Glad I Had That Third Kid

Don't get me wrong. I love my kids equally; in equally different ways. I love my boys because they haven't been needy since learning to use the toilet. Give them a controller and they're good til the age of at least fifteen.

Girls, on the other hand intensify in their neediness from the time they learn how to speak.

Not that it's a bad thing...it's just a female thing.

All my kids got spoiled rotten until about eight years ago. By then, TJ was out on his own although came back for a brief stint (or two). Zach's always been low maintenance except for the stumble in his late teens.

Massey took the hardest hit. She was just beginning high school and wanted to be on the very successful Color Guard team. It was a great organization but very costly. I can't say enough about the parents and volunteers who allowed (and often paid for) my kid to participate. The only thing she missed out on was a trip to Hawaii but made it to New York the next year with her chorus group.

Here's the thing. If you try to be a good person, good things will happen and even better people will help you... and they did. They not only helped my kid, they helped our entire family. They bought us food, stocked our kitchen cabinets, took Massey to and from practice when I couldn't and made her feel like a part of the group.

I'm in a new place now, at the (over halfway there) age of fifty six and by that mean physically, mentally and emotionally.

I had to walk away from the job of a lifetime to be with my husband again and it was a hard thing to do. Trust me, he's gone above and beyond to make this happen for us. He did what he had to do, moving halfway across the country alone for almost two years and then to Orlando for over six months waiting for me to join him.

On September 15, 1990 we bought tickets together to the dance of life. I still can't believe I married a man with a mullet. But he married me wearing that hat so guess we're even.

It's been the most erratic dance of my life but still remember how I felt on that first date with him.

I met a man who immediately loved me more than I loved myself. I met a man who wanted me more than anything. I met a man who would do anything for me... and did.

It's been for richer or poorer. It's been in sickness and in health. It's been good times and bad but will be together until death parts us.

We were crazy kids in a photo booth at Six Flags in the late eighties.

We're now both in our mid fifties, trying to get it together once again, and will.

Tim said something to me tonight which put it all into the correct perspective.

"You can't live for yesterday. It's tomorrow that matters."

My life is so much better than millions and millions. My heart goes out to them all.

This is my favorite Christmas song.