Change is Good!

Not very many people can handle change the way I have been forced to learn how to appreciate it. In my situation over the last decade I have had to move many, many times. I've learned, from my children, of all people, that it's all about perspective. In these financially changing times, things change. For us everything has changed and we've learned to roll with it. I remember a time when Brittney was very young we were going through a rough patch, and our electricity was turned off. In order to make it fun and try to take the focus off of missing Barney on TV, Brittney and I read books by candlelight. We had more fun that night than we ever did at Chuck E. Cheese or the movies....we snuggled on the couch in the candlelight and read books. THAT'S IT! The next day when the electricity was back on, Brittney made me shut off all of the lights, light the candles and do it again! When we were in North Carolina, we had just moved in and there was a storm that interrupted our electricity for a few hours. Joey and Brittney and I sat at our kitchen table and played Trouble, once again, by candlelight, and had so much fun that when the power came back on, we all went "Ohhhhhhhhhh!" because we were all upset. Sometimes the best memories you'll ever make are not when you have a dispensable income and can eat out every night and go to Disneyland once a month. It's when you actually can spend time with those that love you and actually have a conversation with them. In regards to moving, no matter how much I hate it......Joey the other day said, "Mommy, I know you don't like moving because it's a lot of work, but I like it! It's like an adventure!" I LOVED THAT! It does give you a feel of a fresh start, and it's the opening paragraph of another chapter in our crazy lives. It's like a fresh coat of paint on our lives. Change can bring wonderful memories and open up new opportunities. It may be a lot of work, but as Joey so eloquently put it...."It's an adventure!"

Then WHY do I feel the need to SIT DOWN?

Everyone has always told me that with what I've been through and the life that I've been dealt, I should do stand up! So in lieu, of standing up in front of a crowd of people that would probably look at me with a blank stare and wonder why the hell I'm not drunk in a corner somewhere after hearing about my life.....I thought I'd blog it instead.

I'm new to blogging, I've managed to work my way around facebook, but the twitter thing is just, well, stupid! LOL! I don't know the difference between tweets, twitts, twitches! I'm the kind of girl that would rather just text you the old fashioned way. You know the kind of communication that actually MEANS something!

I just turned 40 this year. Still can't believe it. Doesn't seem possible. When I drive past my high school, I still think I should be turning in there and have this ever so slight pang of guilt when I pass it, feeling like I just ditched! I don't know if that will ever go away, but I guess it's that sort of feeling that keeps me feeling young. I'm a mom, but still feel like a kid, but very aware that I AM a mom! Kids keep you on your toes and make you crazy all at the same time, I've found. However, the best accomplishments and the only 2 things in my life that I am TRULY proud of. I've done a lot of good things in my life, but those 2 surpass all of them.

Well so far, I don't know what those people are talking about "They say my life is STAND UP!", this all seems so normal. But we haven't touched on much. Let's see if I put my life in a nutshell, the cliff notes, if you will, this is what it would look like. My father was my mother's uncle, my husband left me for his brother's wife, doing a family tree, by the way, is totally out of the question. My Parents used to own a restaurant like Mel's Diner, which is a whole stand up routine in itself. I'll share those stories later....been married twice....after both divorces moved out of state for exactly 60 days and came back both times, Montana the first time with my daughter, North Carolina the second time with my daughter, my son, and 3 black labs in a Toyota Sequoia, GOOD TIMES! My family is 100% Italian, again, a whole other episode, owned my own company, thought I was Dena "Trump"ette, went broke, diggin' my way back out again. Done most everything WITHOUT the help in any way from a man, even though they were there! Drove across the country in my RV with my mother and my children to go to Disneyworld in the dead of summer, needless to say I HATE FLORIDA! But best trip ever! I've lived in 22 different places, 17 since I had children, my daughter hated it, my son calls it an "adventure"! So basically moved once a year since I've been on my own. All for different reasons, but needless to say, I could open up a moving company with NO problem at all! I'm an expert at it. Moving is my nemesis! I hate it, I want nothing more than to get settled somewhere and stay there, but one thing that has come out of my experiences is that most people have issues with change and I have had no other choice than to embrace change and know that everything happens for a reason and good things always come out of every experience. It's all in how you look at adversity. Ok so the cliffnotes have reminded me of a lot of stories that could SO be considered stand up material, I guess we'll start doing, episodes on this blog and I'm sure as you read on, you'll get a chuckle out of the things I have been through. I know I have, you have to laugh at the things that happen to you in life. You have 2 choices, laugh or they'll wrap you up in one of those little white jackets with lots of straps and put you in a very white room with padded walls. And baby, I just don't do white! I'd rather see the funny side of things and laugh out loud, even if it's to myself, than cry myself to sleep over things I have absolutely no control over. I've come to the conclusion that being depressed about something (even though it does still happen from time to time) never solved a problem for me. Only when I picked myself up and TOLD myself I was GONNA DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT, only then, did anything positive ever start to happen. So that's what I intend to do.....from here on out! And this blog is just the beginning of good things to come.