Happy Birthday to Me! Reflections on the past 41 years

Happy Birthday to Me!   On the eve of my 42nd birthday, I am reflecting on my life, my accomplishments, my family and my friends.  


I don't have a problem with getting older, I feel that a birthday is truly reason to celebrate.  It is a time to be thankful that I made it through another year.  I have added 365 more days of joy, laughter, hope, fear, worry, pain and love to the story of my life.   I have also learned at least 365 more lessons, making me that much smarter! (lol @ Jane)  It is funny how when we are very young, we want to know everything; as we are teens we think we know everything; as we get older we know that we know nothing at all & have so much to learn; and sadly too often as we are in our golden years we begin to forget everything that we once knew.  


I am blessed with three beautiful girls that I have raised on my own.  I gladly claim them as mine and know that it is my example and leadership that has turned them into the smart, independent, funny, hard working, lovable young ladies that they are today.  A friend remarked to me last year that it was amazing how wonderful my girls are considering the fact that I am a single mom.  My reply was that is exactly why they are so great....I did not have anyone to help me screw them up!  I am not claiming to be a perfect parent.  I make bad choices.  I make mistakes.  I have good days and bad days, and unfortunately as a single parent raising girls without the help of their fathers, either emotionally or financially, I am always overworked, stressed, frequently easily annoyed and yes I can be overly bitchy.  For that I am sorry.  Such is life.  One of the best things about my girls is that they KNOW how hard I work and they appreciate it.   I have taught them the value of a dollar, and they all understand that you have to earn the things that you get in life and that no one is going to hand you anything for nothing.  My children are not spoiled.  They do not have the sense of entitlement that so many children of this generation do.  My children are well mannered - they are not rude (except to each other; ah the joys of sisterhood).  My children also do not take anything for granted.  They each have a work ethic to rival most adults, even at their young ages.  And thank God they have each other, were anything ever to happen to me.   


I am SO very proud of all 3 of you girls, and it is for you that I work such long hours and so hard.  Alexa, you call me a workaholic.  My darling, it is not by choice.   Everything that I do is for you.  I love you girls and you make life worth living.  I cannot imagine, nor would I want to, life without you.  I am so proud of all 3 of you. 


I am lucky & blessed to have a great family &  some of the best friends that anyone could ask for.  You know who you are, and you know that I would do anything for you.  As my BFF Dina once said "to know you is to love you".  I love you & miss you so much, Dina.  


Love comes in many forms.  If there is one thing that I am most grateful for in this life, it is love.  I love you!  xoxo 

Greetings & Salutations

When I was a little girl, I wanted to be a writer.  I love to read, and my favorite subject was English.  I always got A's without even trying.  It would have been a natural progression.  I went to college with a double major; English & Communications.  Instead of elective courses, I took more English courses than I needed, because I loved them.  I took honors seminars that consisted of reading the classics and writing papers that required you to compare/contrast the themes of three authors (ie. Plato, Socrates & Aristotle, etc) - I always wrote my papers the night before they were due, with no outline or rough draft.  I never proof read them, I just spell checked, turned them in and without fail received an A or B+.  Ironically, this is also how I learned to type, at a rate of 90+ words per minute.  Somewhere along the line, reality set in (probably with the birth of Melissa between my sophomore and junior year) and I considered journalism.  I applied for an internship at CNN, and thankfully I did not get it.  I am sure it would have led to the job of a lifetime, but after doing my college internship in the news room at 610 WIOD /97GTR I learned that I hated the news and journalism was not the career path for me - and I did NOT enjoy getting to work at 4am most days).  I loved working at the radio station, but I spent every spare minute possible in the booth with Nick the producer for the Steve Kane show.  I got my first tattoo live on the air on the Steve Kane show - he wanted a guinea pig before he had his done.  If it hurt too much, he wasn't doing it.  So as Tats Taylor started drilling, I did not allow myself to flinch or indicate in any way whatsoever that I was in any kind of pain.  That tat was small and only took about 10 minutes, but it felt like an eternity.  When Steve asked me if it hurt as they were drilling, I lied my ass off & said 'no, it's kind of a tickle....a hard tickle.' Needless to say, when they started to outline the bumblebee that he was putting on his ass, they had to bleep out about 10 minutes of the show as he called me every dirty name in the book.  Sorry, Steve..couldn't let you back out.   I still don't watch much news, it is much too sensationalistic and depressing.  I get my news online.  However, I still do not quite understand how I ended up doing what I am doing today.  God definitely has a sense of humor.  I have never really blogged before, except for a few small comments on my myspace blog long ago, but I have decided to give it a try.  Maybe if I let some of the monsters that live inside of my head out it will lead to fun & entertaining reading.... Peace!