Relativity in Regards to Age

I am now the age my mother was when I first realized how old she was. Old being the relative term.


I was 8 years old and just couldn't get over the fact that she seemed so old. I don't know what made me finally realize how old she was, or what difference it even made. Nonetheless, it is a memory that has stuck with me. It has been creeping back into the forefront of my sub-consciousness as my day of reckoning drew nearer.


I also remember realizing how old my grandparents seemed to me at the time, absolutely ancient. But looking back now, my mom is the same age they were when I was 8. She doesn't seem old. Do my girls think the same way about me, about their grandparents?


Is that the trick with aging? You don't feel it all at once? I feel about the same as I did when I was 22. Minus all the baggage that comes with having kids, and I do mean baggage. And I need to sleep more, even though I don't sleep more.


I don't feel old, I feel good, but the number is starting to betray me. Is this the same way I will feel when I am 56, but just a little more tired?


P.S. I'm only 32. Happy Birthday to me!

Then there was one....

...and now there are none.

Go into the light little fish...

I am not against pets. I would just like to have a pet that has a lifespan longer than a dishwasher cycle. I also don't do dead things. As in disposal and removal of them. Ask my mom. I made her come home from work one day to take care of a deceased pet. I don't like dead things. Period.

We have had aquatic frogs for the last year and a half. We raised them from the tadpole stage until they were full fledged frogs. We managed to keep two frogs (Cinderella & Juan) alive for a year and a half. Pretty good if you ask me. Well, a couple of weeks ago one of them turned into a floater. It wasn't dead, but was clearly on it's way. It would move if you forced it to, but then, well, it would float again. A couple days later the other frog did the same thing.

Have I mentioned I don't like dead things?

So someone came up with the idea to grant the frogs a final wish. We called it the "make a frog's final wish foundation." Honestly, we made that up all by ourselves. Someone took them to a nearby lake and released them into the wild for a final hurrah. I did not condone this action, but then again I didn't have to dispose of them. I feared they would clog the toilet and I was not about to bury them.

So then I said in one of my not so bright moments, stop by the pet store and get a fish to ease the pain of our children. In my head I was thinking about a beta, I think they last a fairly long time. I forgot to express that thought. Came home with 10, count them 10 goldfish. The ten cent variety. I believe they are called feeder fish. ARGH! They succumbed quickly over a period of 12 days. And guess who got to dispose of them?

One not so happy lady.

And Then There Were Four. Or, The Circle of Life. And Cannibalism.

R: Mommy, why does our goldfish have a beard now?

Me: That's not a beard, that's a tail.

R: Whose tail?

Me: I'm not sure....

At this point she realized one of the other goldfish was missing. I left it for what it was. She has seen enough of The Lion King & Animal Planet to know that animals eat other animals. She also understands that we eat animals. I was not about to get into a discussion about cannibalism at 7am.

I think that musical number in The Lion King never made it off the storyboard. Maybe it's a bonus feature on the special edition 2-disc DVD set.