Vacation Round-Up

I have returned (very late Friday night) from an impromptu trip to the beach with some of my cousins.* To sum up the list of characters: my cousin Jo and her husband Todd along with their kids A and Doodle, my cousin Ryan and his wife Terry and their kid Baby Cash, and my cousin Doda. And me of course! I've struggled recently with family drama...as discussed in my last post things with my mom have been weighing on my mind a lot lately and I don't really have the chance to really deal with those feelings. I live with my grandmother (my mom's mom) and any mention of my mother really upsets her, so I try to avoid any mentions at home. I obviously don't want to upset my dad by talking about things a lot. And truthfully I just hate focusing on everything, even if talking it out probably would help me deal with things. Usually I just work around my frustrations and focus negative energy into positive things to distract myself.

ANYWAY, the point is, I had the opportunity to tag along on my cousins' family vacation. It's been roughly six years since I've been to the beach and I've missed the experience. Mostly though I just enjoyed being away from my troubles. I spent a week reading in the sun, playing with the baby cousins, and hanging out with my older cousins. I ate good food and had a few drinks. I played in the ocean and allowed myself to be in awe of the greatness of creation. I watched dolphins swim in the ocean and went to the aquarium. Basically, I lived free for the week. I set down my burdens and relaxed. And it was the best time I've had in such a long time.

I'm truly grateful for my family. I realize I focus on them a lot, both here and on Twitter, but that's because I've committed myself to surrounding myself with people who love me and that I love. Family is a sure fired way to do that. They have seen me at my very worst and have loved me through it all, and the same is true for them. Sometimes they drive me crazy, and I'm sure that I grate on their nerves at time. I don't always fit in...I'm not sporty and I my idea of an outdoor activity is reading in the shade**, but I'm accepted in spite of my oddities. And when things are gross and bad and I need somewhere to hide out, I always have a place...or ten. And there will never be a way for me to express how blessed I am to have this group of people tied to me indefinitely.




*Honestly, I should make a tab just to keep track of my relatives!
**We won't even get into my crazy liberal ideas.

BEDA August 6- Desperately in Need of Coca-Cola

I desperately need a Coke.* For whatever reason I thought it would be a good idea to bypass caffeinated beverages until lunch time. I know, a foolish endeavor! After spending the morning back to school shopping with The Clone in an outlet mall on tax-free-weekend I am, in a word, MISERABLE. Terrible headache (brought on by no caffeine, allergies, and crowded department stores) and drowsiness leads to a not fun Chelle. I did go for a dip in the pool with The Clone and Jerry while my aunt and uncle visited some shops; however, this has not lessened the need to stab my right eye out. The stabbing eye pains lead me to believe that my issues are more allergy related than anything else, which well and truly sucks because there's nothing I can do about.

BUT I WILL NOT BE CONQUERED BY MERE PAIN!

This is a FREE (except for meals and personal purchases) trip with people I adore. Lunch was at a restaurant
that was very similar to Chuck E. Cheese's. We watched Lord of the Rings while we munched on a variety of pizzas, salads, soups, and pastas. After eating we headed to the arcade section of the restaurant and played games for about an hour. I did not play games. Poor hand-eye coordination lead to me being a better observer than participator. I did enjoy watching The Clone play a variety of games, and I especially loved watching my aunt and uncle decimate a game called Galaga. Apparently this was a popular game WAY back when that is still available to play in some arcades. Watching that game play allowed me to overhear some ace quotes, including my uncle talking about previous high scores achieved when he was a teen, and my aunt telling me stories about their honeymoon and visiting arcades. These stories make it obvious that I am truly from a nerd family. Not that there was much doubt to begin with! Even when faced with physical pain, whiny kids (and me), large crowds, and hours of shopping I continue to be amazed by how wonderful my family is. This has been a great day despite the gross things we've dealt with. The best part comes in small moments. I'm currently typing this on The Clone's netbook while we watch Lord of the Rings: Return of the King and Jerry plays Angry Birds on my iPod. We've been constantly referring to inside jokes from the numerous times we've watched these movies and Jerry has made a ton of jokes about how horrid I am at any video game that isn't Tekken (or something like Tekken) while he is able to win the levels on Angry Birds with ease. Honestly, these are the moments that I love the most-whether we are home or in another state.


*This post is NOT sponsored by Coca-Cola, but I wouldn't object to free Cokes for life!

B(A)EDA 2: Music From My Daddy

Next week I am going on a trip. Alone. And although I am twenty-seven, I am still considered a child by most of my family. To them I am both strong and fragile, someone they all depend on but feel the need to shelter and take care of. This is a good thing, don't get me wrong. However, with a road trip looming on the horizon they are a tad bit freaked out. To make things easier on them I just sit back and listen to their advice, promise to make phone calls at each stop along the way, and not to pick up hitchhikers or stop for baby carriages on the side of the road.* I suppose they would feel more comfortable if there had not been a TERRIFYING case of road rage in my peaceful little town that led to a man nearly dying.

Another thing I did was ask my daddy for song suggestions for driving songs. I should have known better. He brought me a list of OVER three hundred songs to make a playlist out of. Today I have spent the day shifting through the songs he brought me and adding songs to the "Road Trip" playlist I have already made. I find it no surprise that I already have several of the songs he brought me in my playlist, after all my musical tastes are greatly influenced by him. For as long as I can remember I have been stealing his CDs and singing along with him and the radio in the car. In more recent years I have made him mixed tapes and passed along the CDs I've purchased to him so that he can listen to bands that I enjoy.

Love of music isn't the only things I share with my father. We also spend long periods of time talking about the news and various annoyance. We talk about TV shows and movies we enjoy. I tell him about the books I am reading, he tells me about books he read a long time ago and books he hopes to have time to read when he retires and has more time. He has always been my biggest supporter and is so completely amazing. He has the ability to make things better, no matter how big or little the hurt is. He gives this ridiculous advice that sounds like it is from some motivational calender, but makes me laugh like a loon and ultimately helps. His advice is so epically bad that he once told me to let the bad things people say slide off like "water off a duck's back."** While it IS true that water slides off a duck's back QUITE easily, it isn't excellent advice for a teenage girl who has recently discovered that her friends are saying mean things about her. All in all though, he always knows how to make things okay again, even if they are broken to the point that I think things will never be okay again.

I'm not sure how this went from a blog about road trip music to adoration for my father, but I suppose that's what comes from just doing a stream of consciousness type thing. However, I have wasted more than enough time and must put my nose to the grindstone and finish up paperwork!


*Yes, apparently this is a THING that people do now, lure people from their cars by putting "abandoned" children by the side of the road. Sickos.
**Advice like this led my college roommate to dub his advice "Davidisms" and now she randomly quotes them to me in emails and other messages.

In Which Chelle Procrastinates (and Babbles Quite a Bit)

Hello friends! It is a Sunday night, and I have reams of paperwork to do...so in true Maureen Johnson fashion, I am procrastinating. In all honesty between the heat and crazy kids, I feel like my brain is FRIED. I find myself gazing off into space, practically drooling, trying to come up with words like "client," "prompted," and "unresponsive." Not really difficult words, and they are part of my every day vocabulary, but I have found myself struggling to complete my work more and more frequently as summer progresses. Not that I am ungrateful about my job, I'm not. I love what I do, but dealing with children who have severe behavioral issues is challenging at the best of times and horrific at the worst. However, I do feel gratified knowing that I am working in my degree field since I fought HARD to pay for college and graduate in great academic standing, and knowing that I am positively influencing the lives of these children.

My job has also made me crazy thankful for my own family. I'm not talking about my mom, dad, and brother. I'm talking grandmother, parents, aunts, uncles, siblings, cousins, the whole shebang. At times they seem so overwhelming. If something is wrong they all know about it. If I am in a bad mood, I can't get away from them. I can never be alone. I can't have a phone conversation without someone asking me about it. There is no privacy. And it is wonderful. I know that seems super insane, and really I can't explain it. I always have a champion, there is always someone on my side, someone is always willing to listen. They cheer me up, they keep me level-headed, they tell me if I'm out of line. They encourage me, they shelter me, they support me, they fight with me and for me. They have given me a sense of self, a sense of loyalty, and family, and what is right and wrong. They taught me to stand up for what I believe in, and to never back down if I am fighting for what is right. They teach me every single day that it is okay to be different. I am definitely the odd man out in my family. I am the bookworm, the non-athletic one, the crazy kid who thinks that more money should be given to academics and the arts and that sports teams should have to raise their own money. Essentially, I am Hermione Granger.* They are not. Not that they are Malfoys or anything, they just don't see the world they way I do. They don't understand why I cry when I read about genocide in Africa, or give money to Uncultured Project. But they are still incredible people, and every day that I work with kids who don't have parents who are emotionally available, much less an extended family who wants to interact with them, I give thanks for my own crazy family. Because they love me, even when they don't understand me. They embrace my oddities and encourage me to stand out.

Speaking of bookworms, I got a TON of books this week. Barnes and Noble had a HUGE sale and I had like three coupons for there, on top of my regular discount, so I kind of went overboard. I'm really excited though! I'm not sure why, it's not like I've really been reading recently, but I still love books. I have no attention span, and I find it difficult to stay focused when I'm reading. HOWEVER, I started reading "Sea" by Heidi R. Kling today, and it is fantastic! I had to force myself to put it down so that I could work on paperwork a little bit.** I'm really excited because I got other great books, like Linger by Maggie Stiefvater and the 4th Gallagher Girl book by Ally Carter. Of course, since I am slightly insane I have to read all of the books that proceed these books. It's okay though, those books were AMAZING!

Now I'm off to finish my paperwork!*** If you guys have books that you are currently loving, leave it in the comments! If YOU have a crazy family, feel free to share some of the craziness with me, I'd love to compare insanity =)

*Also, I can't get through a day without making a Harry Potter reference.

**See how well that worked? I just found a NEW distraction!

***No, really! I am going to finish it... *looks around* *procrastinates*