch a break when the weather man predicted sporadic rain. No such luck! The sky remained painted with puffy clouds on a background of glorious blue.  No excuses were handed to me.  Even though I have not obtained my goal weight, it was abun...

I've been a lousy blogger lately.  It isn't that I have nothing to share.  OK, let me rephrase that. There are plenty of subjects and a plethora of conundrums dancing about in my brunette covered head.  It's simply a matter of choosing what to put out to the masses (all eight of you) to read.  Public consumption of personal details was never something of concern.  If you know me you realize there is very little I've censored ... in the past.  Presently, it is difficult to blather on about my personal life because the subjects are not some passers by who departed my life as aimlessly and carelessly as they entered. ie, Internet or laundromat men.  The people who share my airspace are not going away any time soon (thank God!).  But since much of what I write about is based on my day to day emotions, it's increasingly challenging to throw it out in a public forum. Anyone who has read this blog in the last three or four months knows that I have a ne...

To say I am an overprotective mother would be an understatement.  Being such a person has done a disservice to my son and myself.  If there was a club for being a worry wart, I would be their poster child.  When Mancub was very small I wanted to wrap him in bubble wrap before sending him out to play.  Clearly my parents' parenting style didn't rub off on me. They let us climb high trees, jump off the porch into a pile of leaves and some how we managed to remain intact. Mom and Dad may have been worried sick each time we set out to ride our bikes in a look-ma!-no hands manner down the hill just to say we did it, but if there was concern, they never let on.  My siblings and I joke that in the summers mom would lock us out of the house until it was dark.  As long as a police car didn't escort us home or no call from the hospital was received, she was content.  We learned during that time just how burglar proof our home was not.  We'd sneak in the ba...

Morning comes too early for me on most days.  I go to bed at a reasonable hour mainly due to the fact that even if I turn in late, dawn breaks and pushes my tuchus out of bed regardless of how exhausted I may be.  It sucks.  On rare occasions sleep will resume after a trip to the bathroom, but those instances are much like trying to catch a shooting star.  You see, my brain clicks on with the light of day and I'm unable to shut it down. You could say my mind has a mind of its own.  And lately, I have had too much on my mind ... excessive amounts of what ifs and why nots. As I announced in my previous post, I have a young man staying with me for the majority of the summer.  He has family locally who are making plans with him, but Maison du Rissa is the base camp.  His comfort and happiness are partial contributors to my brain running on over time.  Giving him the unquestionable sense that he is welcome and loved is a priority.  He's still ad...

This summer is introducing Mancub and I to an entirely new experience.  Reporting that we're headed to Disney World or taking a long awaited holiday in Costa Rica would be ideal, but alas we're tethered to good ol' Kankakee for another vacationless season of humidity and mosquitoes.  What's new is that we're providing a homeland vacation spot for the son of my closest and dearest friend.  It's surreal to say the very least, much like my whirlwind reconnection with my prom date and object of deeply hidden affection.  Well, deeply hidden until the last few months.  It's one of those things that will likely never come to full fruition, but the friendship is undeniable.  I'm effed. You can go on and say it. Our adventure of the summer began with a trip to O'Hare International.  It is here where I'll mention my poor sense of direction (both figuratively and literally).  My friend Jen and her two daughters accompanied Mancub and me in the van graciou...