My Jeep

This is an essay I wrote for a writing class. I have tweaked it a bit. You know what they say. A work of writing is never done. 

            My Jeep wrangler is my daily driver, as well as my ride to adventure. My husband and I love to go on adventures together. Her name is Baby Doll, and she is seldom sparkling clean. She is built to play off road.  She has a cargo rack on top to hold our survival and recovery gear for our trips. She has enough lights to make daylight out of the nothingness that is dark. She has a soft top that folds down so we can have the heat of the sun and the movement of wind on our faces. There are drain plugs in the floor so we can drain the water out if we drive through a deep puddle; if we get mud inside we can wash it out with a garden hose. 

She has large fenders to cover large tires. The tires make a humming noise when driving down the highway. When a small rock is picked up in the tread it will make a clickety clack noise while driving on pavement, similar to the sound of tap shoes. The Fenders don’t keep mud from flinging up the side of my Jeep. It is not uncommon for the driver and passenger to take mud showers. Mud is not always the best smelling stuff on earth.  Mud from old river beds smells like old rotting fish, mud from a field can smell more of livestock droppings. If you are not careful you may get to enjoy the taste of the mud. Not something I would encourage.  Luckily these smells often go away once the mud dries and leaves a crusty mess on my jeep. When the mud dries it feels the same as if you were to run your hands over parched rough ground.  This always makes me think of the old Westerns. The ones where the cow boy is staggering through the desert and the scavengers are flying overhead.

She is loud to ride in. When the top is up you hear all the wind drag noise from the top flapping. When you have the windows out or the top down you hear all the wind rushing past.  There are days I think about stocking her with ear plugs.  You have to yell if you are going over 35 mph to speak with your passengers. Riding in a jeep is not like riding in a car or truck. When driving down a paved road it is not uncommon to be tossed side to side when hitting uneven spots in the road. I often feel like I’m on a roller coaster swaying from side to side and jerking back and forth. This is due to the fact she is built to make my off road ride smoother.  I enjoy this sensation it brings back memories of past adventures with my husband.

A Tomboy and Her Girly Girl Traits

     To my mothers dismay her only child was not the princess she would like her to have been. Sure I'm a princess and I demand the spoiling of one. I just don't look like or act like the average spoiled princess. My mother loved to dress me up in the cute little frilly dresses. I on the other hand preferred jeans a t-shirt and boots. Give me a mud puddle over barbie any day.
     I'm no different now as an adult.  If you know me, or read my blog long enough you  know what I like to do. I play in the woods instead of clubbing on the weekends or hosting Candle Light Suppers. ( all you BBC watchers know what I mean LOL)

My Idea of dinner out

My Idea of a romantic get away

   
     No need for four start hotels and fancy restaurants for me. No goose liver crap and over priced fermented fruit drinks. Give me a bag of chips, a bottle of pop and a hot dog on a stick over a fire and I'm good to go.

Hmm this is his rig, why am I doing the work?

     It's a good thing my husband is man enough not to need a girly girly. Not that a girly girly is easy to handle by any means I can play that role if need be, but rather be myself. All the same he is OK with me having as much dirt under my finger nails as he has. He loves me dressed in boots, flannel and driving a lifted rig. He is also not intimidated by the fact I can out cuss many sailors. He does tend to call me a potty mouth from time to time.

My girly girl side

     I have never been one to dress up and put on make up everyday to leave the house. I have nothing against those that do. I just don't enjoy it. I do have some deep dark girly girly traits that I enjoy. The most obvious one being I LOVE to get my nails done! Not only do they look great they hide the dirt and grease I have under them most of the time. :-) My other girly girly trait is shoes. I LOVE shoes! oh and purses. Yep even a tomboy can spend her share of money of  bags and shoes. Now granted I'm not buying 6 inch spike heels or glitzy glamor bags. I have an awesome selection of boots, messenger bags and backpacks! OK OK I admit it I also have some feminine type purses in that mix. Oh and a couple pair of clunky dress shoes.


       I love who I am and think It made me a better mom to my boys in the long run.I was not afraid to get down and dirty and teach them to make mud pies. I love being one of the guys. I find I do a lot of things that are  male dominated activities. I have never had an issue with being accepted as one of the guys. which makes it so much easier to do the activities I want to. No need to prove myself.

      I remember at at friends engagement party I walked in and I hear "WOW you de-manafi well"  I think it was the first time in the three or four years we had known each other that he had seen me in slacks, dress shirt and makeup LOL No I did not find this offensive LOL


Ok off to color my hair shhhhhhhhhh don't tell the guys!

Empty Nest Syndrome? Not this Mom

Definition from Dictionary.com
empty-nest syndrome
— n
informal a condition, often involving depression, loneliness, etc,experienced by parents living in a home from which the childrenhave grown up and left.

Maybe I'm cold hearted? Naw I love my kids, I loved being a stay at home mom. I loved molding their young minds. Although I still have day I wonder if I molded them properly. I loved watching them explore and learn about the world. I loved and still love our deep talks about the world, life and love. With that being said, I'm done! I'm ready to move on in my life. I have the opposite of empty-nest syndrome.

Seriously I'm ready for my kids to be adults and move on with their lives. I'm ready to start my life and live it for me not for my family. I spent 19 years of my life being a stay at home mom ( loving almost every minute of it) Most of what I did over that 19 years was for my children. It is time for the husband and I to live life together for us. I don't have one ounce of empty-nest syndrome happening.

Maybe because I started letting go when the boys entered their teens? We started off by going away for one night then later for the full weekend. I started doing things for myself. I volunteered in the schools most of the boys school career, but when they where in high school I was not needed as much. I found things I enjoyed doing for me. I still volunteer a great deal but for things I love doing not strictly for the betterment of my kids. I have gone back to school and loving it.

I'm sure all these things help me not feel depressed and lonely that my kids are moving on in their lives. There is life after children. I just think we as parents need to remember to start changing our lives at the same times our children are. As my boys grew and learned to be adults and become more independent so did I. Part of our job as a parent is to pull back at some point and let the kids start living life with out us hovering. Take that time to explore yourself. Find what you want to be when YOU grow up :-) Even parents that work will have more free time on your hands. Any classes you wanted to take, or hobbies you wanted to take up? The teen years are a great time to start checking in to them. Learn to let go and enjoy your freedom.

I promise there is life after kids... 

Enjoy the journey in to your second life. 

Animal Lovers Guilt

     I was at a Bazaar on Saturday held in a school. Next to the school is a home with a few acres and a few horses. I love animals and especially horses. Me being me I start ticking and clicking my tongue as well as making smooching noises to the beast in the field.  He raises his head and listens to me talking in my best baby talk. He cocks his head to the right and perks his ears up.  I figured he was trying to look at me through the slats in the fence.
    He walks a bit closer to me and I notice his left eye doesn't look normal. I realize he has no eye on the left side.  OH ok so that is why he cocked his head to the left, so he could see me with his one eye. He starts walking toward me. I'm still talking in my best animal baby talk as well as  ticking and clicking with my tongue.
     SMACK!! right in to the fence with his nose! He stops and yanks his head back a bit and then cocks his head while moving his ears for a better listen. OH MY GOODNESS! This is when I notice the poor fellow has no eye on the right side either.  Yep the horse is blind. Both eye sockets are healed over with skin.  No eye lids or lashes. My Heart sank! I felt bad for him, and I felt awful for calling him over and making him hit the fence.
     I have heard of blind horses, but I have never seen one in person before. I have never seen an animal with no eye lids or lashes either. I have seen animals that have had eyes removed, but for the most part the eye lids are sewn closed. It was rather creepy looking.
     After all that, the fence was to high for me to reach over and give him affection. :-(  and him being blind he didn't know to lift his head up so I could reach his nose. I felt so guilty calling him over and then him running right in to the fence. After all that I could not even touch him. It has been 2 days and I still feel guilty LOL OY!
     I know I need to just let it go :-)  I'm sure he has lived a long and happy life and one smack of the face into the fence is not going to take that all away from him.

Sigh