Kids at Heart

Well i guess a good part about being on "vacation" from school is that i blog more than normal. Wait. Is that a good thing? Anyway...

I have an advent calendar that my mom bought me when i was young. She gave it to me when my son was little so that i could continue the tradition. Well with him being 15, and across the country, he doesn't partake any longer. But i continue to hang it. This year it's on the back of the bathroom door. It was the only place in the apartment where it wouldn't drag on the floor and where I'd actually move the mouse.

When i was little, my mom would wrap little things to put into the pockets. Not everyday, but for a good many. Sometimes it was a chap-stick (i had an obsession with Lipsmackers when i was a kid...hmm...do they still make the strawberry? I must investigate!), a piece of candy, or a small toy. It was always the Mouses' doing. Not my mom. He was in a way, a bit like the Elf on the Shelf is today. Except he'd leave presents, not messes (i really want an Elf!).

I noticed the other day that Brooks has been moving the mouse from pocket to pocket when he gets up. He really is so much like an over-sized child!! Which is just one of the things i love most about him!! For real!! I'm a bit of a kid myself, and why the hell not? I truly don't believe that there is ANYTHING wrong with enjoying things as children do!! Their innocence and sweetness in learning about their big world, is one of the best things about kids!! I've been scorned for acting like a kid before...in past relationships. But i won't apologize for it! Nope! F-that!! I get excited about stuff; Christmas lights, funny toys, polar bear stockings, candy, surprises, a hand-made gift from someone, birthdays, holidays, sparklers, the beach, going somewhere new, camping trips, parks with swings i can fit into, trips back home, toy stores, Lego's, the Disney Store...etc. I love that Brooks appreciates things like i do.

The other day we were in Hobby Lobby and he told me to pick out a stocking that i wanted to have for the next 50 years. Well stockings nowadays won't last that long, but his point was that he still uses the one his grandmother needle-pointed for him as a baby. 34 years ago. Can't blame him there. So he wanted me to have one that i loved as much. I had a snowman one in my hand (which ultimately won out over the rest and is now hanging next to his on our book shelf) and was looking at the others that hung in the isle. I saw a blue one with a polar bear on it. I literally shrieked like a little girl, "OMG!! LOOK AT THE POLAR BEAR!!!!" He started laughing and said how cute i was to be so excited about a stocking.

Kids keep people young at heart. Life is too damn problematic and real and just a pain in the ass to be SO serious ALL the time!! I don't have the ability to be around people like that. Ones who are so serious, negative, pessimistic and just nasty all the time...nope. Not at all. If it's one of these things and not the rest, then i can deal with them in small doses, but if they have all of these qualities...forget it!! To each his own i always say, but i just don't understand the negativity and hatred for everything! Why can't people find something, just one tiny thing in this wonderful world to enjoy each day?

I love the meme that's going around right now about looking up into the sky for just a moment each day and realize how incredible life is!! I try to do that at least once a day. Just to take a small moment and be...blissful. Even when shit hits the fan. We are such tiny things in the universe and it's all so amazing. *sigh*

I dunno. Glad i'm not them i guess. But it makes me sad for people like that.

Back to my point...i put a present in the pouch for today. It was a pack of gum. Nothing big, but still sweet anyway. It was wrapped and tied with a ribbon and clipped to the pouch. The mouse delivered to Brooks. If nothing else, then to help him see how it works before we have kids.

Last night when we were awoken by the massive cockroach that was nibbling my hand in the middle of the night, in our BED (i tell ya...i may totally loose it if this ever happens again!! A blog for another day though), and we got up because neither of us could sleep after that, and watched Jackass the Movie (*sigh*), Brooks saw the present and said, "What's the deal with that thing that's in the pocket of the calendar anyway?" I had turned into Samuel L. Jackson by that point due to the shock of being awoken by an enormous insect at 2 am, and said something like, "It's how it works dammit! That's what's supposed to happen! He brings you stuff and leaves it in the F-in pockets! Didn't you ever have an f-ing advent calendar when you were a kid? I mean come on!!" Oh boy. Well it's almost 2 in the afternoon and he STILL hasn't opened it. I kinda want to throw it at him and say, "HERE!! THIS IS FROM THE MOUSE!!!" Lol. I won't though. He clearly doesn't get it yet. That's ok. He'll learn, one holiday season at a time.