GOOD LORD...I THINK ONLY MODELS LOOK LIKE THIS WHEN PREGNANT. I looked like a house! But of course, my sister was tiny. It looked like she swallowed a basketball, but she [my sister] could be the poster-child for early intervention for Aneroxia. Nice picture for the baby though. "And here is a picture of Mommy when you were in her belly...it was so pretty that they decided to put us on the cover." Yup, I am a bit jealous. Maxine will look at a picture of me pregnant with her and probably ask what happened to her twin.

I read this on yahoo news yesterday. I guess I am going to have to look forward to this myself soon. It is really hard trying to explain to kids early on that sometimes things really suck.

He arrived 10 minutes before his fate, so Filip Olsson stood outside Severna Park High School and waited for coaches to post the cut list for the boys' soccer team.
Olsson, a sophomore, wanted desperately to make the junior varsity, but he also wanted justification for a long list of sacrifices. His family had rearranged a trip to Sweden so he could participate in a preparatory soccer camp; he'd crawled out of bed at 5:30 a.m. for two weeks of camp and tryouts and forced down Raisin Bran; he'd sweated off five pounds and pulled his hamstring.
Finally, a coach walked by holding a list, and Olsson followed him into the high school. He walked back out two minutes later, his hands shoved deep into his pockets and his eyes locked on the ground.
"It felt," he said later, "like a punch in the stomach."

I didn’t make the track team. I wasn’t really dissappointed though. I only wanted to do it because my sister ran track and ANYTHING she did, I wanted to do. She was on the diving team, I went out and got on the diving team. Anyway, it also said in this story that it was really hard for the coaches to have to cut kids. I just hope I can explain to Maxine that some things just are not meant to be and that when one door closes, another one opens. I HATED hearing that. But, it was true. I have a plaque in my kitchen that my Mom bought for me and it says “If At First You Don’t Succeed, Do It Like Your Mother Told You To.” It is SO true.

Maxine has been driving me crazy lately. I feel awful for saying such a thing but it is true. It isn’t like I can just put my shoes on and tell her, as I walk out the door, “I need an hour.” Because it is just me!!! My girlfriend says “Maxine is up your ass all the time” So, it is my fault because I have always been RIGHT THERE for her. I feel guilty Her newest thing to say is “Sorry Mom” I look at her and she looks back at me like you-know-I-have-to-say-it-at-least-two-thousand-times-a-day-or-I-can’t-function. I. CAN’T. WAIT. FOR. SCHOL. TO. START. Bring on the homework! I won’t hear that she has had a boring day. Walk a mile in MY shoes at work honey, then we will discuss boring!