Friday, March 4, 2016

A DIFFERENT KIND OF FRIDAY POST...

I appreciated all of the thoughts and comments you made on my ending The Way We Are and I know that you all understand a bloggers heart.  I guess this will fall into the category for me of what I am ALWAYS saying to my kids....."just move along".  I will continue posting because I do enjoy it....I will NOT stress myself with it and therefore will post only when I am "in the mood" and about what I would like to....My posts will no doubt USUALLY be my day to day life with little bits of what Joyce from This Side of the Pond called, "moments of glitter".  Is that ever true?  Most of the time we just move along through our daily ordinary lives [whatever that might look like for us], but occasionally we get "our moments" that we are just privileged and bursting to share. I will not stress about lack of comments or rather or not I am boring my readers.  So, read if your interested, comment if you have the time and would like to, and I will enjoy them as I always do.  I did get one comment from a "ghost" reader and I loved it, and would love to have some more.  I will continue to read and comment all over blogland because I REALLY enjoy doing that, and I love following along on your daily happenings...just nosy curious that way I guess. But I have decided to add on a different kind of post for a few weeks where I am going to feature each one of my amazing and VERY DIFFERENT from each other children, lol. After all I am writing these blog books for them, and how fun would it be to find the occasional post that is all about YOU, lol. And truthfully I would thoroughly enjoy reading such posts from any of you that I have come to know through this world of blogging.  I will of course not be sharing personal things that I KNOW would not want to be shared by any of them for the world to see, so bear in mind of course that these particular posts will be mostly from their POSITIVE, UPBEAT, FANTASTIC SIDES, LOL.  Oh, and not the least bit prejudice either, [wink].

So I will start with Joe.  At 43 he is my oldest son.  He had the privilege of having a VERY YOUNG mother and trust me it did come with it's own set of issues both good and bad, lol.  He was my "learning" child in almost every area.  And I guess that's true for all first children rather their mother was young or not, lol. But all I can say is that having a teenaged mother meant we learned some things together...and not always the easy way.   So now how can I best describe Joe?   He was NOT your ordinary child in any way, and he is NOT your ordinary man.  Not that any child really is, but Joe especially falls into this category.  Everything he has ever done he has done with his WHOLE heart and at a hundred miles an hour, be it either for the good or the bad. I have said MANY MANY times that it's really a good thing he was my first and that I was SOO young, as otherwise I have my doubts as to if I could have really kept up with him.  He was RUNNING [not merely walking] at nine months [yes, you read that right!] and getting out of his crib by 12 months.  He could peddle a tricycle, open ANY AND ALL kinds of door handles, [they didn't have those little contraptions that prevent that in those days] was completely potty trained, and could talk in sentences ALL before he was 2 years of age.  He did everything [and I mean everything] early and FAST.  He was a tiny thing with the abilities of a very coordinated monkey.  Honestly his coordination amazed everyone, me right at the top of the list, lol. He did of course have many mishaps and falls, but for the most part was the most active baby and toddler I had ever seen or honestly have seen since.  It is somewhat a joke in our family that when any of us are discussing an active baby or kid we frequently say, "not at Joe's level of course" lol.  He had a HARD HARD times listening to advice, following rules or directions, and frequently weighed out in his mind what his punishment would be should he chose to disobey, and would freely pick the punishment in order to DO what he wanted to do.  Joe required my constant CONSTANT monitoring to keep him from harm to tell you the truth.  He was [and still is] about as extroverted as they come and was NEVER shy of people or situations.  He was definitely the leader the others kids followed which was both good and bad of course.  I was downright terrified to send him to school fearing of course the teachers would do nothing but monitor Joe.  However, as it turned out, it was just another area that [at first anyway, lol] Joe excelled.  He took to it all wonderfully.  He learned quickly, couldn't seem to get enough, won MANY spelling bees and speech meets, had the lead in MANY school plays, and got straight A's pretty effortlessly until he got to high school.  Now that's not to say he NEVER got into trouble, because of course he did, but for the most part it all went WAY better then I hoped, lol.  He also began his interest in sports in these years and again GREATLY excelled.  He was and still is of course just a natural born athlete.  He was the pitcher or the catcher on his baseball team, [no unstressful positions for Joe] was ALWAYS lead off batter, and hit an uncountable amount of home runs including a few grand slams.  Joe could have easily pursued a career in professional baseball had it ever been his desire or inclination to do so.  He was also the running forward on his soccer team, the point guard on the basketball team, and eventually the high school quarterback on his football team. [some of the funnest times ever!]  He also began his career in karate where he won a literal room full of trophies and was overall champion of countless tournaments.  Adding to all of this [which I know sounds exaggerated but really isn't I swear!] Joe was a REALLY cute little guy, and turned into a VERY handsome young man that the girls just literally seemed to love, and constantly, and I mean CONSTANTLY chased. Oh my, the stories I could tell in this area, lol.  More stories that our legendary in my family let me tell you, lol.  He was also an excellent swimmer and trained to be a life guard at the beach, which he never did actually do.  Life with Joe was NEVER dull or ordinary, and provided me with MANY MANY of just those proud moments in life.  He always seemed to stand out in whatever he did or tried, so as his mom I was naturally proud. However, [didn't you just know that was coming?} Joe also brought me some of my worse moments as a mother and some of the most embarrassing and heart breaking as well.  His older teen years were tumultuous  at best.  He crashed his cars, snuck out of the house, got into fights, and decided he didn't "need" school anymore which resulted in his dropping out his senior year of high school.  He experimented with both drinking and drugs and did both with his usual utter abandonment for anything else.  This was also the time he became a father for the first time.  It was a very, VERY difficult time of life for our whole family as Joe kind of dominated things soo much.  He was 17 when he went temporarily berserk, but thankfully came out the other side by the time he was close to 20.   A very hard two and half years with Joe that's for sure. First thing he did when he decided he was through with that way of life was to get his GED and went to the local college and back to his beloved karate.  He finally earned his black belt [he has been very close before he went nuts] which wasn't easy after a two year break, but he pulled it off.  He decided to follow his dream of owning his OWN karate school and studio and thus began his climb to achieve that goal. Oh how hard he worked.  Not only to achieve the 2nd degree black belt that this required, the college education that he had to have in order to run his own business, but also earning the money he needed to buy.  His focus was what he ALWAYS used when he wanted something badly enough.  At 23 he succeeded and bought and began his studio, which was VERY small at first, but which has grown to a very growing and prosperous business now.  He also met and married his first wife and moved out. He became the California feather weight champion in kick boxing and held this title and belt for close to two years. I will end this here for now as this is taking WAY longer then I thought it might, and getting too long as well.  I will pick up next friday where I left off.   I will share now a couple of recent pics of Joe [which I don't get many of, but every once in a while he does send me some over, lol]

JOE AND HIS TWO SONS JEFFIE AND CODY ON A RECENT HIKE AT MOUNT BALDY

LAST WEEK-END WAS A BIG YEARLY TOURNAMENT FOR JOE WHICH WAS OPEN TO ALL STUDIOS IN THE STATE.  MUCH MORE COMPETITION NEEDLESS TO SAY.  JOE ENTERED 32 STUDENTS, AND THEY BROUGHT BACK OVER 50 TROPHIES.  THIS WAS TAKEN ON MONDAY NIGHT WHEN ALL THE COMPETITORS BRING THEIR TROPHIES IN TO BE DISPLAYED THROUGH THE COMING WEEK!

A NEW AREA OF COMPETITION AT THE TOURNAMENTS THESE LAST COUPLE OF YEARS HAVE BEEN IN THE AREA OF KICKBOXING.  JOE IS PICTURED HERE WITH HIS 13 YEAR OLD STUDENT THAT TOOK  FIRST PLACE IN HIS AGE DIVISION.  HE IS PICTURED HERE WITH A ONE OF RHONDA ROUSEY'S COACHES WHOSE STUDENT TOOK SECOND.  GUESS YOU'D HAVE TO BE INTO BOXING TO KNOW WHO RHONDA IS, BUT TRUST ME, SHE'S HUGE, LOL 


Soo this week I am trying to finish up all my sewing as there is much to be done by the end of this rapidly moving month, lol.  I have decided I will dedicate Mondays to my sewing stories so that hopefully they will not constantly dominate my blog.  Wednesday's I hope to hodgepodge as it is always fun and provides lots of different thoughts as well.  And Fridays will be devoted to "my kids" posts for a while.   IF I have other then these things that I must share, then I will fit them in other places hopefully.  I will still have to share favorite pictures for the week, so that they will make it into my blogbooks.  Hope you all had a good week.  I am looking forward to the week-end.  Many blessings to you all!  Debbie


MELODY AND CLAIRE ON THEIR WAY TO A BABY SHOWER LAST SATURDAY

CLAIRE AND HER DADDY
MEL'S 3 MUNCHKINS

CLAIRE'S GIVING HER  BABY A KISS...LOOKS MORE LIKE A BITE, LOL

SHE GOT HER FIRST DONUT THIS MORNING!  LOOK AT THOSE GLEEFUL EYES

SHE LOVED IT!  MEL SAID YOU COULDN'T HAVE PRIED THIS OUT OF HER HAND WITH A CROW BAR, LOL

9 comments:

  1. DEbbie
    Joe is certainly a son to be proud of. He sounds like he has such a zest for life!
    I was a young teenage mother too, so I can well relate to your experiences-oh my.
    Claire is so sweet. She looks so much like the boys did when they were babies. I bet they adore her.

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  2. I certainly enjoyed reading all about Joe!!! Your pictures are always wonderful and I guess I am a little on the 'nosy' side too.....I LIKE hearing about how people spent their day!!
    I will always read whenever you post!!!

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  3. I like reading this Debbie, it gives insight into your life. That is a very nice thing to know as you don't share much about your life when you were a young Mom. I enjoyed it very much. I enjoyed seeing the kids and Clarie is getting so big.
    I am glad you didn't quit.

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  4. Well I am glad you decided to stay around. I am trying to get back into the blogging world, even if I don't have comments, I am doing it for me! I love this...it just shows who you are and once again, such an encouragement and example for me. Thanks for sharing!!!

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  5. That was fun! It's not every mom who'll tell about the couple of years when a son went berserk! I am glad to know the rest of the story and that he moved on through to a happier and healthier place. I didn't know that Jeffie and Cody were his boys and I'm glad to make that link. BTW, they are growing like weeds!

    Love seeing the Munchkins and will look forward to tomorrow morning when I can show John because, trust me, he is going to think the doughnut lover is pretty adorable.

    Glad that you will just enjoy blogging on your terms. I decided that myself and not so long ago.

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  6. OH! this is so awesome Debbie, I so enjoyed meeting Joe, he sounds so much like our first born son! Congratulations on his successes! I love it when people fulfill their dreams!
    I also enjoyed seeing the family photos, and have been so blessed getting to see your grandchildren grow, btw they are growing so fast! ~wink~
    as far as blogging, I haven't done to much lately, life seems to keep me so busy!
    What a joy to visit you this evening.
    Hugs from me to you,
    Sue

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  7. Oops! I forgot to mention how handsome Joe is!!!
    Sue

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  8. I agree with you that blogging should be done when and if we want to do it. Just relax and enjoy. Your son is still a good looking guy and I enjoyed reading about his life. Thankful he turned himself around and is on the right track now. Melody has the cutest kids and I haven't been around to see many pictures of little Claire. What a doll she is!

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  9. Oh, this was so enjoyable and I look forward to reading about all of your children. Wishing you a beautiful Lord's Day tomorrow.

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I am so glad that you would take the time to comment on my thoughts and feelings, it is such a blessing to me!