Someone else's shoes

Well, I found some shoes and they are okay – except that they are leather and they need to be broken-in. Do you know how long it has been since I’ve had to break-in shoes? Breaking in Birkenstocks doesn’t count because there isn’t much to it.

So, tomorrow I will either be wearing the Birkenstocks again (clogs this time) or my jeepers (blue pro-keds). Hmmm…what fabulous professional outfit will that work with?? Haaaaaa! People – realize where I work. Professional outfit?

Speaking of professional…I got my promotion! It’s not official until the Spring, but I got it!!! I think I was in shock when I read the letter. I always doubt myself in a really big way.

I called my Dad to tell him that we were having a girl (we are!) and that we had picked out her name, Emmeline - named after my grandmother (his mom). My Dad got very quiet and I could tell he was crying. He kept saying how beautiful that name was. It is. It’s a very special name. My grandmother was a very special woman. I’m proud to honor my grandmother by naming my daughter after her.

My son is now running around singing, “We hot the hawk!” Which is really supposed to be Parliament Funkadelic’s “We want the funk!” but he doesn’t know the words and thinks that “we hot the hawk” is what they are saying. It was on a commercial that he saw the other day. It’s pretty funny. I love Parliament/Funkadelic because I am originally from the home of P-Funk (Plainfield, NJ) but I haven’t played that when he’s in the car. Unless it’s the Wiggles or Bear in the Big Blue House, we can’t listen to it in a moving vehicle.

This morning, I was listening to the radio at work and the Pretenders’ Talk of the town came on. I just love the way that Chrissy Hynde says, “I made a wish (pronounced Weesh) and said it out loud.” It always makes me think of my cat. Oh, how I love Chrissy Hynde’s voice. I can remember being about fourteen or fifteen listening to Learning to Crawl (on cassette) in my kitchen while making pies for Thanksgiving. Good times, people. Those were good times.

Another thing I did this morning was to pick a name off the Christmas tree at my son’s daycare. The children on the tree are foster children. It’s for a 4 year-old girl. It made me sad because it just listed clothes. Christmas is such a happy time and we always think of children excited because Santa brought so many toys. It’s easy to forget that a pair of shoes might be the only thing some kids get from Santa. It made me appreciate everything just a little more than usual today.

So, go on and appreciate everything today. It’s that time of year where we take stock in where we are, where we’re going, where we’ve been, and appreciate every bit of it.

“We want the funk…gotta have that funk…!”