mimi is gaining weight!!! July 28, 2011

Dear Babies,
I have to say that I am having a hard time dieting with your  mommy.  I seem to eat what she eats, when she eats it.  and that is constantly!!!
I wake up and think to myself, today I am going to cut back and get this weight off of me. Then Comes your beautiful mommy down the stairs telling me how hungry you babies are and she is as well.
So, then, she grabs her cereal and makes sure you get enough food to keep growing.
I end up eating too. Not that she leaves me any scraps. I do not have to worry about cleaning her plate for her because she is not eating everything.  I think that deep down, I am reliving a part of my life where i think I may not get another bite to eat. So I fix extra every 2 hours so there is enough for me and I am the one overeating.  One thing Tommy and I have learned. Do not touch your mommy's  food without permission.  And lesson Number 2 is , even if you ask permission, the answer will be No, so just  do not ask if your mommy will share. bahahahha
If she gets a donut with sprinkles, I believe that your mommy is counting the sprinkles on the donut and will know if I eat a few of them. bahhahaha

Just a little note between me and you two.  Love you both, MiMi


So my little grandchildren, I am going to do my best to get slim and trim so I can keep up with you two, but right now, I am eating what  your mommy is eating and every 2 hours is a little much. I will get this under control though.  Just want you two darlings to know that there was a time before you were born that I was in shape and I will be working at getting back to that stage. 

put the gun down!! July 26, 2011

I awaken this morning  to the fact that today I am priviledged to attend a shooting session for the babies.
Today, we will go to 2 wonderful and fun stores to zap all the fun things that the babies will love in their early and toddler years.  This is called a registry.  I do not remember getting to have fun like this over 29 years ago, but wow, I thought to myself. This is going to be quite an adventure.
Meagans excitment is at its peak as we begin our journey to 2 of her  favorite baby stores.
She was smart enough to do alot of her registry on line but there is still much to zap.  We get to her 1st location, which is Babies R Us.  I do believe that all the times that Meagan placed "store" with her real cash register and pricing on each item is getting ready to come in real handy.  She is so confident as she walks to the register table to ask for her "gun".  As she heads for her aisle to begin, you would have thought that she had sat up all night planning her route thru this land of baby items.  Let the games begin!!!!
Lots of items there that I could not identify. I have had 2 children and I was even a little afraid to ask what they were. And I didn't.  bahhaha.
At one point, we see the baby bottles. LIke how many do you zap??  We are talking about doubling up on these and I have no idea how many she will use.  We finally come across a chart that states that at each size, you will need 8 - 10.  I share that knowledge with Meagan who gets very gun happy with zapping the baby bottles. She decides to zap 10 packages of bottles of each size.  Meagan is getting so excited about the shooting process, that I cannot get out of my mouth in time to explain that she has just zapped not 10 bottles, but with 3 in each pack, she has zapped over 60 bottles. !!!
Way too late for the warning. When I finally am able to get out of my mouth that there are 3 bottles in each bag, she gets so tickled at how many bottles she has just registered for and where in the world Justin will put all these bottles that we decide to edit it later.

Oh, and then there is always the question on where to take the babies temperature at? The bottom, the mouth, under the arm , the ear, the forehead scan,and I am surprised you do not have to place it between the toes.  So many choices and soo little time!!!

The most fun was seeing the different walkers etc. that they have for the babies. Oh my goodness, One has  piano keys underneath it for the baby's to stomp and it will make a tune. So exciting and even more to play with it right there in the store.  

So, when finished shooting at this  store, Meagan says that she needs to turn in her gun and start for another location. What a fun day babies!!!  I am thankful that your mommy knew how to use the very fun equipment and very thankful that  all those years she and her sister pretended to own a store and use zappers, cash registers and all the invoicing they did finally paid off. 

Nashville, here we come!!

The babies hit Nashville, the country music capital of the world.  On the travel there, our temperature control was set on 67. THat is Meagans favorite numbers right now.  Her motto: The colder the better.
Mom is with us and we haven't traveled with her in quite a while, so this should be fun.
Meagan is getting hungry and says the twins really need to eat.  Then it happens. I hear mom say, "there is a bean pot several miles ahead. It used to be your dads favorite place to eat". 
OH no, a place called the bean pot attached to a gas station. All of a sudden, I am having flash backs to other "scary " eating places that my dad loved to stop at and eat.
Hamburger Heaven where they stuck us upstairs away from the kitchen.
Roy Rogers where the flies had the run of the place. Meagan was scarred at this restaurant and didnt eat chicken for months.
In Europe, we were traveling to Germany and dad would get so excited to see a buffet in a gas station. We would have to stop and take advantage of all the yummy items laid out inside the gas station where there was no air conditioning and it was summer!!

So, you can imagine my fear when mom said dad loved this place. In fact, Meagan was really worried.
We pull up, and realize , hey we definitely did not need to call ahead or book reservations days ahead.
One car in the parking lot and I do believe they had stopped there to gas up and go to the bathroom.

The menu was in code in my opinion but I did manage to understand that "aigs" was eggs. bahahahah
After eating the ole bean pot cuisine, we realized that this really was a great meal and we would be stopping again on the way home and we would bring friends with us to share in our excitement.
Fried okra, cornbread, beans, beef stew, fries is what we're talking about.

One note:  Meagan and I drank our own bottled water. We did not think it safe to drink the water out of the spicket.  bahahaha.

july 14, 2011: Babies recognize Mimi

Well, every now and then you see miracles in the making. That happened today. 
When your daughter is carrying twins, you pray alot that these little children growing inside of her will be safe and healthy. 
Because I am Justins understudy , I had the priviledge of getting to see 2 little lives growing inside.
They were just precious! They would suck their thumbs.
Then they would wave. Baby A, which at this moment I believe is a boy, is just sitting indian style inside my daughter. So adorable.
Then Baby B, who I think at this moment is a girl, just decides to kick Meagan and turn flips. Just like Meagan would do. 

What was so funny, when they would wave, I would wave back.  It was amazing.

It was such a miracle and joy to see them moving and beginning to get their little personalities.  I cannot wait for Justin to see his 2 little children. 

I can hear your heart beat!!!! 7/13/11

Today is the day that I take Meagan to the baby doctor to check her weight and see the doctor.  My son in law is working so I am his understudy when he is unable to make the trip.
I am always thrilled to step in and participate.  I am also asked to not ask questions , as I have a tendency to get overly excited and just start sharing my knowledge with the nurses and doctors. bhahaha

Today we actually hear the heartbeats and what a wonderful and precious sound that is!! I was so thrilled and excited.

One of the little ones kept trying to hide from the doctor but we finally found her. 
Yesterday, Meagan came down with a stethescope and we listened to what we thought were the babies heartbeats.  After hearing them today, I do believe we were hearing Meagans heart beat.  We probably need to get better equipment.  bahah

YAYA MIMI DOES ZUMBA 7/11/11

WOW, A new movement is out called Zumba. I did this last year but am really getting into it this summer.
One of my VBFF (very best friends fran) invited me several weeks ago to go with her and I did. It is soo exhausting that it is wonderful.

I decided that I needed to get in tip top physical shape for the twinsies. Why?  Because I need to be able to keep up with them or stay 1 step ahead of them.  This in itself , inspired me to go and sweat!!
Yes, sweat!! 2 things that I am not a big fan of:  sweating and wearing tennis shoes.
Monday evening, my big toe went numb just in the normal zumba movement.
But even though I am not a fan of the sweating and tennis shoes, it still feels wonderful that I am accomplishing something. If nothing else but getting water out of my body and containing my feet in a closed area. 

Some asked why I didn't do this at home in the privacy of my own home. Well, because I would definitely quit within the 1st 10 min. if I were left alone to monitor my own self. With over 100 girls there, I didn't want to look like a wimp so I kept going and going and going.
This is one of the only places that I can move my boot aaaa and not get arrested for scaring people in public.  I know that I have seen some of these moves at dance clubs. bahahahah

So to my little twinsies, I am doing this for you two. I want you to be proud of your little yaya mimi and I will have to show you my moves when you are older.  

and p.s:  Your mommy is making sure you eat well. She texts me or facebooks me when she is hungry and ready to eat.

hummmmm I needed a bucket list

You might be asking yourself like I did, Why would I need a bucket list??? Well, I grew up in a family where setting goals and writing down your dreams were as common as eating chocolate. I had always written down all of that and during the New years Eve celebration, when we would gather in the family room and write down what we wanted to accomplish that year and then read what we had written down the previous year. Yes! I had collected all the kids papers and kept them in a safe place so that at the end of the year, we could all go around the room and read them to see what we had acheieved that year and what we still were working on.

We did this without ever calling it our "bucket list".  But I loved the term , bucket list and so it became very clear that from that moment on, I would refer to all our dreams and goals as our very own "bucket list".
Mine and my husbands bucket list is stapled to the closet wall, where we can see it daily but not anyone else.  I personally do not want the whole world to see what deep down thoughts I have in my heart to accomplish or do.  It might scare someone. bahhaahha

As we accomplish things on our "list", I climb up my step ladder to mark it off. It does my personality good to see things being crossed off "the list".  
Yes, I am one of those crazy list people who make a list, then make a list to remember my list and love every time I get to cross something off the lists. I have been known to write down on my list: go to the bathroom, eat dinner... just so I can mark it off. 

Back to "Why in the world is she even talking about a bucket list?" Because I think all of us should strive to live each day without remembering our age.  To look at life and say: Yes, I can and want to do that.
Personally I do not remember my age on a daily basis. This may scare some of you but for me, I think that is what has always led me to new adventures and fun.  
This brings me to why in the world I am writing about this. Yesterday, as I was scrolling thru the facebook , I saw that one of my BFF's (best friend frans) granddaughter went zip lining.
I was soo excited. Maci is such a beautiful , funny, adorable young girl  (who looks just like her beautiful nana and has her temperment too) and she and I clicked right away and became the bestest of friends.  I have to say that I was so proud of her for zipping thru the woods.  When I saw her all hooked up to her equipment it brought back memories from 3 months ago. That would be the month of April.
 Yes, I am a zip line groupy.  Zip lining has been on my bucket list for quite some time and I decided that one of my other BFF's should experience this for her birthday because Lisa has a real fear of heights. I have always felt obligated to help her conquer any and all fears she has so she can feel better for having done so. You are probably too young to remember the Tarzan and Jane movies but I thought that Tarzan, Jane and Cheetah swinging from tree to tree was just awesome. And so it was, that Lisa my husband Tommy and I went into the tree tops and had the time of our lives. It was quite a rush as the young generation says.
You only grow old when you lose sight of your dreams. Keep you a bucket list that you can see daily and take advantage of every opportunity to stretch and conquer fears. 

I want our grandchildren to grow up having a large bucket list in one hand and a marker in their other
hand crossinig off things accomplished just as fast as they add things to that list.

WEEK 13 UPDATE FROM THE MOMMY ON WHAT THE BABIES ARE DOING.

We are at Week 13!! Woot Woot!!! How your baby's growing: Fingerprints have formed on your baby's tiny fingertips, her veins and organs are clearly visible through her still-thin skin, and her body is starting to catch up with her head — which makes up just a third of her body size now. If you're having a girl, she now has more than 2 million eggs in her ovaries. Your baby is almost 3 inches long (the size of a medium shrimp) and weighs nearly an ounce.

Here comes Grandma : July 7, 2011

It is not often, that someone my age, 52, would be able to still spend time with her grandmother in a normal conversation and actually have lunch and go shopping, but that is what I am still blessed to do.

My grandmother is around 95 years old. That is the age she is giving us anyways.  She lives 1 1/2 hours away from us and though we do not get to see each other as often as I would like, I call her everyday to make sure she "made it thru the night and is still alive".  That is why she wanted me to call her every day.
Today she has a doctor appointment so I will get the priveledge to take her shopping for clothes at her favorite store, Hamricks , and then off to eat lunch which is one of her favorite pastimes. 
She is the mother of my dad who passed away in November and ever since my dad passed away, she has had a sadness about her.  No, she still laughs and is cheerful but you can tell it sometimes in her eyes that she is off in some far away land thinking of my dad and she makes the statement quite often to me that she really, really misses him.

She is still quite an attractive woman and stands very tall.  She has stylish short, grey hair but not very many wrinkles, in my opinion.  She walks slower these days and is careful where she steps because she has fallen 2 times in the last several months just by walking around.
 Just by looking at her, you would never know she is almost 100 years old.  She continues to live by herself. She cleans, washes her own clothes and cooks her own meals. She prides herself on eating a very healthy diet full of veggies.
My 1st encounter with Grandma was when I was around 4 years old. We lived in Arkansas and I have no memory of ever meeting her up to that age. One of the 1st movies that I remember watching completely on a black and white TV was "The Wizard of Oz."  I loved watching that movie, even though I was terrified of the wicked witch of the west.
Now you have to picture a young girl, overwhelmed with a movie about a mean witch. This memory is constantly going thru my head.  My parents decide to take a trip back to their old stomping grounds for a week or so.  I remember turning into my grandparents driveway. The house was green and off a main road.  I was excited about meeting my grandparents and spending time at their home.
I had just walked into the house when I was welcomed by my very tall and handsome grandfather for the 1st time.  He seemed normal enough. 
We had walked into a tv room in which the couch faced the narrow staircase that went to the upstairs bedrooms and bathroom.
As I sat on the couch, I heard someone coming down the stairs.  I look up the staircase to see a woman who , not even kidding, looked exactly like the wicked witch of the west.!!!! I began screaming and as I ran thru the house to get away from the very scary evil woman who I believed had been watered down in her castle, no one could catch me long enough to find out why I was sooo terrified.
Finally, tired and out of breathe, I sat down to figure out how in the world this mean witch was able to end up at my grandparents house. As my heart raced a mile a minute, here comes my parents walking with this scary woman. Had this mean woman captured my mom and dad?  Was her plan to release them if I would quietly return with her to her old, smelly castle? Terrified, I stood as still as I possibly could.  At that point, my mom and dad bent down to tell me that this woman was none other than my grandmother.NO way. That cannot be true.  My grandmother is the wicked witch of the west. I couldn"t understand because I saw her waterfied on tv.
As they tried to help me understand that this woman who looked so much like the wicked witch was really my grandmother and not some fictional character on  tv,  I still had my doubts for a long time and slept with 1 eye open at night just in case I was right.

That was the beginning of a beautiful friendship between a grandmother and granddaughter.  I have to say that I was the apple in her eye and she  just adored me. I was the 1st granddaughter and they always get spoiled rotten.
So today, I get to spend time with a woman who grandmothered me thru out my life and give her back just a little of the love and understanding she gave me thru out my life.

Today was a good day. I know dad looks down from heaven and is really glad that I take care of grandma as best I can.  She still is quick and I have to really keep an eye on her, but its worth it because when I was little, she had to keep a close eye on me. And bottom line here is that she is going to be a great great grandmother. Something she is looking so forward to.
 

JUNE 27 REPORT FROM MOMMY ABOUT BABIES.

On June 27, we received our 1st report from Meagan on the babies and what is happening inside their little home right now. We just love reading and talking about them. 

How your baby's growing: Your baby, just over 1 1/2 inches long and about the size of a fig, is now almost fully formed. Her hands will soon open and close into fists, tiny tooth buds are beginning to appear under her gums, and some of her bones are beginning to harden. She's already busy kicking and stretching, and her tiny movements are so effortless they look like water ballet. These movements will become more frequent as her body grows and becomes more developed and functional. You won't feel your baby's acrobatics for another month or two — nor will you notice the hiccupping that may be happening now that her diaphragm is forming

REFLECTIONS OF WHAT WAS , WHAT IS AND THE FUTURE

Wow!! Already the 4th of July!! Holidays seem to bring back so many memories; sad and happy ones.  I love the holidays and love celebrating each and every one. I have always tried to bring a sense of a
"celebration of our lives and being alive and together" to each of the holidays that we celebrate. Tommy and I are the family who string lights, any color lights everywhere around the house, inside and out just because...
 A week before the holiday approaches, I have already been digging on line for fun desserts, and ideas for the dinner decor.  I love to try new recipes but at the same time,  I fix things I know they will eat.
On July 3, I went right to work on my desserts.  Taking my time; making them and sampling them, of course. I love it when the kids are able to come in and spend time with us and for this 4th of July celebration, I was blessed with Nicole and her husband Yogi coming in on Friday evening to add to our FREEDOM celebration. Meagan and Justin would be in and out of the house all weekend and coming over for our 4th of July lunch on Monday with everyone.

I wake up on July 4th; ready to begin my day when my mind reflects back to this time last year.
Alot of times, you just go thru life and don't really remember what you were doing on certain days but when life gives you challenges, those are the times we sometimes remember for a very long time.

My mind goes back to my dad. Over 6ft. 5 inches in height. He was my hero.  He had worked hard and smart and owned his own business. He was very successful and loved what he did.  He and my mom traveled the world together and spent 24/7 together every day.  They planned to grow old together.
Unfortunately, that plan would be interrupted.
In May of last year, 2010, my dad just wasn't feeling well. Went in for some tests and they placed him right in the hospital. 3 days later, with tests results back, the doctor came to my dads hospital room to give him the news that not only him devastated him but devastated our entire family and all of those around the world who loved and respected him so much.
My strong, very patient dad, who took very good care of himself, was diagnosed with stage 4 stomach cancer.  My world was turned upside down at that very moment.
So as I remembered back 1 year ago on July 4th, I remember so vividly going outside in his yard and watching the neighbors firework display.  My dad loved to go out and watch their's every year. One reason was because it was free. Dad could see a fantastic firework show and he didnt have to purchase any of the fireworks. My dad is what he always referred to as very frugal. My mom , dad and I would watch a wonderful fireworks show on that July 4th that unbeknownst to me, would be the last time that my dad and I would share time underneath the stars, crickets chirping and lightning bugs flying all around us.
So a year later, I am lying in bed, thinking how fast life changes. My dad always said that the only thing that stays constant in life is change and he was so right. 
At times, we are faced with choices. To get up and remember the good times and remember all that we have been blessed with today and blessed with for the future or
we can choose to pull the covers up over our heads and choose not to participate.

I choose to participate in life! To be an overcomer.  To look towards today and the future and know that we can make a difference in every persons life that we cross paths with. 
I choose to be thankful to God for allowing me to have such a strong, caring, loving, dad who lived each day to the fullest and helped so many others to believe in themselves and their dreams. A man whose life was lived with integrity.
As the kids and my mom came over to the house, it was a day of celebration! A day to remember that we are a nation of freedom and choices. A day to make memories for our children and future grandchildren.

meagans update on the babies : week of July 1, 2011

Nicole, Meagans beautiful and wonderful and smart sister and I went out to find Meagan books on Twins.  Nicole, is our researcher and found the most wonderful books for meagan to read.
One day, while we were in the car, Meagan tells me that she "read ahead" and found out what the babies would be doing next week. ... soo now she will send Nicole and I updates on the babies statis. Sooo adorable. 

The most dramatic development this week: reflexes. Your baby's fingers will soon begin to open and close, his toes will curl, his eye muscles will clench, and his mouth will make sucking movements. In fact, if you prod your abdomen, your baby will squirm in response, although you won't be able to feel it. His intestines, which have grown so fast that they protrude into the umbilical cord, will start to move into his abdominal cavity about now, and his kidneys will begin excreting urine into his bladder. Meanwhile, nerve cells are multiplying rapidly, and in your baby's brain, synapses are forming furiously. His face looks unquestionably human: His eyes have moved from the sides to the front of his head, and his ears are right where they should be. From crown to rump, your baby-to-be is just over 2 inches long (about the size of a lime) and weighs half an ounce.

what do I name me????

I don't know how you felt, but coming up with a name that I will be known as all my life is quite a responsibility.  IT weighed very heavily on me for weeks.  I wanted it to be perfect, yet fun. I wanted it to scream who I was and how much all my grandchildren to come would adore me. That when they wrote stories about me in school, my "chosen name" would be loved by all. 

It had to be just perfect for me.  My grandchildren, on my husbands side, called me Rhonda.  I know, it is really original, but that is just what they came up with and I wanted them to call me whatever they wanted. My daughters, however, wanted me to decide on a name NOW!!!
Alot of pressure on me .  I went online to see what names were available to me. What were my choices. See , I didn't want the usual.  Nanny, Grandma, granny, Nanna, etc.  I wanted something that screamed WOW!!!  Not that I think the other names are not a WOW, but those are the names I grew up with using for my grandparents, and then my children used those on their grandparents so I was out to bring in a new generation of names for grandmothers.

As I looked on line, I got more and more excited. YaYa , NaNa, Yetta, Glammy. These were my favorites. So then I proceeded to go around the house yelling those names to myself to hear how they sounded.
Then I would go outside and yell the names individually to see how they sounded outside. Oh yes, I ran these names thru the real tests. Just in case , me and the grandchildren were ever separated I wanted to hear how my name would sound if they were yelling for me over an intercom system. There was one that was BM. stood for Big Momma. I went outside and started yelling "wheres my BM.  ?? I lost my BM.?? Can you help  me find my BM?? I believe that was the ultimate in scareiness.  
I called my daughter and son in law to see which names they liked. I do believe I scared my son  in law more.  After getting off the phone with me, I know he would tell Meagan to try to guide me into a normal name.  I don't believe guys really understand that your name tells a story about you and I want my chosen name to tell a story .
After repeating these names over and over and over again, I am at this moment settling on MiMi.  It is a name that my son in laws seem to respond to positively. I can tell this because the veins on their necks dont bulge out, like they do when I use the other fun names.

What I realized is that when you have grandchildren, not only are the names of the grandchildren to be decided but it is quite a responsibility to also make sure the grandparent names are just perfect. I put this up there with choosing names for your children when you are pregnant. Very important and not to be taken lightly.  I will continue to yell my favorite yaya names out loud until the babies are born.  Who knows, I may just surprise them all and become a glammy.

JULY 1, 2011 THE BEGINNING AGAIN

Now that some of the history has been written about, I want to write about what is happening in our lives now. I have always thought that we would be a great "reality TV family" because there is not a day that goes by that something is not happening that is just crazy!

I don't know how many people are like me, but I tend to begin new events in my life on the 1st of the month or on Sunday, which I consider the 1st day of the week. It just doesn't make sense for me to begin something new in the middle of the week or month. IT has to be on the 1st.

I have 2 daughters, NIcole and Meagan, who are both married.  Meagan is my youngest and Nicole is my 1st born, which probably makes her the oldest of the 2.  I have always wished and prayed that they will have a large family but I really have tried and think I succeeded in not being one of those parents who constantly remind them that the years are ticking for me and my husband and that we would like to see and play with our grandchildren before we have our drivers license taken away or we are using a cane. 

Well, May of 2011 , I received a very special gift.  Meagan and Justin, My youngest daughter and her husband came over to my moms where my husband and I were visiting. Meagan has been in college and had just graduated around May 5.  You cannot imagine unless you have had children go thru college, how estatic you are when they finally get that degree.  We are one of those family's.  Meagans education took just a tad bit longer than Nicoles, which was fine, because for a young woman who hated school, even though she was the social butterfly, she did keep going until she had the degree. The humorous thing about this is that she really dreaded school but her passion was to teach. She said when she was younger , that she was going to be the superintendent and call school out every time there was 1 snow flake come from the sky.  She is the child who would take the water hose and spray water on our road in freezing temperatures to prevent the bus from getting close enough to pick her up to take her to school.

Now, getting back to my daughter and her husband coming over to my moms. Justin walks in and cannot quit smiling.  Huge smiles and I didn't even get a clue there was something they wanted to share.
Standing at the kitchen counter, my daughter announces that she is pregnant. My mouth, at that very moment , dropped and I started to cry. "But theres more" she starts...... We all look at her as she blurts out... We're having twins!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I was absolutely speechless and was for several days following that announcement!!!!
My mom had to ask me if I was going to hug her. I was standing there in shock and disbelief , that my little girl was carrying 2 little babies.  !!!!!!
Then there was more: We had to keep this a secret until she was thru her 1st trimester.  
Okay, have you ever been so excited but realized that you had to really just forget you heard this great news because you wanted to honor what your children ask of you. So it was with me. My friends would stop me in the stores and ask how things were doing and I would not make eye contact. I would say very quickly, "just fine, and hows your family???"  I would avoid any phone calls in which I  might break down in a moment of joy and spill my guts on the FAMILY SECRET.
My prayer from that moment on was that God would protect those 2 little life's growing inside and that my daughter would also be safe and protected during her pregnancy.  
  
 

JULY 1, 2011: THE BEGINNING

Well, I am very proud of myself for even thinking I could possibly blog.  At my age, you look back at the way you grew up and wonder, how in the world , did my parents ever get along without the technology of cell phones to keep up with the kids; computers to find out information instead of using an encyclopedia; and my favorite, the hand sanitizer.   I find it very brave of anyone at any age who embraces the technology we have today and at least tries to participate in it.

Let me start at the beginning. I say that but I am not sure which beginning I want to start with.
In 1990 , I joined the DIVORCED group, an elite group that in the community I lived in , were not many.  One thing I knew, and that was that Iwas going to give "the divorced mom" a good reputation.  At the time of the divorce, my 2 daughters, who were the love of my life and heart, were 5 and 8 years old.
Instead of doing the "dating scene" I devoted my time to making sure my 2 daughters felt secure and loved.  We had a blast growing up.  Slumber parties were as common as going to the bathroom.  Not just 2 - 5 girls but lots and lots of screaming , laughing girls who filled the house at least 2 times a month with fun, silliness, dancing and singing.  What more could a mom ask for?  I wanted my children to always feel like their home was a safe place. A place where they would have build wonderful memories with family and friends.  A place that as their friends grew up, they would pass by our home and tell their spouses, and children: " That is where I loved to go to hang out because we just had so much fun there."

I wanted to build such fantastic memories with my 2 daughters that they would pass those memories down to their children, my future grandchildren.  

In 1997,  I remarried a wonderful man who had 3 children of his own.  He had 2 girls and 1 boy. All of his children were grown and the girls were married and actually getting ready to have their 1st babies.
Out of that family, we had a grandson and granddaughter. It has been a real blessing to watch them grow up and create memories with them as well.