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Hi.

Welcome to my blogs. I document my adventures in family, fun, and menopause - from two sides: sentimental, and just mental. With "The View From the Minivan" you'll find that life should be laughed at, and I hope you find a smile.  With "Fbomb Mom Blog" you'll find my f'n mental take of the same content I sapped about in the first blog.  It's my "Eat Pray RANT" at the universe.

Bookend Boys

Bookend Boys

My youngest and oldest are boys; one came in a hospital, and one came in a car.

One lives across a river, one lives down the hall.  One likes veggies, one likes sugar.  One is taller than me, one is eye level (at this moment).

The youngest's soccer picture, with the obligatory head tilt, was there first, pasted on the inside of my kitchen cabinet. The photographers always seem to think the kid's heads should be tilted when photographed, as if the kid is thinking "Isn't it curious how I am holding this soccer/basket/foot/ball?"  What they are really thinking is "Why am I tilting my head?  Was it on crooked?" Or as they get older, "This photographer is an asshole."

The note the youngest wrote was put there because I loved his words, his cute young boy handwriting and misspelling, and it made me happy whenever I reached for a coffee cup.  The picture and note had been there a long time when I came across the oldest's head tilt soccer picture in a drawer and added it to the cabinet door.  I loved the symmetry of the head tilts, uniforms, and boyishness.  

One day I opened that cabinet and howled with laughter.  The oldest had added his complimentary note to the display.  He was in college at the time; he must've added it before he went back after a visit home.  I was missing him a lot, and that surprise note made me laugh - that kid can still really brighten my day.

I wish I felt like "the best mom ever" more than I do, because these days I am feeling old and tired, and stretches of being the best mom ever seem shorter and far between.  How can I live up to those notes when I feel like "the best I can do mom" or "the best mediocre menopausal mom" most days and nights?  

I am grateful for my bookend boys.  I've learned a lot from both of them.  I've learned about the effects of various levels of testosterone over the years.  I've learned a lot about how wide the spectrum of gross can be - how wearing the same clothes for days can be a ten on my gross-out scale, but a two on theirs.  I've learned that their gratefulness for feeding them good food makes me giddy.

I've learned that they are the best boys EVRE.

 

Two Please in a Squad

Two Please in a Squad

Body & Pain

Body & Pain