Speedy-Swift-Fast

Where has the time gone and where is that little boy?  I remember Chase at 4 years old and his excitement in getting his first pet; a goldfish.  I can still hear the squeals and laughter as he tried to catch that goldfish, in the pet store, as it zoomed around in the tank.  After a little jumping up and down and some splashed water we exit the store with "Speedy-Swift-Fast" in a plastic bag.  What a funny name for a fish!  Chase was all smiles carrying his new best friend.

Goldfish from OpenClipArt.org

A year later, the goldfish is belly up in its tank and I'm trying to figure out how to ease the bad news to Chase.  The Cosby Show episode with the Huxtable family burying Rudy's goldfish in the backyard flashes through my mind. While I'm thinking of plans for a fish funeral, here stumbles in a sleepy Chase to feed his pet.  With a solemn voice I explain that Speedy-Swift-Fast died.  This is also when I discovered that boys think differently than girls.  With his sweet face looking up at me, a flicker of sadness in his green eyes, I'm bracing myself to answer his questions.  There's a moment of silence as he's thinking then he exclaims in his baby voice with a touch of excitement "can we flush it."  Definitely not what I was expecting.

I now understand the nursery rhyme "What are little boys made of?  Snips and snails and puppy-dog tails."

Don't Chew Tobacco On A Carnival Ride

I was listening to Sirus XM Radio Comedy and Bill Cosby was joking about when he was little and his first experience chewing tobacco.  It bought back a memory of my cousin Jonathan, "Jomp" for short.

My family which included my sister and her kids, my brother, and a few of my cousins were at the North Carolina State Fair. Jomp had been chewing tobacco and I had been fussing that he needed to stop because it wasn't good for him.  Of course he paid me no attention and continued to chew and spit tobacco. Yuck! A little while later we decided to ride a spinning ride; named the Hurricane or Cyclone.

You have to understand the ride to appreciate the story.  It's a huge round barrel shaped ride that spins around-and-around.  We walked single file into the ride and when everyone was in, we leaned back against the wall of the ride onto individual boards with wheels. It was back in the day, so I don't remember strapping in the ride with a harness or belt.  Once everyone was in place, the ride started to spin around.  It got faster and faster until the board which we were now pressed against started to roll up the wall with us on it.  The force of spinning kept us pressed against the board.  As I'm screaming, crying, and laughing all at the same time, I look beside me at Jomp.  At that moment he takes a big gulp and starts to turn a pale green color. He's just swallowed that yucky chunk of tobacco! Eew! I start to laugh even harder until he looks like he's going to blow.  Oh, no! It's still funny but not so much since I envision him throwing up with us all spinning around. Thankfully, after a few more minutes of spinning the ride finally slows down, and we glide down from the top on our boards.  All I can do is laugh and try not to wet my pants as we stumble drunkenly out of the ride. The rest of the family are waiting outside and asking how we enjoyed the ride.  I'm bent over laughing and wiping tears from my eyes as Jomp bolts to the nearest trash can to throw up.

The moral of this story is not only don't chew tobacco but definitely don't chew it on a carnival ride.

Day 1 Yet Again

Who knew that I would wake up one morning and say, "I'll create a blog"?

It's a typical day for me.  When I can sleep in, I rise at 7 a.m. but when I have to go to work, I snooze my iPhone alarm and turn over to sleep some more. Today, I sat at my computer and started my blog.  It took me 15 minutes to come up with the title "Life and Laughter with JDL", then another 10 trying to find a blog URL that wasn't taken.  After almost 30 minutes, "Here I am!"  I hope that I have something to say and that it's worthwhile to read. My life experiences are many, happy, tragic, and simply what you face as you grow older and hopefully wiser.

My challenge today is to start my diet over yet again.  I can't count how many times I've recorded "Day 1" on my planner.  Breakfast is easy, lunch is so-so, but the kicker is dinner and late night snacking.  My goal is to eat cleaner.  For me that means more organic foods where possible and less meat.  With a 17 year old son whose favorite food is meat, I'm not going vegan any time soon, but I can try to purchase hormone free meats to cook.

Some insight into my struggle: I was raised by my grandparents and we didn't have a lot of money.  When reminiscing, I joke that we were so poor that we could only afford half the letters so that made us "po". Growing up "po" you ate everything on your plate.  My son doesn't have the same food experiences so when he's full he stops eating.  Me on the other hand, I think I have to finish my plate.

Day 1 of my blog and "yet again" diet. Off to see what the day holds for me.