I am not the healthiest person you will ever meet.  I have asthma, migraines, sinuses that drive me crazy from October to May, some strange auto-immune stuff going on and, on top of all of that, I don't sleep much.  I am a blast at parties!  Call me!

I'm halfway kidding, because I am a blast (I'm modest too), but one of the worst things about being sickly is that your friends have to deal with it.

Sure, last year's swine flu/pneumonia/suspected pulmonary embolism stopped my husband and his dad from leaving for a weekend trip and my mom was the one who rushed me to the emergency room when my doctor thought I was coming down with my SECOND case of viral meningitis, but it's different when you have to put a friend out.

Like the time when I got a concussion a couple of years ago and my husband was out of town or when I went on my annual girls' weekend and ended up with a migraine that made me so sick that I couldn't keep my anti-nausea meds down.  I'm sure that watching me get IV drugs wasn't on my friends' lists of things to do when they were away from their kids for a few days.

But, maybe all of this happens to me for a reason.  Maybe it's to show me that I have amazing friends, or to prove to the world that there really are good people who care about each other; or care for me...same difference.

In addition to being a creative outlet, a place where I have connected with other parents of children with medical issues, and being the board off of which I dove into a new line of work, blogging is a bonus because it has enlarged the group of people who would drive me to the hospital.

Photo courtesy of Mishelle Lane

Labels: Blissdom, Friends, Getting to Know Me, Insomnia, Photos, Tooting My Own Horn

When I was growing up, my immediate neighborhood had a handful of kids my age.  Within one block there were three boys and a girl with whom I spent many a summer night climbing trees and playing baseball.

One of the boys was a good friend and I spent a lot of time at his house.  He introduced me to Monty Python and he had a one-eyed, guinea pig.  No, that's not a euphemism.

I had so much fun at his house.  I played his keyboard (oh my goodness, NOT a euphemism!), we battled at bumper-pool and there was a time, or two hundred, when we played video games.  Geekdom rules!

Fast forward to high school where one of my best friends was a boy.  I hung out at his house so much that when he moved away for good after high school, I still hung out with his mom all the time.  She and I used to have playdates for my daughter and her granddaughter.

I had another really good male friend during college, a group of men with whom I used to work that I'm still close to and, of course, there's my ultimate best friend...my husband.  He has been with me through highs, lows, trauma, drama, thick and thin.  Mostly thick, if we're discussing my thighs anyway.  Oh, and blogging; he's been with me through that too.  He also pays our mortgage.  He's a friend with all kinds of benefits.

Every one of these guys are people that I could see for the first time in years and pick up right where we left off.  There is no judging each other about the way we look, or what kind of moms we are, or feeling guilt because our house isn't clean and theirs is, and they're the head of the PTO and just made a craft and cupcakes and let their daughter have a slumber party where Supermom blended up cauliflower and put it into the punch, but the kids don't even know they're drinking vegetables!  Men don't care.  I'm pretty sure they're lacking the superficiality gene.  Because, there totally is one.

I am lucky that I have a husband who trusts me and understands that I like beer and football as much as I like home decorating and flowers.  He has a girl-friend (that's a friend, who's a girl) who goes to hockey games with him, because she loves hockey.  I don't.
 
I feel more comfortable that he's hanging out with her than with a lot of guys I know.  No offense, fellas.

And, if you are offended and feel like you need to argue that men and women can't be friends, then me and my male, blogging bestie will take you down.  That's right.  Downtown, Buster Brown.

Photo courtesy of Angry Julie.  Word.

Either that, or I'll squish you with my chin(s).

Labels: Bllissdom, Friends, Getting to Know Me, My Better Half, Photos, Ramblings, Socializing

Yesterday, I was looking at a catalog that contains therapeutic socks.

Not just looking at it, but seriously considering the purchase of compression hose because, good gracious, I'm almost 40 and after cooking up lunch for hundreds of kids, my dogs are really barking.  So are my spider veins.

I went to a night club the other night with some friends and I wore a sequined sweater...and tennis shoes.  At one point, I had to step off the dance floor so I could clean my glasses.  Mmm hmm...go ahead and picture all of that hotness.

The bonus?  None of the skeevy men in the club hit on me.  Though, there was that elderly guy with the motorized cart who asked me if I was single.  I thought about saying yes just so I could get a ride back to my hotel room.  Note to self:  If you're going to be walking a lot, don't forget your orthotics.  Or, a scooter helmet.


But even though I paid for dancing at that nightclub with bruises to my shins and calf muscles strained so hard that it shocked me, I didn't let it stop me from shaking my groove thing and having a whole lot of fun.

And, if that makes me consider support hose, then bring on the nylons.

Labels: Friends, Getting Old, Ramblings