Thanksgiving But No Thanks

This Thanksgiving is the first one without my dad. There's plenty I'm thankful for, but I wasn't up for a big family thing. Instead of eating I flew to Wisconsin through a gray haze and came back into a red radiant sunset. There's snow on the ground up there already. We threw some snowballs, drank hot chocolate, admired the ski runs from the air. It's a cold season and I'm cold all the way through. The photo has nothing to do with the Thanksgiving flight, it just makes me feel warm. My boy is the greatest.

Not Enough Time

Bu says I don't spend enough time with him. The irony kills me. I don't spend enough time with anyone, particularly myself, but if I spend quality time with anyone, it's him. He gets the best: all the patience and selflessness I can produce in a given 24 hour period while juggling everything else behind my back. Not enough time. If he only knew.

The Princess and the Soccer Ball

I have bruises, little ones from the impact of a soccer ball, an elbow, a toe. Playing indoor soccer is dangerous, especially when it's with a bunch of hyper-competitive middle-aged men, several of whom are twice my size and have forgotten that shoving other players into the bleachers to get the ball would get them a red card if we had a ref. It just gets me going. It reminds me of playing with the boys as a little girl when we had a bitter German former pro player as a coach. Before games he'd gather us in and mutter through tobacco-stained teeth, "If you can't win, at least you can hurt them."

There were only a few girls in the league and they tended to drop out as years passed and the boys got bigger and started to run over us. But our coach taught us well. I learned how to get the team bully between me and the ref, sucker punch him where the welt wouldn't show and steal the ball. The girls on my team were the only ones who kept playing until we aged out of the league at 12, because our sociopath coach taught us to fight. He thought we had a right to be on the field.

Friday Fill-in-the-Blank Meme

Because I can't write any more testimony about energy efficiency until I rest my brain.

1. My blueprint for success includes swallowing my pride and begging everyone for help.
2. Ghirardelli Twilight Delight 72% Cacao was the last candy I ate.
3. The best facial moisturizer I've ever used is C the Change from Kiss My Face.
4. Sex can be good therapy.
5. I'd like to tell you about the evil plan for the next bad idea adventure.
6. Cussed determination is my strongest characteristic.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to the Lincoln Cafe, tomorrow my plans include painting the house so I can sell it and Sunday, I want to go see Vance Gilbert!