THIS THAT AND A LITTLE "WHATEVER"

I just love four day weekends. It has been GREAT! We will be hitting the water park today and then tomorrow I will eat enough to kill a normal person. This is OK because I have been dieting and "trying" to exercise as much as possible and I am very proud of myself for the weight I've lost and the toned muscles that I have managed to acquire.

I went to visit Kimberly last Sunday, and she looks great. She has put on a few "unwanted" pounds that she jokingly refers to as jail/rehab weight. It was so wonderful to see her so full of smiles and optimistic about her future. She will leave this rehab and enter a secondary in mid July. When I ask her how bad her cravings still were, she got a quirky little grin and said, "feel this!" As she laid her arm across the table and placed my finger on a blood vessel that seemed to be the size of my pinky, I could actually feel her blood vessels throbbing. I didn't know what to say. I was literally amazed at the fact that her body had visible signs of desire for this horrible addiction that she was fighting. "But now, I think about everything that I once had and then lost and the urge finally goes away. It never did that before. The feelings, the hurt, the need never subdued before. Not unless I stuck a needle in that vein."

Several years ago a very dear friend of mine gave me a devotional book for women. This was at a time in my life that I seemed to be facing my hardest moments. I was a going threw a divorce, I was a single mother of TWO. I was working a full time job, I had just opened a children's boutique and I was back in college. I didn't have a spare moment to do anything, which is good because I probally would have crumbled if I had to think about anything. The great thing about this book was that no matter what you were going threw or what you were thinking there was a page that seemed to have the exact words you needed to read at that exact moment to realize that things were going to be OK.

Shortly after I got that book, I met Ben. I have said before that Ben and I were each others saving grace and we were. Anyway, I gave that book to Kimberly. I told her that it helped me when I needed it the most and that one day she will be passing it on to another woman. Someday Kimberly will be someone else's saving grace. Before our visit ended, Kimberly told me that she knew in her heart that one day, God was going to use her and everything that she has been thro. "I don't know how or when, but I know He will", she says. As I get ready to leave she hugs my neck and tells me that she loves me. I'm so proud of her.

I must brag on my baby, Rachel. I am also so very proud of her. Rachel is four years old and she's been riding horses for about a year now. Her daddy bought her her very own horse for her birthday last year and Rachel has been showing her horse, Tator Chip. Well, she is now running barrels and poles and last weekend MY BABY won 2 ribbons and a metal. YAY!!! She is such a little adventurer.

And Zack, what can I say about Zack??? He is definitely my little pay back! Ben and I took him to Buffalo Wild Wings last week for Kareoke. Zack loves kareoke. This place was packed. To me kareoke is suppose to be fun and a little goofy. Not these people. They take this stuff SERIOUS! Well, needless to say my son was filling out his little card as soon as it started. Several minutes later I heard them call Zack's name so I walk down to the front so cheer MY baby on. I thought I would die when that music started. This boy was singing "Baby Got Back". Everyone in that place was singing with him. It was like he instantly turned into the cult leader for every college guy in that place.

About and hour later, Zack comes up to our table (we were there with some friends) and ask if he could get that "girl" over there a drink. Now, I look over at the video game section, where Zack has been and there are "several" girls over there. I tell him yes, but "one". This boy gets a napkin and writes "Hello Gorgeous" on it and hands it to the waitress. The next thing I know our waitress is delivering a $5.50 Red Bull and Vodka ON the personalized napkin, to a long legged, blond in a mini skirt. This chic was 22 maybe 23 years old. I almost feel outta my damn chair. Her boyfriend comes over to our table later to tell us "how cool" they all thought Zack was. COOL? Then you pay for that freaking $5.50 drink that YOUR girlfriend just sucked down!

Zack waited until she finished her drink and then went over to her table, not giving a shit that she had a date, and introduced himself and shook her hand. They talked for a few minutes and she leaned down and kissed him on the cheek. OMG, if you could have seen that look on that child's face. "I am NEVER washing my face again", he announced. Ben and the other guys with us were loving this shit. Hell, they were all shocked that Zack not only thought to write her a message on the napkin BUT that he knew how to spell "gorgeous".