On the Way to Becoming Me

July has been an especially busy month for me and my family.  Between work, summer camps, football workouts, family reunions, sorority reunions and other impromptu events, downtime has been a welcome addition to our schedule.  Honestly, it seems like summer just started!  It's hard to believe that we're gearing up for yet another school year. Being a teacher, summer break takes on a whole different meaning; whereas, if I were just donning my mommy hat, I'd be totally elated that school is almost in session (just keepin' it real).  But, for real, I almost shriek in horror when I see back to school commercials on T.V., and the store displays seem to be taunting me as a constant reminder that time is winding up. Before I can say farewell to the "summer of reunions," I have one more gathering to attend.  My 20 year class reunion!  It's crazy that it's been 20 years since I graduated from high school.  With the reunion approaching next week, I can't...

So, I'm driving along in the car with my permanent passengers (aka my children), and we're having a battle of the radio stations.  I'm sure you can relate to these battles well if you think back to when you were a pre-teen/teen.  Your parent wanted to listen to the sweet sounds of the Stylistics, and you want to hear the latest hit by Biggie. There was a tug-o-war over the radio stations, and somehow your parents always seemed to prevail.  Mind you this was before everyone was all plugged into their own iPod, iPhone, iSomething. Well, fast forward to 2015, and I find myself in the same situation only I'm the parent this time around.  For the most part, I won't 'stand my ground' and refuse to share the radio, but when my jam is on the radio, I do expect you to kindly remove your fingers from the dial.  This brings me to last night. My family and I watched the 2015 BET Awards last night.  I'm a lover of music, so I can appreciate artistic expression....

Ok, so this post is not an homage to Beyonce or my claim to wake up each and every day looking "funky fresh dressed to impress ready to party."  However, it is the perfect caption to the craziness that happens in the mornings at my house.  Notice I said my house and not yours.  I'm sure you  have stress-free and blissful mornings in your crib, but in my family of five, our mornings are anything but.  So, first of all let me just say that I love my family to the moon and back (even the teenager ;-).   **I had to throw in the personal shout-out to my teen since he claims I "offended" him in last week's post.  And to that I say "sorry, but Momma keeps it real, son!" Anyway, I digress.  Am the only one who wakes from a restful night of sleep only to immediately don your referee shirt and start spewing out phrases like "no, you're not wearing that...it's 40 degrees outside," "stop arguing," "get ou...

Something happened and I'm not exactly sure when it occurred and why I didn't notice it.  It didn't just happen to me, but to my husband as well.  No one gave us a heads up, posted a warning sign on our front door or whispered the words "new traffic pattern ahead."  Nope, we didn't see this coming at all!  And so I'm sure you're asking what didn't we see?  What caught us totally off guard?  One of our three children has become.......has become....a TEENAGER!!!!!   It seems like only yesterday that we were "oohhing" and "ahhing" over our first baby.  Back then I thought my biggest challenge was nursing and getting him to sleep through the night. I had absolutely no idea that the teen years would be, what I jokingly refer to as "my graying years."  Pause right now.  Stop reading and go thank your mother that you are still alive :-). Seriously!  While I do remember my aunts and older family members (who were empty neste...