My Fam

Apparently I am subconsciously longing to watch TV.  According to my husband, I was talking in my sleep last night and I asked him if he found the TV guide.  Wow, that's embarrassing.  I wonder what I was dreaming about.   

I should also retract what I said about my clinical instructor a couple of posts ago.  I went to clinical today and she was sweet as can be.  Maybe she was having a bad day last time, or just didn't want us to think clinical was all fun and games or something.  In any case, I acknowledge that I judged her prematurely, and I hope I've learned my lesson about doing that. Probably not though. I'm sure I'll learn it the hard way many more times.

Well, it's not a special occasion or anything but I am missing my family today so I just wanted to write a little about them.  

My dad is the smartest person I know.  He can just open a book and read something and then he knows it.  He can figure out do-it-yourself projects, complex math problems, and has pretty much built his entire career on this ability that he has.  Although I do not have that skill, I appreciate that my dad has always encouraged me to think through problems and try and figure out how to do things.  He has also instilled in me a sense of curiosity.  A few years back, he got on this kick where he wanted us to learn how things work.  Each week in family night, we would present a lesson on that.  I taught one of the 4 stroke internal combustion engine.  We also had one on the TV, and some others.  We all thought dad was just being dorky, but it was actually really cool, and that will always be a fond memory to me.

My mom is the opposite of me.  She is so outgoing and social and friendly to everyone.  She is good about putting on a good face, even when times aren't so good, or when she doesn't feel well.  I often think of that when I am upset or sick.  I just can't pull it off the way she does.  One of the things I am most grateful for is that my mom taught me how to clean.  I love it when things are clean and orderly.  I know that I can't always maintain perfection, but when I have time, I really take pleasure in making a dirty thing look clean again.  

BJ and I are not at all alike.  He is goofy, crazy, and outgoing.  I hated being a grade behind him in school because he sort of had this reputation-- not a bad one, just one that was very different than my personality.  I don't stand out in a crowd, and I am very content with that.  I have always enjoyed being grouped with him as one of the "big kids".  One of my favorite memories of us is when we were younger.  We were nearly the same height and build, if you can believe that, so one day we put on Halloween masks and switched clothes.  We ran all around the house while the "kids" chased us, thinking that each of us was the other.  

Michelle my Belle (insert my lovely "French").  Michelle really is a belle, the beauty of the family (no offense to the others).  She's the only one who didn't get "the nose."  She's a lot more than cute though- she's intelligent, funny, and really just a good person.  We shared a room from basically when she came along until I was something like 17 years old.  Good times.  We were the biggest dorks.  I remember we used to get a kick out of the dumbest things.  We would hang my glow in the dark retainer from the ceiling fan at night, turn the lights off, and watch it spin around the room.  On Christmas Eve, we would stay awake and make up these crazy rhymes, 1 for each minute, until we finally fell asleep.  I could pop out quirky stories like that up the wazoo.  Good times.

Matthew was the most adorable baby of all time.  He had this HUGE head and tiny little body. I have this favorite picture of him at around 2 years old in those adorable "furry-burries" (or footsie pajamas, or whatever you like to call them).  I don't have a copy here, only in Utah, so I can't post it.  Just trust me, it's cute.  I can't believe that he's grown into a 16 year old high schooler who is taller than me, and into girls.  (That makes me the shortest one in my family). Crazy.  Matthew is the sports player of the family.  It's cool that he sort of blazed his own path and got into that.  Matthew and I went through this time where we had a startle war.  We would sneak up on each other and jump out and and scare the heck out of the other.  I think that's why I have a terrible fear of blow drying my hair.  I'm pretty sure he never actually got me while I was doing that, but I worried about it since there's no way to hear anyone sneaking up when the blow dryer is on.  It's pretty funny. 

You guys are the best.