These boys love their daddy (plain, simple and to the point). They ask for him to come into their room every night at bedtime, well except for one night last week when he had scared the begeezers out of them by quietly standing in the bathtub all Freddy the 13th like. They didn’t ask for him that night. Mostly because he thought scaring the pants of them was hilarious (a Revenge of the Nerds type of laugh hilarious), a view they obviously did not share. They sit on top next to of him on the couch when we watch tv as a family, follow him like attached little shadows when he wonders out to his shop, and basically think he’s the cooler one. That’s because he lets them try to stay up until midnight, or spend a Friday night playing video games, and takes them to see cool movies. Let’s be clear, I am apparently NOT cool, but their daddy is. He also drives a really cool jeep, and me, well I drive a Mini-Van. We could go on but I’ll spare myself.

Never has anyone looked better wearing the title of daddy, no one could be a better daddy to these two boys, and to quote Judy Garland “I’ve got my man who could ask for anything more?”

And that, that’s tame for Mr. Bear. I’m afraid to let my boys watch his show, next thing I know they’ll be rounding up the scorpions and cooking them in a frying pan for extra “protein”. Speaking of scorpions, I found a baby one, alive and kicking in the kitchen yesterday just inches away from my barefoot and promptly trapped it in a 1/2 cup measuring cup. I asked my husband to please kill it and take care of it, yet again (note I say again here) he felt the need to “play” with. He shook it up and really ticked it off, “We used to pinch off the tail stinger then drop them on people to scare them as kids”. If he ever does that to me he’ll be pushing up daises. Then he says something like he feels the need to be macho like Bear. Huh? “Yeah when I was 20 I did stuff like that all the time (ie. showing off), but then in my 30′s I didn’t need to do that anymore. Now that I’m a dad and I have two boys I feel the need to be cool again and show them that kind of stuff”. Okay, so I’m summarizing but that was pretty much the gist of that conversation. And he wonders why I have dreams of being attacked by scorpions or snakes taking over our house. He’s like a twisted version of Dr. DoLittle and he’s not allowed to watch anymore “Man vs. Wild”…..

www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUjHeYpTLmw

We all know that during World War II women’s service didn’t stop there. We took over jobs typically done by men, jobs in factories  and shipyards creating ammunition and manufacturing ships, planes, etc. Rosie the Riveter was a literal story about the jobs women took over, eventually she came to mean so much more.

Women didn’t stop there either. Before the bombing of Pearl Harbor the there were fewer than 7,000 Army nurses on active duty.  Over the next six months their number grew to more than 12,000. By the end of the war more than 70,000 women served as nurses. The Army nurses’ experience during World War II is dramatic and important. Nurses in World War II often worked 18-hour shifts, 7 days a week, caring for the sick, the wounded and the dying and somehow through all that bring comfort in the most uncomfortable of situations. My grandmother was a nurse in the Army during the war, I don’t know if she was a battlefield nurse or “Bedpan Commando” though, either way I can’t say how proud I am.

Women throughout the world stepped up to help. Russian Field Nurses

When I see an older woman maybe in her late 70′s to late 80′s I don’t think of someone who’ll just slow me down on the road, I always wonder what she was doing from 1940-1945. Was she working hard at a job she never thought she’d have, caring for wounded men in the most unbelievable of conditions (I heard one story of when they enlisted they were given wool socks and men’s XL undergarments and told to do with until their uniforms were ready), spending the days wondering if a telegram would come from the war department telling her she’d never see her husband again. Would you even know if that nice lady having her hair done at the saloon flew thousands of miles in a B-17 or helped assemble an aircraft carrier? Food for thought ladies….

My mom as a baby

Me before car seats were the law

The Z and Grandma

Me and the CaseyJ

So to all you moms and mother figures out there (aunts, grandmas, etc) I hope you had a great Mother’s Day and a wonderful weekend!

Remember how when you were still living under your parents roof you had to ask permission to do things. Like “Mom, can I go to the mall with my friends?” I find it so funny and ironic that now it’s the opposite. I get a call from my mom this evening and I quote “Hey, can I come up Friday night and go watch the boys soccer game on Saturday?” Um, yeah. Like I’m going to tell my mom no! Apparently my dad is headed down south to go fishing and mom didn’t have much else to do. It’s not quite role reversal but quite humurous. Interestingly enough we go both my folks to follow us on our trip to Colorado. They are leaving later than us but we’ll catch up to each other in New Mexico. Everyone is so darn excited!