©Stephenie Freeman
I thought that boys carrying frogs in their pockets died back in the 1950’s. Apparently not. My son doesn’t carry a frog in his pocket, but he does carry around just about anything else that he can find.
I’ve never checked my husband’s before doing laundry. He’s always been very good about removing everything from his pockets before putting them in the hamper. A couple of times a forgotten tube of Chapstick found its way to the laundry room, but after ruining two pairs of prized golf slacks, it hasn’t happened since.
My son's pockets are a different story. While doing the laundry the other day, I noticed my child’s jeans felt a little heavier than usual. His pockets were full of...stuff. Inside I found three small LEGOs, two large chunks of gravel, a piece of plastic from a clothing hanger with the letters “MED”, a dirty pennies that came from God only knows where, a broken rubber band, and a piece of unused dental floss obviously confiscated from the dentist’s office last week.
If this is a sign of things to come, it looks as if my son is going to grow up to be a pack rat. Either that or his wife is going to have one hell of a time doing his laundry.
I’m not sure when all of this collecting started, but there is something about it that I find fascinating. I can just picture my little boy waiting patiently for me in a clothing store, biding his time while I work the clearance rack at Target as he is scouring the floor, discovering all sorts of cool things. Only he knows what beauty he sees in each, this random collection of trash that has now become pure treasure.
What a boy thing to do, filling his pockets full of snakes and snails and puppy dog tails. I’ve always thought that my son resembled Dennis the Menace. The next time I do laundry, I half expect to look inside his pockets and find a sling shot and a bag full of marbles.
My husband collected coins when he was little. His brother collected baseball cards. Both collections are now worth a pretty penny although neither is willing to trade them in for the cash. I only collected stuffed animals. At one point I think I counted a total of 278 in my collection. Unfortunately for me they aren’t worth a darn thing. I didn’t even get a single bid on eBay.
But in the midst of collecting, most of us don't worry about how much they might eventually be worth. Our collections are about the chase—about the finding and keeping—and even though my son’s collecting doesn’t have the tidy symmetry of a stamp or rock collection, it is the thrill of the chase that fills his pockets.
Yesterday I scrounged up and old empty shoe box for him to keep his treasures.
“Do you have more of these,” he asked me.
“What for? Isn’t this one big enough?”
“I like it. I want more just like it,” he said.
It seems that my son has decided that women’s shoe boxes are cool enough to add to his collection.
If I were a controlling mother (why are you laughing?) I would probably try to steer my son toward collecting something that actually made sense. When I was his age, I collected stickers. There was a gift store at the mall that sold Mrs. Grossman’s “Stickers by the Yard.” I would buy a yard worth, take them home, and oh so carefully put them in a sticker book. It was a quiet, mess-free activity that kept me busy for hours.
I think I now understand why my mother pushed me to collect them in the first place.
This collecting of random things has come naturally to my child. It wasn’t something that I had to teach him how to do or something that is part of his school curriculum. In fact, this whole collecting habit might have started at school. In his pockets I’ve found a couple of blunt pencils without erasers and several paper clips right next to a small plastic gorilla and a toothpaste cap.
I think we’re going to need a bigger shoebox.
Beating My Personal Best
Try to ignore the fact that I look like Gigantor next to my perfectly petite friend, Lisa and the beautiful professional runner, Karin. Believe me, I thought twice about posting such an unflattering picture of myself. But the fact is, this was another proud moment in my running history and I had to share.
Two weeks ago I ran in my 2nd 5K--the Santa Monica 5000. The Santa Monica Pier is in the background, but the marine layer was too thick that morning to actually see it. There were several great things about this race, so many that it didn't matter that we had to be up at 5AM for the run. My facebook status declared early that morning that "apparently I have lost my mind." I mean, who gets up at 5AM on a Sunday to run?!?! Well, apparently I do.
1) You couldn't beat the scenery. Yes, it was foggy that morning, but running down Ocean (the street that runs parallel to the beach) is hard to beat.
2) I did it with two of my special friends. We ran at our own paces, we finished at different times, but we did it together. More importantly, we celebrated together afterwards with a delicious breakfast and shopping. That right there is reason to run in my book.
3) And best of all--I beat my personal best. Before the race started I told my friends, "All I want to do is beat my previous time. Oh, and beat that little girl in the dress over there." Well, unfortunately I didn't beat the little girl running in the dress (she was pretty darn cute and fast too!) but I did improve my time.
My total time was 34:05, with a pace of 11:00. That is almost a 3 minute improvement on my previous run! It doesn't sound like much, but believe me when every second and every step counts--it is! (And if I hadn't walked for 10 second to drink a little water, it would have been even better.)
Our next run is on Halloween down in West L.A. This time we're getting the husbands and the kids involved--costumes and pumpkin pancakes included.
I'm going to wear a dress. Maybe that will make me run faster.
list six: 7 reasons why I like blogging
Well isn't this nice? You stop blogging for a week and when you come back you find that you've been given an award! What's the award for? Um, yeah, I really have no idea.
Regardless, I'd like to give a big "Thanks, ya'll!" to the Real Housewives of Oklahoma for thinking of me as a worthy blogger. If you haven't checked out the ladies over at RHOK then you need to get right over there right now. They are some funny ladies. One housewife considers herself to be the Susan Lucci of reality shows while another "was forced as a child to hug her outdoor dog as punishment when she got in trouble." So see, when your visit their site, not only do you laugh but you also get lots of great parenting advice.
So one of the things that you're supposed to do with this award is give 7 truths about yourself. Since I've already done that here on one of my lists, I won't bore you with more. However, it's been a while since I've posted a list so I will bask in my new found versatility and come up with a new one for you.
list six: 7 reasons that I like being a blogger
1. I like that people (that is, people who actually read my blog) know everything about me and choose to like me anyway.
2. I like to hear people say, "I read your blog yesterday..."
3. I like that it's basically scrapbooking without the mess and expense.
4. I like the honesty of it all, just throwing it all out there on the table for everyone to look at (...and hopefully not judge.)
5. I like it when I finish writing something funny and I read over it, pat myself on the back and think "Yeah, baby. I've still got it!"
6. I like to pretend that other people find my life as interesting as I do.
7. I like that blogging allowed me to meet new people that I would never have met otherwise. Like some of the following ladies who I'd like to give the lovely "The Versatile Blogger" award to.
And here they are in no particular order:
Me & My Shortloffs--a friend from college that has continued to be a friend through the glorious wonders of the Internet. (Oh, and she is funny and has really cute kids to boot!)
Sarah's Fab Day--because how can you not love a blog that has a post entirely dedicated to jello shots?
Dawn's Diversions--I have never met her in person, but I consider her a friend. That's what blogs do: turn strangers into friends (and also, she always has great ideas for recipe sharing parties.)
hula seventy--because I stole her idea for lists and she always has lots of cool pictures posted.
Amy Storms--because she's another Okie transplant who's writing inspires me every time I read it.
stephmodo--because I love the versatility of beautiful pictures posted on her blog (and it doesn't hurt that her name is Steph.)
Be Different...Act Normal--because with a blog name like that, how can you not like it!
Happy Friday!
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