just do it

Doctor's Day would probably not be my favorite holiday to celebrate. (It was yesterday. I'm behind.) The only doctor I enjoy seeing on a regular basis is the one I live with. Even then, sometimes I have to forgive him his profession. Particularly at 6 o'clock on a Sunday morning or nine at night when he's not home yet. (Yeah, don't even get me started on a doctor's life of wealth and ease. You do not want to go there, especially in today's political climate.)

But the point--I do want to encourage you to celebrate Doctor's Day by getting out to see your doc if it has been a while. Let me tell you a story that happened about ten years ago. For that pesky annual checkup, I went to see my primary care physician, a wonderful lady who has since moved away from us, sadly. In the course of events, she thought she located a tiny lump in my neck. She suggested I get it checked out. I planned to ignore it, because that is how I tend to deal with things I find unpleasant, like visiting doctors or cleaning out my inbox or relocating the giant dust bunnies under my couch.

My husband, however, planned otherwise, which is how I found myself in another office being told it was probably nothing, but we'd check it out. A few months later, that same doctor removed my thyroid, found cancer, was surprised, and left me with a profound appreciation for my primary doctor who did not ignore that tiny thing that was probably nothing.

I didn't go because I thought there was anything wrong with me. I went for a general checkup, like we're all supposed to do in the course of a year. If I hadn't, when would someone have found it? It was barely noticeable, even to her. So the moral of the story is--go, if it's been over a year. I know it's a pain, but so is cancer, high blood pressure, diabetes, or any other trouble that could be there unnoticed. Don't wait for National Anti-Procrastination Day. (I promise you there is one.) Just do it.

And, as we finish out National Kidney Month, remember, if you are not yet a donor, just do that, too. Nike would be proud. And I would be glad to hear from you if you do.

I am woman, hear me . . . squeak?

Taking a day to go completely off topic. (If ever there was a real topic.) Anyway, there are no good holidays this week. It seems perhaps everyone was too busy enjoying spring to come up with creative holidays at the end of March. (But if you care, today is Lemon Chiffon Cake Day. Go for it.)

Last night, I took the girls (or they took me) to a concert. I haven't been to a concert in two years since I got in free to Jars of Clay because I sold their stuff as a 4H volunteer. (In their defense, I definitely would have paid if I had had to. I really wanted to see it. Being a good 4H mom pays off sometimes.)

In the middle of one of the songs, as the band encouraged us to all sing along, I had a revelation. Here were hundreds of people singing, loudly and energetically, these words: "I'm not all right." And it occurred to me--in how many places would you find this huge group of people admitting this, joyfully, without feeling any need of artificial stimulus to accept the fact that it is true? The opening band even put it one step further:

"Hey, hey, hey, I was always one of the losers
Hey, hey, hey, don't you think that Jesus loves us?
This gospel sounds like good news to all of us losers."

Remembering back to the "power songs" of my youth, I wonder about some of them. "I am woman, hear me roar." Great sentiment, but I wonder how many teenage girls listened and thought, "Roar? I can barely manage a meow right now." Or how many now, like someone very dear to me, think, "Roar? Some mornings I'm so depressed I can barely drag my body out of bed to face the day." What I really, really needed to hear as a teenager was someone sing what they did last night, "I'm not all right; I'm broken inside." Because it was true, and I knew it.

So I guess I should not be surprised that part of the concert going experience for so many includes enough mood-altering substances to make a heifer almost literally jump over the moon. Trying to pretend there's nothing wrong can take a lot of effort and outside help.

That was the revelation for me last night. Here was one arena where the masks could come off and the defenses come down. And it obviously felt very, very good to a lot of people.

"If weakness is a wound that no one wants to speak of
Then "cool" is just how far we have to fall
I am not immune, I only want to be loved
But I feel safe behind the firewall
Can I lose my need impress?
If you want the truth I need to confess
I'm not alright, I'm broken inside
And all I go through, it leads me to you."

Thirty years ago as that teenage girl, I finally admitted I was not all right. And it was a very good thing for me that "Jesus has a thing for losers."

*Lyrics written by: Mark Graalman,Matthew Hammitt, Chris Rohman, Chris Stevens, Dan Gartley,Douglas Mckelvey, (Sanctus Real) and Me in Motion

i would've wrote you a letter, but

A few years ago when my family went to Chattanooga (a great place for a family vacation), we took the riverboat lunch cruise. I had already discovered Southerners had a lovely way of laughing at themselves and graciously letting you in on the joke. So I should not have been surprised to look up and see a sign on the boat's wall that said, "Paddle faster. I hear banjo music."

Now, I do enjoy folk music very much, and I did love the Celtic fiddling in Canada. But, despite my dad's best intentions, I have not been a country music fan. At least he can rest easy knowing he did inspire did a love of big band, if not Hank Williams.

Today, however, we can all enjoy the holiday, as it is official Quirky Country Music Song Titles Day. I planned to put these in a top ten sort of order, but I simply cannot choose the best. You will see why. But you can. Vote for your favorite. Or send one I haven't got here. Especially, if you have the counterpoint, maybe. There seem to be far too many of these that take jabs at the women. Let's see some equal time!

Here's A Quarter--Call Someone Who Cares (sometimes, I've got to admit, it's tempting . . . )

Fax Me A Beer

A Boy Named Sue ( I listened to this one a lot as a kid. It really was funny. And did you have any idea the writer was Shel Silverstein?)

She's Got A Butt Bigger Than The Beatles

I'm Gonna Hire A Wino To Decorate Our Home

You're the Reason Our Kids are Ugly

I Made Her the Queen of My Doublewide Trailer

I Don't Know Whether To Kill Myself Or Go Bowling (definitely a contender for the top five)

I Flushed You From The Toilets Of My Heart

I Would Have Wrote You A Letter, But I Couldn't Spell Yuck!

I Wouldn't Take Her To A Dawg Fight, Cause I'm Afraid She'd Win

If I Can't Be Number One In Your Life, Then Number Two On You

If My Nose Were Full of Nickels, I'd Blow It All On You (another top five)

If The Phone Don't Ring, Baby, You'll Know It's Me

You Can't Roller Skate in a Buffalo Herd


Have fun and let me know your favorites!

sing, loudly

As Young As You Feel Day was yesterday. This is a marvelous sentiment. I feel young. I always want to attempt new things, go new places, and never settle for the status quo. According to several people lately, I look younger than I am. Did I mention I love those people? But, I'm just not positive about the practicality of this.

For instance, I watch my daughter perform back handsprings and flyaways two times a week, and I remember how much I loved gymnastics in high school and college. I can feel the exhilaration of flying off the uneven bars in a twist and sticking the landing. I feel that young, in my heart. But should I try that? Well, as I sit here, recovering from a sprained ankle incurred by simply walking down the street, I'm thinking . . . um, no. I like my assorted body parts unbroken and where they are, naturally. I may wish some of them a bit thinner, but definitely not rearranged.

Watching the recent Olympic games, I think, I could do that. Sure. Twenty or thirty years ago. With a physical body considerably more talented than the one I got. And a lot more self-discipline than God deposited with me. So how to celebrate?

As it turns out, I celebrated a lot last week. Thursday, my daughter had to take indoor pictures for a college class, so we went to the arcade and played games. Almost no one is there at one in the afternoon. You can whack as many moles as you like, and the only people there to look at you funny for being a grown woman in an arcade are the workers. They see so many odd people you hardly register on their radar.

Friday, we took one child out of school early and went to the zoo. No, I do not do this regularly. But it is my hope that, in ten years, she will not remember her Spanish homework for that day, but she will remember we had this very unexpected time together. As today is also International Goof Off Day, I figure we killed two birds with one stone.

Celebrate being as young as you feel. I hope and pray that, for you, that is not older than you actually are. That is a hard place to be. Just for today (or maybe not--maybe any time you feel like it!):

--play on the swings

--eat a double chocolate chip cookie

--read your favorite children's book

--go for a bike ride to nowhere

--order a Happy Meal

--sing, loudly

--laugh a lot

Let me know how you celebrate!

awwwwkward

Several years ago when I was speaking at a MOPS group, the ice-breaker question was "tell about your most embarrassing moment." As the speaker, it was not enough to spill that moment to my table only. The group (about 200 ladies) determined I should tell it to everyone. Actually, I could have chosen among several parental moments, but I chose one which made me the winner, if anyone really wants to be the winner in a most embarrassing moment contest.

So, as today is National Awkward Moments Day, I shall tell it here. I'm pretty sure the other two stories that come to mind might have been winners too, but one I'll save for another time, and the other I won't tell to protect the guilty.

Any harried mom could have done it. Standing in Target, in the long customer service line, with a baby in arms and two bored preschoolers hovering wasn't the beginning of a good afternoon anyway. When preschoolers get bored, positive things rarely happen, unless they are preschoolers in a 50's sitcom. Or in a commercial for Mormonism. With two preschoolers who made Ty Pennington look like Walter Cronkite, a "positive thing" for that line marathon would have been just staying within ten feet of me and keeping all their clothes on.

Instead, they decided that the bridal registry kiosk looked interesting. They played on it, pushing the little computer buttons and no doubt registering some poor bride for fifteen lime green bathroom sets before I stopped them. Three times I told them to stop. Three times they went back. Finally, my attention having been called elsewhere by the baby, I looked up to see them at the kiosk again, happily punching buttons. I lost it, grabbed them both by the arm, and began hauling them off to another area for a good talking to. This was when a strange woman started running after me, yelling very loudly, "Stop! What are you doing with my daughter???"

Yes, her child wore a plum coat the precise shade and style as my oldest child's, and she had the same just-past-the-shoulders brown hair. Since I had grabbed them from the back, I did not notice until I heard the yelling that this child's frightened face did not resemble my daughter's. Meanwhile, my oldest was innocently standing at the customer service counter chatting up the employees, as if she had been doing that all along, having left the bridal kiosk for more interesting territory. Of course, no one in the entire customer service area thought anything was more interesting at the moment than me, with my red face, wide eyes, and flustered apologies.

The other mom was not particularly interested in hearing my good excuse for child napping, so we just exited with whatever dignity I had left, which was pretty much none. I did learn a lesson, which I used in subsequent MOPS talks about anger management. The nice thing about embarrassing moments is, when you're a speaker and a writer, anything is good fodder for a story. Even if, and perhaps especially if, the joke is on you.

So the question on National Awkward Moments Day is, can you top that? Or just chime in with your most awkward moment. To paraphrase one of our great statesman, it is often better for us all to hang together. At least we feel better, knowing it is not ever just us.