Things that go BUMP in the morning.

3-4 times a week my alarm goes off at 4:40am so that I can get my morning run in. I love running in the morning before the world (and the sun) is up. It gives me time to myself to think about whatever I want, or to not think at all and just jam out to my eclectic running mix. Most mornings are peaceful; I relax, and enjoy every part of my 30 minute run. Other mornings, like today, are stressful. No, stressful is not the word… scary. Scary is the right word. Only because I totally freak myself out.

A little back story.  In my younger days (we are talking college here, so not THAT long ago) I was addicted to Law and Order SVU. SVU stand for Special Victims Unit, so all of the rape, child molestation, abduction crimes. I could sing the introduction song, I was in love with Detective Stabler, and I could spend ALL day watching a SVU marathon!

That was until I became a mother. Now SVU scares the CRAP out of me, it makes me worry, even more than I normally do (which is a lot). I have now been SVU free for about 2 years, I still sleep with a hammer next to me when Dave is out of town, but I feel a little less like the Crazy Worry Lady.

Then this morning my Crazy Worry Lady got mixed a little bit with Zombieland when I was out for my “relaxing” morning run. Mind you, this is 4:50am, so the moon and the stars are still out – no sun.  As I was running past Horizon Elementary I see like 4 people walking back and forth across the playground. No, I did not imagine this, there were 4 people just walking around the darn playground in the DARK! Of course I wanted to know what the heck they were doing, but I high tailed my butt right by them as fast as I could while thinking about zombies tromping through a school playground eating all the kids. The funny thing is I HATE zombie movies…

Then a little bit later I got the weird feeling that someone was following me (which I sometimes even get when I am in our basement alone, so I’m sure no one was there). So naturally I planned my escape route (through that back yard, over the fence (I hope they don’t have a dog) and around the front of the house with all the lights on) and prepared to zig zag back and forth to distract my assailant. The individual following me must have decided I was not a good target, so I made it without using my escape route.

And finally when my run was almost over, I was feeling much more relaxed and ready for the day when the BIGGEST toad EVER jumped and touched my leg. He didn’t just nick my leg; he like jumped directly into my leg and then hopped away. Toads are gross.

Hopefully my run tomorrow will be a bit more relaxing then my run this morning.

Birthday Traditions

Birthday season in our family begins in July with Dave’s birthday on the 22^nd and ends on September 24^th with Jacob’s birthday. Kristi and Hope are the odd balls out with an October and December birthday. That’s O.K. though because Hope is the Birthday Queen and turns the whole month of October into her birthday month, and Mom is the odd ball in our family, so it only makes sense that her birthday doesn’t fit in.  In between Dave and Jacob is me (July 29^th), Bruce (August 13^th), Charlie (August 14^th), and Kaitlyn (August 29^th). We are now in the middle of Birthday Season, which got me thinking about some of the fun birthday traditions my family has. Then my thoughts drifted to family traditions in general…

Family traditions are something that is a very important part of my life. To me family traditions are a way to remember the past while making new memories with the people you love the most.  As parents, Bruce and Kristi did a wonderful job of building traditions that I will carry with me, and hopefully pass on to the next generation. For me, being a mother is about loving unconditionally and teaching my child (hopefully children in the future) the values that will carry him through life wherever it might take him. Family traditions and spending time together are one of those values that I hold near and dear to my heart. I also love making new family traditions with my own family, something new that Charlie will want to pass on to his children.

Here are just a few of our family traditions:

-          Going out for BBQ on Bruce’s Birthday (the last 3 years this has taken place the night before Charlie’s birthday party)

-          Birthday Long Johns (one of my favorites)- everyone wakes up to a long john with a candle in bed on their birthday morning

-          Birthday dinners – the birthday girl/boy makes a birthday dinner request and Bruce always delivers. This year mine was fish tacos – it was AMAZING! Kaitlyn usually has “Thanksgiving dinner” for her birthday dinner!

-          The mom of the house waking the kids up every morning by singing our “Good Morning” song. I am pretty sure my mom made this song up, and once it gets in your head it doesn’t go away. Dave even wakes Charlie up with the “Good Morning” song too!

-          Christmas Eve is my immediate family (Bruce, Kristi, Hope, Nick, Kaitlyn, Jacob, Dave, Charlie, and me) eating hors devours and opening presents

I am so blessed to have my family. It makes my heart happy that Charlie has so many people that love him and I look forward to making so many more memories and family traditions.

Really COLD beer, helicopters, fires, and American Flags

Shortly after I was born, my father was transferred to the USDA office in DeWitt, and my family (which consisted of my father, mother and me) moved to what is my hometown. Growing up in DeWitt was probably very similar to growing up in any small town in Iowa. This weekend Charlie and I visited my parent in DeWitt and it got me thinking about putting down roots. How does one end up in the cities they plant roots in? What makes someone decided to stay in that city?

Bruce, my father, is from New Jersey (and lived in a HUGE city growing up) and Kristi, my mother, is from Canby, Minnesota, which is even smaller than DeWitt.  They were obviously brought to DeWitt by my father’s employer… but what has kept them here for over 20 years? And what makes me NEVER want to go back? Is Johnston were Dave and I want to put our roots down? Yes, I love living in Iowa, yes I love Johnston, but is it the best place to raise a family? My initial thought is…. yes. But I also probably won’t try out different places, so I don’t 100% know for sure. That being said… I am happy where we are at now, and I am going to go with that. If things change years down the road, I will go with the flow.

Going back to my NEVER wanting to live in DeWitt again. First and fore most, the small town feel is nice for a day or two, then… it becomes a crazed level of knowing everyone’s business. My mom is the worst, some examples….

1. There was a fire in town this last weekend. Bruce, Charlie and I were on our way back to town when we received the text from my mom: “huge fire in town, the hotel across from Pizza Hut”. As we pulled off our exit we saw a fire truck from another town on their way in, so naturally we followed it (I am pretty sure that this is illegal, and I apologize to anyone who this act upsets), but we were curious. This in and of it self is a small town thing. I would NEVER even think to follow a fire truck in Des Moines, crap happens all the time.  So we followed the truck and found the fire, we couldn’t see much and didn’t want to get in the way but we did learn 2 things… it was NOT a huge fire as my mom stated and it was NOWHERE near the Pizza Hut. Prime example for how rumors are started in small towns.
2. Mom and I were going to get some beer. From my parents house there are 2 gas stations within 3 minutes and a grocery store within 3 ½ minutes. But we don’t go there… no, we have to go to the gas station that is “all the way on the other side of town” as my mom puts it, because it has the coldest beer. I obviously don’t care at all because “all the way on the other side of town” is 5 minutes away. I can’t get anywhere in 5 minutes in Des Moines. As we were pulling out of the gas station after we got our really cold beer, mom noticed the sign in the window. “Help Wanted.” And the first thing out of her mouth is…. “ohhhh, I wonder who lost their job.” Who wonders that? I bet she was going through the list of people who work there in her head saying, “Sally…no, Jim…no, Tony…well maybe, Steve… no, Jen… yes, oh yes it has to be her!”
3. On this very same trip we asked the gas station attendant (who obviously was not the poor soul who lost their job) informed us that flags were at half staff because an Iowa soldier was killed overseas. On the way home my mother looked at EVERY flag on the way to make sure they were all at half staff. As we passed by each one she would say, “Good, the bank’s is down. Good, the fire station’s is down” and so on and so on. Until we got to Mc Donald’s who must not have gotten the memo. The first thing she says is, “oh, well I will have to call them when we get home to make sure they put their flag down.” Of course she needs to call the Mc Donald’s because it is, as she put it, “her duty.” Yes my mother is a good American, but that would only happen in a small town.
4. The last example happened on this very same trip to get the really cold beer as we checked the town flags to ensure they were at half staff. The hospital in town has a helicopter pad, and there was a helicopter landed. And of course my mother says, “oh no, that’s not good when the helicopter is here… I wonder what’s going on.”

It was exhausting… I like living in Johnston, not worrying about everyone else’s jazz. I am exhausted now just talking about all those examples of small town living, I can’t continue on with my other reasons for not living in DeWitt.

That being said, I loved growing up in DeWitt, I love coming home to VISIT, and I have met a TON of great people from DeWitt and many who still live there. It’s a great small town, just a wee bit too small for me!