I was born the 5th of seven children, so when I hopped in a car and left my home of 18 years to go to college my mom was like, "Peace out" and waved at me from the driveway until we were out of sight. I pretty much love(d) that about my mom, because it allowed me to move forward and go live my life without feeling guilt that it was somehow causing her unhappiness. How could it? She was probably too busy throwing a party that the last of the estrogen producing spawn had left the building. Besides, she had a retaining wall to build and whole wheat chocolate chip cookie bars to make.
I would like to say I learned from her, but I would also like to say I can do a pull-up. You can't have everything. And this is where it gets touchy, because I only have two children and one daughter; one daughter who just wrapped up 1st semester finals of her junior year in high school which means she only has a little over a year in this house and it is only causing me shortness of breath and "HOLY CRAP WE'VE NEVER TAKEN HER TO THE GRAND CANYON!" moments about 7 times a day. It's not like I haven't known this, it's just that it's practically HERE! I've got about 16 months to have her read Reviving Ophelia, get her those self defense classes, teach her how to budget and show her how to identify irregular moles and that's all before I've even attempted to teach her the art of a good buttercream. That's a lot of pressure.
The other day I was thinking I would like to do some type of major family trip before she leaves our nest, so I started to casually browse the internet for possibilities. As I narrowed down what I wanted to do, I looked at all my options - Fall Break in October, Winter Break in December, Spring Break of next year - none of them worked out. I spent two weeks searching what to do and suddenly realized that if we were going to be able to make this happen it would have to be this summer. This summer! It wasn't as much time as I had hoped to have in order to save money so we could, you know, pay for it and stuff.
That's where Cory comes in because as I've mentioned before, Cory kinda has a unique hobby. It's the kind of thing where he can sell off some of his stuff and make a profit (not that kind of stuff!) except this time, instead of using it to pay for a set of golf clubs he's willing to part with enough of his cards that we should be able to pay for the whole trip. I gotta hand it to him, I've never had a hobby this lucrative. I mean, I'm sure that the hundreds of dollars of unused scrapbooking crap in my basement is someone's treasure. I don't know who that someone is but I bet they have a cow themed kitchen and still think gingham is all the rage. In the meantime, Cory is the winner. The one stipulation is that we can't tease him anymore and from now on we will have to refer to this summer extravaganza as The Trip That Magic Bought. It seems kinda hard right now but as soon as I'm sitting on a beach drinking a pina colada and watching the kids frolic in the waves, it will slide right off my tongue. The Trip That Magic Bought.
Nerds Rule.
7 comments:
I need some of Cory's secrets on how to nerdify myself.
Ya, I keep looking at the schtuff that my empty nest has and I'm thinkin' uh.....I paid a lot of money for this. Doesn't anybody else need...3 sets of golf clubs, a 1992 letterman jacket (well, that's actually the hubs, oh and the golf clubs too, but I'm sure he won't miss it) and scrapbook stuff. Oh my heck!
I look forward to seeing a chronicle of these adventures and this magical trip.
My day is always better when you write. Thanks for the laughs from one mother of two children to another!
My sister-in-law used to work for that Magic company when it was brand new and ended up being a top something-or-other. She had access to all the coveted cards, like the shiny hologram ones. She actually just sold some about two years ago to pay for the move over to Hawaii with her family.
Nerds know things.
I suppose since you've already hocked your YW medallion you guys needed SOMETHING to sell.
Awe, love this post.
What a great hubby!
First of all, I really, really like gingham. So I'm glad it's all the rage...that's what you were saying, right? Okay, good. Anyway, next, MY SECOND SON LEAVES IN FOUR DAYS TO UGANDA! And all I can do is pet his hair and wish I'd loved him more. And lastly, I took my oldest son to the grocery store to show him a few "easy meals" because he's been living off of ham sandwiches for his entire first year of college (At least he ate beans and rice in Brazil, but apparently Americans don't eat beans and rice. Just sandwiches.) And I said, "See this? It's Hamburger Helper. You can just add browned hamburger and you have a meal. A crappy, fatty, unhealthy meal. But a meal just the same." And he said, "Cool. Okay. So how do you brown hamburger?" And I dropped my hands and my head and walked all slunched over out of the grocery store, because I knew it was too late and I had failed. So GOOD FOR YOU that you've still got so much time. Don't blow it like I did!
So...where are you going?
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