Family

Happy Mother's day to all my friends; whether they're mothers of the two legged or four legged variety, or simply a mother-figure to people in their lives.

We were going to go to the Mo's Day buffet at the local horse races track. I know it sounds tacky, but they have a really nice setup. We did it one year before and it was really fun, but "we" waited too long to make the reservations this year. So, we've decided to wait to celebrate Mother's day until we can make reservation at a nice table at the track sometime in the near future. I think Riley will *LOVE* it.

Yesterday it rained most of the day, and today it's sunny. Go figure.

Oh wait- weather update- now it's overcast. Hmm....

I just got a call from Jessica, Casey and Riley to wish me a Happy Mother's day. How cute is that? You know your son has a great woman in his life when you get calls on the important days.

Since the phone call, the weather has turned to sunny.

Just after the call from the first team, Cameron called and said he wants to come down to spend the day with us- so we're going to hook him up with some nice steaks and all that goes with it. Gotta give the kids a reason for coming back, ya know....

Oops, it's overcast again.

I slept for 13 hours SOLID last night and do not feel even a bit groggy. I do believe that means that I needed the sleep, right? Happy Mother's day to me with my 13 hours of uninterrupted sleep. Woo!

I guess I'd better hop in the shower and gussy up for the kid.

Weather update! It's sunny again.

I am sitting here waiting for Mo' Nature to make up her mind as to whether she's gonna let me garden or not. Right now, it's not looking favorable, so I guess I'll write part II of the trip to see the 'rents.

It's been a while since we've seen my parents and brother, so when I saw my mom and dad at the airport I hugged the stuffin' right out of them. My dad probably wondered what the heck happened to the daughter who he had to chase around the house to get a hug.

Seriously, he'd chase me around saying, "give me a squeeeeeeeeeezzzzzzzzzzeeeeeeee" and I'd run. I was in my.... ummmm... 30's at that time. It was a fun game.

My dad has changed a lot since I saw him last. He's shaved the mustache that he's had since the 70's and he's changed his hair. He now has a metrosexualish 'doo. Kind of a flat top. It's SOOOOO cute on him!

I hope this doesn't insult my dad, but he's turning into a very cute old man. We all know how much I love old men. Now I have one of my own. tee hee.

Mom looked just like she did the last time I saw her, except she's now sporting an oxygen tank almost 24/7. I'm thankful that I've been around that sort of thing a lot between my Hospice experiences and BJ's dad- so I knew what to expect when I saw her. Quite honestly, I'm surprised she hasn't found a way to jazz the nose cannula up a bit. Surely there must be some sort of bedazzler kit for cannulas.

Of course, it's always shocking to see my parents after I haven't seen them in a while, because when I talk about them or think about them, I picture them in their 40's. Now I'm the one in my 40's, so I guess it stands to reason that they're older than that. And my brother Joel. He'll always be my 'little' brother, even though he'll be 42 in June. That's just nutty to me.

Dad took us for a short walk from their house to see the petroglyphs- aka blogging for cave dwellers. Looking at some of the petroglyphs made me wonder what story these people were trying to tell. I'm guessing that they had a more urgent reason got get to the point than I do. Not sure if I'd be so wordy if I had to carve my stories in stone.


As long as I've known my dad (trust me, it's a long time), he's always been a putterer. It seems that my dad is having a good time puttering in his yard, creating vegetable gardens and stone gardens. According to my dad, this stone garden represents the sun.


Mom is an artist as well as writer, so she spends a lot of time indoors doing those sorts of things. I gave her this for an early Mother's day present. I'm expecting to see some great digital art out of her. Hint, hint.... *When* she sends me something I'll share it here. I know it will be amazing. I think I became a photographer because of my mom's ability to draw. I was always envious of that talent.

My brother, Joel, is one of my favorite people to hang around because he ALWAYS laughs at my jokes. I like that in a person. Of course, the more he laughs, the more it eggs me on, so I get pretty obnoxious after a while. Poor BJ...... he tries so hard to convince me that I'm not THAT funny and then Joel has to go ruin all his good work.

I think- no, I KNOW- this visit was one of the best visits I've ever had with my parents. Something has changed in my relationship with them- especially with my mother- and I believe it's because of my blog. I send 99% of my blog entries to them (the 1% are things that they wouldn't want to know, like my second career as a table dancer. KIDDING!), and so now they know me and now I know they accept me for who I am (mostly, anyway). I never really gave them that opportunity before because I never really shared all of me with them. If for no other purpose, I'm glad that I started this blog because it brought me closer to my parents. Now they get "all" of me (probably more than they'd ever want to know... ha!).

My long-time blog readers probably knew me better than my parents up until the time I started copying them on my posts. Strange, isn't it? I'm not going to question the pathology behind what made me so secretive, I'll just be happy that I've stopped.

I enjoyed every minute of my visit with my parents and Joel, and for the first time in my life I honestly wished we had been able to spend more time with them. I like being in this 'space' where I enjoy my parents.

Mom and Dad, I love you so very much and it was very hard for me to say goodbye. How awesome is that? Lemme tell you... it's AWESOME.

More pictures of the trip (including LOTS of petroglyphs) can be found on my flickr account.

I think I have another post about the trip I need to add. It'll only interest the bird people. Stay tuned.

We spent last weekend with my mom, dad and Joel; Kathy invited me to have a girls day with her today; Jessica said that they (Jess, Riley and Casey) were all mine for Mother's day; and the weekend after that we'll be joining my mother-in-law in New York to attend a wedding reception for BJ's cousin.

That's a lot of weekends with family, and I wouldn't have it any other way. SCREECH...... I would change something. There is no mention of Heidi or Michael in any of these weekends. If they were thrown in the weekend mix, that would nirvana. I miss my sis and brother.

I still need to blog about the visit with Mom, Dad and Joel- and hopefully will get to that tomorrow. I'm running out of time this morning because I need to get ready soon for my girls day with Kathy.

I hope y'all have a fab Saturday. Mine is looking up to be a spectacular one.

See you in the 'hood tomorrow. Well, unless it's a really sunny day. In that case I plan to soak up the sun working in the garden.

Jessica sent the family an announcement that her new nephew was born, and sent a picture. Of course, I went gaga over the baby, as I tend to do. The title of this post comes from a response from Kathy after reading my big ol' bunch of gaga over babies.

"What?! You love babies, Lori? Get outta here….. "
Kathy, April 17, 2008

Oops. The secret is out. Lori loves babies.

I'm the first one in the room to grab a baby and run off with it. No worries, I give them back- only because BJ won't let me keep it.

He's so mean to me....

Here's a picture of me and Riley the day we met. It was Superbowl Sunday 2006. As you can see, we're not watching football. Anyone surprised? No? I didn't think so.


Even though this picture is super blurry, thanks to Casey's excellent photography skills, I love it. This was the first time I got to read a book to my grandbaby. No, he's not mine biologically, but I have lots of experience with loving people who aren't biologically mine (right Dad? right Heidi?). I'll always consider Riley to be my first grandbaby.

::Disclaimer:: Girls and boys (Jessica, Casey, Cameron and Kathy), this is in NO WAY an attempt to pressure you into providing me more grandbabies.

/lies (tee hee)

The boys (Cameron and Casey) came over on Saturday for pizza and poker night. I haven't played poker since the head bonking, and was surprised at how hard it was for me. I haven't been drinking alcohol since January or so (the smell of ANY kind of alcohol makes me awfully nauseated), so that wasn't the problem.

My boys are just like me, in that they love to tease and poke fun. But they also know which subjects are off limits for that sort of thing. It would appear that they think that my addled brain is off limits for the teasing.

I was so proud of my sons Saturday night. They were both very gentle in explaining and re-explaining the rules to me all night long. They also both said encouraging things like, "it's OK, Mom, we don't mind" and things like that. Their voices were soft and gentle when they talked to me. It never felt, even once, that I was frustrating them.

I think I was frustrated enough for all of us.

I've seen this side of them in many situations. For example, when we talk about my youngest brother. Even though he's much older than they are, they are very kind and protective when talking about him*.

I am so proud of my sons and I'm grateful for the gentle spirits that were entrusted to my care. They are very, very different from each other in many ways- but when it comes to their hearts I think that nobody would argue that they are both very kind and gentle men especially when it comes to people with special needs.

I think I'm going to have to say no to the poker for a while. I wonder if they'd consider playing Candyland or Hi-ho Cherry-o? I had to play those games with them until I thought my brain would go to Jello and ooze right out of my ears. It only seems fair.

*One day I'll write about my youngest brother here. I haven't yet, because he's very special to me and I find it hard to put his situation into context without writing up his entire life history. His life history is not my story to tell.