Random Thoughts and Musings

My friend Kat from Give Cheerfully has started a new blog in answer to a question that Chris Brogan asked on Twitter: “What will you do with your next 40 days? How will it help the world?”

Kat posted a challege on 28 November to: “Tell someone dear to you that you haven’t spoken to in a while you love them.”

I have a friend from high school that lives in town … kindda. She lives in Sandestin, which to me is another universe, since I live in Fort Walton Beach. We are separated by two bridges (at least) and several miles of beach-lined road … no matter which way we would choose to travel to one another. All in all, about 45 minutes of driving. It does not seem like much, but when we are both struggling to stay afloat and we both had recent tragedies in our lives to deal with, it appears that it was too much effort for either of us to close this gap. We *did* do pretty well at keeping in touch via email for a while, but even that has lessened.

So, in answer to Kat’s challenge of the day, I contacted L and let her know I love her. I told her that I would be contacting her again when I get back from my Mommy Vaca and that I am going to stay on her til we get together for lunch or coffee.

Thanks, Kat … I loved this challenge. Hopefully L did too.

xo

First, I want to acknowledge this is the last day of National Blog Posting Month, and I am almost sorry. I know that I will probably let up on the blogging, and I have enjoyed getting to know quite a few of you. I only get a handful of posts on my blogs, but I get several emails and IMs and Plurks and Tweets about them as well, so it is fun seeing how my rambling is interpreted.

Soon, Tween will cross the half-way mark between the year of the tween/teen crossover. I cannot believe how fast time has flown, or how much she has changed over the last year and developed into a beautiful young lady. Often, I will glance up at her and she will do/say something that will send me flashing back 15 years to when my sister was that age. It amazes me how much of my sister she has in her … the mannerisms, the quirks, the voice, the habits, the words & phrases. Tween doesn’t even spend much time around my sister, so i cannot imagine where it comes from, but I love when I notice these things about her.

Today, while I was slaving away at work (almost literally - i was SLAMMED!), my BFF took her daughters and Tween to the salon for haircuts. I told Tween she could cut her hair however she wanted, but she had to live with the consequences. There would be no highlights, dying, or perms … but the haircut itself was completely up to her. I was only a teeny bit concerned about what this would mean, although I was relatively sure she would choose well.

When I got home from work, she walked towards me and I looked past her TWICE thinking the girls had another friend over. By the time i realized this ‘friend’ was saying “Mom!” to me, my jaw dropped in shock. No, she did not shave her head or get spikes. She had long layers added, which was what I was fairly certain she would choose. The shock came from the straightening job the hairdresser did for her with a straightening iron. The look adds at least four years, and when she drops the silly tween personality for a second, she looks like a full-on teenager.

Amazing what a couple of inches and a few dimensions can do to change a person’s look.

Tween is thrilled with her new look. She is only upset that her hair will not still be straight for school on Monday. Poor kid.

xoxo