He Arrived March 8, 1989

He is 21 years old today. The world sees him as just another guy. Just another man on the planet. But he is so much more to me.

His name is Jordan Michael.
He is my only middle child.
He is my only son.
He is my pride and joy.
He is everything I hoped having a son would be, and is NOT everything I feared a son would be.
He is smart (very smart), sensitive, compassionate, loves justice and equality.
He loves to laugh.
He used to love the Ninja Turtles, his blanky, his pacifier (boopy) and milk.
Today he loves sports, being around his girlfriend and his life in general.

He is 21 years old. Twenty-one. Twenty-one years ago today, the longest pregnancy in the history of mankind came to and end, and I had a son.

He is my great, great joy.

Love you, Jord. Happy birthday!










Coconut Cake

Ingredients:
1 box yellow cake mix (not the kind with pudding in the mix)
14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
1 sm. can cream of coconut (about 1 c.)
1 envelope dry Dream Whip
1 container Cool Whp
Coconut flakes for topping

Directions:
Bake cake as directed; cool 15 mins.
With the end of a wooden spoon, poke holes in cake 1" apart, half-way down, all over cake.
Mix together cream of coconut and sweetened milk. Pour over cake, making sure to pour into holes.
Refrigerate 24 hrs. If you can't do 24 hrs., remember the longer it sits, the better it gets.
Ice with mixed Dream Whip and Cool Whip. Sprinkle with coconut.

Thursday 13: When The Spouse Travels

Observations, good and bad, about when my spouse travels.

Good:

1. You can eat out of styrofoam bowls with plastic sporks all week long if you want to avoid dirty dishes. (If you want to avoid dirty dishes?)

2. You can get in and out of your vehicle without adjusting the seat and mirror each time. Ditto on the shower head.

3. There is no one to mock you for watching "The Bachelorette Tells All on the After-the-Rose-Jump-Hug Ceremony" or other quality reality shows.

4. Personal hygiene and maintenance of all sorts is an option, not a requirement.

5. You can decide to see a chick flick on a Tuesday night with a friend just because you want to without feeling guilty. Skippy doodles!

Bad:

6. There is no one upon whom to place your icy feet at night.

7. Your coffee doesn't make and walk itself to you each morning.

8. When you bemoan, "I can't wait for Kristin to come home from cross country camp because I miss her so much I went into her room and the tiny little pile of p.j.'s she left on the floor just broke my heart and I'm so sorry I've ever said a cross word to her in her entire life because she is the best, sweetest girl in the world" no one commiserates with you.

9. Your dog mopes around because your spouse, her favorite, is gone. This is both pathetic and a real honk off at the same time.

10. When you work on a draft for a column, no one feigns interest the way you are accustomed to.

11. He takes the book you're reading with him.

12. He is in Florida, and you're not.

13. You find yourself singing weird songs like, "Bluer Than Blue," and "Ain't No Sunshine When (s)He's Gone."

With apologies to Bill Withers (And I sound just like him when I sing this version):

Ain't no sunshine when he's gone.
I set the alarm when he's away.
Ain't no sunshine when he's gone
So I'm singing this bluesy song
And my readers have to pay.

Wonder who will mow the lawn.
Wonder which bills I should pay.
Ain't no sunshine when he's gone
And these cookies won't last long
anytime he goes away.

And I know, I know, I know, I know, I know,
I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know,
I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know,
I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know,
I know, I know, I know

Hey, I could just pick up that phone,
But ain't no sunshine when he's gone.

Irony

Factoid 1: My son hates spiders. Hates them.

Factoid 2: All summer long, he worked out every day with his dad after they got off work. My son (well, for that matter, my husband, too) has quite an athletic build. Part of his routine included drinking whey powder in milk right before he would leave to work out or immediately upon returning home.

In addition, he was big on eating cottage cheese for protein, which became his new obsession for the entire summer, so I was continually buying more cottage cheese. So if your local Walmart or HEB was out of cottage cheese this summer, it was because they were pulling it from your shelves and shipping it to Muncie to feed my boy.

What's the point, Dexter.

Observation: Ironic Equation.

Factoid 1 + Factoid 2 = The kid who hates spiders spent the summer "eating his curds and whey."