Get Vertical....the beginning

I decided to name this blog Get Vertical Now because well...."Get Vertical" was already taken! But seriously, get vertical means stand up and pay attention! Life is going by fast, and I'm not sure if I'm a particiapant or a bystander.

I'm an almost 43 year old mother to 3 children, and I'm not sure I caught any of their childhood. A couple weeks ago my 17 year old son Pete had prom. I looked at him all dressed in his tux and said, "What the hell happened?!" Last I remember he looked like this:

Now suddenly I'm taking his picture and he looks like this:

I think there are a few years I missed in between somewhere!!! That's when I realized I'd better get vertical...pay attention.....start participating!

Pete is our free spirit...."Damn the consequences, full speed ahead!" It makes him a fearless goalie in soccer, but it's also keeping my hairdresser busy trying to cover the grey in my hair!

"Get Vertical" also refers to my other son, Ryan, who's almost 14. Ryan has a 15 year old girlfriend that he stays on the phone with constantly! His girlfriend's mom called me the other night after Ryan had spent the evening at their house watching tv. She thought I should know that she watched the movie with them, though it was a really stupid movie. She made that decision after she walked into their living room to find Ryan and his girlfriend lying on the sofa under a blanket. She said they didn't jump when she walked in (which hopefully means they weren't doing anything), but she still walked over to the couch, looked down at them with hands on hips and said, "Oh HELL no! Get vertical right now!" I sure do appreciate that woman!

That's him on the left, all 6'2" of him, in a play where he got to salsa with the girl in the picture. Oh, boy, did he enjoy that!

Speaking of plays brings my 18 year old daughter, Mabry, into the picture. She's a freshman in college who aspires to be a "starving artist"(and looking at her bank account last night I think she's gonna be a good one!). She needs a job but would rather be on stage. She's a very talented actress with a Carol Burnett/Lucille Ball quality about her. She's currently one of the stars in a comedy-murder-mystery set in the 40s, and she plays it to the hilt! She's the one child I generally don't have to worry about, because despite the fact that she has me for a mom, she's turned out responsible, smart and driven! That just amazes and awes me! This pic was taken on the first day of Spring Break 08. That's not sand she's sitting on, it's snow! Yeah, she's a little crazy.

I have a husband, Patrick, to whom I've been married for 20 years. For the past 6 or 7 years (lost count) we've missed our anniversary together because he's in the military reserves and just happens to be gone about the same time every year. I kind of compare it to the "break up with your girlfriend right before Valentine's Day so you won't have to buy her a present" thing. This year will not be any different, but for a different reason. This year it will be ME missing from our anniversary, as I'm going away on a 5 day weekend to Gatlinburg to spend time with about 20 women whom I've never met but to whom I've become close through the Dave Ramsey website! Patrick is really fine with me being gone. As he said, after this many years every day's an anniversary. You wake up, look next to you in the bed and say, "You're still here?" It's an anniversary!