Random in May

Aside from the Thanksgiving to Christmas holiday season, May is my busiest time of year. School activities with the boys really do wreck my routine in some wonderful ways. Here are random observations from my life at the moment because I'm incapable of coherent, well-developed thoughts.

1. Jack wants to be a window washer when he grows up, which makes sense because when he returned to school after spring break, he told his teachers that his favorite part of the break was washing our windows. I felt compelled to assure the teachers that we did fun stuff on break: we ate lunch at McD's and bought toys at Toys Backward-R Us and saw a movie at the theater and visited a children's museum with his best friend forever. But the window washing won Jack's heart. Go figure.

2. Nick wants to be a soldier when he grows up. This is the child who does not want to die. In fact, he has stated in the past that he didn't want to be anything dangerous when he grew up. Now, he wants to be a soldier. As a patriotic American, I would be proud to have a son serve our country. As a mom, all I have to say is, "I hate testosterone."

3. I'm scheduled for a sleep study in early June and had the initial consult this week. The sleep doctor asked why I was there, and I told him about my joint pain...because that's the biggest symptom bothering me that could, possibly, be from sleep problems. He was puzzled by this and said so, especially since my sleep patterns and hygiene are good. Then, I remembered that my doctor ordered the sleep study not for my joint pain but because I probably have SVT (racing heartbeat not caused by stress or activity). That cleared everything up for the sleep doctor, who suddenly acted all "Yes, you DO need a sleep study!" His reaction made me realize that what is important to a patient is often not important to a doctor...and what is important to the doctor isn't always the first thing to pop into a patient's mind. This made me feel sorry for doctors, especially when their patients are doofuses. Like me. (And lest you feel concerned for my health, SVT isn't life-threatening. It's just annoying, especially since my symptoms are mild.)

4. Daisy's breeder is married to a veterinary orthopedic surgeon. Dang, that's convenient since she may very well need surgery on both knees.

5. Orville Redenbacher has changed the bags on microwave popcorn to a special pop-up serving box...a change that is touted quite vividly on the packaging. At the same time, however, he has secretly decreased the amount of popcorn in the bag. Mr. Redenbacher, I am not fooled.

6. "I merely took the energy it takes to pout and wrote some blues." --Duke Ellington There's a huge essay in that one sentence, don't you think?

7. I won the Mommy of the Year award today. Jack won't eat muffins, but the school sponsored Muffins with Mom this morning. I bought Krispie Kreme chocoate glazed donuts with sprinkles for the event and am now his favorite parent. I also need insulin.

8. After cleaning out my bookshelves and organizing my books, I discovered that I own 43 books I have not read. In fairness I didn't buy a lot of them...many were either given or loaned to me. But rather than read any of them now, I'm re-reading the Harry Potter books because my brain is so overloaded with May stuff that it can't handle anything new. How sad is that?

9. I love rubber stamping. I heartily wish everyone in the world had a hobby that gave them as much pleasure as mine gives me.

10. This week, we watched Top Gun for the first time in many, many years. The opening scene of sailors launching fighters from the deck of a naval carrier makes me proud to be an American. George aimed high with the Air Force, and seeing Top Gun takes me back to his navigator training days and all the rampant testosterone associated with it. George actually used the following line from the movie on me several times in the early days of his career: "That's classified. I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you." This always made me pull a muscle in my eye from rolling it. On a happier note, he and some of his ROTC buddies serenaded me with You've Lost that Lovin' Feelin'. It didn't work so well for Maverick in the movie, but George got lucky because we were already married. I think that's what they call stacking the odds in your favor.

Top Gun She's Lost That Lovin' Feelin'

Is there a movie that represents the ethos of your life at some point like Top Gun evokes aspects of our military life? Please share!