I wish I could....

If I could do one thing in my life, I would want to be in Trenton's mind for an hour. If you do not know, Trenton has Aspergers. He has a slight developmental delay, where he really is 17, but mentally he is about 12. This kid though does not care. He has his own way of doing things, he does not care what others think of him. He has a wicked sense of humor, an awesome imagination and I love him. He drives me nuts sometimes, but that is my own insecurities, like this picture. 

We went to see Guardians of the Galaxy Sunday night. After the movie he wanted to take this picture....in front of the concession stand....at 8:00 at night....at the movie theater. In my mind, I am thinking, Trenton these people are looking at you, get up and lets find a hole to hide in. But Trenton, did not care. As we were leaving I wished I could be like Trenton. Not caring what others thought of me or what I was doing. 

I love him for that!

Happy Memorial Day!

As I sit and write this post I think about how many people do not know what today really means. Yes it is a day off of work, for most with pay. Yes that means that this week will be a 4 day week for everyone. But what does today actually mean? To me it means that my grandpa, dad, father-in law, Rich's granddad and many more family members fought for our freedom in the Korean war, Vietnam or World War 2. Most of those men chose to be there, some may have been drafted. I could not imagine my 18 year old son, being told that he had to go to war. Leave everything he knows and go fight for your country. BUT men and women do this EVERY day. Today is a day of remembering those people, thanking them and praying for the ones that still do it everyday. THANK YOU and God Bless America!

Hello LONG weekend....

Praise the Lord, this week is over for us. Ahhhhh....Memorial Day, the kick off to summer. Of course if you live in Tennessee, summer has been here for a while. Although Mother Nature has a bit of a bi-polar issue, it still is nice to welcome summer.

Today was the first day of "official" summer break for the boys. Don't you wish you could go back in time and tell your younger self....hey enjoy summer. When you get old, there are no summer breaks in the daily grind. If you are lucky, you get 40 hours of precious PTO that you have saved over the last months to have a "vacation". I think back on summers on Princess Circle and wish for those simpler times. When you would wait until you heard Daddy whistle for you to come in when it got too dark. Where we would play hide and seek on bikes at night. Where my brother would play Godzilla as April and I played Barbies on rainy days. (He was such a butt) Now summer consists of making sure you have enough grub in the house for the boys to eat, making sure the house is not demolished by the time you come home and counting down to long awaited weekends, like this one coming.

According the our local news station, this is one of the busiest travel weekends. Here at the Patch, we are waiting anxiously to do nothing, breath in the sweet smell of the honeysuckle and be together. Hopefully, in this spot...with a cold glass of sweet tea, a good book and the sound of the pond.

Enjoy your weekend, thank those that made Memorial Day a day to reflect on and for gosh sake RELAX!

It wont be like this for long...

Where has the time gone? I look at the above picture and think wow that was a long time ago....but has it really been that long? This picture was taken 8 years ago at Tucker's kindergarten graduation....KINDERGARTEN! If you think about how we have only had 8 Christmas' or 8 summers, it does not seem long ago. But I look at this picture and see real changes. For one I see my little 9 pound 12 ounce baby boy. The baby that snuck up on us. The baby that the whole 9 months, I wondered how I could love a baby as much as I loved Trenton. The baby that loved to cuddle, would want to be touching me at all times, who carried around (and chewed) on Ellie the Elephant and the last baby I would ever have. I see my Granny standing and smiling. I see Rich looking as handsome as ever. I see my mom or Nana, being so proud with a big grin on her face. Change is good right???

Fast forward 8 years.....

Here is my 120 pound baby with his brother, who is 6'4. My sister or Aunt B, my brother or Uncle Josh, my granny and Nana. Tucker is 6'3, 15 years old no longer wants to touch his mom (that sounds weird) but still likes to cuddle. Of course he would tell you that was lie if you asked him. Ellie is just something that sits on his bed or is tossed under the bed. My granny is sitting in a wheelchair, but the love that they have for my baby has not changed. My love for my baby has not changed. I love both of my boys, they are my world. I would walk through fire for them. But I know the change that is coming, will break my heart. The change to know that one day they will not be eating me out of house and home. They will not be hogging the TV in the loving room playing a video game. They will no longer be at home every night. These changes depress me. but I know that this is a healthy course of life. This is supposed to happen, but it sucks.

I hope that in 8 years, I will have another picture of my 23 year old and my 26 year old son. I hope my brother, sister, granny and Nana will be in that picture. But what I really hope is, I will still remember 16 years ago at Tucker's kindergarten graduation, how I thought time was going so slow, but in reality it was flying by.

Darius Rucker has a song "It wont be like this for long" No truer words have ever been stated. It does not last long, it goes by quick...too quick. I wish I could go back and tell myself not to worry about the yard, how messy the house is....because it wont be like this for long. Hug your babies, toddlers, young ones, teens and your adult children. You wont be very long.....