Looking Back

Just for fun, I decided to go back through my blog postings and reread everything that I’d posted since I started this blog just about 2 years ago.  Boy has it been a busy 2 years. 

1) There were the births of the babies in Aug/Sept of 2007.  Now the babies are toddlers, walking, talking and developing great personalities. 

2) My pseudo Brother Ben was deployed to Iraq with his unit and they served our country and the world honorably and returned to their families safely. 

3) I wrote 2 novels through the National Novel Writing Month.  I spent my “vacations” in 2008 and 2009 at Sturdy Memorial Hospital, but have made a resolution NOT to continue that trend!

4) I’ve been in my home for two and a half years now.  WOW!  Over the past weeks I even decided to invest in my back deck, so I bought some planters, and I’m now trying to grow tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplant and parsley.  (Plus I hung the Topsey Turvey Tomato Plant grower up, and filled it with dirt, so those tomatoes can be donated to the local food pantry.

5) We had another family wedding, which is leading to another birth (a boy), which could happen any day now.

6) The United States went through an election, unlike any other, which in the end gave us President Barack Obama, and California being in the middle of the battle for gay marriage rights.  (And yes, Jason and Chris’ marriage is legal according to the court in CA!)

and finally

7) The kids are getting bigger.  Addie is 9 and her family is expecting a baby brother for Addie in August.  Varnai is 6 1/2 and just finished first grade.  I went to her end of the year dance recital.  She was too cute up on the stage dressed as a can-can dancer.  Seth is 7 and also finished first grade.  He is a total Star Wars fanatic.  He can’t grasp that Karen Marie was around when episode 4 first came out in the movie theater.  (He thinks they were made in order 1-6.)  But he is highly impressed that I can name Luke’s friend Lando.  And Bella is one of those babies born in September of 2007.  Every time she sees me, she says “kay ree, chip eeezz”  which means, “Karen Marie, chips please.”  Too cute.

So hopefully life will be good enough to allow me to write about more things for another couple of years.  Thanks to all of you for coming back to read what I’m writing.

love you all lots

karen marie

What makes a parent-a penquin’s perspective

I love this news story.  It shows that parents aren’t necessarily defined by biology.

GERMAN ZOO: GAY PENGUIN PAIR RAISING CHICK — BERLIN — A German zoo says a pair of gay male penguins are raising a chick from an egg abandoned by its parents.

Bremerhaven zoo veterinarian Joachim Schoene says the egg was placed in the male penguins’ nest after its parents rejected it in late April. The males incubated it for some 30 days before it hatched and have continued to care for it. The chick’s gender is not yet known.

Schoene said the male birds, named Z and Vielpunkt, are one of three same-sex pairs among the zoo’s 20 Humboldt penguins that have attempted to mate.

Homosexual behavior has been documented in many animal species.

The zoo said in a statement on its Web site Thursday that “sex and coupling in our world don’t always have something to do with reproduction.”

(And as a post script, I was surfing one of the German news sites, which I often do to get my international news, I found the original video-in German about the penguins, so if you are interested in seeing the love that these male penguins have for each other, please be sure to watch this video.)

My family

Many of you have been wondering how my pseudo brother Ben is doing now that he’s back from the Middle East and out of the armed services.  Well, I talked to him yesterday and we had a quick, but great conversation.  The best part of our relationship is that we can talk about the important stuff, laugh together and tease each other, all in a short amount of time.  Plus Ben ended the conversation with the “I love you sis.”  That always gets me.  And chokes me up.  I’m so glad that he is home and safe.

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve come to realize that sometimes the best family that a person has is a family that we create out of important people in our lives, and not necessarily our blood, biological, or the family that raised us.  I’ve been so blessed to have created a new family for myself as I grew up.  It’s a combination of friends, both old and new, family that I’m actually related to by blood, and people from my church.  What I consider to be my family has people from a couple of weeks old to people who are in their eighties and above.  I have white people and people of color in my family.  I have straight, gay and people who are on different places of the sexuality spectrum in my family.  I am called “Aunt,” “Mentor,” “Auntie,” “Friend,” “Cousin,” “God-Daughter,” “Sister” (by more than 3  people , and more other names than I can think of now.

So as I begin this Lenten Season of reflection, I’m thankful for all of you that are part of my family.

John Taylor???

This little tidbit of information is of special relevance to one particular friend of mine.  We’ll see how they react

Did you know that there are actually TWO John Taylors who play guitar for famous bands?  (and to quote Comedian Craig Ferguson “I knowwwwww”)  What’s really weird is that I’ve seen one live in concert and one only on tv.  And the bands?  John Taylor (1) plays bass guitar for Duran Duran and John Taylor (2) plays backup guitar for The Jonas Brothers. 

Given that the band of my teenage years was Duran Duran.  There were pictures of them in my school locker.  I even named a stuffed animal after John Taylor from Duran Duran.  So obviously I saw the John Taylor live with the Jonas Brothers.  That was Addie’s birthday present… tickets to see the Jonas Brothers.  It was quite an experience.

The Saddest Day

Today, June 24, is one of the saddest days of my life.  It was four years ago today that my friend Betzi lost her brave battle with breast cancer.  She left behind her husband and her daughter Addie.  I was absolutely devastated when I heard the news, because I always thought that Betzi was going to beat the cancer.  Now she’s become one of the angles that I know is watching over me.  Sometimes I can even feel her presence.  I was thinking about how I could celebrate her life today, and it turns out that I didn’t have to do anything.  Betzi let me know that she was thinking of me.

Like the rainbow showing up over the Kennedy Center after the Tim Russert memorial, where the final song that was played during the memorial was “Somewhere over the Rainbow.”  Betzi sent me a sign to let me know that she was thinking of me and that she approves of the role that I am playing in Addie’s life.  Earlier this summer I bought a rose bush and several small purple flowers.  I bought a huge round planter and a rectangular planter that goes over the deck.  I put the rose bush in the big round planter with special potting soil, and I put the purple flowers in the other planter.  I wasn’t sure if the rose bush was going to grow this season.  But sure enough the branches began to sprout green leaves and the branches themselves began to turn red (which led me to believe that the roses were going to come soon.) 

I’ve been checking on my rose bush every single day for a couple of months, and even through the rain that came today, my first flower appeared.  It was my sign from Betzi, who was a wonderful gardener and loved planting flowers and different kinds of gardens.  As soon as I saw the red bloom and my first rose, I began to cry , because I know that my angel is watching over me and she’s reminding me that I really am doing a good job being in Addie’s life!  I love you Betzi and miss you!

Staying on the sofa

Well, I’ve decided never to leave my comfy sofa ever again, because when I do, bad things happen.  Like getting an allergic reaction to something (have NO idea what!!!), and having my face blow up like the Pillsbury Dough-boy (you couldn’t even see my ears, and my chin extended all the way down to my chest.)  After a stay at my local hospital (again…) I’m back at home resting, and I’m never, ever going to leave this room.  (OK, I’m lying, but really, to have an allergic reaction so bad to admit you to the hospital is really scary.)

Here’s the e-mail I sent to family and friends today:

Hi All

Sorry to send out a mass e-mail, but that’s about all I can do right now.  As many of you know I was in the hospital for almost a week for pneumonia, the first week of April.  Well, I was put in the hospital again over this past weekend weekend because I began to go into anaphylactic shock, where my throat began to close up and I couldn’t breathe.  Luckily I had an Epipen, so I shot myself up and called 911 to take me to the hospital.  I had two more episodes of not being able to breathe in the ER, so they decided to admit me.  After some tests, the doctors think that I had an allergic reaction to something, unfortunately we couldn’t pinpoint exactly what triggered the attack.  After careful monitoring, oxygen and drugs, they released me and I’m back at home, although I’m so swollen in my face, hands and feet, it’s really uncomfortable really even to move. 

 So right now, I’m just resting at home, taking my meds and trying to get better.  Nothing too stressful.  (Unfortunately, I missed two parties over the weekend.  Addie turned 8.  I can’t believe she’s that old.  Wow!  And a friend of mine, Loretta, graduated from Rhode Island College, and I missed her graduation party.  Again, I’ve known Loretta since she was about 11, and to see her now is amazing!)

But I just wanted to thank all of you for your prayers and concern during this stressful time.  I really appreciate it!  (Oh and they did discover that the pneumonia has cleared, so that at least is good news.) 

Happy Mother’s Day

Happy Mother’s Day to all of you mothers out there.  To you new mothers, happy first mother’s day (this is for Patti and Jillian, mommys to little Madaelein; Sarah, mommy to cute little Kaitlyn; Happy day to Krista, the mommy of big boy Torsten.)  I also want to wish a happy day to all of you who have kids already and are an old hat at this celebration thing.  I say this to Jen, the mom of two adorable babies, Veronica and Natalie.  And to my friends LaQuisha and Kristi who are soon to give birth, happy mother’s day early!!

But to all you moms, people that act like moms in our lives, grandmothers, aunts, cousins, friends, godmothers and in general just special friends.  This day is made for you too!

Happy Thanksgiving- 10 Reasons to be Thankful

Happy Thanksgiving to all of my family and friends out there.  I am especially grateful this year and I thought that I should make a list of 10 things that I am thankful for in 2007.  These are in no particular order and I’m just thinking off the top of my head.

1) That I have a beautiful roof over my head.

2) That I was able to see my family in Florida.  This was so much fun and I have pictures and great memories to help me remember Chad and Meridith’s wedding.

3) That all of my friends (so far) have had successful pregnancies and have beautiful baby girls.  And that it’s looking good for the last friend to have her child too.

4) That I have enough to eat and that I’ll spend Thanksgiving with family and friends

5) That I know how to read.  This may seem stupid, but in many other parts of the world, women are not encouraged to be educated, and I really value my education.

6) That medical science has progressed far enough to come up with wonderful medications and techniques to diagnose and treat things like breast cancer, arthritis and heart disease so much better than they did even 10 years ago.

7) That I have the privilege of being Aunt Karen to children so wonderful as Natalie, Veronica, Varnai, Grace, AJ, Katie, Hailey, Kaitlyn and especially Addy and so many other kids.

8 ) That I know that my God is there for me always and loves and forgives me because of a thing that we call GRACE!

9) That I have learned how to use my computer (to post on this blog, to write my novel on NaNoWriMo, to play games with the kids on Webkidz, to e-mail, etc.)  I am one of the lucky ones.

10) I am thankful for Ben being safe so far and even though he’s been deployed for 65 days so far, he and his fellow soldiers are in my thoughts and prayers.

So Happy Thanksgiving All!

Baby #4

As I’ve been posting, five different friends of mine are due to have babies this fall/winter Kaitlyn Carol came on the 17th of August, Madailein arrived on August 22nd, Natalie last Thursday and #4 Isabella Rose was born yesterday, joining big brother Seth.  Isabella is doing well and everyone in her family is going great.  The 5th baby is the only boy of the group and according to his mom’s blog he is safely “cooking” and he is at 27 weeks and 2 days (as of this morning.)  So we have a little while until the little guy makes his appearance.  Congrats to everyone!

And now announcing…

Ladies and gentlemen at 4:15 yesterday afternoon (that would be Thursday, September 6, 2007) Natalie was born weighing 8 pounds 8 ounces and is all black curly hair.  This makes the third birth of a friend of mine this summer/fall.  For Nat’s birth though, I was babysitting her older sister while mom and dad were in labor and delivery.  It was a long 24 hours for all of us, but mom, dad and sis are doing great.  I’ll post picts later.  Welcome to the world Nat!