Field Trip

First I must make a correction; yesterday was my sister-in-law Emily's birthday not my niece Emily (her birthday is tomorrow). Happy belated birthday to my sister-in-law Emily and welcome to the family.

Today is my Mother's birthday and a big happy and healthy birthday greeting goes out to her. It is a significant birthday and no I won't give out the number not that she really would mind but I will say she is 20 years older than me (now I am sure she minds!!). When I was younger around 12 or 13 we would go out to eat and everyone thought we were brother and sister. I know this annoyed me a bit but it made my Mom feel very good. Thinking back she really did look very young and back then I had a tendency to look a bit older so I guess everyone was correct. I was embarrassed to have someone call my mother my sister; how dare they do that but it really made her feel good and this is what really matters.

There is so much I can say about my Mother such as she is a fantastic, caring, loving, thoughtful, kind, giving and amazing person. She really is all of those things and I am so blessed to call her Mom. She has been one of my biggest supporters through this entire ordeal and I am so thankful. Without this caring and support my journey through recovery would have been much more difficult. Even though we have been separated by 3,000 miles for a number of years I feel so much closer to her today than I have in my life. I love her so very much and hope she had a wonderful birthday!! Happy Birthday!!!

Today I was able to join my daughter and her second grade class on field trip to the Southern California Fair. I was one of the parent chaperones and I got to ride on a school bus with 50 second graders. I don't remember the last time I was on a school bus but I can tell you they haven't changed in 25 years!!! The kids were loud but there weren't any incidents on the bus. My ears were ringing because of the noise for a few minutes after the bus ride but this is to be expected. The Fair was interesting; there were a lot of farm animals like goats, pigs, cows, horses and lambs. The children were able to get up close and personal with the animals which my daughter was not to fond of; she really is not an animal person. I think this comes from her mother but my daughter was able to get over the smells and seemed to enjoy the day.

The day consisted of not only viewing the animals but seeing a pig race and how they train sea lions. It was a bit unfair to the children because there were amusement rides but these rides were not open for the school children. I know my daughter really wanted to go on the rides but once I explained to her the purpose of the field trip was to see the animals not go on rides she seemed okay. The day went by so fast and there were so many children at the fair along with many other parents. My daughter's school has phenomenal parent interaction it truly is remarkable. I was chaperoning with two other parents and the three of us were responsible for four children. In fact my daughter's class had 9 parent chaperones and she only has 20 children in the entire class. This made the teachers very happy. I had a great time and I was so happy to spend the day with my daughter.

Every dark cloud has a silver lining and I am able to find these silver linings each and every day. I am cherishing these moments because in the past I took these moments for granted. Seeing the look on my daughter's face as she cheered for her favorite pig in the pig race is truly priceless and will forever be etched in my mind. My daughter is a fabulous child and I am so blessed to have her in my life. I love her so very much. I thank God each and every day for my family because they bring me joy and happiness. This joy and happiness has a whole new meaning and this meaning finally has a sense of purpose and value. May God bless each and every member of my family because they have certainly blessed me.