I grew up in Michigan but two weeks after I graduated high school my parents, brother and I moved to South Alabama.  What a drastic change!!  At first it was like moving to another country; the heat, the hurricanes, the beaches, the giant bugs, a strange new paid work holiday called Mardi Gras where you stand next to the street and people throw moonpies and beads at you, all sorts of new foods known as 'staples' like grits and greens (ewww by the way), the twanging and terminology like "Ya'll" "Fixin To" "Hug My Neck" and "Bless Your Heart" (which I later learned could mean anything from "you poor thing, I'm so sorry" to "you're dumb as dirt and don't even know it").

 

I met my husband down here in South Alabama, where he was born and raised.  We dated for a couple years and got married in 1992.  Planned the wedding while we built the house (I don't recommend it if you want to actually seal the deal on either of those).  We have two kids that keep us busy with kid and school 'stuff'....you parents know what I mean.  We also have two furry kids; an older Westie named Gracie and a German Shepherd named Sascha [Za-sha].

 

Our daughter is a College Graduate with a Bachelors in Forensic Chemistry and a Minor in Anthropology.  She is now in her second year of Grad School, to get her Masters in Archaeology.  She is compiling quite a resume!  So far she has been a Chem Lab Assistant on campus, was an editor for the college's literary journal, interned for a summer with the Alabama Department of Forensic Science.  The following summer she interned for the Mobile Creole Cultural Historical Society, the University of South Alabama Science Dept, and the History Museum of Mobile.  Over Thanksgiving 2018 she traveled to historical sites in Ireland with her fellow college classmates, during the summer of 2019 she was in Drawsko Poland for a Field School for the Foundation for Polish History and Culture; they excavated 17th Century graves of the victims of the Black Plague.  The summer of 2020 she spent in Michigan working for the State on the Archaeologic team at the dig site inside Fort Michilimackinac.  She has accomplished so much - we are so proud of her!

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Our son is a sophomore in High School this year, but does not have the academic disposition that his sister has.  He is ADHD & Dyslexic with a Processing Recall Disorder.  School is neither easy, nor fun for him (or for us).  He has made great improvements each year and we are very proud of him for his achievements and his "never give up trying" attitude.  I don't foresee a 4 year college for him, I think he will go to Trade School or learn something hands-on.  He is very creative and full of ideas; I know there will be a job out there that is just right for him when the time comes.  His favorite thing to do, is of course, play XBox!  He's actually quite good at it too.  He is on the High School Cross Country Team.  This year he was able to take advantage of a class offered at the High School as part of his daily curriculum - Welding.  He has decided that Welding is the Trade he wants to pursue as a career.  He is also an amazing artist and loves to draw all sorts of things.

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Hubby and I both work full time.  He 'DID' work for a large chain retail store with one of those crazy rotating schedules for many years, had to work weekends and holidays; I needed a chart to keep up if he'd be home for dinner or not.  At the end of November 2016 he began working for a much smaller personally owned company.  He gets to work normal business hours during the week now.  He doesn't deal with the general public anymore so this job has a LOT less stress than his old one.  He gets almost all weekends off and is home during the evenings.  He hasn't been able to spend many holidays with us during the first 16 years after having the kids, but NOW he gets those holidays off work and is home with us (and now the Daughter is gone most of the year LOL).  His work schedule was a huge change in lifestyle for us, but we're loving it.  I work for a small Real Estate Development Company.  Work is not the typical Real Estate Company; the owner buys large acreages, subdivides them, some for site built homes and some for manufactured homes, and we offer owner financing.  So....the company has 8+ entities, 25+ checking accounts, over 15 rental houses, over 1800 lots, and we collect monthly payments for all of it in our office; we type all our real estate documents in-house and maintain numerous Home Owners Associations, among many other things I deal with on a daily basis at work.....needless to say....I stay very very busy at the office.

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The "fun" of a normal week for us is dinner out and maybe a movie.  Most of our days off work are spent doing normal housework or doing much needed projects around the house.  After all, the house is over 28 years old and needs some updates. 

 

We work at work and then we come home and work some more.....YES!! WE SOUND BORING!! 

But it's all the little in between tidbits that make our lives so interesting. 

Come vicariously join our wild ride known as parenthood and life!

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