‘the keeper’

Sometimes when we read someone else’s words they hit you deep down in your guts directly to your soul, these words did exactly that.  They paused me.  They made me remember my job, “the keeper“

I had bracelets made for both my kids, I wear my sons, one day I’ll give it to him but for know I am the keeper of the message “ain’t no mountain high, no valley low” the song I played them so much during a very hard time in our lives, the divorce.  We are years passed that now, however, old wounds die hard and long sometimes so it is just a reminder that through it all, good and bad, they could always count on their keeper

It certainly is the little things that we know to keep this lil sailboat  sailing like a Viking battleship ​

One of our silly videos to fully embraced our motto ​

​http://us.vivavideo.tv/v/zX6gd2sq/1/

​
 

“I am the keeper.

I am the keeper of schedules. Of practices, games, and lessons. Of projects, parties, and dinners. Of appointments and homework assignments. 

I am the keeper of information. Who needs food 5 minutes before a meltdown occurs and who needs space when he gets angry. Whether there are clean clothes, whether bills are paid, and whether we are out of milk. 

I am the keeper of solutions. Of bandaids and sewing kits and snacks in my purse. But also of emotional balms and metaphorical security blankets. 

I am the keeper of preferences. Of likes and dislikes. Of nightly rituals and food aversions. 

I am the keeper of reminders. To be kind, to pick up their trash, to do their dishes, to do their homework, to hold open doors and write thank you notes.

I am the keeper of rituals and memories. Of pumpkin patches and Easter egg hunts. I am the taker of pictures, the collector of special ornaments, and the writer of letters. 

I am the keeper of emotional security. The repository of comfort, the navigator of bad moods, the holder of secrets and the soother of fears. 

I am the keeper of the peace. The mediator of fights, the arbiter of disputes, the facilitator of language, the handler of differing personalities.

I am the keeper of worry. Theirs and my own. 

I am the keeper of the good and the bad, the big and the small, the beautiful and the hard. 

Most of the time, the weight of these things I keep resembles the upper elements on the periodic table – lighter than air, buoying me with a sense of purpose.

But sometimes the weight of the things I keep pulls me down below the surface until I am kicking and struggling to break the surface and gasp for breath.

Because these things I keep are constantly flickering in the back of my brain, waiting to be forgotten. They scatter my thoughts and keep me awake long past my bedtime.

Because all these things I keep are invisible, intangible. They go unnoticed and unacknowledged until they are missed. They are not graded or peer reviewed or ruled on by a court. And sometimes they are taken for granted. 

My husband and my boys are kind and generous and they love me hard. And this is by far the greatest job I have ever had. But sometimes being the Keeper is exhausting. Because you feel like you’re doing it alone. 

So to all of you who are keepers, I see you. 

I know the weight of the things you keep. 

I know the invisible work you do, which doesn’t come with a pay check or sick leave, is what makes the world go round. 

I see you.

And I salute you.”

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Credit: Lucky Orange Pants

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Surprise surprise 😂

Wasn’t paying attention as my playlist began playing this little gem,  I forget that Thing#2 used just about rvery account I had for a long time until I allowed her to have her own

Click here to hear: Dumb ways to dieDumb ways to die

Then….I was very sorry this one played too, I shall never get it out of my head today….

NuggetClick here to hear: Nugget Biscuit Biscuit

Riding in cars with boys

 

What? Exactly who are we picking up?
*the boys
Uh What boys?
*the boys they both like
And I’m learning this now, why?
*because they need a ride and you’d prolly say no

I say be glad she asked to pick them up versus acting like no boys were involved in the trip to the movies.  I am okay with picking the boys up and you are too Troy, she telling us and being very honest; can’t beat that one!!

I’m navigating through life here trying to keep the peace, most days it is just flipping hilarious.  The three of them never stop picking at each other. It’s very comical, I cannot even tell you how many times a day I hear the phrase “In your face..!!!”   Not one is innocent of it, right up until someone gets mad.  So I can’t even say how many times that I say, “someone’s gonna get mad….and it won’t be me….”   All hell breaks loose when one of the crosses over the line into the  “oh no you didn’t just say THAT!!” zone.

At Sunday supper with my parents, they started, my mom looked at me with a grin from ear to ear as she listens to the three of them, my dad even looks up from his plate a lot just grinning.  I just whisper “it never stops”. The sass coming out of their mouths is relentless.  I catch my parents giggling sometimes.   There are a few favorites used by all three: you big turd, this is a family favorite I think, it makes us laugh because my brother has used that one since he was about five..  I’ve heard so many wonderful descriptive words when they start, it’s hard to keep track. Topping each other is the goal.  I don’t think they notice everyone around them laughing.   Someone is always just a bit more retarded than the other, one can always fart louder too, and burp louder AND  longer and you will be privy to the examples and may even be asked to judge the winner.  Which you should never, ever, ever succumb  to, oh no keep  your judging to yourself little Momma!!  I do, I just smile or snort depending on how outlandish it gets, sometimes crossing over to gross especially when it’s the burps and the farts.

The funny thing is, this is family time, ALL the time.  We all sit and just truly laugh out loud and sometimes feel that we really are ROFLMAO and cannot stop.

Day in the life of us is filled with so much laughter you’ll feel you may pee your are laughing so hard daily,  honesty, trust,  and a helluva lot of love,, sure can’t get enough of all of them!  Life is good, well,  that is an understatement!
My son…makes me proud!  Oh Lordy…

Oh my….I should be so proud.  *

***Occasionally you see the red print, that justifies some sort of added bonus, a clip, a song, just a little something that has made us smile

You didn’t…..you had one job….

The idea to open and email in your child’s name and send stuff to it periodically until they move out, go to college and give them the password and look back on their life, what a wonderful idea. So I think everyone should keeo a journal of somesort, like a blog or an email diary, something to look back on.

I did just that, sent myself emails about different experiences, both happy and sad, good days or bad, photos and videos….etc        I guess I blogged to everyone and no one read them but my mom maybe, or just me.

So I stumble across this, and I still shake my head in disbelief….Thing#1 is about seven, and Thing #2 is four and I was still married.

Here goes nothing

Each Sunday night, I find my kids fighting against me to go to bed.  They started heading to bed with their dad essentially kicking me out of my own bed, but  I didn’t mind too much though.  At Nine o’clock they headed to bed with him.

One particular Sunday, they were all downstairs in our family room watching tv and I hear over and over, almost frantic,  “MOMMY COME HERE!!!”   So I rush to see whose hurt, whose crying and why exactly they are screaming.

As I hit the last step, I hear them squealing .”SIT DOWN AND WATCH OUR SHOW!!!!”           I then hear my own Momma in my head, and I say “Good God I thought someone was hurt! Promise you won’t do that ever again and I’ll watch!!”  Of course they promised.

We had watched many shows the kids did.         I have always encouraged them to sing, dance and play music, I still do to this day. Mine were the kids that wore Halloween costumes year round for fun. It’s ok to be goofy

Both kids are in their underwear, his SpongeBob and hers Disnay Princesses, my kids had a strong aversion to clothes.  We would walk into the house and they could strip down to their underoos in 10 seconds flat.

So, I’m your neighbor with the kids that are either looking like they are training to be nudists or they are bumping into things because no one can ever really  see out of a Halloween mask.  After all, who doesn’t think a Freddy Kruger mask and knife glove doesn’t look great wearing Snow White or Cinderealla’s dress and plastic high heels? And it’s always a good lesson when your son teaches his younger sister to wear her pajama bottoms on her head like he does and look almost like jesters hats, why not?  That’s a very  valuable  lesson!   Yep, that’s me! I’m that mom.  Best roll out the red carpet when we see the ice cream truck, Alien, Predator, even Micheal Meyers may show up with Belle, Cinderella or Snow White to buy an ice cream

This has nothing to do with this story but I had some die-hard almost cult-like Catholic neighbors.  Nice enough people in very small doses, very small doses .  They were not all together happy with us more than one time, and the reason this time was just an innocent thing,   The ice cream man came once and the kids start bouncing and cheering like kids do when they hear “the muffin man” or “the wheels on the bus” playing getting louder and louder because the truck is getting so close. Now, I know you know what I am talking about! If you have a child. They are like little drug addicts ready to attack and get their fill of the ice cream man and can’t decide which because mommy said only one…the pressure of it all…

 “MOMMY ICE CREAM!! DADDY ICE CREAM”. We all scream for ice cream, right?  Mine sure did.  The moment either of us said “ok, yes, we will get an ice cream”   There she goes, before the sentence is finished, like Secretariat jumping out of the gates in the Kentucky Derby.  Thing#2 is out the front door running, her brother not too far behind, both squeaking with excitement, racing to see who got to him first and I’m fully expecting a hockey check like Bob Probert or Dino Ciccarelli  used to do on The Red Wings…couldn’t decide right then if he would check her or vice versa. Of course my kids didn’t notice our neighbors crossing the street and their Brady Bunch 5 or 6 kids, I forget how many kids there were.  Anyhow they said yes to their kids as well.  I saw them, coming around the truck, I see my kids bouncing like monkeys and yes, of course they had no clothes on, they were in their skivvies and Thing#2 had plastic princess shoes on.  A sight to be seen.

The ice cream truck lady laughed, but the sheer terror of my neighbors faces….  I can only guess  what they were thinking …”Seems the heathens are at it again, more scandalous behavior, they don’t require their kids to wear clothes now.  I thought they ended the children running naked after she potty trained them..”         ….my x husband and I, we just looked at each other, what could we possibly say?  Nothing. whoops-a-daisy forgot our clothes, again. Haha!!    So, the heathen parents took their naked heathen kids inside with their SoongeBob ice cream and won’t be invited to the next block party they have…

So their  Dad introduced  them, as a he starts some cartoon on the DVR.  I am sitting as it began, kids have some sort of hat on and holding something to mimic a cane as they begin their “show”.  It was not exactly like the Rocketts, however, they did do line kicks and knew every word of the theme song.  Do you by chance know the lyrics to the Family Guy theme?  If not….

Lois: It seems today
That all you see
Is violence in movies and sex on TV

Peter: But where are those good old fashioned values

Entire Family: On which we used to rely?

Lucky there’s a Family Guy

Lucky there’s a man who
Positively can do
All the things that make us

Stewie:: Laugh and cry!

Entire Family: He’s… a… Fam…ily… Guy!

Family Guy Theme with Lyrics

I felt my eyes dart and throw a big ass stink eye in my xhusband’s direction as if saying “alright asshole……”  as I smile at my kids and commend them what a great job they did despite the fact I told him NOT to let them watch that, they are 4 and 7 for Pete’s sake, and maybe not sing that one for nana  and papa please, or the neighbors…..

Let’s just say after that one, I would find them sneaking to watch that show…

Gotta keep an eye on those heathen children, their parents too…..