I've lost an hour and ALL THE TOILET PAPER!!

I don't know where it's gone! Have I lost the toilet paper? or maybe just my marbles???

Do you remember summers as a child? How they were endless, how there was never a dull moment, how NONE of it was spent inside???

We spent all day at the city pool without sunscreen and were just brown as beans. Melanoma was not being a word anyone even heard of! On a good week, I could escape to the lake with the Goracke's and spend my days on the little island out front of their summer cabin....or learning to ski with all her brothers.

We played football on the Morton Grade School front lawn in the evenings, and spent every free moment for a week, helping the carnies set up the midway at the annual fair! Our payment was getting to test the rides when they were finally assembled. There didn't seem to be any drugs or child molesters then. My little brother and I could ride the "hammer" for a half an hour straight without puking.

We rode bikes until the street lights came on, and that was our signal to head home. We ate supper together every night, and left a ring in the bathtub at the end of the day that needed a jackhammer to remove.

There were no cell phones and mom didn't seem to mind that you were gone all day, and DEFINITELY didn't worry about it. If there ever WAS some injury that occurred, Mrs. Wheeler, the boy scout leader, lived behind the school, and the Hampton's and Brandenburg's moms lived on Walnut. Mrs. Brandenburg was the girl scout leader. Dale Wenburg's mom was down the street a piece, and Susan Hawk's mom was around the corner from there on Adams Street.

If you got hungry, Mrs. Rodriguez, who couldn't speak English always fired up fresh tortillas down on the corner at about 3pm. She must have fried a million of them daily and fed all of us. We knew what 'that's enough' and 'go home' was in Spanish.

If you got thirsty? Somebody was always watering their lawn, so there was a cold drink on every block, as well as a mid-day shower. It was common to not only drink out of a hose, but to drink out of a SPRINKLER! The big parental threat we ever got for doing that was the chance at getting Polio! (Also threatened when caught wading in summer flood waters or eating dirt)

I knew the layout of every house on the southside, inside and out. Every mom knew who I was, too... they knew all of us. That's probably why there was never any big mischief or vandalism, either! Those moms kept a close eye on things.

As you grew and became of high school age, you realized that the endless summers were now shorter. The long, lazy days were replace by jobs at the local super
markets and plans of spending the fruit of your labor....CLOTHES SHOPPING!!

Your time was now spent picking out your fall wardrobe. You needed a fall wardrobe then, because school started in September and in Nebraska it was chilly...not in mid-august, at the height of the 'dawg dayz' as it does now in southern Missouri.

All the stores closed at 5pm, except on Thursday nights. Thursdays the downtown stayed open until 9pm, so that all the farmers had a shot at getting to town and doing some shopping. Thursday nights were the social event of the week for teens...we walked around downtown.

This morning's muse is born because I still have clocks that I don't have to reset. It seems the time just 'fell back' last week, and I really did intend to get to it. The toilet paper? Same deal... I thought I just bought 12 rolls last week, but since there is but one roll servicing three bathrooms today, maybe that also happened last month.

I remember realizing my summers shortening because that is how I see my DAYS now...they slip by in a heartbeat. It's time to fix supper before my breakfast dishes are done and it is not unusual for me to find dried clothes in the washer...DRY? weren't they just washed this morning? How did I space off a load of laundry?

WHEN DID I GET OLD?? I used to be hot, you know...hot hot hot...all the time, the party girl in the mini skirt, the class clown, the first one to try ANYTHING!

NOW? I pass by the mirror and wonder when the 'Pod People" slipped in and replaced that body with this one. NOW? I am still hot....but I hear that some
hormone replacement can help with that. I have gone back to wearing glasses, because my eyes are not aging gracefully either, and I can't have the pretty contacts, and see the itty bitty NDC numbers on the stock pharmacy bottles at work.

What happens now? I still haven't learned how to keep my house spotless and well-decorated like my southern-born peers...I still haven't learned how to sew or quilt...I haven't gone back to college to finish up my education, no skydiving and haven't been to Europe. I still want implants....but instead of implanting what I ORIGINALLY wanted too??? Now, it's going to be a couple of TEETH!

WHAT IF I RUN OUT OF TIME??

Man, THAT'S a scary thought, I AM getting old!

So, this morning, I may just go ahead and buy those outrageously expensive plane tickets and take that little trip next week. I may go book that big trip to Dublin, to the NDSC World Conference in 2009, and maybe I'll go cut that stack of old jeans up into 12 x 12 squares,
and start that quilt I planned on doing in the 70's......

right after I go restart the washer, and get to the store and buy more toilet paper.
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For Posterity...

Molly had a blood draw as she is still puny after 3 rounds of Anti-bi's and all is well with those counts. I just need to get her healthy and strong again, and back into the routine of school. Her attendance last week was
ONE-HALF DAY. That was due not only to the flu, but to the spring snow storm we had.


My dear friend Amy in California is prepping to start the chemo with her beautiful little boy, Ben Lee. They are still in the WTF??? period of learning that his headache was more than a little Tylenol was going to fix. I'm still
angry that she's going through this, and angrier that she doesn't have to explain the numbers to me, as I have walked this path with TOO MANY PARENTS!

1 in 300 babies are diagnosed with some form of pediatric cancer before the age of 21....so if you've been lucky enough to dodge it....count your blessings, and give generously towards a cure...or to this family. (email me for details on that)

We should be back into starting spring weather this week, AGAIN, although it is not going to be pretty this year, AGAIN! Our winters seem to be dragging out later and later and leaving the brown death in the path of what was green starter blooms. I see the global warming more every year...it's not a joke...it's not a threat...it's not a political ploy. It's happening and all of us need to start living smarter.

Gabe came to visit yesterday with college friends scouting on high school basketball teams. He looks great, and his friends seem to be adorable.(Always a parent worry)

Shauna still hasn't called.

Bill is working hard to be done with working hard. I think he wants to come back home to a place that is much like the place I grew up. It's nice to know that one of them is realizing the beauty of living in a small, rural community....and why I stayed to raise them here.

Have a great week!