People have said it all along, but they're right.  I thought about this as I pressed the iron to our son's starched white shirt, realizing the sleeve alone was longer than he was when he was born.
    They grow up so fast.  
    It was Christian's first dance.  He's fifteen, but only yesterday his gummy grin would burst into giggles as I danced around the room with him in my arms...and now he's deciding what tie he should wear.
     What a wonderful thing it was to see though.
     His heart was happy as he knew he'd see the best of friends and share the night with the sweetest and most beautiful girl, inside and out.  
     Dropping him off at the dance, we knew it was only one of many milestones.  It was a big one though.  
     Yes, I was the nerd mom who took too many pictures and I may or may not have stalked him even from outside of the dance as we left.
     When we returned three hours later however, we were met with laughs, endless stories on the car ride home and a son who was a little older, starving as usual, and forever our boy.

       Love You, Chrissy and Matthew!  You're the Best!!!

   Life can pass you by with busy days that'll one day be difficult to remember.  Sprinkle amazing memories in as often as you can, making it a journey simply too impossible to forget.  

    It was my 13th birthday.  One of my favorite and most cherished presents of my entire life...and I never could've known how much I'd value it to this day.  My Garfield phone. 
​(Hello 80's.) 

    Full disclosure, I had completely forgotten about Garfield until Adam brought him upstairs with a comfortable smile.  "I found this - we can use it if we lose power."  Yes, we still have an old school land line which we never use, but are thankful for now.  Almost as thankful as I am for Garfield.
    Being raised in Ohio, we don't "do" hurricanes.  My husband grew up in the military, spending most of his childhood in the south.  He's much more experienced in such natural occurrences.  Give me snow all day long, but hurricanes?  
     That in mind, I've taken in as much information from North Carolina natives as humanly possible, coming to the conclusion there are three main categories of people.
    1. We've prepared the house, weatherproofed everything and we're evacuating immediately.
    2. We've done all we can, stocked up with a few weeks supply of food, necessities, water, filled the bathtubs with water and we're going to hunker down and stick it out.
    3. Hurricane Party.
    We fall more into the second category, worrying more about having what we need to take care of the kids and pets than anything else.  It's hard to drive to work however, seeing thousands of people evacuating, only to wonder if you should do the same.

    We're hoping everything will be okay though and especially praying for those along the coast.  There's a peace of mind in keeping in contact with family and friends back home and I'm especially thankful to be married to Adam who has been nothing but the MacDaddy in preparing for the storm.
    I marvel at the thought, wondering how people throughout history could've dealt with such powerful forces.  There were no warnings, no "News Channel 5" to give you up to the minute details.  The craziest part, is if you'd go outside as of this morning, it's an absolutely beautiful day.  Who would believe that, knowing what a beast of a storm is right around the corner? 
    It will be an experience for sure.  One I hope that'll be less exciting than not.  
    All there is to do now is send love and prayers to everyone in the path, hope she passes through quickly and wish for the best.  Here we go-     

     It was a 1979 Ford truck.  All green, stick shift and ugly as sin, but man, my dad loved that truck. Putting phone books behind my back, I was fifteen years old in the dead of an Ohio winter when he took me to our high school parking lot to learn how to drive.  "If you can learn how to drive in this, you'll be able to drive anything", were his exact words.
​     Hours of trying to figure out how to work the menacing clutch with gear grinding torture, eventually the days turned into two cases of mild whiplash and a shiny new license on my 16th birthday.
​    Fifteen years later, I never would've imagined holding a baby boy in my arms...and fifteen years after that, doing the same with him.
    We're in the state of North Carolina now where kids don't begin at the age of fifteen, but fourteen and a half.  FOURTEEN and a half.  It doesn't seem right, but sure enough that's what they do.  
    Nervously and excitedly, we signed Christian up for his driver's education courses, then his six hours behind the wheel.  To see our son, that same little one we held a minute ago, get behind the wheel was surreal.  Why is it that when I was learning to drive, I felt so old, but to look at him he's still a baby?
    His fifteenth birthday came along, bringing with it the three and a half day wait in the DMV line, resulting with a driving permit in hand and a smile on his face.
     It's next to impossible to believe how fast time is flying.  Just yesterday I was in that truck with my dad and now I watch as Christian drives off with Adam, my heart hurting and leaping at the same time.              

    I know it'll be another second before he drives off alone, but we'll hold onto this while we can.  Nothing prepares you for it all.  No books, research, online searches...you just go through and hang on as much as possible...all while thanking God for automatics.  

    Can you imagine?  Think of the experiences you'd have from the year 1918.
     You would've been born before the Empire State Building was built.  You'd have lived through the Great Depression, Prohibition, World War II, First man in space...Can you begin to think of the stories you'd have? 
     My Mom's entire side of the family is from New Jersey.  I spent my life traveling from Ohio to Point Pleasant Beach, NJ to find myself surrounded by the greatest amounts of big, fun, Jersey Love complete with countless hugs, squished cheeks and the strongest accents that to this day, make my heart smile.
    My Grandpa was the oldest of four, having three younger sisters.  Two of which are still with us, Aunt Dottie and Aunt Eleanor with Aunt Eleanor, just turning one hundred years old.  
     My parents, Adam and I gathered our North Carolina kids into the car and I began to prep.  "This is a whole different world.  You have a huge family you're about to see, but your "Yes Ma'ams and No Sirs" might get a few strange looks.  Also, it might be hard to keep up with the speed of conversation - especially with an accent you're not used to."
     They nodded in nervous excitement and we were off.  
    The party was wonderful.  Aunt Eleanor's daughter, Judy, Granddaughter, Rachel and son, Bobby along with several others put on a celebration to beat the band.  The family and food were beyond compare and taking it all in - the best memories from the past flooded back.
     Aunt Eleanor was stunning.  At 100 years old, she was as royal as a Queen.  Sharp as a tack and as kind and Wonderful as my childhood days remember.  Giving her secret to a long life, she stated it took good faith, good family and friends - along with a healthy lifestyle - always taking her vitamins.          

    It was an amazing time with an even more Amazing person.  Aunt Eleanor epitomizes the definition of a Beautiful person inside and out with such a wonderful life and I'm thankful to be lucky enough to be in her family.  
    Driving home, a quick stop to the "shore" was a must as the kids soaked in the summer salty air with sand between their toes. 

    Piling back in the car, I couldn't wait to hear their thoughts about it all.  On and on they went about the people they met, family, different foods and how their Great, Great Aunt Eleanor was so nice and pretty.  
    That's when our youngest son chimed in, "You know, everything was great, but there was only one thing." My parents, Adam and I looked back at him...
​    "The sweet tea in New Jersey sure doesn't taste the same."
    Happiest 100th Birthday to the Fabulous, Aunt Eleanor.  You're Sweeter than all the tea in the world.