Letters to my 8, 10, and 16 year old Self

There is no end to the things I have learned about myself, my family, and life in the last two years.  But really, there are a few things I wish younger me had known - so here goes nothing. 

Dear Eight Year Old Self - That bratty kid with the dog bite, you probably should not throw Trouble at him.  I know he deserved it, and Mom/Dad are acting like he got half his face bitten off - but seriously, he did.  Someday when you're a grown up, you'll look at those scars on his face and remember the most frightening car ride of your life - the one where no one was allowed to stop singing, and keeping Chris awake was the most important mission of your life. Enjoy the fact that Mom is going to let you eat Mickey Popsicles for dinner and have Kool Aid before bed.  

 Dear Ten Year Old Self - I know you are incredibly sick of having "gym head" and that one more all day wrestling tournament may make you lose your mind.  Those gyms stink, the mornings are early, and for the love of god you'd like to eat a donut! But pay attention to the scoring, the refs, and the smiles on parentals/kids faces! When Christopher is rocking the STATE of Pennsylvania in High School, you'll be really glad you can keep score, know exactly what needs to be done to win/tie/score ride time or a stalling penalty! You are however allowed to smack him around a little when he is being a moron about losing - and then walk away.  Yep, Mom is right on this one - let him fume under the bleachers, he'll be just fine and you know he and dad are going to take over the living room anyway to reenact whatever he did wrong. 

Dear Sixteen Year Old Self - You are partially correct in that Chris's main use in life is to clean the snow and ice off the Camry before you leave for school in the morning.  And correct that his major malfunction is thinking that he is the boss of anything (kidding). Do yourself a favor, enjoy your 15 minute jam session on the way to school - there are a finite number of days you'll be able to do this.  Try not to be mad when Mom and Dad have to flip a coin for Saturday sporting events, they find it just as hard as you do.  Also, embrace your mandated bedtime - you, mom, dad, and Chris will all be a hell of a lot happier when everyone has slept before a long day.  *For you and boy wonder, this does mean that you need to stop reading under the covers.  The books can wait, and will still be there in the morning.*

I would write a letter to 18/19/20 year old self but that is called living - and would be more of a book than a blog post.  What are your lessons/letters to your younger self?

Pre Deployment Leave

I know that many of you have not seen Christopher since Mom's services, so it has been more than 3 months.  With that in mind, there are several events scheduled while he is home and many people he would like to see and spend time with.  There are still days with no activities scheduled, and we hope to see many of you before Chris leaves to head back to NY on January 5th. Chris will go back to NY and then deploy from there sometime during the month of January.  I will keep this blog updated with Christopher goings on as well as For Little Debbie events.  I will not be able to post Chris's mailing address on a blog, so please make sure that I have your email address in order to keep you updated on that in particular. Mom is so much of who Christopher and I are today, and I think that keeping her "smiley jack" in our thoughts is just as important as keeping Deb in the front of our minds <3

If something is listed below and you don't know about it or weren't "formally invited", please let me know and I will provide you with the details. 

Saturday - December 22nd - Winter Solstice Party at Terry's (evening)
Saturday - December 29th - Goodbye Party at Jon & Deb's (afternoon/evening)
Monday - December 31st - New Years Eve Party (all night long)

Much love to all of you this holiday season.  Thank you again for your love and support, and Happy Holidays.