Wow! All this.....?

Just for signing Pete up in the Army, they gave Patrick and I each 2 pens, a lanyard, and a lapel pin! Holy cow, if I'd known we could get all that, we'd have signed him up months ago! :)*
Actually, I kinda wanted to cry as I signed my name on the dotted line. I know in my heart it's what Pete wants. He wanted to sign on his 17th birthday, then postponed it to think it over. He needed to know it's what HE wanted, not what he thought his dad or I wanted. He's comfortable with his decision, and even seems excited about it. He'll get picked up after school on Monday and driven to somewhere in Millington, TN, where he'll spend the night and undergo a physical (lol...wonder if Patrick's talked to him about turning his head and coughing!), do more testing and paperwork, then get sworn in on Tuesday afternoon. We'll be there, and will post more afterwards. I'm getting teary-eyed just thinking about it! (sigh) I suppose if I start to get really sad I can just read the post below this one! :)

Sorta (sort of--in informal pronunciation)

I've come to hate that word. It means...what exactly? I find it's terribly overused in my house, and especially over this past weekend. Patrick and I left the kids home while we spent one night at the beach, then headed to Biloxi for a conference for 3 more nights. We left Saturday. By Sunday, we'd heard "sorta" in 2 conversations I hope never to have again.
"I sorta wrecked your Miata." Ok, you're obviously fine because you're calling me and you're calm. What happened, and how bad is it? Then come those 5 other words that are too frequently used in my house, "See, what had happened was...." Those words are NEVER followed by anything good! Pete was on his way to Wendy's in the hopes of talking the manager into hiring him back (he quit several months ago but has since realized his fast-food addiction is one that he must fund on his own). When he came to one of the 5 traffic lights in town, he thought at first to run it as it was yellow. Then he changed his mind and decided to stop. The car behind him, though, wasn't able to stop so suddenly. "Did you call the cops, son?" "Uh..." (and there's yet another word I've come to hate!) Once he stopped stuttering and stammering, his answer was 2-fold. No, because a) there really wasn't much damage that you could see and b) he didn't have his license! ARGH! (sigh) But technology is wonderful; we were able to see pics almost immediately and it really wasn't anything you could tell (thank God!). OK, crisis averted. Do NOT drive anywhere 'til you find your license!
"I sorta broke the computer monitor." I just can't help it; I find myself automatically bracing myself for the worst, usually saying a little prayer before I answer Pete's calls. (sigh) "See what had happened was....Ryan and I were playing around and I threw a coke bottle at him and it sorta hit the monitor and now the monitor's sorta broke." Now in this case, sorta can mean numerous things. It's sorta broke as in glass is scattered everywhere, or it's sorta broke in that it won't turn on, or sorta broke because it still turns on and you can sorta see stuff on the screen. It was the latter, which doesn't make it any better but it made ME feel better knowing there weren't 10 million tiny glass shards scattered around the media room! At least now I know that's a phone call I won't have to worry about: "I had to drive Ryan to the hospital in the Miata without my license because he stepped on glass from the computer monitor and sorta cut his foot open." Oh boy....Luckily for the boys the rest of our time away was uneventful. I'm not sure we'll be leaving them again any time soon, though!

Forklifts and Phosphorescent Waves

Those were the 2 most unusual sights on the beach this past weekend, and both on Saturday night.
Have you ever seen phosphorescent waves? I've been going to the beach all my life, and I'd never seen them before Saturday night. As the waves gently broke on the shore, they glowed in the dark with an electric-like green glow. When we walked through the surf, we left short-lived, bright green trails like the tails of shooting stars. With each step on the wet sand, the ground lit up underneath our feet, reminiscent of the light-up shoes our kids used to wear. It was absolutely awe-inspiring!
The forklifts were there, along with trucks and trailers, removing all the beach chairs, umbrellas, and even the little white storage units that hold the cushions. They were working at break-neck speed to try to get them off the beach before Gustav hit. They worked through the night, and were still at it at 1am. Sunday morning the beach looked....empty. But in a beautiful,expectant way. All the people on the beach kept looking out towards the gulf, as if expecting to see Gustav pulling up any minute! Yet the sun was shining, the breeze felt normal, the only sign that something was amiss was what was NOT on the beach (those chairs).
The change in the water from Friday to Sunday was impressive. Friday evening the water was smooth as glass. Like a solid sheet of glass placed over the entire gulf. It was so quiet, that if you closed your eyes and listened, you wouldn't know you were at the beach. Saturday morning was similar, but you could at least hear the waves some. In fact, Patrick was expecting to take Bob's boat out but the marina wouldn't allow any boats out of the dock as they were in "Hurrican Mode". Saturday night, the "electric" night, the waves picked up some, but they still broke gently along the shore.
Sunday was a bit different. It wasn't that the waves were huge. They weren't. but they were fast and furious, almost mean! There weren't many people in the water, because as soon as they stepped one foot in, they would be knocked down on their butts! It was as if to say, "Hey, leave me alone. Can't you see I've gotta storm brewing?!" Thinking about it, it was like it went through the stages of labor....calm, cool, collected, it gradually built in intensity, then in transition it turned into a royal bitch! (Not that I know what being a royal bitch is like!)
We had a terrific weekend, though it was cut short by the mandatory evacuation at noon on Sunday. So off we went, choosing to go through Birmingham since we'd been told I-55 was crammed with traffic. We think we made the right decision, even though it took us 7 hours to get to B'ham! I would've LOVED to have stayed and watch the storm, and if we didn't have a family to consider, I probably would have tried. I just love the beach, and the power of the waves when they're all stirred up!

What do YOU see?

Pete's taking an English Comp class at Northwest this semester. His first writing assignment was to describe a piece of art he found off the Internet. I just saw a girl.....

This is what Pete saw:
"There is a girl; strong, beautiful, determined. She sees everthing; she can see through you, read your soul, your thoughts. She sees the trees blowing like paper in the wind, the dog barking down the street at a local mailman, the sands of time falling through the hourglass. She can tell what you are going to say and what you are going to do. She knows everything about you.
She looks at you with intense passion, a longing to be with you. Some would make the mistake that she is mad. She has beautiful, strong eyes longing to catch a glimpse of your face. You feel a longing to be with her. An urge to hold her, to push back her hair and look straight into her eyes; eyes that trap you, hold you in a trance.
Her hair is blowing in the wind, only adding to her sense of strength. She stares undeterred at you, her hair in her face. Her lips are soft and delicate. Her teeth, pearly white, and when she smiles, your world becomes warmer.
She reminds me of my girlfriend. How she looks at me with caring, loving eyes. How she stays strong when the wind is trying to push her over the edge. How she can read my thoughts, and how she can see my soul. How you can't help but fall in love with her beauty, her deep eyes, her sense of strength and determination."

Happy Birthday Emily!

Um....ok, so it's really not her birthday. If it was, it'd be Elizabeth's birthday too, right? But well.....see.....tonight was the first time Emily's had a chance to eat out with us, so we wanted her to feel a part of the family. So Patrick and I took Mabry, Pete, Ryan, Cat (Pete's girlfriend), Emily and Elizabeth out to eat at the Mexican restaurant. Knowing exactly what would happen, I whispered to the waiter that it was Emily's birthday. Imagine Em's surprise when suddenly a sombrero was placed on her head and all these Mexican dudes were singing the Mexican birthday song! They placed a sopopilla in front of her, and she was so excited and of course a bit confused! She was especially surprised when they then took a small pie plate full of whipped cream and smashed it in her face! Welcome to the family, Emily!!!

Mom to the rescue!

Tonight Patrick and I were in the bedroom when we heard Mabry yell, "Get vertical!" Remembering that Pete's girlfriend Cat was here, we knew she was yelling to them, so I came out to see what was up. When Liz saw me, she said, "Mom, go in there and tell Pete and Cat to get vertical!" Liz absolutely LOVES to see the brothers get into trouble, so she was a little disappointed when I turned in the opposite direction and walked out of the room. But her eyes lit up when I returned to the kitchen, carrying a Super Soaker.
After filling it up, I walked into the media room where Pete and Cat were, with Mabry and her entourage following closely on my heels. The lights were off, and though Pete and Cat weren't doing anything, they WERE laying down on the couch watching tv. So I started spraying and yelling at once, "You heathen hussey, are you attacking my son AGAIN?! Get off him! Get off my baby!" There was a scramble of arms and legs tangling all around each other as each tried to hide behind the other to get away from the water! I'm proud to say I saved Pete, but for some reason he wasn't very thankful! :)

El Stupido!

(Pronounced Ale-Stupid-O)
Mabry has started using the term "El Stupido" in the most hick accent possible. She says it anytime she thinks someone has done something...well...stupid. She most recently used it on ME this week, when she was giving me my overall GPA from college over the phone (ok, she had me on that one!).
This weekend we have Mabry Emily, Elizabeth, Joseph and Joel staying with us. Emily and Elizabeth are my "adopted" daughters who moved in with us over the summer. The boys got here around 10 last night, and shortly after their arrival Emily showed up with about 18 other folks (Ok, maybe not 18, but surely it was somewhere in the vicinity). They celebrated Joseph's birthday with a Walmart pizza (for those of you who don't know, Walmart makes a KILLER pizza!) and cake. Um, yeah...the pizza was great but the cake might not have been the best idea.
You get a bunch of folks aged 19-26 together, and they get ideas. The food-fight scene from "Animal House" comes to mind when I think of what went on in my kitchen last night! I walked up behind Mabry and noticed she had a little icing on her cheek, so I scraped it off and tasted it. Liz thought that was really funny, so she took a little more icing off the cake and tried to smear it on Mabry's face. Mabry saw it coming and headed her off at the pass, by dipping her hand INTO the cake and smearing it on Liz's face. Liz then grabbed a bit of cake and smeared it into Mabry's face and hair. Mayhem ensued. I made the mistake of laughing at them, and Mabry decided to thank me by trying to hug me...really close, wiping her face all over my face & hair! What she didn't realize was that I was in the kitchen for a reason; I'd just gone in to refill my ice water. :) Not one to just idly stand by and let her smear icing all me, I took advantage of her proximity and dumped my entire cup of ice water over her head! It was then that I was able to look at her and say, "Ale Stupid-O!"